‘Here we are on the last day of our epic journey. It might have only been 8 days of driving, but it was a mighty effort by all in the Double Chinnais team. Janelle and Toni have shown they both have the potential for a bit of road rage. They were our principal drivers and managed to get us through the crowded city streets. Not only were they dodging cars, trucks, busses, bicycles, bullock carts, tractors, pedestrians but also cows, pigs dogs, goats and chickens. They did a collosal job of keeping us alive but also on time. Yep both are speed demons. And both can lay claim to threading an auto rickshaw through a needle eye gap between two busses. You need nerves of steel to drive on Indian roads and they have what it takes. All had turns at driving but they did the tough stuff.

All in all it’s been a really fun challenge and one we can talk about for years. A fantastic team of strong girls with adventure running in their veins. WE DID IT!

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‘There are a lot of ways to ‘discover’ India. As Dave Alefail, Tim Douros, Toni Csermelyi, and 30 other foreigners – including 11 women – from nine different countries found out, one of the best ways to get up close and personal with India, its people, and its culture, is to go the distance in an autorickshaw! These 33 ‘auto adventurers,’ as they called themselves, tooted into the city last Saturday, after completing the sixth annual ‘classic run’ of the ‘Rickshaw Challenge’ that saw them driving 15 decked up autos, all the way from Chennai to Poovar.

It was a fantastic experience, a great way to see the countryside and experience a different side of India,” says Tim, from Boston, Massachusetts, who is on his maiden trip to India. He, along with friends David Mantus and Tim Keutzer, also from Boston, travelled in a custom-made auto they named ‘Big Gulab Jamun’ (a tribute to David’s favourite dessert). “Tim Kuetzer and I have been to India before and have travelled in autos as passengers. But never had we even thought about driving one until we came upon the Rickshaw Challenge. Before we started out, all 33 of us had a three-hour intensive crash course on how to drive an auto, and practised driving one through the chaotic traffic of Chennai,” says David.’

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‘People are extremely helpful and friendly in India, said Ben from the United States. He was one of the participants in the Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run 2012 organised by CEMS consecutively for the sixth year now.

Ben along with his other friends from nine countries across the world were here to continue the journey of adventure and brotherhood in autorickshaws.

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‘It is not the whizzing sound of a plane or the noisy beats of a train they chose.

The 33 participants of Rickshaw Challenge bobbed up and down through the roads of south India in 15 auto rickshaws.

In a 10 day exhibition, the team, comprising 31 foreigners and two Indians, covered Chennai, Pondicherry, Thanjavur, Madurai, Tuticorin, Kuttalam and reached Thiruvananthapuram.

“We were asked to do certain challenges every day which was a whole lot of fun,” says Niranjan Bose, one of the Indians who took part in the event.

Finding out what deity was worshipped in a temple, the length of a dam, how to get a receipt at a petrol pump were among the interesting tasks included in the challenges posed by the organisers.

The sixth edition of the Rickshaw Challenge, organised by a Chennai event management company, ended at the Sri Mulam Club in Thiruvananthapuram.’

Via: Deccan Chronicle

‘The thought of taking the auto to work today may faze you, but you won’t be thinking twice before jumping behind the wheel of one at the Auto Rickshaw challenge. With the promise of fun, adventure and a culinary tour like none other, the Rickshaw Challenge comes to Chennai for the sixth year — minus the quintessential auto anna!

Started to cater to adventure, the Rickshaw Challenge has put Chennai on the world map of adventure tourism.

Says Aravind Bremanandam, the brain behind the enterprise, “This year we have 33 participants from nearly nine countries. The participants are a cross-section of society — from students, businessmen and nurses, we have a diverse lot participating. In the past few years the event has come to be a cultural gala that is about adventure, discovery, vacation and social giving.”

The Rickshaw Challenge has so far raised 80,000 US dollars and has been giving back to the Round Table of India for the last six years.

This year, participants of the Rickshaw Challenge will race their autos across a distance of 950 km, between Chennai to Poovar in Kerala. In the course of their journey, the participants will get to sample the gamut of cultures and cuisines that comprise south India.

“The challenge is quite like any other,” says Aravind. “Points are given for being crazy and unconventional,” he adds.’

Via: Deccan Chronicle

We are not upon that time yet but from the first “Flags Down” in Chennai on December 30, 2011 to the last “Flags Up” on January 7, 2012 two teams consisting of: Dave Alefaio, Niranjan Bose, Udayan Deshpande, and Jeremy Fallt will hang on for dear life as they hurtle across the southern reaches of India. It will be an interactive, and eye opening experience like nothing else that these four brave souls have ever experienced.’

Via: Team Tuk and Roll Rickshaw Rally

People who are familiar with motorcycles will find it really easy to drive one. People like me, who aren’t, will find it quite hard. You’ve got to learn about shifting gears while in motion, using the handlebars. Because I’m one of those girls with non-existent body strength, I could never start the four-stroke engine. I just could not yank it into life. It’s a huge stick by the left side of the driver’s seat. We spent one afternoon learning to drive that thing. Most people, especially those who were good with bikes and cars, did very well.

We practised on a school field and the kids were delighted to see so many foreigners doing such a strange thing.

If you haven’t driven in India in any vehicle, don’t. It’s not for the faint-hearted. Cows. Carts. Scooters. People. More Cows. Buses, trucks, with HORN OK PLEASE, came so close they brushed the sides of our vehicle many times. It would have been a few seconds and a sleepy driver away from collision and disaster. This happened everyday, every second we were on the road.’

Read more here: Quora

‘try the very special effect of a vehicle with personality! To entertain the public at trade fairs, exhibition fairs and other public events. To announce your events, cultural or other.

The White Tricycle, whose only appearance will raise interest, its dancing movements will catch the attention and entertain.

Give this unusual vehicle and its two original characters the special mission of spreading the word on your event around town. A driver and his female co-pilot, both singers and comedians.

It’s amazing ! The White Tricycle looks like a classy limousine and it’s tray become a stage…’

Check the clip below and visit letriporteurblanc.com for more information.

‘Hanging from the side of a less-than-100%-reliable three-wheeler may not be the most comfortable way to see India, but it’s surely one of the most exhilarating.

Which is precisely why every year, hundreds of hardy souls pay for the privilege of risking life and limb in the quest for thrills on the Rickshaw Challenge.

Described by a former participant as ‘an amazing race for the clinically insane,’ fearless tourists from all over the world make their way at breakneck speed (or at least as near as is possible on an auto rickshaw) across the country in tuk tuk-like vehicles in a thrill seeking activity that is gaining a huge cult following.

And, as if it isn’t enough to see India from a totally new (and often terrifying) perspective, you can even raise money for charity and help save the planet as you go. All it takes is a combination of bravery, foolhardiness and daring, with the promise in return of the experience of a lifetime.’

Via: The Local