[prits_moh]

Its somehow a very comfortable feeling to see all this adrenaline sport picking up steam at larger forums with an ever increasing possibility of larger participation. Makes me reminisce good old days.(will dig into my HDD for some pictures and post them in an appropriate thread).
Hats off to Tejas, taking off roading to its next level within city limits (what a fantastic thing that you dont have to drive to the mountains and still get the KICKS!!! )
Hope this is brought to bengaluru as well.

[F150]

Fantastic Report !! Though I am not a off road enthusiast, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the report about how the obstacles were created.

Rated the thread 5 Star.

[deetjohn]

Fantastic Report!

I always thought uneven surfaces were just augmented to make a 4WD track. Never knew a flat piece of land could also do the business. Great planning and execution.

That seesaw ramp is a super idea. Did those sack cushions hold up?

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by Shanksta

O.T: The demo car you guys used(KA-42-M-****) seems to have some a broken rear bumper in some of the pictures what was the cause? Also it seems to me that Toyota has not yet resolved the "front number plate breaking off" cause i see many of the new Fortuners in the pics with the number plate bent/broken? What was the cause for the LC's tires blowing up?
I'm really sorry for bombarding you with Q's like this but i'm just extremely curious!!

The front bumper clips broke off while the track was being made while testing clearances.

If you see any of the customer cars on the main track, they didn't have any damage though.

LC tyres not too sure why but probably could not take lateral stresses. Someone on the track mentioned that this is a common problem with yokos and the LC was running yokos. Guess this is a discussion for another thread.

Originally Posted by deetjohn

That seesaw ramp is a super idea. Did those sack cushions hold up?

Actually, those sacks weren't to cushion the ramp. The production guys messed up the ramp design. They made the exit ramp a bit shorter than the specs that we had given them. Thus, the return of the ramp was very quick once the car exited and that could hit the underside of the back bumper on exit. Thus sand bags were used to increase the weight and slow down the return.

Here's one video of a very happy participant after he finished the main track with me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Xddf92nGM

I'll soon write down the flow of the event.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

So here's the flow of events:

There were two categories. Fortuner owners who came with their vehicles and registered participants from the Etios Motor Racing Event (EMR) that was happening simultaneously across the road.

The fortuner owners were divided into two batches per day. The each batch reported at the venue at a fixed time. They start off with registering themselves and getting their vehicle number. Then they have refreshments in the specially constructed AC hangar. They are shown videos of previous events and then there is a briefing for them. The compere was Kartikeya Singhee from Autocar India, then there were brief talks from Toyota representatives and Hormazd Sorabjee and a brief talk on the track by us.

After that the owners (only owners and not their family) accompanied us to the demo cars. Three owners per car plus the driver (total 4). Everyone was strictly told to belt up.

They were then driven around the demo track and explained the use of 4x4, gearing, and other nuances. The demo track was basically designed to the extreme what a stock Fortuner could do. Thus, the owners got a taste of the capability of their vehicles.

There was a raised platform from where the families could watch the demo track.

After the demo run, the participants lined up their vehicles for the main track. Here they had their family securely belted up in the back seat and the expert was riding shotgun with the owner who would now drive the vehicle.

The main track was basically a watered down version of the demo track except the see saw. The demo and the main track had two common elements, the water ditch and the mound.

The participant was guided across the main track. They were told that at any point they wished to abort any obstacles, they could do so.

After the main track was done, they had an option of getting their vehicle washed and proceed homewards.

For the EMR participants, they were only driven around the demo track and could not drive any vehicle themselves though.

Some participants who had side skirts on their Fortuners, were allowed to drive the demo cars on the main track.

The drivers were the three of us, plus our friend Alok (who just relocated to Gurgaon) lent us a helping hand as an expert on the event day as well. Autocar also had two of their drivers, Ameya and Rahul to guide the participants and drive the demo cars.

Toyota had a service team on hand at all times and they did remove a few bull bars before the runs and refit them after for the customers.

The biggest issue we faced was the dry dust that kept clogging up the AC condenser and radiator and needed frequent hosing down to clean it up.

More pics:

[thumpingheart]

This is awesome! Really amazing to see the thought process as well as actual process of building an off-road track. And its really a sight to see these Fortuners going down and getting dirty! We seldom see one with the owner ever even thinking of doing this

Great job guys! Cheers.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

More snaps from FB and other internet sources:

[BlackRaven]

Very informative Thejas. Thanks for sharing.

Were all the Fortuners 4x4 or were 2WD and Auto variant also allowed to participate?

[Samurai]

Wow, nice to see the back stage action before the event. Great article Tejas.

[fazalaliadil]

Tejas,

That was a good job done on converting a flat insipid land into an event venue. You three being Jeepers must have worked hard to under design a track knowing the limits of an SUV.

The seesaw ramp was a novel idea.
How did the event go?
Regards,

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by BlackRaven

Very informative Thejas. Thanks for sharing.

Were all the Fortuners 4x4 or were 2WD and Auto variant also allowed to participate?

Nope. Only 4x4s allowed.

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Tejas,

That was a good job done on converting a flat insipid land into an event venue. You three being Jeepers must have worked hard to under design a track knowing the limits of an SUV.

The seesaw ramp was a novel idea.
How did the event go?
Regards,

Thanks. Event went off well. Feedback we received was very encouraging!

More pics form FB:

[BlackRaven]

What would be the acreage required to setup a permanent off road site? (minimal and optimal acreage)

why do I not see much places like this outside our cities. It seems to look like good proposition to setup something like this outside the city and have all mall-roaders to bash around for a cost.

[srikrishna717]

Brilliant thread and gives a totally different perspective.
Lot of thinking and execution has gone there!
Thanks for sharing !

[khan_sultan]

What a superb thread with detailed narration and sharing of the pre-event arrangements, logistics, track planning and other details. Thanks for sharing Tejas. Just brilliant and each obstacle would have brought smiles to the owners & drivers of Toyota SUVs.

Such events are a boon as they allow the SUV owners to experience the capabilities of the vehicle first hand in a controlled environment. Am sure, as you mentioned, many owners would not have have wanted to wash their SUvs after the event and would have preferred that mud plastered all over the body for few days.

I think what makes such events fun is that almost all participants are first timers for offroad/mud/slush/obstacles in a controlled environment and it is their child like enthusiasm, joy of tackling obstacles that makes the event so enjoyable.

Originally Posted by prits_moh

...Hope this is brought to bengaluru as well.

It was done in Bangalore last year (and also in Mumbai). It was super duper fun

Originally Posted by BlackRaven

why do I not see much places like this outside our cities. It seems to look like good proposition to setup something like this outside the city and have all mall-roaders to bash around for a cost.

Agree, such tracks will attract some crowd but may not be sustainable in long run. After a while people would get bored of the same setup/track/route/obstacles. So changing setup very frequently would be needed. But then these are just assumptions and one has to see a off-road track in reality to comment on the viability (we do have go-kart, ATV tracks in many cities, so why not 4x4 tracks). Anyone with ~4- acres land just outside city limits listening? You have a potential fun filled business idea right here (I wish I had this much land)

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Attachment 998826

Had always wondered about the utility of headlamp washers. No more!