Rally Raid
How rally drivers prepare for an INRC weekend
Photographer Srinivasa Krishnan caught up with rally driver Dean Mascarenhas ahead of the second round of the Indian National Rally Championship for a behind-the-scenes look at his preparation.
Rally driver Dean Mascarenhas is one of the front runners of the Indian National Rally Championship.
The driver from Mangalore participates in INRC2 with the support of navigator Shruptha Padival and managed to win the opening round of the championship at Chennai’s Madras Motor Race Track.
Ahead of the second round of the championship at Coimbatore’s Kari Motor Speedway, Dean and his team were busy working on preparing his rally car for the conditions it would face.
Photographer Srinivasa Krishnan managed to capture the activities as the car was being tuned, tested, and modified, and as Dean planned the rally with his co-driver in the week leading up to the second round of INRC 2019.
Dean discusses with his co-driver Shruptha Padival
© Srinivasa Krishnan
Safety checks
All INRC drivers are required to use FIA-approved bucket seats in their cars. International rally drivers usually have custom-fitted seats while drivers in India have standard-sized seats. Nevertheless, they meet the standards set by the international governing body. The seat belts are also installed according to the guidelines.
Dean discusses dyno test results with his tuner
© Srinivasa Krishnan
In the week leading up to the rally, the interiors of the car are mostly disassembled and put back together to make sure everything is in the condition it should be, especially the equipment that is important from a safety perspective.
These checks are conducted on the seats, seat belts, helmets, helmet nets, fire extinguisher, impact guards, and other safety equipment. The interior of the car has a permanent welding of a roll cage to add to the safety in case of an accident.
Adjusting the suspension
Dean Mascarenhas discusses suspension with co-driver Shruptha Padival
© Srinivasa Krishnan
The suspension of the car can be made soft or hard depending on the conditions of the stages at the upcoming rally weekend. The height of the ground clearance, the stiffness of the suspension, and the amount the car will lean into turns are all adjusted when checking the suspension. These adjustments are made using the suspension canister; an oil-filled tube with knobs that can be twisted to get the desired change on the car’s suspension.
Other fittings
The engine holder (metal plate with three bolts)
© Srinivasa Krishnan
The engine holder is a metal instalment specially-made for rally cars that keeps the engine firmly attached to the chassis. It is a metal mount which is reinforced to take the brunt of the action on off-road conditions. It is one of the fittings that needs final checks and tightening before the rally weekend.
Bonnet scoops and air scoops are installed on the car for better air circulation. These are checked and cleaned before the weekend.
Bonnet clips and bumper clips are put in place to make sure the bonnet and bumper do not come loose during rally stages. The bonnet clip is a slide-and-lock mechanism. It is locked in once the tuning and work on the engine is complete. The bumper clips are fixed metal plates with screws that need checks before the weekend.
Picking the tyre compounds
Tyres being put through tests
© Srinivasa Krishnan
Rally cars need tyres made of a special compound. These compounds do not allow for punctures very easily, but they still need to be checked to make sure they are in the best condition for the rally weekend. Dean uses tyres made by JK Tyres which come in hard, medium and soft compounds. Dean usually speaks with his team and co-driver to understand what the terrain will be like during the stages of the rally and then picks the appropriate tyre compound for the weekend.
Adjusting ECU and tuning the car
The car being put through dyno tests
© Srinivasa Krishnan
The engine control unit used in rally cars isn’t a stock one found in on-road vehicles. The ECU is adjusted so Dean can draw the best performance out of the car. The fuel management and air pressure to the engine are taken care of by the ECU. It also helps boost the power of the car since Dean’s team can set the RPM according to how much power the driver wants.
Adjustments are made to the ECU
© Srinivasa Krishnan
After making adjustments to the engine and ECU, the tuner of Dean’s car completes a series of dyno tests to check the car’s performance. The dyno tests simulate high-speed driving within the workshop or garage. The tuner then makes adjustments to the ECU to increase or reduce the power of the car, as needed.
Live results being displayed from the dyno tests
© Srinivasa Krishnan
Real-time test results allow Dean and his team to see the performance and recommend changes. The tuner also compares the results across multiple tests to check how the car performance has changed with the tuning.
Dean's tuner runs dyno tests on the car
© Srinivasa Krishnan
Road book and pace notes
The road book helps Dean and his co-driver navigate through the stages on the race weekend. The road book contains details on direction, kilometre readings, markings on course, etc. It will specify the turns, bumps on the terrain, speed breakers if any, signboards to look out for, etc.
Dean explains the road book
© Srinivasa Krishnan
Pace notes are additional details that are used by the driver and co-driver to navigate the stages. The road book doesn’t specify the degree of the corner, the length of an open stretch, the width of a road, whether a turn is a chicane or not, etc. The road book contains standard directions. To help with the navigation and make the rally stages a much smoother process, the driver and co-driver make pace notes to specify exactly what action is needed at each sector of the rally stage.
Details in a rally road book
© Srinivasa Krishnan
Two recces are usually conducted a day before the first stage of the rally. The driver and co-driver survey the stage during the first recce, and the driver calls out pace notes for the co-driver to write down in the road book. They will then go over the stage a second time (INRC rules allow for only two recces per pilot-navigator team). The second recce serves to verify that all the pace notes are correct; adjustments are made in case there are errors. Once the two recces are done, they are not allowed access to the stages, and so the pace notes aren’t adjusted further.
Instructions in the road book for organizers to understand situations
© Srinivasa Krishnan
“Pace notes are the eyes of a driver and co-driver. If it is perfect, you can attack rally stages with confidence. If the pace notes are bad, you don’t get the stage timings properly however good you are as a driver. So, performing and winning in a rally is a combination of perfect pace notes, experience of the driver, experience of the co-driver, and the performance of the car,” says Dean about the process.