For onlookers, it was a thrilling experience as a young off-road racer dived his four-wheeler into a make-shift water-track and emerged with a smile on his face after driving the vehicle underwater.

Hamdaan Khan, an 11-year-old budding off-road racer from Gokak town in the district, performed the stunt there on Monday.

Hamdaan Khan dived his vehicle, modified by his father Ayub Khan, a national-level off-road racer and who modifies four-wheelers to suit racing needs, into the six-ft deep and 120-ft long water-track and drove it to safety, to a thrilling applause from the onlookers.

This stunt, Mr. Ayub said, is rarely performed in India. Hamdaan Khan’s attempt could be a maiden successful attempt in the country but he was not sure, he said.

Hamdaan Khan, who is studying in the sixth standard in a school in Gokak town, has been learning off-road racing skills from his father. He enjoys it too.

He also accompanies his father in the latter’s wildlife rescue operations in and around Gokak.

Hamdaan Khan (11) dived his four-wheeler into a 6-ft deep water-track and emerged clean out of it in Belagavi

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Vijaykumar Patil / Belagavi – July 01t, 2015