Overturned vehicles and broken bones are recurring motifs inthe world of motor sports. Death, that final full stop could be just around thecorner, which makes the encouragement to a young Amul Satoskar by his motherpretty incredible.
For Amul, that was motivation enough, and fuelled a passionthat has now made him Goa’s premier rally driver and a name to reckon on thenational circuit. Starting off in 2000, driving a Maruti, he participated in arace in Mangalore. Coming in fifth, he spent his time observing moreexperienced drivers tackle the circuit. Cut to 2010, now driving as the head of Team Goan, Amul came in thirddriving a Tata Zenon in the Raid De Himalaya, the race he witnessed ontelevision as a child. The world’s highest rally raid is a tough examination ofthe human spirit.
This performance made him the first Goan driver to make amark nationally in a race that is possibly amongst the toughest in theworld. He said “The high altitude andthe scarcity of oxygen at such altitude make it a very difficult race. Theconditions are so tough and the standard very high. To succeed was a greatfeeling.”
This year driving for Team Mahindra he stood third in theexpert category overall yet again. Speaking of his achievement he said “I am sohappy to have achieved this but it would make me very happy if the people ofGoa would show some appreciation”.
In Goa, he said the sport faced several obstacles. Theabsence of an area for practicing coupled with the general attitude of thepeople and the police made it very difficult. This however did not deter him.He said “We plan to organise an event in the state and we hope the paper workwill be sorted out soon. When the parent federation gives us a date we hope thestate authorities help us organise it.”
Asked what his future plans were he said “In 2014, TeamMahindra plans to participate in the Paris Dakar rally which will go through five countries. Preparations have begun and I will be going for as advanced rallydriving course in Malaysia soon. That is certainly my dream.”
