[Samurai]

As the adage says, better late than never. That should explain why this report took 10 months to appear. That and the appearance of the thread for Avalakonda 2012. One of the reasons I didn’t bother at first because I had few interesting shots this time. First day of the OTR I was far behind, next day I was first. Being at extreme ends my camera missed most of the action. Also, on the equipment side, I had a strange one. I used an EVIL camera, Olympus E-PL1 with 9-18mm lens, with effective zoom of 18-36mm. So don’t be surprised to see some strange looking photographs. Most shots are in extreme wide angle like this one.



At first I didn’t consider attending Avalakonda 2011, simply because it is too far. Travelling 400+ kms one way, alone in my CJ340 to attend a two day event sounded fool hardy. Then I decided to make a dry run to Bangalore and back to complete the running –in of the newly overhauled engine.

Originally Posted by Samurai

I reached Bangalore without any hitch. Even without the thermostat, the temp regularly hit 80C, but never beyond 80C even in the steepest part of Agumbe ghat.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Just completed the return journey to Manipal, that is another 413Kms and completion of the running-in of the engine. I started the drive at 7AM, reached at 5:20PM. Allowing 1 hour for various breaks, total drive time was 9 1/3 hours. Not bad for a drive that was limited to a top speed of 65kmph and involved lots of destroyed ghat sections.

Two back-to-back 413kms drives with no problems what so ever. The Jeep didn't move from the parking lot during the 16 days in Bangalore. Is it too much to hope that I finally have a reliable Jeep?

After this experience, I dared to think that I may be able to attend Avalakonda and back safely. What really made up my mind was the attendance sheet, people coming from at least 5 states.

Fortunately, I had no need to drive up to the OTR venue directly. I could go to Bangalore couple days before to my second home, and then take off from there. For the uninitiated, I live in two places, my work is in Manipal, but family is in Bangalore. So I spend equal time in both places. But my Jeep stays in Manipal since my Mechanic is there, as all Jeepers know that is a very important criterion. There is also the matter of parking in Bangalore.

Just two days before the event, I took off for Bangalore. The Jeep was in the best condition ever, so I was very confident. However, I experienced couple of massive under-steering experience in the ghats, which left me wondering. Usually I can steer my Jeep very precisely despite the play in the steering. But this was something else, suddenly the wheels didn’t turn as much as I wanted. Anyway, after the ghats I didn’t see happen, and the incidences faded from my conscious mind.



The next day at Bangalore was spent doing the usual preparations. I usually carry everything, recovery gear to the teeth, few liters of water, dry food for two days, etc. I had no worries about how to find my way to Avalakonda since I was joining Vinay Thomas and his guests at his home, which is the same area as mine.

I showed up at Vinay’s place and met his guests. It was none other than the great man who may not be referred to as chap. It was Uday Bhan Singh or simply UBS. He was accompanied by his brother and brother-in-law. After some introductory chatting, we took off to venue with UBS’s B-I-L in my passenger seat. Soon I realized the B-I-L too was quite a Jeep connoisseur as he commented on the health of my Jeep just by listening to the engine noise, an art I am yet to learn.

As we neared the location, I saw more and more offroad equipped Jeeps passing me. Then I saw a topless white Jeep, and as it passed me the driver waved at me. I didn’t recognize him in his cap and sunglasses, but I figured he was just waving at a fellow Jeeper. In that short period, the only odd thing I noticed about that Jeep was the auto hub locks. And it took off like a rocket and was soon out of my view. Must be a wicked engine mod, I thought, and forgot all about it.

Then we reached the rendezvous point, which was a Kamat Upchar restaurant, I think. Don’t flame me, it has been 10 months after all. It was there I discovered that the white Jeep was the Thar, the official entry from Mahindra. The driver who waved was Vinod Nookla. That explained the auto hubs and the rocket speed.

After an hour of gossiping around, we left for the OTR venue. I don’t really remember why we hung around so long despite coming in so early. Anyway, as we reached the venue, I realized I was one of the last to arrive. That ensured I was among the tail-enders. Not a bad thing in an OTR, that means you get to wait a lot and talk to old friends on the trail. You can also walk forward and checkout people who are stuck badly.

The breakfast was almost over by then, some were eating lunch for breakfast. Anyway, I got my share of lunch pack and drinks (water+juice) and entered the trail. And USB decided to hop on to my passenger seat since I believe he wanted to see how my recently restored Jeep performs in the trail. But it also caused me to have some butterflies in the stomach. I mean, he will see every mistake in my driving or offroading technique. It was like having Picasso watching you paint. But being the humble man he is, he didn’t make any comment on my driving.

The trail was very rocky, very unlike the trails I usually do. I like wet offroad trails, with lots of rain and slush. But this one was different, it was hot, dry and dusty. But the heat was tolerable since it was still January. I guess April/May would fry the skin off your body.

The waiting game started pretty early when the first major hurdle was encountered by the vehicles. So it was time to get down and meet and talk to many Jeepers I had only seen on the forum until then. It was also the time to deflate the tyres to suit the terrain. I usually don’t deflate in slushy events, but in dry rocky trails it rather a necessity. I finally met svsantosh and madhkris, the latter took a snap of me deflating the tyre.



Anyway, I walked forward to check out the obstacle, hoping it is not too far. Unlike in a slushy OTR, walking ahead is not really a hazard.

The first obstacle:



Doesn’t look like much, isn’t it? Blame the wide angle lens, which flattens everything. It was not an easy one, not for lot of people. That can be guessed by the long line of waiting vehicles. First you had to get down into the tiny gorge, that itself was tricky enough since the tyre placement had to be just right.



(photo by madhkris)

The actual difficultly can be gauged from the following video.

First obstacle at Avalakonda 2011 : Papaboost's Jeep - YouTube

I usually don’t do slow climbs, I like having a little momentum backing me up all the time. But the entry to the climb had couple big stones, watch at 0:08 position in the above video. So running start was not an option. One had to enter the climb and then build the momentum or try crawling all the way up.

When my turn came to climb, I had to stop and contemplate the stones, decide my line of attack. I decided to crawl over the stone and build the speed, all in 2nd low. Fortunately mohang_j caught me in action, so I have a good shot of my Jeep tackling this hill. Note the position and angle of my wheels.



After this obstacle, UBS got back in my Jeep and we moved on. This trail was very different than the usual monsoon trails I encounter. There were stones butting out of the trail almost continuously, one had to decide whether to take it under the body or take the tyre over it or avoid it altogether. One had to concentrate on the trail without break. Some places the trail was so narrow, the body would brush against tree branches on the side, quite harshly.

Then we came across another long line. Time for some photography.





Siva’s pride





But he was not so proud about the hood latch, which was digging into the hood.



A Toyota Land Cruiser with soild axle.





Svsantosh with his unique CJ340.





Time for second major obstacle, which actually looked very tame.



When papaboost (Vivek) went over it, it looked even simpler.

Second obstacle at Avalakonda 2011 : Papaboost's Jeep - YouTube

I have a bad habit. I usually get influenced by the technique that was used by the Jeep ahead of me, especially when it worked for them very well. The truth is, the technique used by other bigger offroaders doesn’t always work in a SWB with similar results. I don’t even have similar ratios in my Jeep. But I keep forgetting that in the spur of the moment. And I had UBS riding shot gun in my Jeep.

These stones were already making me very afraid for my CFLs in the rear. After watching how Vivek crawled over the obstacle, I too decide to crawl up in 1st low. Oops! I didn’t work. The 1st low of my Jeep was too slow for this climb. After getting stuck midway, I had to reverse back. Tried once again, stuck once again. Then Arka and UBS asked me to try in 2nd low. So I engaged 2nd low, send up a silent prayer for my CFLs and then got through in one go.

A shot from Arka when I climbed it.



And we were in for another long wait, a very long one. We could hear loud cheering and screaming engines, but we had no clue what was happening.





Initially it was decided that none of the marshals would bring their vehicles into the trial. Then Viji’s Gypsy came into the trail, there by breaking that covenant. Trail god’s wrath was instantaneous. The Gypsy breaks a rear CFL. This basically kept us out of boredom for the next 3 hours or so of waiting.

First we had to pull it out of the crazy place it was stuck at.





You can see that UBS himself is pushing the Gypsy.

Recovering the Gypsy at Avalakonda 2011 - YouTube

The break was right behind the massive tyre.



So we had to remove the tyre to get better access.



The tyre was later used as a support under the diff.



There was a spare leaf too.



Changing the leaf in the field is quite tricky. That is because the vehicle has to be raised properly to release the tension on the leaf. But we had help.

We had two hi-lift jacks helping the Gypsy to attain the right height for the on-field surgery.



I should mention here that this was the first time my hi-lift jack was put to real use, after 2 years of owning this jack. I did use it once to separate a tree branch in Sharavathy Valley OTR, which turned out to be more about tree handling than OTR.

Arka did most of the leaf changing work, while most of us helped out when needed.



After the leaf change, the Gypsy successfully climbed the obstacle.



It was only after that, the Terra Tigers came up that climb. This one is Arka’s Jeep, the vehicle in which I learnt my offroading ABC in 2007.

Arka's Jeep climbing - YouTube

To be Continued

[Samurai]

Usually when the wait is very long, most folks walk ahead to check out the action. But that didn’t happen here because most of us believed it was a long way off. Besides, we had walkie-talkies giving us updates on the status. Also, we had marshals telling us not to go beyond this rocky perch until the trail is cleared. It was only later we realized the import of that advice.

The way down from the rocky perch we were in, was quite steep.

Here is a look from above.



It doesn’t look very crazy from above. But the view from below can put god’s fear into a Jeeper. I don’t have that shot, so let me borrow a shot from Dwaraka.



As you can see, it is quite booby trapped. Those stones can rip the guts under your vehicle while trying to climb up. So if you go down, there is no reverting. A point of no return actually.

As we were listening to the wireless handset, we started hearing something disturbing. We heard marshals saying that the next obstacle is too dangerous and should be cancelled. In fact, they wanted tailenders to turn and go back. Now this was crazy. The so called tailenders consisted of the entire Chennai team, quite a few Bangalore Jeepers and the entire coastal Karnataka team (that is just me, actually). Most of us had come from far, and going back at this stage would be very frustrating. So we all did the next logical thing. We got down from the rocky perch and moved past the point of no return. Try sending us back now!!!

So we show up at the next obstacle and it doesn’t look all that crazy. This one is known as Robi point.



The view from the top.





Let’s checkout a video on how it should be tackled. Pardon the video quality, it was a new camera and I was still struggling to get continuous AF working in video mode.

Climbing the Robi point at Avalakonda 2011 - YouTube

Marshals were giving clear instruction on how to climb it. Yet, quite a few people were ignoring the instructions and doing their own thing. That resulted in toppling, way too many winching or towing actions, thereby almost denying tailenders a chance at it. However, most tailenders were veterans and didn’t want to be denied. Besides, once we showed up there, it was hard not to let us try even once.

Most of us with good tyres, climbed in one attempt and it was over so fast. It was real shame that 4 hours were lost here.

My climb was smooth, the idea is to never let go the a-pedal. If you lose momentum, you are toast.

Thankfully mohang_j caught me again at action here.


One of the toppled Jeep wouldn’t start anymore. So it received CPR of different kinds.





Once all the vehicles got through, all the marshals got into good mood. They were smiling again, it would have been criminal not capture their mood, especially in wide angle.


Vijay Reddy and Shahnawaz Khan



Prithvi



Vijay Reddy



Swastik Viji



Chetan, Vijay & Shahnawaz



Swastik Viji, Siddu, Chetan, Prashanth, Vijay Reddy, Vinay Thomas, Shahnawaz & Prithvi.



After the group photo I continue forward, marshal Jaggu hops into my Jeep.



But he stays inside during the photo shoot on the hill.





Meanwhile, Jaggu notices that I am turning my steering lot more than usual. My steering appears to be having twice as much play than normal. For me the change has been so gradual, I have hardly noticed.

Next we come across an interesting obstacle. Again the camera makes it look lot flatter.



Since my steering is so much play, my turning radius was also compromised. So I had to reverse in the middle of the slope to achieve the tight turn that was required.

(Couple more borrowed shots from mohang_j)




The following photo and video should give better idea about the slope.



You have to come down straight and then turn left in the middle of the slope.

Downside of oversized tyres - 1 - YouTube

But this Jeep had a ridiculously big tyres, the 35 incher which caused more trouble than any help. You can hear the loud noise of the tyre rubbing against the bumpers. At one point the Jeep was suspended by right front and left rear wheels, making me first say it was in 2WD and corrected it as no-wheel drive since the Jeep would lose complete power. That obviously confused Chetan since couldn’t see what I was seeing. Jeep had to be pushed out to escape from that situation.

Downside of oversized tyres - 2 - YouTube

However, the next Jeep which had the optimal size tyre went though the obstacle very smoothly.

Smooth operation - YouTube

Then we ran into a nice place where we decided take a break and wait for others. The purpose of the break was to ensure that everybody could be collected and taken back to the back. Only the marshals knew the way back.



I decided to take some strange shots of the vehicles there.











After we collected all the trailing vehicles, we took off. I was in the leading with marshal Dwarak in the passenger seat. He knew the trail like the back of his hand… or so we thought.

By this time it was dark and as lead vehicle we had to ensure that the convoy is not broken. Therefore, I kept watching the lights of the Jeep behind me so that we don’t break contact. We kept taking turns after turns and Dwarak was unerringly guiding us through the Avalakonda maze.

During all this, the walkie-talkie kept on chirping with status from various marshals and Dwaraka updating the status from our side almost continuously. After a while there was sudden alarm among the marshals. Apparently, one of the Jeep was unaccounted for; nobody could trace Siva (Trammway). The alarm was growing since he didn’t have a marshal with him, unlike me. That means no walkie-talkie and no way to contact him. The avalakonda trail at night was already reminding me of minotaur's maze. After a while everybody was in panic and we too stopped to take stock of the situation. I jumped out of my Jeep and walked to the Jeep in the back. I opened my mouth to ask the driver whether he has seen Siva. Instead my jaw continued to drop since I had recognized the Jeep, it was Siva. And there was nobody behind him.

The good news was Siva was not lost, the bad news was we were lost, together. Since Dwaraka was active on walkie-talkie, nobody realized that we were lost and neither did we. So we announced on the walkie-talkie, sheepishly, that Siva has been found, and we were lost.

Next thirty minutes was pure fun as all the marshals tried to find us by the sound, headlights, stars and what not. We revved our engines, tried to point the headlights to the sky in every possible direction so that somebody can spot us from far. It was not easy, we had many false spotting, took all kind of trails, even the ones that were not used in years. Finally we were able to spot headlights from the other side and found each other. But I had drive through bushes and make my own road to reach the official trail.

Soon we got back to the camp and found sleeping tents fully erected and ready for us. Strictly, you can’t call these tents. They were actually shamiyana tents that were 10ft in height, and beds were laid out along with sheets and blankets. Wonderful sleeping arrangements for a temporary camp.

Then we had camp fire, barbeque & dinner sprinkled with talk, talk and talk. The most important discussion was about who will win the 3rd world war. The Jeep won the 2nd world war, but whom will the 3rd world war belong to, will it be Gypsy or Thar.

As I hit the bed, I could hear the argument only heating up… Zzz Zzz Zzzzz

To be Concluded

[Samurai]

Next day morning I wanted to ensure that I was among the first batch of vehicles. So I took out my Jeep early and parked it close to the entrance of the trail.

Then I noticed that some of the marshals were busy applying sun screen on all their exposed skin. I am not a regular at hot-n-sunny offroad events, so I thought this is one more trick I missed. Then I had a momentary insanity, I went ahead and asked Jaggu to apply some sun screen on me. He simply asked me to close my eyes and sprayed sun screen all over my face. I felt protected now, and walked away to my Jeep. Why this was insanity, I will come to that later.

As I got on my Jeep waiting for my turn, I was thinking that I will be within the first five. But MP Sreenivas (MPS) comes along, checks out the initial vehicles, and asks me to come forward and be the first vehicle. I suppose he wanted the lead vehicle to be someone he knew very well, and we had offroad together on many occasions before in at least 3 different states. Besides, I was alone in my Jeep. So he hopped on as a trail guide and two more volunteers jumped in at the back. The rear of my Jeep was also filled with food, water, juice for all the volunteers.

The lead Jeep, followed by Shams and Mohan.



The initial part of the trail was same as previous day. But I had one strange experience. Many rocks I could usually drive over started hitting the skid plate under the body. Sreeni cautioned me more than once to focus on the road and drive carefully. But I was feeling kind of stupid because I couldn’t understand how I misjudged those routine stones along the trail. So I started to completely avoid them instead of driving over.

I could make out that Sreeni was in extempore mood today. He was making up the trail as we kept moving. At one point he asked me whether I want to drive over a lake. I was momentarily surprised why I am asked to make that decision. Then I figured he was expecting me to set bar for the trail. He obviously knows I am not too crazy, I won’t attempt overly risky things, and I always try to keep it safe.

So I asked the depth of the lake, the type of ground under water, and decided to go for it. The ground was firm enough, there were rocks in the second half of the trail. I crossed easily enough and then turned around to shoot the crossing of the second Jeep.

Lake crossing at Avalakonda 2011 - YouTube

Soon I had to move forward to make space for lake crossing Jeeps. So I moved sufficiently forward and stopped. I had to wait until Sreeni joined me. The downside was I was too far from action for photography. So all I could do was sit and contemplate. Then it suddenly occurred to me. I was hitting every rock on the trail because I had two people sitting at the rear. Thanks to CFLs, I have a very soft suspension. My Jeep is quite raised, but extra weight in the rear can drastically reduce the body height. While I was trying to ride over the rocks, I hadn’t considered the effect of two people in the rear. That was the real reason, not my lack of concentration. Sometimes I can be a real tubelight.

One of the very irritating things in OTRs is people who are always trying to jump the line. In large events it is the usual bane. While some of us are promptly waiting in line, some smart guys decide to jump queue and rush ahead. It leaves a very bad taste. But today that was not going to happen, at least not to me. If anybody tries to drive past me, where are they going to go? Trail will be decided only when my Jeep is moving with the Sreeni in it. So when some people tried to pull past me, I could tell them to stay back.

While all this contemplating was going on standing under the sun, my eyes suddenly started itching. It was the bloody sun screen on my forehead, it was melting and dripping down into my eyes. Ah… the horrors! It was like putting pepper juice into my eyes. I could barely keep my eyes open.

Then Sreeni gets back and we start moving. Then he wonders what’s wrong with me, since I was squinting and making all kinds of faces. I told him the sun screen story, and got some sympathy. Then he looks at another lake and asks whether I want to do it. But when I heard 30 inches of water, I decide it is not worth the risk. I usually draw the line at knee height.

We stop again as Sreeni tries to figure out a way to reach the rock top. Apparently, that lake crossing has forced us into a new path. I use the welcome stop to quickly wash my face with soap, luckily I was carrying a bath soap in my luggage. Finally I get relief from the sun screen from hell.

Going forward there was no trail. Sreeni and his volunteers go ahead leaving me with a local laborer who will point me the way by walking in front of me. The Jeep behind me was driven was Shams, and the Gypsy behind him was driven by Mohan. Both are highly experienced offroad drivers, so I didn’t have to worry about them not being able to follow in the new trail I was making up on the fly.

After a little while, I realized that the local guy in front of me was not an offroader. He probably thought Jeep is a bulldozer, he was asking me to go over rocks and tree stumps without any qualms. If I keep following the guy, he will wreck my Jeep. So I quickly look around and spot Vijay Reddy. Then I asked him to recon the trail and spot for me. After that things went lot smoother. But the play in my steering had increased enormously. I was struggling to turn and half my steering effort was being wasting in the play. Normal turns were ending up as K turns.

Avalakonda terrain is not the toughest I have encountered. But it is definitely the most brutal on the vehicle. As I was blazing a new trail through the wild terrain, losing side mirror, picking long scratches on my newly painted body, I was wondering just how much damage will I be picking up at the end of day.

After an hour long 4WD trek through the virgin territory, we finally manage to reach the bottom of the rocky top. What awaited us was a very rocky path. At first, both shams and I walked up the path to assess the degree of difficulty. Couple of things bothered us. One was the angle of entry, thanks to a stone we had to enter at 30 degree to the left side. Second was the series of loose stones, which can play havoc with my CFLs. Therefore, we both decided that we are not going to make the attempt. Prithvi was quite disappointed that I would not be taking the challenge. But then I always avoid too much risk to my Jeep. I felt like Mr.Roper in Enter the Dragon, there is a limit I would not cross. Refusal to climb by shams and I, brought Mohan to the forefront.





Mohan had the best of mods on his brand new Gypsy. He had installed Old Man Emu suspension. Had ARB Air lockers in the front and back, with control switches in the dash. The Warn winch was well hidden inside the ARB bumpers, solenoid under the hood. It also had Safari snorkel. I guess he had got 4 lakhs worth of mods. Above all that, he had his installer, Narayan of Ozone as passenger in the OTR. Also had warn driving lights. So this hill was the right kind of challenge he needed.

So he takes off, while I follow him on camera.

Mohan climbing rocky hill - 1 - YouTube

The rock that forces us into the 30 degree approach bothers him too, so he stops there. Notice the rock right in front of the Gypsy as he stops. Eventually, that rock is removed from that position and he continues.

Mohan climbing rocky hill - 2 - YouTube

Even with first and rear lockers, the loose rocks prove to be too much of a challenge. Prithvi decides move a few rocks to make the climb possible.

After the loose rocks are removed, Mohan is able to climb without any drama.

Mohan climbing rocky hill - 3 - YouTube

Now Shams and I looked at each other and smiled. All the stone obstacles that had prevented us from considering the climb had been removed. Now we knew we can climb without any fear of damage. And so we did, and the rest followed.

I shall let the photos talk about the views from the top.























The parking lot

























The vote of thanks by Prithvi. He thanks people who had come from all the far places, but promptly forgets the lone visitor from coastal Karnataka.





It is time to climb down.



As we drove back to the camp, the two days of wonderful offroad event came to an end.

To be Continued…

[GTO]

Better late than ever. Superb pictoral report, the images made for a Monday afternoon treat.

The terrain looks terrific, except for the rocks & boulders. They can be serious Jeep crushers. Pictures of the nasty ditch coming up?

Good to see the usual faces & their steeds.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by GTO

Better late than ever. Superb pictoral report, the images made for a Monday afternoon treat.

Thanks GTO, I wanted to post it before the 2012 OTR.

Originally Posted by GTO

The terrain looks terrific, except for the rocks & boulders. They can be serious Jeep crushers. Pictures of the nasty ditch coming up?

The nasty ditch was part of the Robi Point photo. It is not so obvious. However, svsantosh had done some pioneer research work on this, let me point you to that.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-ex...ml#post2229091

[ex670c]

Hi Sharath,

The Report is very well timed, I hope it draws a good crowd for 2012 Edition.

Every time I see the Bangalore Annual OTR pics, the excitement builds up.

Regards,

Arka

[Kandisa]

Samurai, as expected from you, this one also is a masterpiece of narration and awesome pictures. Might have been mentioned many times, but you surely have this mastery of making the events/happenings so much alive for the readers. 5 stars from my side.

[VindyWheels]

Hi Samurai,

Thank you for taking us thru this adventure thriller movie. The best part was you finding out that you are lost while searching for Shiva I coudnt stop laughing.

Hope your machine is taking good rest and getting ready for more thrillers. The writeup was superb, would love to see more vedeos next time. 5 stars from me too.

Regards

VW

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Most of us with good tyres, climbed in one attempt and it was over so fast. It was real shame that 4 hours were lost here.

My climb was smooth, the idea is to never let go the a-pedal. If you lose momentum, you are toast

I dont recollect exactly, but I think it was Jaggu/Vijay Reddy who said what needs to be done to clear this challenge - PUMP the A-Pedal. Keep the momentem up. Even flooring it all the while will result in RPM dying slowly on you... IIRC I reached the top then 'THUD' the 1st topple happened!! It was a LOUD thud to hear from the top!!

Originally Posted by Samurai

However, svsantosh had done some pioneer research work on this, let me point you to that.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-ex...ml#post2229091

LOLZ - brought a smile to my face...

[Jaggu]

Samusan another 5 star thread, super coverage and pictures.

Definitely need to learn a thing or two from you on creating such wonderful to read threads

Originally Posted by svsantosh

PUMP the A-Pedal. Keep the momentem up.

Yup thats the trick, keep "modulating" try to understand how your right foot is manipulating the 4 wheels and power on. Its not very complex, once you do it once or twice you will figure out your dance with the jeep. How it makes life so easy without harming either the jeep or the man behind the wheel.

[King413]

Fantastic report Samurai, hope to see you in your machine in 2012. Will not forget to thank the coastal participants this time.

[esteem_lover]

A very telling report samurai san. I enjoyed the bit about Siva getting lost and you finding him at the rear. Had all the elements of a Hitchcock movie that one.

[roy_libran]

Thanks Samurai for the excellent report, and compliments on the quality of narration.
One question - There was a T-Fort in one of the pics. How far did that go?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

One question - There was a T-Fort in one of the pics. How far did that go?

The black one? That was a prado, not a fortuner. I don't know how it performed, I was mostly away from it. But I know they returned after the first day.

[seedyk]

That was such an exhaustive write up Samurai , just brilliant !
Almost an autobiography of every offroader. The pictorial description couldn't be any better.
If possible, can you tell us how did the prado perform,being much sophisticated than the other machines present ?