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Pearl of India

HERO-ERA

16th February-7th March 2025


Pearl of India
Winners: Richard Clark/Jonathan Round (Ford V8 Coupe)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA/Will Broadhead

Organiser: HERO ERA

Date: 16th February-7th March 2025

Clerk of the Course: Guy Woodcock

Route: 5,892 kms

Base: Mumbai

Starters: 20


Mumbai was the start and finish venue for the Pearl of India, in between there was a 20 day trek in a clockwise loop around the centre of the country. The total distance of the event was 5,892 kilometres.

Nineteen cars lined up for the start on a hot Sunday morning at the headquarters of the Western Indian Automobile Association. From Mumbai the route headed north-east, taking in two regularities, before reaching the first overnight halt at Nashik.

Competition was close with Richard Clark/Jonathan Round (Ford V8 Coupe) and Alain Lejeune/Herve Collette (Volvo 121) sharing the lead at the day end; half the field had penalties of less than a minute.

However, it hadn't been a smooth day for everyone; Marco Fila/Stephanie Gout suffered a failed radiator on their Hindustan Ambassador, and had to miss all the day's competition while they sought a replacement. Meanwhile a broken brake pipe halted the Mercedes Benz 220 of Peter Fitzcharles/Debbie Fitzcharles; the problem was fixed by the Sweeps, but the German car had to cut the second reg of the day.

Clark/Round put in the joint best performance on Day 2, which finished in Luwara, and took a clear lead of 13 seconds over Martin Hunt/Olivia Hunt (Bentley 4½). It wasn't a trouble free day for the leaders as a wheel bearing failed on the run in to Luwara; the problem was fixed and they made the Main Control on time. Tommy Dreelan/George Barrack (Fangio Coupe) had matched the best time for the day, after they'd been delayed by a failed coil on Day 1, this allowed them to move up to sixth place in the overall standings.

Pearl of India
Runners Up: Martin Hunt/Olivia Hunt (Bentley 4½)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA/Will Broadhead

Clark/Round were best again on Day 3 and increased their lead to 19 seconds, with Hunt/Hunt still in second and Jim Grayson/Simon Spinks (Ford Escort Mexico) now in third, 26 second off first place. Mike Dreelan/Bob Pybus moved up to fourth despite their Alvis 25 suffering a coil failure at one point during the day.

After a non-transit day at the lakes at Udaipur - "the most romantic spot on the continent of India" - battle recommenced on Day 5, with two demanding regularities, on the way to Manvar and a night under canvas.

Hunt/Hunt and Grayson/Spinks added the least penalties to their totals during the day and closed the gap to Clark/Round by three seconds. Fitzcharles/Fitzcharles continued their troubled run, suffering fuelling problems, which meant that they were over the maximum lateness at the day end control. Navin Chandiramani/Pradeep Vaswani (Hindustan Ambassador) had the engine fail; they went off to find a replacement unit.

A slipping clutch didn't stop Grayson/Spinks putting up the best set of times of Day 6, this placed the Escort crew onto the top spot on the leader board at the day end. In the close contest, Clark/Round fell to third behind Hunt/Hunt. Dreelan/Pybus also dropped back down the order after missing a slot on the first of the day's two regs and picked up a maximum one minute penalty at the following timing point.

The top three positions remained unchanged over the next four days as the route wound its way in a generally eastwards direction towards Agra and then Khajuraho. At the front Grayson/Spinks, Hunt/Hunt and Clark/Round were never more than a few seconds apart, but were pulling well clear of the remainder of the field.

On Day 7 the Mercedes Benz 450 SLC of Nick Brayshaw/Vikki Lang suffered a cracked sump. The car had to be trailered to the overnight halt, where they arrived after their maximum lateness; they then used a hire car until their Mercedes was fixed.

It continued to be a challenging event for the two Hindustan Ambassadors; Chandiramani/Vaswani rolled theirs on Day 10 and Fila/Gout had the engine fail on their version two days later.

On Day 11, Khajuraho to Bandhavgarh, there was a change of lead as Hunt/Hunt put in the best performance over the day's two regularities, dropping nine seconds less than their two rivals; this put them into a six second lead. Dreelan/Barrack equalled the Hunt's times and this moved them to within three seconds of Andy Buchan/Roy Buchan (Ford Coupe) in the battle for fourth place.

Pearl of India
Third Placed: Richard Clark/Jonathan Round (Ford V8 Coupe)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA/Will Broadhead

By the time that crews arrived at Goa, where Day 18 was a non-transit day, Hunt/Hunt still led but by only six seconds from Grayson/Spinks, with Clark/Round nine seconds further back.

Day 19 was to be the last day of competition as the intended Day 20 regularity, the longest of the event, had to be cancelled due to construction work.

The first of Day 19's two regularities proved to be decisive. Firstly, Grayson/Spinks failed to record their time on their time card at the section's self start control, this gave them a one minute penalty. Then, Hunt/Hunt were held up, along with others, by trucks on the climb up past the Arjuna Dam; they were over three minutes late at the next timing point, they therefore added a maximum one minute penalty to their total.

These dramas meant that Clark/Round ended the event back in first place with a final victory margin of 33 seconds, with Hunt/Hunt in second place, 39 seconds ahead of Grayson/Spinks.

Dreelan/Barrack put in the second best performance of the day and this cemented their fourth position, ending just 29 seconds off the final podium position. Martin Dippie/Frances Dippie (Mercedes Benz 450SLC) finished in fifth and won Class 3, they were also awarded the Spirit of the Rally prize for the assistance that they gave to many other competitors throughout the event.

The best performance of Day 19 was set by Dreelan/Pybus, who were to win the Against All Odds Award at the Finish, they'd struggled without third gear on their Alvis for most of the second half of the rally.

All nineteen cars that had taken the start crossed the finishing line back at the WIAA head quarters in Mumbai, eleven of them having visited every control on the route.


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