TVS Racing’s Harith Noah Ready For Dakar Rally Debut

Published December 26, 2019
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Despite an early interest in four-wheel motorsport, Harith Noah has shone on two-wheels and now the 26-year-old is getting ready for his first shot at the biggest rally of them all

- Became aware of the Dakar Rally at around six years of age thanks to his father.

- Started competing in India in 2009.

- Has set a goal to just finish his first ever Dakar Rally.

- Coming off a torn ACL and broken collarbone in order to be ready for the Dakar.

Time flies when one’s career is spent riding a fast motorcycle off-road and dangers also come up faster than one can anticipate. Hence the importance of preparation, something that TVS Racing’s Harith Noah will not be taking lightly as he gets ready for his first ever participation in the prestigious Dakar Rally early next year.

“When we do roadbook training, we do it when there are no lines from other bikes,” said Harith Noah while speaking to Zigwheels. “You have to do such preparation because in competition you can be doing 160 or 170kmph for 10km and then suddenly the roadbook reads ‘danger 3,’ which is a hole.

“It becomes very important in those situations to read the roadbook properly or you end up in big trouble.”

In a way that is how life can be described. A seemingly long stretch of routine suddenly abbreviated by problems.

Some of those problems compromised Noah’s preparations for the Dakar Rally a bit. A seemingly innocuous sprain in his left knee at last year’s Morocco Rally - which was his first international rally - was revealed to be a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). Following surgery in January a long wait followed before he took part in the Baja Aragon and finished seventh overall.

However, a fall while warming up for the Pan Africa Rally resulted in a broken collarbone and more time dedicated to recovery.

Support System

“Every time you get injured, you think you will never be able to be like you were before,” said Noah. “But I was determined to stay active even while recovering from surgery on my ACL by continuing to train my upper body.”

Having parents who not only encourage his passion, but were responsible for introducing it to him, helps Noah a lot.

“My father used to be a navigator in motorcycle rallying back in the old days when Jagat Nanjappa used to compete,” said Noah. “It was crazy as the navigators would sit behind the riders in those days!

“Around the time I was five or six, I remember my father would bring cassette tapes of the Dakar Rally and at that time I was more interested in the cars.

“But I slowly got drawn towards the bikes and I started dirt track racing in India in 2009 and in 2012 I started competing with TVS Racing.”

Having the strength of a factory team behind him is something that Noah does not take for granted. “It is like another world,” said Noah. “I don’t have to compromise on my preferences for the bike.

“So, if my preference is to have titanium footpegs on the RTR 450, that is what I will get while the other riders can have their bikes set up how they would like it.”

TVS Racing also helped him build a track in his family’s farm where they grow paddy, bananas and mangoes. It is where Noah trains while at home when he is not with his Sherco-TVS teammates training outside the country.

Realistic Expectations

Despite success in India in supercross, rallying and impressive finishes in five-day rallies abroad, Noah realizes that the Dakar Rally is a different beast. He is tempering his expectations accordingly.

“The goal is all about gaining experience and wanting to get to the finish,” said Noah. “Despite that I am still excited at the changes they have made to the rally’s format this year.”

Noah is referring not just to the shift in venue – from South America to Saudi Arabia – which puts everyone on level footing, but also the fact that roadbooks will be available to competitors just before the start of a stage, and they will also be fully coloured.

Earlier, riders would have had to go through long scrolls and mark roadbooks with different colour markers to identify which sections they have to keep an eye on. From 2020 onwards, it will be done equally for all the competitors.

The only downside for Noah is not being one among three Indian competitors at the Dakar Rally as his TVS Racing teammate Aravind KP is out injured.

“It was supposed to be both me and KP at this rally,” said Noah. “But I am still excited and seeing CS (Santosh) there will be fun. That’s what I want ultimately, to have fun.”