[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by vinod_nookala

Attachment 953968

An XUV5OO doing a water crossing. I think requires HL. I infer from the XUV Test Drive & Review thread that XUV AWD is suited for snowy terrain / loose gravel etc.

I am surprized that XUV is able to do stuff that requires hardcore HL mode A.K.A Fortuner.

4X4 Experts - any thoughts ?

[genesis]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

An XUV5OO doing a water crossing. I think requires HL. I infer from the XUV Test Drive & Review thread that XUV AWD is suited for snowy terrain / loose gravel etc.

I am surprized that XUV is able to do stuff that requires hardcore HL mode A.K.A Fortuner.

4X4 Experts - any thoughts ?

That is not a water crossing. It is a muddy track with rain water.
My innova does that regularly on Andheri Ghatkopar road in Mumbai as do scorpios and xylos all over India.

Am not a 4x4 expert but that would be my analysis.

[vinod_nookala]

Some more pictures of Lonavala Great Escape 2012

Briefing






Flag-Off

[vinod_nookala]

Ontrack-tyres lose grip, sliding over the obstacle


Preparation




Team recovery


winching

[vinod_nookala]

Some more pictures of Lonavla Off Road Challenge 2012

[vinod_nookala]

Obstacle Course one

[V-16]

We had a great time. Will leave out the critical analysis as on such a large scale, things do go astray while organizing an event.

What I liked:

# Separate trails for 2WD and 4WD and to a certain extent the competing vehicles

# Fantastic trail for the 4WD competing vehicles. The rain played its part and made things tougher but then if theres no challenge, then whats the point.

# A good amount of obstacles to satisfy every offroader, Inclines, declines, slush, rocks, slip zones, river crossings, some ruts, squeeze alleys, what not. Full marks for the trail.

# very well marked trail with directions and pointers...without harming the environment. Great job.

# Finally, great weather. Not a torrential downpour but an overcast, cool day with bits of rain thrown in. (M&M cant take credit for that, the weather Gods can)



What i didnt like: (not complaining but a pointer for the future)

# Too many vehicles and the resulting chaos in registering, start up time, waiting time between obstacles etc etc....

# .....Resulting in extra time taken for tackling the trail.

# Therefore no food for competing class till 5:00pm when we returned ...and thereafter. Though, there was a gentleman (from M&M) who very courteously offered to take us to the restaurant and insisted he feed us there but we were already running hours behind schedule and could not avail of the hospitality. Thank you gentleman, whoever you were, your offer wipes out this grouse.

Basically there was one problem leading to all others, more than 150+ participants and therefore everything snowballed.

What I dont Understand:

In the 4X4 competition, we learnt that there would be negative marking, directly related to the level of preparedness of the vehicle. I can imagine if the vehicle is not stock, heart wise but surely one cant expect an ordinary M&M vehicle shod with OE HT tyres to reach 5 feet into such terrain. So negative marking for tyres is a big question mar to me. I cant think of one vehicle which would have negotiated the entire competitive trail on HT tyres, so Vinod, a point to ponder here. Just a suggestion.

What im glad about:
The two guys who won the competition Shubhendra (Classic) and Nishant Chabbria (MM550) (Mud Slinger), are both Team-Bhpians a big congratulations to you guys for your achievement and to add to that there were two Wild Card Entries to the finals, one was Ankit Tank (MM 550)and yours truly (MM 550) (which i was told of when already en route to Bombay)...also Team-Bhpians, so basiclly TBHPians cleaned out the event. Kudos!!

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

An XUV5OO doing a water crossing. I think requires HL. I infer from the XUV Test Drive & Review thread that XUV AWD is suited for snowy terrain / loose gravel etc.

I am surprized that XUV is able to do stuff that requires hardcore HL mode A.K.A Fortuner.

4X4 Experts - any thoughts ?

This XUV was obviously a W8 but had to opt for many chicken routes to obstacles like during climbs and inclines and deep slush. It did no water crossing and the picture is not even of a slush pit, its of a large puddle. I would have also not put my vehicle if i had a similar one, through this grind as it would lead to surer fire damage, due to its rear overhang and not so high Ground Clearance.

All in all a good loooong day spent amidst friends and a fantastic trail. Good Job Vinod and M&M.

[vinod_nookala]

Gigi Bhai,
Thanks for your comments and encouragement. I always wanted a great escape that is remembered by people specially on the trail front. I am glad Great escapes are no longer considered to be tame events.

Yes, we had a problem of plenty! We had 70 online bookings and rest were walkin. Couldnt turn them back. May be next year we will put a cap on 50 vehicles maximum (thats what we are doing for GOA Great Escape on 11th of August) to manage the crowd better.

There is no negative point for regular AT & MT tyres. We don't propogate off roading on HT tyres. For those who perform well even on factory HT tyres (which most new vehicles have for CMVR reasons) they will score better relatively. Tyres that of tractor or some other special tyre that is not so common which will give unfair advantage gets higher negative points. The idea is to encourage driving skill over using external aid to imrpove capability of the vehicle. People who won the trophy were on MT tyres.

I congratulate Pune off roaders and fellow team bhpians on winning trophy. Lets see who takes away brand new Thar in finals. Would it be the home grown boys or external team needs to be seen.

Thank you guys for turning out in such large numbers and making the event successful.


p.s- The gentleman who offered you hospitality was my colleague Venky who works for Adventure team.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Originally Posted by vinod_nookala

The Big Daddy of all Great Escapes. For the first time in the history of Great Escape 130+ teams entered to take off-roading head on.

Dear Vinod - I agree to your comment. From 130+ entries point of view, this may be the big daddy of all Great Escapes, I believe you finished at around 5 PM, but the "great grandfather" of all Great Escapes was held on 12 July 1998 in Silvassa, where we returned to our hotel at 9 PM after rescuing around 30 vehicles very badly stuck within a distance of 400 meters inside a cloudburst. I was in MH01P2540, my trusty Invader, aka CJ3404WD with XDP4.90 engine, KMT90 transmission, 5.38:1 axles and 215/75R15 production tires! I shall never ever forget that drive as well as that vehicle. Ask Pradeep Kasliwal / Naresh Bhosle, they will tell you everything. It was the offroad drive of a lifetime. Maybe, it was that drive which made me do the Thar! .

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[vinod_nookala]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Vinod - I agree to your comment. From 130+ entries point of view, this may be the big daddy of all Great Escapes, I believe you finished at around 5 PM, but the "great grandfather" of all Great Escapes was held on 12 July 1998 in Silvassa, where we returned to our hotel at 9 PM after rescuing around 30 vehicles very badly stuck within a distance of 400 meters inside a cloudburst. I was in MH01P2540, my trusty Invader, aka CJ3404WD with XDP4.90 engine, KMT90 transmission, 5.38:1 axles and 215/75R15 production tires! I shall never ever forget that drive as well as that vehicle. Ask Pradeep Kasliwal / Naresh Bhosle, they will tell you everything. It was the offroad drive of a lifetime. Maybe, it was that drive which made me do the Thar! .

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

sir,
I heard about silvasa event, if time of retun is to go by, last year in Kolhapur 4wd only track our recovery team came back only at 10 p.m, will ask bhosle he will have a mid night story also for sure.

I believe we at Mahindra Adventure have come a long way both in terms of frequency, trail, quality & level of participation. Gone are the days of just one or two events a year, the amplification now is huge and so is the resultant off road community now.

Why stick back to the days of 1996? You are welcome to off road with us again. Coming to MCUBE?

p.s- did our vehicles have a tool called winch in 1996?

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Originally Posted by vinod_nookala

sir, I heard about silvasa event, if time of retun is to go by, last year in Kolhapur 4wd only track our recovery team came back only at 10 p.m, will ask bhosle he will have a mid night story also for sure. .

I believe we at Mahindra Adventure have come a long way both in terms of frequency, trail, quality & level of participation. Gone are the days of just one or two events a year, the amplification now is huge and so is the resultant off road community now.

Why stick back to the days of 1996? You are welcome to off road with us again. Coming to MCUBE?

p.s- did our vehicles have a tool called winch in 1996?

Dear Vinod - you are correct. The event has grown from strength to strength and has also evolved into a robust brand, all my best wishes are always there with you. I cannot resist posting what I am typing below. Have a good laugh. This is regarding "WINCH"!

The first ever Great Escape was in Kasara in January 1996. The second Great Escape was in Lonavla, if I am not mistaken, it was on 07 July 1997. There was a small mud patch in which one 2WD vehicle was stuck. Somebody said "we need a winch". There was a group which reacted by saying "we have a winch, we will get it". After two minutes, we all saw two guys physically lifting a winch and running towards us. They placed it on the ground and said "Sir, winch"! I am not making this up, this actually happened in Lonavla, 15 years back. . Yes, a lot of positives have happened in the last 15 years!

Why the The Silvassa event is remembered - as the evening progressed to night and as we were actually inside a cloud burst, (it was as if we were underwater but we could breathe, the rain was so strong, it was like 26 July 2005 Mumbai rains), we could not see 10 meters ahead, we did not know if somebody was left out. We, means Gavin Hurtis and Imtiaz Shaikh in MH15K2572, the "Hands Across the Borders" Commander Hard Top 4WD with a winch, and me in MH01P2540 scouted the whole area. We first brought the guys out of wherever they were stuck and then we had to negotiate a climb upto the road. I remember taking MH15K2572 on top of this climb, unaided, jumping it on a horizontal tree root to get there so that we could then point it down and winch the other cars up. Finally, after everybody was safe, I brought MH01P2540 up, unaided, 4WD low second gear, full throttle. It just flew through the slush, climbed the hill and landed, safe at last! There were at least 50 people there who applauded. It was my drive of a lifetime, one which I shall always cherish. I wish somebody had recorded the whole thing.

That's the offroad prowess of a bone stock CJ340DP4WD with 5.38:1 axles. Nothing comes close. What a Jeep! I cried when administration department told me that MH01P2540 was sold.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

PS - I know that "My Thar" MH01V521 was there! Why no photographs?

[V-16]

Yes i can understand Vinod, there are some people whom you can never say No to. But it was great to see this sport increasing by leaps and bounds. All the best for the next MGE.

Please convey my regards to Venky. Sorry i could not avail of his offer as i took the option of leaving early and missing the Bushy dam jam, rather than food.

All in all a great day Vinod. We hope to see you ans team Mahindra in Mcube.

[Anupam]

adding a small clip that Ritesh took of me, this jeep belongs to Ritesh

trying to put the embedded clip right here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-ev1...ature=youtu.be

[needmorebhp]

Was in Lonavla that day. Had a really hard time explaining to my mom why would someone try to get their cars dirty by driving them into mud filled ditches when on the other hand We were having a hard keeping ours clean.