Wayanad Monsoon Off-Roading 2012

[Driving_Nomad]

Originally Posted by kicksperliter

Hey,

I am alone in my Jeep and I am from Bangalore, if you wish to join me in my jeep, you are MOST Welcome. I am reachable on +91 9742955155. Do call me if you want to join.

Just got an offer from Dhanushs too. I am going on an official trip to the northern and eastern part of India on the 12th of this month. I can't just imagine how unlucky I am

Thanks for the offer and you guys have a rocking OTR!! I will have to wait for the next event and hopefully will make it next time.

[Rajith]

Originally Posted by kicksperliter

Hey,

I am alone in my Jeep and I am from Bangalore, if you wish to join me in my jeep, you are MOST Welcome. I am reachable on +91 9742955155. Do call me if you want to join.

Friends,
We 4 guys are planning to leave on 12th evening @ 3pm from Bangalore in THAR CRDe. Any body want to join and make convoy please suggest.

[sreejeshmp]

We Have Closed The Entry For Splash 2012 4x4 Adventure Drive !!!
Thank You For All The Participants Who Have Registered With Us!!!

There Won't Be Any Spot Entries.

[genesis]

Good luck with the event and have a great mud plugging time. Hopefully see you guys next year in Wayanad !!

[Ravveendrra]

Wow! Looks stunningly beautiful. Wish the event all the best. Some day, we Hyderabad guys should make it to Wayanad, it seems too good to miss.

Cheers,

[dhanushs]

Saarrrss!!!...

After a trip to farm with sacks of Arekanuts THIS HAPPENED!





My Axle tube broke. No idea about further damages. And NO idea about how long it'll take to fix it.

[dhanushs]

The Jeep is back in action, and I'll be there for the event!

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

The Jeep is back in action, and I'll be there for the event!

So you fixed it in real quick time. BTB., Is this your recently acquired one ?

[jeeva]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

So you fixed it in real quick time. BTB., Is this your recently acquired one ?

Yes it is. His black MM540 XD.
Afterall, Wayanad, The Niligiris and Kodagu are still jeep countries, so resources and spares have'nt been a problem yet.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

So you fixed it in real quick time. BTB., Is this your recently acquired one ?

Yes Sir, its my recently acquired one. This being my 1st organized OTR with too many Jeep's I didnt want to miss out! Moreover, like Jeevan mentioned, we get the work done quick here.

[mac187]

My first experience in OTR, all thanks to Tejas. I shall post my report of a first timer experiencing an OTR.

[sreejeshmp]

I got a Special type Army Antenna from the Wayanad OTR trail.Real owner, please Contact me with proper identification.

[kicksperliter]

Wayanad Wild Trials – REPORT CARD

WWT Organizers - Kudos to you all on working upon the trail and recce and organizing the event to all passionate offroaders. I have no doubt to say, this was the most challenging tough OTR's with such a trail ever organized. Though, this is my first time in Wayanad, but many seniors who have been around many OTR's have claimed this to be tough terrain altogether. We all do appreciate the efforts undertaken.

But, as every other events, there are also negatives, which should be worked upon to better it next season. Hence, this is UNBIASED Report card from my point of view.

I was blessed to be lined up in front as I was one among first few to complete the Wayanad wild Trials OTR. Out of 55 odd registered vehicles only 16 completed, I was one among them, so quite happy about it when compared to others.

Like’s:-
• Scrutiny of the vehicles (headlights, brake lights, tyres, engine conditions, wiper working, indicators, etc) – one of its kind checking, quite impressed with it.
• Hard work behind recce and terrain setup.
• Recovery methods using tractors one wheel – First time coming across different kind of winching
• ID cards – Each participant was provided with printed ID card with details of the participant – Quite similar to Company’s ID card. (Again, first time seen around in OTR’s)
• Quality of t-shirts and hats were good.

Dislike’s:-
• Worst food – at least 40+ people complained about it.
• Accommodation for bachelors were Dormitory with bunk kind beds with common toilets – NOT HAPPENING (This was not even communicated during registrations, this should have been clearly communicated, so that few could have made certain arrangements themselves)
• Most people were frustrated because of the kind of accommodation provided.
• Lunch during OTR, never reached participants AT ALL. Very poor arrangements from the organizers. Many participants were with family and children and those who were in the middle of the trail never received the food at all.
• Participants had to walk down the tough trail for more than few Km’s to get food.
• Lack of Marshal’s during the lag end of the trails – by 5pm we don’t see as many as the marshals we had seen in the morning, pathetic. A jeep toppled and I believe hardly 1 marshal was around rest none seen. When called main organizer, he was away and couldn’t do much help.
• Strict NO drinking and driving was announced, but noticed many drunk by that time of return.
• Heavy vehicles like pajero, MONTERO (with HT tyres were allowed which caused lots of issues to other participants making them get stranded for couple of hours.
• Though vehicle scrutiny was performed, they allowed MONTERO with HT tyres to participate in the trail.
• Long chasis vehicles should have been announced as Strict NO to such terrains.
• Lack of communication.
• Poor crowd management during competitive event.

[KMT]

Hi kicks..
Thanks for setting the ball rolling, our experience was remarkably similar to yours.

Overall I have to say that it looked like the organisers decided to go for a cash grab and take way more entries (people and unsuited vehicles) than they could cope with.

If I was more charitable, I would have said that the organisers were inexperienced and hence made so many mistakes.

The second day was a redeeming one and everyone seemed to have had a much better time than day 1.

Day 1-

-8.30 am to 10.30pm (with one meal and 8 + hours of 'traffic jams')

-We too were part of the small group of 16 odd vehicles that negotiated the entire course. The genius who designed the course and ensured that it was more of a test of the winching capability of the labourers of the tractors rather than the vehicles and drivers.

-Only the amazing Polaris team from TN negotiated the entire course without being winched.
Apart from them, virtually all vehicles had to be winched up 45deg+ slopes with huge rocks/2 foot deep slush.

-As a result the recovery teams were overwhelemed and a vast majority of participants were turned back after barely starting the course.

-There were vehicles with women and small kids allowed on the course (one had a whole family- father, mother, grandmother, grandkids etc) who paid Rs 4000 a head (ie 7 pax in a gypsy) and were left by the organisers the whole day without food or water.

-Numerous vehicles suffered significant damage to their GB/crossmembers/propsafts as the track was way too extreme for the ability of the vehicles entered.

-The other glaring oversight was the number of vehicles with AT tyres that did not stand a chance, the Montero you allude to ended up with two burst tyres and had to be virtualy dragged on its belly.

-There were only around six odd marshalls for 60+ vehicles, some of whom were drunk by the night.

-Seeing the standard of accomodation, we hired alternative superior accomodation at a lower rate than what was provided by the organisers.


Day 2- The second day however was organised and conducted much better.

-The course was built to test driver and vehicle ability.

-The crowd was entertained.

-everyone had a good time.

-everyone got food and water!

Overall Summary-
Badly conducted events undermine the sport and newbies will get turned off.
At this stage, without a professional body overseeing these events, participants are entirely at the mercy of the ethics and ability of event organisers.

[kicksperliter]

Originally Posted by KMT

Overall I have to say that it looked like the organisers decided to go for a cash grab and take way more entries (people and unsuited vehicles) than they could cope with.

KMT,

I would not accuse them of making money, as we have gr8 passionate offroaders as part of organizers. Take for example, Shibu Varghese (Jeep Captain), Sibi Paul, Priyesh... these are more experienced and passionate offroad drivers, who were main organizers behind this event. So, lets not comment if they made money or not.

Its always a lessons learnt, nothing perfect can be made or built, even god didn't make many perfects.

There were giltches and issues which were either overseen by them or were not considered. These issues mentioned above should be taken into consideration by the organizers with better planning and man power, so that they can execute them flawlessly next season.

Issues Overseen:-

• Time management and Number of vehicles to be allowed to participate in order to complete the trail. (this trail was only for MAX 20 - 25 vehicles, but registering 55 plus was a disaster)
• Arrangement of Food and water to both participants, team, marshals and recovery team. (Proper channel of food distribution was not in place and it was in a haphazard manner, due to which none/most of the participants didnt get food)
• More stringent scrutiny of vehicles - Don't allow vehicles with HT tyres or Long chasis vehicles like Montero or Pajero if not fit for trail. (Who on earth would give go-ahead to a vehicle like MONTERO with HT tyres?, these are vehicles just for the name sake 4x4 but they are for soft offroading. A strict NO should be communicated)
• Exact type of communication with exact transparent information with respect to boarding and lodging. (No bifurcation of lodging and registration of event or food were provided, which was kept in dark, but we were all in for a surprise to see the arrangements, as we didnt expect such accommodation for the cost we had paid for)

Not considered:-

• Exit route had to be marked with necessary markups where ever required with directions (we were asking for directions from lots of people around without knowing local language - Again No marshall's were around to be seen to help us)
• Marshall's to be more disciplined towards the entire event, providing examples to participants to ensure they follow strict guidelines
• Should have ensured proper accommodation to all participants and those registered (dormitory with bunkers type bed NOT ACCEPTABLE, as people come from various background's and would not feel comfortable. There is no safety for the baggage one carries around. (there might be valuable items such as DSLR's and phones which without safety is riskier)
• Good quality of food which is a basic need. (Quality of food was Not good)
• should have arranged food at entry point, in the middle of the trail and at the end of the trail, so that it caters to all participants. (better Management)
• No consideration towards the safety of the family and kids. (Kids were in vehicles without seat belts, considering a toppling of a jeep, these are safety glitches)