Xth Raid De Himalayas 2008

[metallica]

BHP'ians,

The Raid De Himalaya - Mother of all motor sports in India is completing a decade of adrenaline running this year .

I have been lusting after it for about 4 years now, but I guess the time has finally come- have registered for the Adventure category.

The Raid starts off on 30 Sep and culminates on 10 Oct ( with a buffer of 2 days to take into account the weather conditions).

I would be doing the Raid in a Swift LDi (yet to be purchased) and to capture the amazing landscape have bought a Nikon DSLR camera.

In the end, memories remain ... rest all fades away to black.

Looking forward to meeting fellow Raid'ers before the meet.

Do post back or PM.

- Sameer
+91.98.106.20882

[abhinav.gupta88]

Where can we register. please provice some information for the same if mods allow it.

[Venom_rider]

Hey Abhinav... There is loads of information on these links

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-pictures.html (Report - Raid-De-Himalaya 2006. Now with pictures)

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor-...Raid+Himalayas

H* I* M* A* L* A* Y* A* N** M* O* T* O* R* S* P* O* R* T

Cheers!
Goutham

[nkapoor777]

Congrats metallica on finally taking the plunge. Well the choice of car ain't bad, but be sure to run-in the engine before you embark on this treacherous journey. You will be red-lining the engine for miles at a stretch (and this ain't no exaggeration, check out Farhan's thread - link posted above by Venom rider).

Make no mistake about it and I am not trying to discourage you in any way, the Adventure Trial event is really an adventure and can catch you out big time if you haven't done your homework. And what I am hearing from some old friends, this year's event is going to be "Special". I was lucky to survive in a Wagon R a couple of years ago, but I have learnt my lessons from that "Adventure".

Happy Raiding!

Oh, before I forget, the Nikon is a nice choice. Even we managed to take quiet a few pictures during our time, but some of the most breath taking scenes still eluded us, because our minds were clogged with thoughts of survival.

[jkdas]

Hei, congrats!

Who else from TBHP?

Originally Posted by arpandiv

have a friend who is going in a palio, sponsored by fiat.

MJD?

[arpandiv]

have a friend who is going in a palio, sponsored by fiat.

[Cyrus43]

Can he sponsor another FIAT as well?? Or can the palio guy take me along??

[nkapoor777]

Originally Posted by arpandiv

have a friend who is going in a palio, sponsored by fiat.

@Cyrus43: Its gotta be Manoj Vaidya. You can get his details on the paliousers group on yahoo.

[sudev]

Originally Posted by metallica

I would be doing the Raid in a Swift LDi (yet to be purchased) and to capture the amazing landscape have bought a Nikon DSLR camera.

The wind chill factor dips to more than -20 degree at night and diesel freezes. Two choice here - 1 Make sure you have anti-freeze additives (check for availability and efficacy with friends in Europe and Canada) or 2 Keep your engine idling at night for high altitude night halts.

Having learned the hard way on the first raid I officiated in 2000 I have opted for the latter method two years running. As an official we have to move our A$$es at 0300hrs and many of us do not have to time or energy to think of ways to get car started (as it is mind is numb and not at its brightest). Petrol does not freeze so is not a problem.

Not many competitive diesel option were available till now so it is likely to be the first. Check with few guys who took Scoprio/Innova/Qualis/Rhino in the past.

Oh and another thing - diesel or petrol - do not use wind washers first thing in the morning unless you want to scrape ice off the windshield pronto. With those sort of wind chill negatives it takes inexorably long time for wind shield to warm up enough to restore vision.
Known to happen.
Enjoy.

[Sankar]

Sudev sir, I went through the Raid De Himalaya website's faq section. It says that participants are provided with Diesel fuel by the organisers if paid for in advance. There it says that the Diesel provided would be the regular non wax free diesel. Could you please tell me why it is so? Wouldn't the non freeze Diesel have been more appropriate for the climate there?

Remote area refueling on the Ladakh plain is provided for competitors only. The diesel provided in Ladakh will not be the special zero wax anti freeze diesel. It will be the normal oil that can freeze during the nights!

[hellstar]

Congrats metallica on your decision, and now you need to prepare yoursefl and your car for the drive of yoru life !!!!!.

Do not underestimate the physical endurance that will be needed , at high altitudes things are very different.

Do get all the information as humanley possible , a simple search on the internet can give you enough information to last you till next years Raide De Himalayas :-)


All the BEST !

[sudev]

Originally Posted by Sankar

There it says that the Diesel provided would be the regular non wax free diesel. Could you please tell me why it is so? Wouldn't the non freeze Diesel have been more appropriate for the climate there?

The organizers can reply better but the fact is that low-wax diesel is expensive and only available for armed forces. I personally do not know if it is available for civilian use.

Most of the service teams travel in qualis/tavera and they also keep cranking engines to life every half hour/ hourly to keep things from freezing at night.

[sujaylahiri]

When I'm in India, I'd love to take part in this one day.

Good luck to all the people taking part this year though.

[vvnagan]

Isn't our very own Sideways taking part in this?
@ Metallica - All the best dude. Do keep us posted on the preparations for the Raid as well.

[m-hawk]

Metallica have you ever done this stretch earlier ? If yes then you must be aware of the hardships which i need not put here in detail again !!! Psst one more important one have you registered with the raid team because entries are full for current year !!!
Regards
[ saajan