Desert Storm 2012 - TSD Rally - My report

[Fortuner71]

Amazing congrats . It was literally a virtual desert storm for me through your videos. It really tricky at times at such speeds , good guys. For the night driving I felt you needed more lights , or maybe iam wrong .

[hvkumar]

What a victory! Congrats.
Truly a ringside view at how it all happened.
Your humility blows us away - the Navigator is King, the GV is Emperor
But you are the Lord!
Quite a confidence-booster for all of us how to take our passion to the highest standards of excellence.
All of us tend to look at rallying as a big-daddy business, deep pockets & lots of "millionaire" time - It is truly inspiring that you managed to do all this without any corporate team affiliations - and as you said, the only one in the Top 6 on his own.

We look forward to more videos & tips. Even fr those of us who are not going to do rallying, the time management & OTR guidance will help us all.

Bets of luck for the next one.....

[amitwlele]

Congrats Old Monk. Great videos. Thanks for sharing.

Noob Question - What is the category Extreme (fastest Wins)?

[oldmonk]

Originally Posted by Fortuner71

For the night driving I felt you needed more lights , or maybe iam wrong .

These lights were ok, not great. Would've preferred Lightforce/Ironman, but I ran out of money The camera doesn't record in the night very well, so it is not as bad as it looks in the video..

Originally Posted by hvkumar

What a victory! Congrats.
Truly a ringside view at how it all happened.
Your humility blows us away - the Navigator is King, the GV is Emperor
But you are the Lord!
Quite a confidence-booster for all of us how to take our passion to the highest standards of excellence.
All of us tend to look at rallying as a big-daddy business, deep pockets & lots of "millionaire" time - It is truly inspiring that you managed to do all this without any corporate team affiliations - and as you said, the only one in the Top 6 on his own.

We look forward to more videos & tips. Even fr those of us who are not going to do rallying, the time management & OTR guidance will help us all.

Bets of luck for the next one.....

Thanks HVK!

Originally Posted by amitwlele

Noob Question - What is the category Extreme (fastest Wins)?

Stage rallying (e.g. INRC): Navigator and driver are allowed to recce the route the previous day and make notes. Then when they drive, navigator makes calls from his notes, and driver drives as fast as he can by listening to these calls (not by looking at the road). Whoever is fastest, wins.

Raid/cross-country rallying (e.g. 'Extreme' in Desert Storm, 'Extreme' in Raid de Himalaya, 'Ultimate' in Dakshin Dare etc.): Recce is usually not allowed. The route is new for the team. So it is tougher - driver has to look at the road and listen to navigator calls. Here also, aim is to go as fast as one can.

TSD rallying (e.g. 'Endure'/'Explore' in Desert Storm, 'Adventure' in Raid de Himalaya etc.): Teams have to maintain speeds prescribed by the rally organizers. If you are faster or slower, you are penalized.

Hope this helps!

[memo45_m]

Congrats Oldmonk, nice show meant a lot to you guys, beating manufacturer teams in a terrain which is absolutely car breaking if your not careful you might not even have a car to take you back home/to base for the night.

And just for the records of Desert Storm 2012:
1> These guys are the only husband and wife team to win in DS.
2> They beat the top 3 Indian Manufacturer run/backed Teams.
3> This is only there second attempt at the famous DS, after there last years DNF.

What a way to be Triumphed, all the best and keep the running streak going.

[oldmonk]

Originally Posted by memo45_m

Congrats Oldmonk, nice show meant a lot to you guys, beating manufacturer teams in a terrain which is absolutely car breaking if your not careful you might not even have a car to take you back home/to base for the night.

And just for the records of Desert Storm 2012:
1> These guys are the only husband and wife team to win in DS.
2> They beat the top 3 Indian Manufacturer run/backed Teams.
3> This is only there second attempt at the famous DS, after there last years DNF.

What a way to be Triumphed, all the best and keep the running streak going.

Thank you memo.. Very grateful for all the help with the car at GT Tuners!

[deetjohn]

Congrats to the 3 of you for the amazing win.

Thanks for the amazing report and you are being very modest. I think you can get the thread title changed.

Post some more pics of the GV if you can get hold of them.

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by memo45_m

1> These guys are the only husband and wife team to win in DS.
2> They beat the top 3 Indian Manufacturer run/backed Teams.
3> This is only there second attempt at the famous DS, after there last years DNF.

Congratulations, reading the notes above it seems no mean feat. You have taken your passion of driving in rally to a level most of us could only aspire for. Beating teams with tuck loads of funding and a team of engineers and professionals to back them is not easy.

[aditya79india]

Congratulations on your victory.Can you please tell me which camera equipment are you using. It seems to be fixed atop a RAM mount.

[oldmonk]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Post some more pics of the GV if you can get hold of them.

Will post if I can find more on FB..

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

level most of us could only aspire for

Anyone can do this! Attend a one day TSD to see if you like it (KMSC on Mar 11, TSI Racing on Mar 18).

Originally Posted by aditya79india

Congratulations on your victory.Can you please tell me which camera equipment are you using. It seems to be fixed atop a RAM mount.

Thank you! Camera is 'Hero Motorsports' from GoPro. Suction mounted (RAM, comes with the camera) on windshield. But the mounts (also RAM) you see in the video are for Terratrip and digital clock.

[jmvivek]

Congrats oldmonk. Truly inspiring stuff, your win, which is kind of the adrenaline pump for people like me who aspires for hitting such terrain individually. Was always wondering whether you could do such terrains without the backup of the service support. I guess , its more of driving skills addon to the vehicle capabilities and a tad bit of luck.

I can read through the lines on your point about the right navigational skills to do such terrains. Once again all the best for all your future endeavors.

[sudev]

As is his nature @Oldmonk is being very modest. This its indeed a victory in face of toughest competition one could imagine. The pro teams fight tooth and nail to claim honours.

And not only this win he has gone ahead and made a customised device for all to use in TSD rally to make calculation simple.

Question what next?

[oldmonk]

Originally Posted by jmvivek

who aspires for hitting such terrain individually. Was always wondering whether you could do such terrains without the backup of the service support. I guess , its more of driving skills addon to the vehicle capabilities and a tad bit of luck.

Thanks Vivek. Yes, luck is involved when you have to finish a tough rally without support. But it is more peace of mind than when you do individual OTRs - in rallies there is always a sweep marshall who has to help recover your vehicle to nearest tarmac and take you to the night halt. No such luxury in an OTR

Originally Posted by sudev

As is his nature @Oldmonk is being very modest. This its indeed a victory in face of toughest competition one could imagine. The pro teams fight tooth and nail to claim honours.

And not only this win he has gone ahead and made a customised device for all to use in TSD rally to make calculation simple.

Question what next?

Thank you Sudev. Again, the route design was exemplary!

What next - back to the real world! Need to earn so that I can spend it all on rallying

[nanu28]

Thanks a lot OldMonk for a lovely write up.
Really nice to see such footage, thank you.
Congratulations to you and the team, and the GV.
After two DNF your persistence paid off must be quite a feeling, congratulations, it is truly inspiring for us to read your report.

A few questions:
1. What was the avg. speed required by the TSD for competitive sectors, what speeds where you doing most of the legs at? I believe you mentioned you were in 4H for most of the sandy bits trying to keep momentum, you are talking about the standard 4H and not the 4HL did I read right? [...with reference to the GV.]

2. Apart from the skid plats, and Lights any other modifications to the GV, apart from spare belts?

3. I have not seen any pic of the back of your GV, did you get the spare tyre mounting removed as well?

4. Did you ever have a flat tyre along the way, I could not see one in the report, seems like on the first nite you hit a stone pile but that seemed that, and that was it. Seems like the GV held its own, credit to the driver and navigator, that it is a daunting task in Cross Country rallys. What tyres were you running on?

5. Did you even really get stuck in the sand? and have to resort to Sand tracks or any such recovery gear? or even 4L?

6. The total TSD was about 3500Kms, am I right? on average how many kilometers of Competitive sectors did you have in a day versus transport?

Sorry if some of my questions are novice

And not only this win he has gone ahead and made a customised device for all to use in TSD rally to make calculation simple.

[oldmonk]

Thank you Nanu28. Congrats on your GV purchase! My replies in bold..

Originally Posted by nanu28

1. What was the avg. speed required by the TSD for competitive sectors, what speeds where you doing most of the legs at? I believe you mentioned you were in 4H for most of the sandy bits trying to keep momentum, you are talking about the standard 4H and not the 4HL did I read right? [...with reference to the GV.]
Asking average was 55-65 kmph once we got off public roads. Was always on 4H (the normal mode), never changed to anything else. In the desert stages where asking average was more than 50, all vehicles were always late. I think I used to consistently do 30-40 in sand then try and speed up (60-70) on harder surfaces. Couldn't do more than that because I was worried about the front shocks. Touched 100 once or twice in hard grit, and 140 in some very small tarmac sections that where between deserts. Still not enough to catch up time lost on sand.

In the Rann it was easy to keep up with the asking averages.

2. Apart from the skid plats, and Lights any other modifications to the GV, apart from spare belts?
Had to put big mudflaps (as per rally regs). No other mods.

3. I have not seen any pic of the back of your GV, did you get the spare tyre mounting removed as well?
It's there. 2nd spare wheel was harnessed inside the cabin (both back seats were folded up)

4. Did you ever have a flat tyre along the way, I could not see one in the report, seems like on the first nite you hit a stone pile but that seemed that, and that was it. Seems like the GV held its own, credit to the driver and navigator, that it is a daunting task in Cross Country rallys. What tyres were you running on?
No flats. Terrain had some sharp rocks which one had to avoid to save the sidewall. Rann had bushes with thorns that could pierce the tires - but I had put SLIME fluid which might have sealed any pin prick punctures. I was running Geolandar A/T, 245/65/R17.

5. Did you even really get stuck in the sand? and have to resort to Sand tracks or any such recovery gear? or even 4L?
No

6. The total TSD was about 3500Kms, am I right? on average how many kilometers of Competitive sectors did you have in a day versus transport?
Most days about 200km of competition, but one day in Bhuj, 360km without any transport.