[mohang_j]

Hats off to the Organizers. This was my third OTR and first in my own jeep. All three were well organized and this one was managed very well considering the spilt trails and the number of participants gathered.

All tracks were real vehicle breakers. I had one flat tyre on day one and second on the tarmac while returning to Bangalore. I had to back off due to the faulty starter motor on day 2 climb 1. Had some paint damage and sidewall damage in two tyres, nothing happened to the jeep's underbody

The team from North Karnataka won our hearts by their helping nature. They were very helpful (at least for me) both times when i had flat tyre. We took more than one hour to change the tyre on day one as the wheel nuts were stuck and were of non-standard size.

Waiting for the pictures to speek, please post them.

[SuperSlick]

Wow, going through the posts it's evident that everyone had a wonderful time and made it safely with a few scratches/damages to the vehicles though!

Congrats to the organizers & all the participants as well! Waiting for more thrilling updates with some eye-pleasing snaps & videos!

BTW, who was the winner?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by SuperSlick

BTW, who was the winner?

This was no competition, so there are no winners or losers.

[genesis]

Originally Posted by mohang_j

The team from North Karnataka won our hearts by their helping nature. They were very helpful (at least for me) both times when i had flat tyre. We took more than one hour to change the tyre on day one as the wheel nuts were stuck and were of non-standard size.

Aah...the boisterous Gulbarga gang led by their fearless leader Matin in his invader. The reason Pradeep (The Thar guy) and me left that spot where you had the puncture and proceeded was because I had requested them to ensure you got out fine and because the Thar would take some time to make it till the end of the trail

We first met the Gulbarga clan in AKC where he had floorboards and HT tyres and still put the invader into obstacles until we sent them off saying it was dangerous to do so with kids and family inside.

This time totally transformed and prepared with rollcage and tractor tyres.

They invariably start by ticking off people by cutting in line, but the more you spend time with them the more you appreciate their zest for life, lending a helping hand offroad and sheer determination and spirit and then they become good friends.

Here's raising a toast to ARBAAZ...

[optimist]

Do the organizers / camp location owners have any objections if i post the exact map location (gps) of the obstacles along with the photos? If so i can post just a general map of the approximate location. Query is with regard to the trail / camp usage being privately owned and any objections that might be raised later. Thanks.

[siddartha]

Originally Posted by optimist

Do the organizers / camp location owners have any objections if i post the exact map location (gps) of the obstacles along with the photos? If so i can post just a general map of the approximate location. Query is with regard to the trail / camp usage being privately owned and any objections that might be raised later. Thanks.

kindly do not post gps locations. photos and sketch of trail depicting the obstacle locations of the 4 sectors is fine.

[Baburajs]

Yes , indeed it was great event this year. We ( Binubalan , our friend Girish and me ) went with our classic to test its credentials and boy it did it in flying colours . It did us all proud by completing all the obstacles that we tried with minimum fuss in its stock avatar .

Day one we spent on trail one and two which was relatively easy with the 2nd one being tough with narrow descents and tricky ascents. but it was kind of ok.

The second day we set off directly to the trail 4 with Prabhu in the lead followed by Sibi . Prabhu climbed the first one with his 550 monster with lockers and LSD . Then Sibi too did it in some 3 attempts on the souvenier with not so good tires.

Then Binu cranked the engine and we were in a debate as to which gear to use . 2nd Low or the 1st low . According to me the incline didnt warrant a 1st low and could be tried in 2nd. Binu also felt the same . But we were convinced by people and then ourselves that we will go with 1st low . Binu came in with some momentum and cleared the first two mini obstacles and then got stuck in the third rock . It was losing momentum there. Tried for some time and as the winch cable came down Rajesh suggested me to climb on to the passenger seat. I did it with some difficulty as the jeep didnt have side steps and the jeep was tilted about 30 degrees towards the right . But that did the trick. We kind of crawled out of the danger and voila we were out. Yes as some one mentioned it was pure adrenalin rush. I was happy that my dead weight atleast helped in that.

We went on to the second obstacle but it was deeply dug up the previous day and Prabhu couldny climb up even after multiple attempts. Sibi too tried and couldnt surmount it. So we thought it wasnt wise to attempt this and turned back. It is here I did some stupid thing. I was reversing the Classic and I think my front wheel shoved an boulder to the underbelly and here I was sitting on a rock with my front left wheel in the air. I was feeling so stupid that I was doing it not at an obstacle but when we are simply returning . But ego is not a good thing to have while doing offroading so I sat there while prabhu , suresh sir , Sibi , Lokesh and Sateesh tried to salvage me . Sibi tried to winch me out but it worsned the situation but the boulder got a bit lose . Then others pulled the rock out with my toe rope and thats when my jeep came out of danger. Thanks guys.

It is funny that I was close to toppling the jeep while reversing and coming out . May be I was a bit switched off or something. But I was certainly shaken . Add to that the wobbly seats which was coming down while in an incline.

But all in all it was a great event with even greater evenings and the icing on the cake is ofcourse the jeep doing every thing well with only scratches and a broken front indicator.

Got to see lot of people who we only knew by names and so could put a face to the name. Will post more detailed later.

Babu

[SILVERWOOD]

My run at this event came to an early end on Day 1 itself, courtesy a burnt clutch.

KPS Sir's mechanic tried to revive the same 2 twice, but we decided to back-off after the second breakdown.The gearbox jammed in the middle of a jungle and we had a close shave with a herd of Elephants.Thanks to a god sent Samaritan who towed our GPW for 15 kms by his bolero.

It was great to meet Romi sir,UBS Sir and a big thanks to Dwarka sir for bringing us all together.

Waseem.

[gsferrari]

My run ended early on Day-1 around 75% into the 2nd Trail. Clutch burnt up on a incline which wasn't very challenging but it just wouldn't hold and started to slip and then the telltale smell let me know that I had just bought the farm :(

Same clutch used in Mumbai for EXAMM and AKC recce, Palar Challenge recces and main event and a few beach runs in between. It had HAD it...

Vehicle preparation was also not quite there. My Gypsy was too stiffly sprung for this terrain and the increse in height + hard top coupled with the weight of 3 people inside the vehicle made it very unstable over the rocks. I was sort of glad the clutch fried when it did because I was grossly uncomfortable.

I think the SWB jeeps are more fun especially something light with a petrol engine and decent tires. The ability to crawl and a supple articulating chassis is a must-have here. It really felt like a washing machine during the tumble dry cycle inside my Gypsy!

[adnan_1212]

hello everyone. A special thanks to the organizing team for this event. It was not an easy job at all to handle so many offroaders and their machines, at a time, in such a good manner. A very well planned event according to me. Even though had a very tiresome journey all the way from Hyderabad in a CJ3A with a three speed gear box and maximum speed of 80 kmph and had to face problem with the self motor twice, but still thoroughly enjoyed the day one. The food was good, the location was wonderful, sleeping arrangement was quite comfortable, neat toilets, goodies, new friends, challenging trial, made my efforts to participate worthy enough.

The only thing i dint like about the trail was the thorns and bamboo plants which tore my jeep top. i am sad. Its now upto Fazal sir to restore the beauty of my jeep.

i had to leave for Hyderabad on the second day itself due to some personal work and i am sure i have missed a lot.

Special thanks to Mr. Shyamal Jetwa for giving me a good company throughout the journey and not leaving me when my jeep broke down due to self motor problem.

In my 3 years of offroading i have not come across a single offroader who was rude, noncoopertive and proudy. I am proud to be a part of this jeeping community and will certainly try my best to participate in many more such events.

[optimist]

After reaching the camp site, parking arrangements were supervised by the organizers.

Going forward after parking, we saw that there was a big shamiyana erected on ground leveled for the purpose lit by flood lights, with mattresses, pillows, covers and blankets neatly laid out and ready. Another smaller tent was full of activity by cooks. Good. We were feeling hungry.

Strolling about saying "Hi" to each other, looking at other jeeps, many settled down to party. Groups from various places were very exited. Trying to find the Bangalore guys was in vain as most were busy with things to be done.

Newbies were welcomed into groups like old friends. Met some mods for the first time and we were able to put a face to many bhpians spoken over phone or whose posts we have been reading. Nice.

Briefings about the next day's program was made by Dwarka and others. Handouts of bag, T shirt, caps, food coupons, stickers were made.

Fresh hot tasty dinner cooked on the spot was served around 10:30PM, consisted of Fried Rice, Plain rice and rasam, papads. I'm veg. So .

Damn. Forgot to click snaps. Most hit the sack by 11 pm in eager anticipation of the next day.

Morning was a surprise with neat toilet arrangements with running water. After quickly getting ready, jeepers started getting their rides ready for the challenges ahead.

At the parking lots (a few snaps. Sorry to miss out 2-3 sections.) Most of them are severely cropped/resized for limitations.




Now the wait for breakfast. To be frank the cooks were working hard for feeding 200 people but they must have started earlier. Finally by 9am, breakast was served. Bread, Omlette, steaming pongal, idly/chutney/sambar was polished off in no time.

Jeeps then queued up at the start point eager to go. Announcements about the trail route, do's and dont's were made. Juice and water bottles, were distributed at the start point.


Finally at 10am, the first batch was flag off by UBS sir and proceeded to sector 1 and 4.


Shortly thereafter the 2nd batch was flagged off after equipping them with food packets and proceeded to sectors 2 and 3.

More about the sector 2 and 3 in a next post as that is where I joined in.

[optimist]

A small decent at the start of sector 2. A newbie to otr's photography effort. A quick realization that you need to be outside to get the action lol
(size 43MB, 1920x1080 50i, 15 seconds, not much action)

20120127102220 (2).m2ts - YouTube

This is a test post. Please let me know if the format is not viewable or size is too much for download.

[headers]

Originally Posted by optimist

A small decent at the start of sector 2. A newbie to otr's photography effort. A quick realization that you need to be outside to get the action lol
(size 43MB, 1920x1080 50i, 15 seconds, not much action)
20120127102220 (2).m2ts - YouTube

This is a test post. Please let me know if the format is not viewable or size is too much for download.

Video is viewable!! No issues

[genesis]

Thanks to the O team for arranging such a wonderful event and hospitality in the middle of nowhere. Now back in Mumbai after a high speed Bangalore - Mumbai run.

Was great to meet the Bangalore and Chennai crews after July 2010.
Enjoyed the food conversations with the Hyderabad gang and the animated greetings with the Gulbarga crew!

Had a great time walking, spotting and riding in Swastik Vij's graciously gifted Gypsy.

Here are 4 photographs which should cover the essence of the terrain









Trail 3 was a vehicle beater, Hat's off to the people who came with their wife's in newly bought Thar's and left without hubcaps, tyres, scratched cat cons and paint.

Good luck on the domestic front

[optimist]

Sorry for not being able to post faster. Uploading is a pain. If you think videos need to be smaller let me know. Some are in the range of 150 - 200MB at this resolution. You might need to choose a bigger size for the full resolution from the player menu.

Sector 2, The first steep rocky incline. After the previous in vehicle video and it's futility, I ran down this slope to capture this.

(1920x1080 50i, 26 seconds, 70Mb size)

20120127105748.MTS - YouTube