Rally fb@w - Write Up - Team-BHP

rahulmd · 17th March 2005, 11:57

Background

It all started off as a harmless drive involving 2 Rahuls that got permission from their spouses to do a 2-3 day drive.

After talking to a couple of people, the feeling was that there was a lot of people interested in indulging in a bit of “Automobile based Recreation”.

So the word was put out inviting whoever wanted to participate. To help pull in other like-minded individuals the event was called rally fb@w (Rally for Free Beer @nd Worldpeace pronounced Rally EffBaw). There is also a school of thought that Rally fb@w stands for Rally for Free Beer at Work.

After false starts from about 15 cars, only 5 cars and 8 people finally made it to the final starting line.

Car No Driver Navigator Car
12 Rahul Cherian Auto Zen 1.3L
22 Rahul Md Stock Petra 1.6
31 Sudhir A Anil K G Stock Ikon 1.6
41 Biju Jacob Novex Alex Maruti 800
53 Sreeni K Vinay Satyan Maruti 800

For the cars, vinyl stickers were printed with the car numbers and as an afterthought T-shirts were printed for the participants.

Rules
While publicizing the event 2 rules were put out No women& only one driver per car, so that nobody would have to share his drive

On popular demand, rule# 1 was reframed as “No Spouses” and subsequently to “Sex no Bar as long as your heart pumped out petrol”. After all that fuss about reframing the rules, it was a bit of an anti climax that no women/ spouses came along.

Rule# 2 was never meant to be serious as long as there were no fights in the car on who would drive!!!!

Rally Details
To ensure peace on the road, in keeping with the world peace theme of the rally, it was decided that the rally would be in convoys of a minimum 2 and maximum 3 cars.

Convoy Synchronization Points (CSP) were set up every 50 – 70 km or at confusing junctions to ensure no one got lost and that all cars were coming along fine. The first car from a convoy to reach a CSP, was expected to wait till at least one more car from the convoy reached before he could start off again.

The route was from Bangalore to Ooty and back Via Kanakapura – Malavalli – Kollegal – Chamarajanagar – Gundalpet – Bandipur – Madumalai – Theppakadu covering a total of about 300+ km.

The drivers could choose between the 36-hair pin bend route or the route via gudalur between Theppakadu & Ooty. Given the nature of the crowd, it was not surprising that everyone took the 36-hairpin bend route both ways!!! There were also to be a few eagerly awaited optional sections around Ooty.

“Rally fb@w for Dummies” handout was prepared and handed out to the drivers the day before the rally during the kick off dinner at Koshy’s, giving driving instructions and route details including distances, average driving speeds (considering road surfaces) and expected driving times were given out.

The Rally

Section 1A Bangalore - Chamarajanagar
With a starting grid of 5 cars, there were 2 convoys, the first of which started off from Khodays Factory on Kanakapura road at 0715hrs and the second one at 0730hrs. The second convoy caught up with the first one after Kanakapura at an Idli joint.

The first synchronization point after Kanakapura Idli stop was at Malavalli where all the cars reached within a few minutes of each other. At Malavalli we took a left and took off towards Kollegal.

One of the cars (#12) lost his way between Malavalli and was late in reaching Kollegal. As per driving plan, only Car# 22 waited for Car# 12 since both belonged to the same convoy.

At Kollegal another car (#41) decided to take a route completely opposite to Chamarajanagar despite consultations with half a dozen locals and frantic calls from the other cars which saw car# 41 take the wrong turn. A phone call got them back on track.

There was a major break immediately after Kollegal where all the cars pulled up for Tender Coconuts and a photo session.

Section 1B – Chamarajanagar Ooty
Between Chamarajanagar and Gundalpet, the road got a little rough. However to the credit of the drivers and the cars, this section was covered pretty quickly with all cars reaching Gundalpet with just 15 minutes separating the first car from the last.

At the end of this stage, all cars swore that they would never ever trust the judgment of car# 22 when it came to the quality of road sections. Go figure!!!

Anyway, the bad roads had taken its toll on the appetite of the participants all were ready for lunch much sooner than anticipated. So everyone pulled up at Pug Marks restaurant in Bandipur, run by the Jungle Lodges group. The first car pulled in for lunch at about 1300hrs.

After a long relaxed and elaborate lunch, we started off again by about 1415 hours. By the way, less said about the Mutton Biriyani at Pug Marks, the better.

The next few stages were the most scenic ones of the day. The suggested average speed was adhered to not because of road conditions but due to photo breaks!

Quite a few breaks and snaps later everyone except car # 12 decided to take a break together after the hairpins, though it was not an official Convoy Synchronization Point.

The black boys are pulling away....

No one was really sure about Car#12’s whereabouts, with someone saying he had stopped to take a call from a troublesome client and someone else saying he had already reached Ooty. In reality he was a few kilometers ahead and catching up on beauty sleep!

The next scheduled stop Hotel Lakeview, Ooty was reached by about 1530hrs. This was to be the camp for the night.

Cottages at Lake View were pretty decent with lot of parking space. At 350rs per head for a night it was a steal.

Only issue with Lakeview was the color of the water in the taps. Most people after taking the first leak break at the hotel would tell the person going in next something like “I HAVE flushed the toilet” or “I did not take a leak in the bucket”

Optional Section OS1 Ooty – Kotagiri - Ooty
After checking in at Hotel Lake View car #’s 12 & 22 couldn’t wait to hit the optional stage from Ooty to Kotagiri and they started off almost immediately. They say it was one BIG blast with 26 kms of ghat roads being covered in under 35 minutes. After reaching Kotagiri, they were scared to blast back lest they come across other “like minded maniacs” coming in the opposite direction.

After waiting for 15 mins they started back in a very sane manner. Few kilometers on they saw car# 31 enjoying the sunset. Car# 41 was nowhere to be seen. After waiting for another 5 – 10 minutes, the 3 cars blasted across the ghats. Halfway through the blast they came across car# 41 ambling along indulging in some MAJOR photography. Due to space constraints those snaps are not here. You may contact bjroaming@gmail.com to check them out

Car# 53 did not participate in the optional section, opting to visit relatives in Coonoor instead.

While some tripped on the roads of the Optional Section

Others tripped on the scenery!!!

That night there was a detailed working session at Hotel Lake View to work out strategies to get Free Beer at Work. Mass prayers for world peace followed this.

Section 2A Ooty Gundalpet
The optional section OS2 Ooty Pykara Ooty was abandoned since everyone decided to sleep in late; rather the late night prayers had taken its toll on the drivers.

Car# 53 started off a little earlier than the other, since they wanted to take it easy on the return drive. Hence they were not around during the morning group photo shoot. The other cars started off after the photo shoot at about 1130 hrs from Ooty.

No one really wanted to risk the Mutton Biriyani at Pug Marks, Bandipur on the way back. So sandwiches were packed from Hot Breads near Charring Cross in Ooty.

Car# 22 pulled out of the rally at the end of section 2A to go vacationing in Kerala,.

Section 2B Gundalpet Bangalore
The last section was rather uneventful with people just wanting to reach Bangalore before sundown. All the cars reached the outskirts of Bangalore by about 1830hrs congregating at Khoday’s factory before going their own way.
It was decided that the next time around the return stages would start a lot earlier.

Rtech · 17th March 2005, 12:12

ROTFLMFAO!

Thats a lot of preparation for 5 cars on a weekend trip!

rahulmd · 17th March 2005, 12:27

Thats the point RTECH!!!!

20 Cars could have participated without any issues ;-)

maybe next time you could join too :-D

Rtech · 17th March 2005, 13:03

Had I been in Bangalore, I would surely have joined in. Those roads look beautiful! And I like the prayer session as well!

Rehaan · 17th March 2005, 23:06

Quote:

Only issue with Lakeview was the color of the water in the taps. Most people after taking the first leak break at the hotel would tell the person going in next something like “I HAVE flushed the toilet” or “I did not take a leak in the bucket”

HAHAHAHA!!! lol....thats hillarious.

Awesome write up man....and really awesome pics!! Its threads like these that make me homesick...the only thing i miss is indian roads! lol

Very well organised trip!, and its kindof weird that you all have similar coloured cars!

The pics were really spectacular so i went through the trouble of re-hosting them and putting the thumbnails up. (In future choose the "Post thumbnail on a forum" link on imageshack. its currently the 2nd and 3rd from the top.)

cya
R

Shan2nu · 17th March 2005, 23:15

Awesome drive. Team-Bhp needs something like this.

Shan2nu

satish_appasani · 17th March 2005, 23:22

Great write up Rahul. Wish I was in Bangalore....

Steeroid · 17th March 2005, 23:32

Phenomenal, Rahul!!!!!!!

Next time you plan the Rally for Free Beer @ Work, send me a PM in advance and I wouldnt mind coming down just to participate. I'm serious ! - I have to catch up with my spiritual self and besides World Peace is too serious an issue to be left in the hands of a few drunkars - we need lots of them!

If you had consulted this forum beforehand, I would've warned you about the food at Pug Marks..........

Once again, great writing mate! You should make this a regular event and I could round up quite a few guys in B'lore who wouldnt mind Free Beer @ Work.

.....and world peace, yeah!

Cheers

Steer

amitoj · 18th March 2005, 12:46

Awwwww... i wish i could've gone too...
next time, Rahul... u dont have to ask me... i'll be there.

Amitoj

drifter · 19th March 2005, 16:19

Hey thats a great write up. Wish i was there....the roads look really great...perfect for a good drive. Keep it up....you never know...some of us bombay boys might show up the next time.

Drifter

Steeroid · 19th March 2005, 22:58

So when's the next Rally Effbaw?

Steer

rahulmd · 22nd March 2005, 12:39

Hey Steeroid,

The original plan was to conduct it on the 3rd weekend of every february. Maybe we will make it a 6monthly thingey ;-) Say the 3rd weekend of August?

Regards,
Rahul

Steeroid · 22nd March 2005, 13:48

Rahul

The chaps are planning a TBHP meet in Goa sometime towards the middle of June.

Might be a nice idea to join them and lead the prayers....what say? There are some interesting alternate routes in between as well.

Cheers

Steer

rahulmd · 25th March 2005, 16:50

Hey Steer,

I agree with you, some of the sections of the goa routes are just mindblowing.

EG - section between nelamangala & hassan,
the bit between Sakleshpur and Mangalore is really nice with flowing twisties..... check out b/w pic below

hehehe i guess i have finally figured out how to upload pics here

the mangalore goa is good depending on what time you are on it. early mornings are good. i did the stretch between Mangalore and Muruddweshwar and got blown out in no time. the truck traffic was way too much!!! you cant go fast and you cant overtake... frustrating...

ankola hubli is GOOD!!! i will always have fond memories of that section. Did a high speed run under very wet conditions with a skoda 1.9 TDi as a chase car ;-) then I played the role of chase car for 30-40km which frustrated the hell out of him. not because I was going slow, but because a car costing less than half his car, was staying ahead for so long!!! i figured that from the way finally overtook me, in a tight right hand curve he jumped in front and half way through the curve, he realized he was carrying too much speed and braked and screeched and made it stick!!! i lifted off to let him stay

but hubli bangalore is sad, because our ex prime ministers dream is our nightmare, with the four laning work completely destroying the roads.
anyway, here are a few more pics from rally fb@w

goats following a jet stream

what a lovely day for a drive eh?

the chief priest leading the prayers

17th March 2005, 11:57	#1 (permalink)
rahulmd BHPian Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London Posts: 121	Rally fb@w - Write Up *Background* It all started off as a harmless drive involving 2 Rahuls that got permission from their spouses to do a 2-3 day drive. After talking to a couple of people, the feeling was that there was a lot of people interested in indulging in a bit of “Automobile based Recreation”. So the word was put out inviting whoever wanted to participate. To help pull in other like-minded individuals the event was called rally fb@w (Rally for Free Beer @nd Worldpeace pronounced Rally EffBaw). There is also a school of thought that Rally fb@w stands for Rally for Free Beer at Work. After false starts from about 15 cars, only 5 cars and 8 people finally made it to the final starting line. Car No Driver Navigator Car 12 Rahul Cherian Auto Zen 1.3L 22 Rahul Md Stock Petra 1.6 31 Sudhir A Anil K G Stock Ikon 1.6 41 Biju Jacob Novex Alex Maruti 800 53 Sreeni K Vinay Satyan Maruti 800 For the cars, vinyl stickers were printed with the car numbers and as an afterthought T-shirts were printed for the participants. Rules While publicizing the event 2 rules were put out No women& only one driver per car, so that nobody would have to share his drive On popular demand, rule# 1 was reframed as “No Spouses” and subsequently to “Sex no Bar as long as your heart pumped out petrol”. After all that fuss about reframing the rules, it was a bit of an anti climax that no women/ spouses came along. Rule# 2 was never meant to be serious as long as there were no fights in the car on who would drive!!!! Rally Details To ensure peace on the road, in keeping with the world peace theme of the rally, it was decided that the rally would be in convoys of a minimum 2 and maximum 3 cars. Convoy Synchronization Points (CSP) were set up every 50 – 70 km or at confusing junctions to ensure no one got lost and that all cars were coming along fine. The first car from a convoy to reach a CSP, was expected to wait till at least one more car from the convoy reached before he could start off again. The route was from Bangalore to Ooty and back Via Kanakapura – Malavalli – Kollegal – Chamarajanagar – Gundalpet – Bandipur – Madumalai – Theppakadu covering a total of about 300+ km. The drivers could choose between the 36-hair pin bend route or the route via gudalur between Theppakadu & Ooty. Given the nature of the crowd, it was not surprising that everyone took the 36-hairpin bend route both ways!!! There were also to be a few eagerly awaited optional sections around Ooty. “Rally fb@w for Dummies” handout was prepared and handed out to the drivers the day before the rally during the kick off dinner at Koshy’s, giving driving instructions and route details including distances, average driving speeds (considering road surfaces) and expected driving times were given out. *The Rally* Section 1A Bangalore - Chamarajanagar With a starting grid of 5 cars, there were 2 convoys, the first of which started off from Khodays Factory on Kanakapura road at 0715hrs and the second one at 0730hrs. The second convoy caught up with the first one after Kanakapura at an Idli joint. The first synchronization point after Kanakapura Idli stop was at Malavalli where all the cars reached within a few minutes of each other. At Malavalli we took a left and took off towards Kollegal. One of the cars (#12) lost his way between Malavalli and was late in reaching Kollegal. As per driving plan, only Car# 22 waited for Car# 12 since both belonged to the same convoy. At Kollegal another car (#41) decided to take a route completely opposite to Chamarajanagar despite consultations with half a dozen locals and frantic calls from the other cars which saw car# 41 take the wrong turn. A phone call got them back on track. There was a major break immediately after Kollegal where all the cars pulled up for Tender Coconuts and a photo session. Section 1B – Chamarajanagar Ooty Between Chamarajanagar and Gundalpet, the road got a little rough. However to the credit of the drivers and the cars, this section was covered pretty quickly with all cars reaching Gundalpet with just 15 minutes separating the first car from the last. At the end of this stage, all cars swore that they would never ever trust the judgment of car# 22 when it came to the quality of road sections. Go figure!!! Anyway, the bad roads had taken its toll on the appetite of the participants all were ready for lunch much sooner than anticipated. So everyone pulled up at Pug Marks restaurant in Bandipur, run by the Jungle Lodges group. The first car pulled in for lunch at about 1300hrs. After a long relaxed and elaborate lunch, we started off again by about 1415 hours. By the way, less said about the Mutton Biriyani at Pug Marks, the better. The next few stages were the most scenic ones of the day. The suggested average speed was adhered to not because of road conditions but due to photo breaks! Quite a few breaks and snaps later everyone except car # 12 decided to take a break together after the hairpins, though it was not an official Convoy Synchronization Point. The black boys are pulling away.... No one was really sure about Car#12’s whereabouts, with someone saying he had stopped to take a call from a troublesome client and someone else saying he had already reached Ooty. In reality he was a few kilometers ahead and catching up on beauty sleep! The next scheduled stop Hotel Lakeview, Ooty was reached by about 1530hrs. This was to be the camp for the night. Cottages at Lake View were pretty decent with lot of parking space. At 350rs per head for a night it was a steal. Only issue with Lakeview was the color of the water in the taps. Most people after taking the first leak break at the hotel would tell the person going in next something like “I HAVE flushed the toilet” or “I did not take a leak in the bucket” Optional Section OS1 Ooty – Kotagiri - Ooty After checking in at Hotel Lake View car #’s 12 & 22 couldn’t wait to hit the optional stage from Ooty to Kotagiri and they started off almost immediately. They say it was one BIG blast with 26 kms of ghat roads being covered in under 35 minutes. After reaching Kotagiri, they were scared to blast back lest they come across other “like minded maniacs” coming in the opposite direction. After waiting for 15 mins they started back in a very sane manner. Few kilometers on they saw car# 31 enjoying the sunset. Car# 41 was nowhere to be seen. After waiting for another 5 – 10 minutes, the 3 cars blasted across the ghats. Halfway through the blast they came across car# 41 ambling along indulging in some MAJOR photography. Due to space constraints those snaps are not here. You may contact bjroaming@gmail.com to check them out Car# 53 did not participate in the optional section, opting to visit relatives in Coonoor instead. While some tripped on the roads of the Optional Section Others tripped on the scenery!!! That night there was a detailed working session at Hotel Lake View to work out strategies to get Free Beer at Work. Mass prayers for world peace followed this. Section 2A Ooty Gundalpet The optional section OS2 Ooty Pykara Ooty was abandoned since everyone decided to sleep in late; rather the late night prayers had taken its toll on the drivers. Car# 53 started off a little earlier than the other, since they wanted to take it easy on the return drive. Hence they were not around during the morning group photo shoot. The other cars started off after the photo shoot at about 1130 hrs from Ooty. No one really wanted to risk the Mutton Biriyani at Pug Marks, Bandipur on the way back. So sandwiches were packed from Hot Breads near Charring Cross in Ooty. Car# 22 pulled out of the rally at the end of section 2A to go vacationing in Kerala,. Section 2B Gundalpet Bangalore The last section was rather uneventful with people just wanting to reach Bangalore before sundown. All the cars reached the outskirts of Bangalore by about 1830hrs congregating at Khoday’s factory before going their own way. It was decided that the next time around the return stages would start a lot earlier. Last edited by Rehaan : 17th March 2005 at 23:00.

17th March 2005, 12:12	#2 (permalink)
Rtech Team-BHP Moderator Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 5,982 View My Garage	ROTFLMFAO! Thats a lot of preparation for 5 cars on a weekend trip! __________________ He who makes the loudest noise usually has the least to say. Unfortunately they don't realise that and keep at it! ____

17th March 2005, 13:03	#4 (permalink)
Rtech Team-BHP Moderator Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 5,982 View My Garage	Had I been in Bangalore, I would surely have joined in. Those roads look beautiful! And I like the prayer session as well! __________________ He who makes the loudest noise usually has the least to say. Unfortunately they don't realise that and keep at it! ____

17th March 2005, 23:15	#6 (permalink)
Shan2nu Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Hubli/Blore - Karnataka - India Posts: 4,081 View My Garage	Awesome drive. Team-Bhp needs something like this. Shan2nu __________________ VTEC flyby - youtube.com/watch?v=1AhWJlVRPqE

17th March 2005, 23:32	#8 (permalink)
Steeroid Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: DXB Posts: 5,483 View My Garage	Phenomenal, Rahul!!!!!!! Next time you plan the Rally for Free Beer @ Work, send me a PM in advance and I wouldnt mind coming down just to participate. I'm serious ! - I have to catch up with my spiritual self and besides World Peace is too serious an issue to be left in the hands of a few drunkars - we need lots of them! If you had consulted this forum beforehand, I would've warned you about the food at Pug Marks.......... Once again, great writing mate! You should make this a regular event and I could round up quite a few guys in B'lore who wouldnt mind Free Beer @ Work. .....and world peace, yeah! Cheers Steer __________________ Cheers Steer Back in Touch - lost the i, became a Pro!

17th March 2005, 12:27	#3 (permalink)
rahulmd BHPian Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London Posts: 121	Thats the point RTECH!!!! 20 Cars could have participated without any issues ;-) maybe next time you could join too :-D

17th March 2005, 23:22	#7 (permalink)
satish_appasani BHPian Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 918 View My Garage	Great write up Rahul. Wish I was in Bangalore....

18th March 2005, 12:46	#9 (permalink)
amitoj BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 663 View My Garage	Awwwww... i wish i could've gone too... next time, Rahul... u dont have to ask me... i'll be there. Amitoj

19th March 2005, 16:19	#10 (permalink)
drifter Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,297 View My Garage	Hey thats a great write up. Wish i was there....the roads look really great...perfect for a good drive. Keep it up....you never know...some of us bombay boys might show up the next time. Drifter __________________ Slow Everything Down And Feel Like God - Tata Safari

19th March 2005, 22:58	#11 (permalink)
Steeroid Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: DXB Posts: 5,483 View My Garage	So when's the next Rally Effbaw? Steer __________________ Cheers Steer Back in Touch - lost the i, became a Pro!

22nd March 2005, 12:39	#12 (permalink)
rahulmd BHPian Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London Posts: 121	Hey Steeroid, The original plan was to conduct it on the 3rd weekend of every february. Maybe we will make it a 6monthly thingey ;-) Say the 3rd weekend of August? Regards, Rahul

22nd March 2005, 13:48	#13 (permalink)
Steeroid Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: DXB Posts: 5,483 View My Garage	Rahul The chaps are planning a TBHP meet in Goa sometime towards the middle of June. Might be a nice idea to join them and lead the prayers....what say? There are some interesting alternate routes in between as well. Cheers Steer __________________ Cheers Steer Back in Touch - lost the i, became a Pro!

25th March 2005, 16:50	#14 (permalink)
rahulmd BHPian Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London Posts: 121	bangalore goa routes Hey Steer, I agree with you, some of the sections of the goa routes are just mindblowing. EG - section between nelamangala & hassan, the bit between Sakleshpur and Mangalore is really nice with flowing twisties..... check out b/w pic below hehehe i guess i have finally figured out how to upload pics here the mangalore goa is good depending on what time you are on it. early mornings are good. i did the stretch between Mangalore and Muruddweshwar and got blown out in no time. the truck traffic was way too much!!! you cant go fast and you cant overtake... frustrating... ankola hubli is GOOD!!! i will always have fond memories of that section. Did a high speed run under very wet conditions with a skoda 1.9 TDi as a chase car ;-) then I played the role of chase car for 30-40km which frustrated the hell out of him. not because I was going slow, but because a car costing less than half his car, was staying ahead for so long!!! i figured that from the way finally overtook me, in a tight right hand curve he jumped in front and half way through the curve, he realized he was carrying too much speed and braked and screeched and made it stick!!! i lifted off to let him stay but hubli bangalore is sad, because our ex prime ministers dream is our nightmare, with the four laning work completely destroying the roads. anyway, here are a few more pics from rally fb@w goats following a jet stream what a lovely day for a drive eh? the chief priest leading the prayers

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