Over 29 days, 17 automotive journalists will traverse 14,930 km - a distance considerably more than the circumference of the Moon - across all 29 states of India, in the Mahindra Scorpio.
Spanning the incredibly diverse landscape of our country, the One Lap of India One Lap for Safety promises to be as gruelling for man and machine as it will be spectacular.
The participants will spread the message of safe driving across every state, with pamphlets and talks on safe driving techniques at designated exclusive Scorpio showrooms.
Divided into six stages, the one-of-a-kind event is in the format of a relay-rally-raid. The seventeen drivers have been divided into six teams, and each leg would be driven by one team, which would hand over the vehicle to the next team at a pre-determined changeover point.
Commencing in Mumbai, the One Lap of India One Lap For Safety will be flagged off on January 31, 2003, with the first leg of the event taking the drivers 2,010 km from the metropolis of Mumbai to the chilly valleys of Jammu.
From there, the event would see the journalists driving down from Jammu to Lucknow, covering 2,880 km. Then it carries on to North-East India, to Guwahati (2,600 km). Having covered 3,150 km over the seven north-eastern states, the team will arrive at Kolkata.
The penultimate leg of the One Lap of India One Lap For Safety will clock 1,700 km down the East Coast to Chennai, from where the last team will make the 2,590 km run back to Mumbai by the 28th of February 2003.
According to Bijoy Kumar Y, editor, Business Standard Motoring, who was part of the team that conceived this event,
