Sixteen brightly coloured vehicles and their 50 occupants from Britain, America, Hungary, Armenia, India and Russia will tomorrow arrive in Kanyakumari, known as Cape Comorin during British rule, after a 1,000km (620 miles) race through Tamil Nadu that has tested their driving abilities on the country’s notorious roads.

Since leaving Besant Nagar Beach in Madras on Monday, the participants, travelling under creative team names such as Curry on Regardless and Pukka Tuk Tuk, have battled against the monsoon, suffered gearbox failures, crashed into each other and been run off the roads by truck drivers.

The inaugural event, which will generate money for Indian children’s charities, is described by Aravind Kumar, the organiser, as “endurance rickshaw racing”. His website goes further, calling it “an amazing race for the clinically insane”.

An Indian based in Hungary, he came up with the concept last year when he took part in the first Budapest-Bamako rally, an 8,000km race from Central Europe to West Africa.

The three-wheeled motorised auto, with its top speed of 34mph (55km/h) and cruising speed of 22mph, was chosen for being India’s national vehicle. The 610kg (1,344lb) auto, which is 2.6m (8.5ft) long and 1.3m wide, is perfect for navigating crowded urban areas.

“I drive a Mahindra, my dad drives a Ford but the auto rickshaw is the quintessential Indian vehicle,” Mr Kumar said. “Every Indian would have travelled in an auto at least once in his or her lifetime. The race organisers also figured that, upon the inevitable breakdowns, the fuel-efficient covered motorcycles would be easy to fix because spare parts are widely available. For emergencies, support vehicles carried spares of the engines as the teams completed daily stages of between 150 and 200km. To keep things even more interesting, competitors — including Miss Hungary 2005 — have been required to complete specified tasks, such as refuelling, before flag down.

For Paul Osborne, a 35-year-old management consultant from Bath, and Greg McBride, the trip was the latest crazy adventure in a wholly unsuitable vehicle. Previously, their Extreme Trifle team has driven from Portsmouth to Palermo on pizza delivery mopeds and crossed the Sahara Desert in old bangers.Mr Osborne said: “The roads are absolutely chaotic. It is like spending your whole day driving round and round Trafalgar Square trying not to hit things.”

Each team paid £1,000 to enter and had two days before the start to customise the autos provided by the organisers. At the end of the rally, having crossed 12 districts stopping in Mahabalipuram, Puduchcheri, Tanjore, Madurai, Tuticorin and Courtallam, the competitors can buy the vehicles or hand them back.

Mr Kumar hopes to make the rally an annual event but says he needs 30 teams to break even. Although he has succeeded in raising money for charity and bringing adventure tourism with a difference to southern India, he has probably failed in his third mission, which was to improve the habits of Indian drivers.

“Auto rickshaw drivers are known for their erratic behaviour,” he said. “By seeing foreigners keeping to the rules of the road, I hoped it would show them how to be responsible.”

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