Wrong turns, traffic lights that turned red a second too early, questions that had you stumped and Lady Luck deserting you just when you needed her the most. These were just some of the challenges faced by the participants of the 6th Family Fun Car Rally 2006 organised by Rashi Entertainment, exclusively for the Ford customers.

Haryana Governor Dr A.R. Kidwai flagged off the rally at 11.30 am from Baithak Kalagram and the rally covered a route of approximately 70 km in and around Chandigarh, before ending at Hotel Shivalik View, Sector 17.

Excitement was palpable as around 50 families — professional rally drivers were not allowed — contested for prizes for the best decorated Ford Car, oldest and newest registered Ford cars and the best dressed male, female and team.

The most coveted prizes, of course, were the top three places in the rally, which was determined not by who crossed the finish line first but by the team’s ingenuity, general awareness and of course, luck.

The participants had to follow the route map provided and find various Ford Marshall Booths placed at strategic locations across the city.

There were a total of eight marshals where the teams picked up envelopes, which contained a lucky score and eight-point questionnaires ranging from current affairs to questions that tested your mathematical skills.

According to the participants, answering the questions was a tricky challenge as though each right answer fetched them two marks, a wrong one would lose them one mark each. But this worked in favour of Rajinder Gupta’s family, which, amidst much laughter, got a prize for the team with the lowest score of — 20!

Meanwhile, according to third place winner, Robin Garg, the biggest challenge was following the right direction. ‘‘But despite that, we took the wrong turn a few times,’’ he said with a grin. The winners of the first and second places were Mandeep Kaur Sandhu and Jatinderbir Benipal, respectively.

Meanwhile, the cars themselves made a pretty picture as they were decorated with flowers, colorful ribbons, soft toys, and in one case, heart-shaped red balloons.