A rallyist and an auto major ride tandem to innovate

India’s premier enduro-rider C S Santosh is sitting at home in Bengaluru, smiling all the time, talking about life’s curveballs, recovering from a life-changing experience, and everything thereon. For alm­ost two decades now, Santosh (pictured), 38, has carried Indian motorcycling on his shoulders, constantly raising the bar for others to follow.

The multiple Supercross national titles were followed by him breaking new ground, year on year, first by becoming the first Indian at various Asian events, then winning the Raid de Himalaya in 2012 (his debut appearance) in record time, before making it to the world stage at the World Cross Country Rally Championship in 2013. There have been reality checks aplenty (he suffered third-degree burns after an accident in 2013). And then came the peak, when he became the first Indian to procure an invite for the prestigious Dakar Rally in South America in 2015.

“It was so different in the early days,” he says. “I’d have to forage for parts, find people who could help me with my bike, do a thousand things just to get the machine to go off-road.”

Things have come a long way since. Hero MotoCorp, one of two Indian automotive companies (the other being Mahindra) to sponsor motorsport right now, entered the sport in 2016. Since then, there have been many more highs, mostly at the Dakar, where the company has won a stage (earlier this year rider Joaquim Rodrigues won Stage 3 at the event) and Santosh himself became the first Indian to finish the race thrice (his first finish, was on his debut in 2015, while riding for Suzuki). Since 2017, he has been riding for Hero MotoCorp.

This has proved beneficial to both parties — in more ways than one. The sponsorships — Hero sponsors multiple riders across various categories and also hosts events — has eased the economic strain on those looking to make a career of it, allowing them to concentrate purely on improving performance. The company, meanwhile, has used the riders’ experience at events across different terrain to expand its product range — from a city-centric commuter to bikes for touring

and adventure.

Santosh and fellow Hero Team Rally rider Joaquim Rodrigues have been a vital part of this process. Their Dakar experience has been a critical resource for R&D, their inputs feeding a new range of bikes for the company. The Xpulse 200 is a proof of this.

It is a pattern followed the world over. F1 teams use their cars to test variables that are eventually fitted into their road-ready vehicles — traction control, aerodynamics, paddle shift, have all made their way to the mainstream from different forms of racing (see box). This isn’t any different.

Modelled as an off-roader, the Xpulse’s 21-inch front wheel and 19-inch rear mimic rally bikes of the day. A rally kit certified by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) is an add-on option. The bike is also marketed in Latin America and Africa.

But just as there has been a shot in the arm for Indian motorcycling, its pioneer has suffered some of the worst months of his professional life.

In January 2021, 135 km into Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally, Santosh suffered an accident on a gravel track that left him unconscious and in need of resuscitation. It was his seventh time at the Dakar, riding for Hero MotoSports, a year after his teammate Paulo Gonçalves lost his life in the same rally. Fellow competitor Paul Spierings was the first to arrive at the scene and alerted medical staff, who airlifted Santosh to Riyadh for further scans. He was subsequently put into a medically induced coma for ten days after suffering a head injury.

A year on, Santosh has no recollection of that incident — and in fact many other important facets of his own life — relearning things considered normal not too long ago.

For a man who basically lived life full speed, while juggling multiple things, this shift in pace was a huge task. But Santosh recalibrated, recentred, and sought to focus on the little things. A week before the interview, he cycled long distances and used measurement metrics to track his progress for the first time in over a year. His off-road training facility, Big Rock Dirt Park, has become a focal point for growth — personal and professional. “We have it in Bengaluru and Hyderabad now, and looking at Mumbai also and then thinking of going to Sri Lanka,” he says. Here, too, the two-wheeler manufacturer is riding alongside him.

Sport’s trickle-down effect

• Buttons on steering wheels to change the volume, radio station, and even set cruise control are all derived from F1 cars. In the ’80s, as cars adopted paddle shift gears and more technology, drivers were wary of hunting for controls at high speeds. Thus came buttons on steering wheels
• Wearable technology has its roots in high-intensity sports like football and basketball, where players wore vests to measure metrics like heart rate, distance, pulse and oxygen levels to track performance. The tech has slowly crept into the mainstream, via smart watches. High-performance athletes still use the vests (even in-game) but now it’s mainly for movement analysis for tactics
• Nike calls it “the shoe that started a revolution”. And quite simply, it did. The Nike ZoomX Vaporfly 4% was built to aid marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge break the two-hour barrier in the distance — which he did in controlled conditions in 2019. The shoe’s padding helps runners conserve energy, improve performance and reduce injuries
• Analysis graphics you see on your screens on election days come from American sports broadcasts. The country’s obsession with numbers resulted in broadcasters finding newer analytic tools and more ways to display them. This has slowly percolated into normal television. Live reportage is also a by-product of ball-by-ball and minute-by-minute commentary
• Telemetrics that assess a car’s performance on the track have been adapted to track patient recovery in hospitals. McLaren’s telemetric system was first adapted in 2012 in the UK to track patient recovery. While not universally available yet, their telemetry systems have inspired new ways to track patient data in hospitals beyond the analog charts pasted to a bed