Rallying under the stars - night stages in Desert Storm

Although not a new concept in India, or the Desert Storm in particular, night stages do make things interesting by increasing the possibility of errors.

With more time to lose than to gain, competitors have to take it extra easy while passing through narrow and twisty stretches amid limited visibility.

This year, the very first leg started in the evening and went well into the night, with two stages of 41 km and 46 km respectively taking place around Bikaner, Rajasthan.

But perhaps the most challenging of all was Leg 4. After two back-to-back stages in the afternoon, competitors had to return to the very same place at night for a reverse loop.

In between, they only got a few hours of rest before hopping back in their vehicles for nearly 100 km of rallying.

If that wasn’t all, the very final leg, albeit one which consisted of a short 24 km special, was scheduled the very next afternoon, eluding competitors of a full night's sleep.

These two tricky legs were preceded by a 200km marathon stage - and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that majority of the retirements took place during these segments of the rally.

Safety of riders

While the added challenge posed by night stages should be embraced, one can debate whether they compromise the safety of the competitors - particularly the riders in the Moto category.

And for that very reason, the organisers shifted the night stages on leg 4 during daytime. Leg 1, however, went as per schedule during the late hours of the day.

TVS’ Spanish rider Santolino Lorenzo was keen to point out that the FIM has banned night stages from international-level rallies - and suggested that organisers should instead hold transport stages after dusk.

“It only creates problems”, Lorenzo told reporters including Motorsport.com India. “It will be good if they do one night transport, that’s interesting, also for the media - but just transfer.”

“I had an average speed of 100km/hr. In many many places I had to go much faster to have this average speed because I stopped 2 or 3 times for the CPs (checkpoints),  30 seconds each time.

“To ride 140km/hr full gas is no longer possible in a narrow track with bushes on the side and one donkey arrives *laughs*. It makes no sense.”

“The FIM, the international federation, doesn’t allow night stages for bikes for security reasons.”

Asked about the visibility levels after sunset, Lorenzo revealed that it depends upon moonlight as well as the kind of headlamps their bikes are equipped with.

“It depends a lot how is the night, If the moon is big or not ,” he said. “In leg 1, there was no moon almost, it was quite dark.

“It also depends upon the equipment you have. With the the standard ones you can maybe see till the television [located a few feet away]. With good lights maybe you can 50-80m. With low speeds its okay, but if you want to go 100km or more than it’s a problem.”