[Samurai]

When the dates for the Bangalore OTR 2012 was announced, I was not so sure I wanted to attend. That is mainly because it involves 1000kms of solo driving in my 4-speed short geared CJ340. The last time wasn’t pretty, I had a very scary drive back home with wandering wheels. However, in the defence of CJ340 I have to say that the Jeep was flawless in the last two OTR events (Beltangady & Somwarpet). But I was in a group and not alone.

Then Dwarak calls me and tells me that I will be a marshal whether I get my Jeep or not. And I knew that in Bangalore OTR marshals do all their driving in the recces and almost none during the event. In that case, there was no point in driving up all the way only to park it at the event. So I signed up for the event, but without a vehicle. I would still show up in a 4WD, but it would be the Grand Vitara.

Jan 26th 2012

Thus I showed up at the rendezvous point on republic day 2012. This time it was on Kanakapura road, exactly on the opposite direction of the last event. There was already a long line.



The registration was going on right there.



And it was time to meet some old friends.



Pretty soon offroaders were double parking, it was time leave for the base camp.



Around this time I met Romi Malick who had come from New Delhi. We were meeting after 3.5 years, and he joined me in the Grand Vitara. Somewhere after Kanakapura, we got into the trail, which was pretty hard on non-4WD vehicles that were accompanying us to the base camp. The marshal who was leading our convey had apparently never done this at night, so we lost our way more than once and went in circles. But we were not worried, not as long as whole lot of us were lost together. Meanwhile, Romi was very impressed with the ride comfort of Grand Vitara in the trail. He was expecting Safari kind of rocking ride, but there was none of that.

As we pulled up at the base camp, the marshals were doing parking control. The 4WD vehicles plunge to the right and continue on, the 2WD park on the left. To me they pointed to the left. Looking at the distant lights on the right I realised we were still quite a distance from the base camp. I have a 4WD, why can’t I go right? But I know the limitations of my vehicle. So I decided to watch some of the Jeeps as they traversed the unlit field to reach the big boy’s parking lot. After watching the undulations of the Jeep, I decided it was safe enough for the Vitara. So I turned right and plunged into the unlit grassland and reached the 4WD parking lot safely and proudly.

Then it was time to meet old friends from so many states.





Then we collected T-shirts and food coupons. Marshals decide that we have to take off pretty early morning. Announcements are made by Prithvi as people are having dinner.



Meanwhile, I had made a mistake. The previous year I walked into the sleeping tent after midnight and found a perfect bed. I imagined the same thing will happen this year. But after watching the huge crowd during dinner, I started having misgivings. So I walked into the sleeping tent right after dinner and found all the best spots taken.



So I had to settle for an uneven spot in the middle. I dumped my bag and T-shirt on the bed and walked out again. After another hour of gossiping, I walked back to the bed, only to see my event T-shirt missing. And that was the least of my problems. As I settled into the bed, I realised that the ground underneath was wickedly uneven. It was like sleeping on a series of potholes. When I tried sleeping on my right side, I found my arms hanging in the air, since the ground just fell off on that side. Finally I had to contort myself until most of my body matched the contours of the ground. I barely slept that night. Meanwhile, Romi sleeps in the Vitara, and gets much better sleep.


Jan 27th 2012

Bangalore annual OTR event has become synonymous with the word organization. They can create perfectly livable environment out in the boondocks for us urban weekend warriors. You already saw the sleeping arrangements, and this was the toilet arrangement. You know, clean toilets, the kind of stuff our government tourist department doesn’t think necessary, and thus doesn’t provide. Half of them were Indian type and the rest were european type. A water tanker was parked next to it.



As the participants were getting ready, the event officials were already readying for the kickoff.



Here is the youngest marshal (Aditya s/o Viji) of Bangalore event. No I am not joking, he attends every recce and helps out a lot...



Marshals are being given the final instructions.



The event has 4 trails, with increasing level of difficulty. Each trail had a bunch of marshals assigned to it, the ones who had the best understanding of those trail. Only a handful of out-of-town marshals didn’t have any familiarity with the trail. One was Arka, who would be recognised as a marshal in any OTR event whether he wore the marshals shirt or not. So he didn’t bother with the blue marshal shirt. Another was me, I can shoot with a camera and write reports if I am not too lazy. So, I definitely needed the blue shirt to be recognised as a marshal. Since I knew nothing about the obstacles, I decided to play second fiddle to the trail marshals, trying to help if required. Mostly they didn’t need me. That pretty much describes my marshal duty.

The Chennai Terra Tigers are ready



Breakfast not so ready



As the vehicles lined up for the trail, I moved the Vitara from the emptied parking lot to main camping area.



Then I came across the much awaited Hyderabad Hard top.







The queue for the breakfast.



Since I was busy taking photographs, I didn’t join the breakfast early enough. While I was looking at the long queue with disappointment, I was told that marshals don’t have to stand in line since we have to deploy ahead of the participants. So I got to jump the queue.



The MH gang, somehow Tejas was missing.



This was one unexpected vehicle, but it was a non-participant. Too bad.





Lamda, the local offroad accessories makers were present with two of their vehicles, showcasing their hydraulic winch, free wheeling hubs and manual diff locks for Gypsy.



The Gulbarga Team



Last minute instructions to marshals, before they dispersed.



Sandeep with his CJ3B



Fazal & Tejas with the Lynx



The HHTT (Hyderabad Hard Top Thar)



A cleanly modded Gypsy, I never understood that logo though.



To be continued...

[Samurai]

The long line...



UBS flags off the first offroader, a marshal vehicle.



I shoot a few more before I hop on to the sweeper vehicle for trail 1. The harsh sunlight is illuminating the wrong side.



















At the first obstacle.



















This was the first major event where I witnessed the Tharfication of Indian OTR scene. It was predicted back in 2010 by couple of Hyderabad Jeepers (DKG & Fazal) that Thar will change the Indian offroad scene. I wonder whether they knew how exactly it would change. Thar CRDe changed the demography of Indian OTR event. It changed the entry barrier to OTRs. Yes, I don’t mean lowered, it changed the entry barrier. Money was never the problem, but it was the hassle of owning a 30+ year old design relic, and having the need to be more friendly with your mechanic than your customers or colleagues. I am referring to both Jeep and Gypsy. When a 21st century product showed up at 3 times the cost of an used Jeep/Gypsy, that barrier changed. People who never dreamed or only dreamed of it, could now buy a Thar and participate in OTR events. They brought families to the event. I saw more ladies and kids in this event compared to the earlier ones.

You can buy cool hard top like this for Thar now.



The Lynx



And we continue...











It amazes me how lot of people come to OTRs without any recovery gear, or inadequate recovery gear. Let’s consider this situation.

A Jeep gets stuck.



Another Jeep readies to pull. Everybody brings out the towing ropes, but nobody has D or bow shackles. So how do they propose to connect the ropes? A silly knot and a rock.





Since the gradient was very mild, the rock held, and the Jeep came out. But hello, if you are buying a tow rope, please buy couple bow shackles too.

To be continued...

[Samurai]

The second obstacle was an incline with a gutter in the middle.














And we move on...





























Like any Bangalore OTR trail, this is a very rocky trail. Although this is the easiest of the 4 trails.



















To be continued...

[Samurai]

This is a very desolate place with very little greenery, very unlike the monsoon OTR I usually favour. Give me slush and rain anytime over rocks and heat, I’ll even take the leeches.





This is the other hard top Thar, the one from Bangalore (BHTT).



Rocky trail continues... we had to constantly spot the drivers to avoid the sharp rocks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17rnBeJ2b14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDhGsgAt0tQ

Rock gets bigger... Fazal honks at the rocks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-LWwLchfv0

Trail contines...















Meanwhile, the HHTT suffers a flat tyre. I was quite intrigued by their hi-lift Jack.





The desolate trail continues...

















And that is the end of Trail 1

To be continued...

[Samurai]

Now we enter Trail 2





Pretty much immediately we run into an interesting obstacle. In fact, there were a series of obstacles and each of them needed a marshal to spot. After spotting for the first few Jeeps, the trail marshals moved on, before asking me to become the spotter for the first one.



What made it interesting is that you could see the incline straight, but you have to approach and conquer it with a S shaped approach. If you come up straight, you are toast. I would not have guessed it. But the trail marshals showed me the only workable approach (the S shape) and moved on. And there were sharp rock rocks on the side to rip the side wall, if you turn too early.

Here is the perfect example of S shaped approach. I was using hand signals so that I would be least ambiguous. JeepCaptain (Shibu) shows how spotter’s instruction can be followed to the T to execute a perfect climb.

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

But some guys don’t watch the signals too closely, so they get to do trail & error a little. For example, this fellow came up fast, turned a little late, so hit a rock. So I got him to back out, and try again. But this time he turned before I told him, there by climbing over the sharp rock I was hoping to have him avoid. But he had some really thick sidewall, so no damage done. So you gotta listen to spotters, that trust is important.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ3WQJhG1rU

The S approach, watch the spotter, follow the signals carefully, and get through.





Then it happened, a dirty incident.

A vehicle comes up, ignores my hand signal completely and ends up the far right side, leaning towards the cliff. And he stops as he realises his precarious condition. He should have never gone to the right, it was not part of the S approach at all. I quickly run to the other side, get on a rock and try to recover him. First I look behind his vehicle and notice a big rock about 10ft to his rear. Obviously I have to get him to avoid that rock, get him along side of it.

So I asked him to turn the steering fully to the right and then reverse. And I repeated the two more times (TURN RIGHT FULLY & REVERSE) since he seemed a little distracted. There was another guy who was telling him that he was in 2WD, and somebody else screaming another instruction. It was getting chaotic. Then he reversed, STRAIGHT! Right into the rock. I visibly cringed because that is exactly what I was trying to avoid. So I got a bit upset too. It may be his vehicle, but no Jeep lover likes to see a Jeep getting hurt like that. So I tersely told the driver to listen to instructions and follow it correctly. Then the driver says the most absurd thing:

HE: I just followed your instruction and my Jeep hit the rock.
ME: What? You didn’t follow my instruction, therefore you hit the rock. I asked you to turn right and then reverse. You did nothing like that.
HE: Forget it, I don’t want to follow your instructions.
ME: What do you mean? I am the only marshal here, so I am the spotter for this obstacle. I helped everybody before you.
HE: No, I don’t trust you. I want him (points another Jeeper).
ME: <stunned>

Now, having my spotting instructions ignored by drivers is pretty common, it happens all the time. I usually shrug and move on. This time however, I just snapped. I screamed back saying he can’t blame me just because he can’t listen to spotting instructions, and then some more. Of course, I didn't use any profanity, not my style. It was a very civil ranting, but with a loud voice. Meanwhile, he was trying to wriggle his way out of the mess he had created for himself. It took nearly 10 minutes of heavy revving, he hit that rock repeatedly and completely dislodged it. He was being spotted by others now. The ground at that point was totally ripped apart by the time he clawed his way out of there. Then he turned towards me and makes a casual apology. I was too heated at that point to accept it. I got a grip over my temper only after he moved out of my sight.

I started spotting again. The next few vehicles followed the spotting instructions perfectly and got through. But one Gypsy made a mistake and ended on the right side. I gave him the same instruction, turn fully right and reverse. He did exactly that, and recovered very fast out of the mess.

Meanwhile, I was wondering what went wrong with me. I have never done that.

It could have been because:

• I felt I was unjustly blamed for the (big rock) hit.
• I was told my spotting can't be trusted, although I had helped many vehicles before his to get through without a glitch.
• My brain was fried after walking in sun for 3 hours taking photographs.
• All the above.

But these are excuses. I should never have behaved like that. Not in a friendly event like this. I don’t display road rage in the worst of traffic snarls. So this offroad rage was really surprising and unacceptable. So I moved ahead in the trail and made my peace with him. After I came home, I got his email address from a friend and sent him a detailed explanation and formal apology. I never got a reply, may be it went to his junk mail folder. But I felt some closure only after that.

So, we continue...















Sometime around this time, I was able to check out the Hyderabad hard top in action. Even though it was still a prototype, the fit and finish looked very good. I suspect it will be impeccable once fully finished. I rode the Jeep in a very rocky terrain and I could hear nothing, not a squeak from the hard top. I was even more impressed by the roll cage that is right under the hard top. This will be a great product.

Then the trail got really narrow, not much chance to drive around the rocks.













We were coming to the end of Trail 2, but it was wicked nevertheless. At one point I was spotting a driver (Manas in Thar) to avoid a sharp rock that could cut the thin sidewall on his Geolandar AT-S. Then a guy in red T-Shirt (that said BUM) contradicts me, gives a different instruction, though he was standing quite far from us. I have cut my same model tyre on similar rock, so I convince Manas to avoid the stone. Then I focused my attention to that fellow, who looks vaguely familiar. Why would he contradict me even though he was too far away to see? But I don’t want to lose my cool again, so I move on.









No, I am not tilting the camera. It is a tilted trail. The trees are straight.





For most Thar Drivers, this was their first real OTR and you could see them really sweating, even in Trail 2.

Then manas in his hard top Thar find himself on a big rock.



By this time marshal Viji was present and was helping him recover. So I take a back seat.



But nothing works, so Viji gets another Jeep to tow it. Still it is a very dicey situation. Now the red T-shirt gets in the way of Viji.





I finally identify the red T-shirt as Viji refers to him by name. Then I understood. He can’t help it, that is his nature. He has to have his say.

Thus we have come to the end of Trail 2.

To be continued...

[Samurai]

Here many of them had parked and waiting for instructions. And many were leaving the trail, for good, to return to Bangalore. I heard stories of lots of damage, especially to Thars.

But many are waiting around the big rock for further instructions.





By the time, I was totally pooped. I have been walking for 6 hours in the sun, and I was close to a heat stroke. Viji notices my tiredness and ask me to get into a marshal vehicle. That happens to be Pradeep’s Thar, which takes me back to the Base camp.

And what a road...



I noticed this plastic strip on his Jeep. It is to avoid scratches from the thorny branches.



Then he gets a tyre puncture.



Fortunately, the event mechanics were nearby, so they swap the tyres quickly.

Then we come across this incline.



It shouldn’t be a big deal for Thar, but Pradeep says he can do it without touching the accelerator pedal. And he does it. He says it is because of some mods he has done. Don’t remember the mods anymore.



And we are back at the base camp.



But the people from Trail 3 &4 are not back. Apparently they are lot more tougher, although lot shorter.

While waiting for them, somebody decides to take bath. I don’t remember who, but god bless him, it dawns on many of us that it is a great idea. Now, keep in mind that there are no bathrooms here. There is the big water tanker, a big drum next to it, then a few buckets, and no walls at all. So few of us walked there in our shorts, used the buckets as mugs and took a royal bath. After 7-8 hours in harsh sun, the feeling of dumping a bucket of water on the head is pure bliss. That is the best moment of the entire event. I am sure the fellow bathers there would agree with me.

As we sit around after the super wonderful open bath, we are practically glowing with freshness. As more and more participants drag themselves back and come towards us, we kept asking one question.

WE: What’s different about us?
THEM: You guys look ridiculously fresh, how could that happen?
WE: Muh ha ha ha ….

While this was happening, we noticed that there were villagers gathering in huge numbers. In fact, they outstripped the participants. At first I was afraid something bad is about to happen. Suddenly they might raise up and starting protesting or something similar. Eventually I was told they were there for dinner. Many of them had arrived 4 hours in advance for the promise of chicken.

Prithvi was the grill chef.

Attachment 1038860





I suspect the local villagers polished off more chicken than the participants. But everybody was happy, that is what is important. Today we has much less crowd as nearly half the participants had left. The trail was very hard on many vehicles, and drivers of damaged vehicles had found it prudent to return to the city.

While most people hit the bad, the party continued outside.



There was hand wrestling competition between the big heavy weights.



There was a birthday party for marshal Prashanth.



There was laughter.





There was winking and posing.



There was enough noise for Andy Haryali to come out of bed asking all of us to cool down.



Then he joined us in the festivities.



Today I was not worried about the sleeping situation. Tejas who was next to my bed had taken off early that evening. So I moved my bed over his bed, took another bed from another early bird. So I happily slept on 3 layers of bed, therefore no pothole bothered that night.

To be continued...

[Samurai]

Jan 28th 2012

This day started with a very relaxed manner, it was lot less crowded too. Even the marshals were quite relaxed.



Some interesting rides.



















I really liked the stance of this Jeep.



The Hydraulic winch from Lamda



Manual diff locks for Gypsy from Lamda



On the previous day, only the people who attempted trail 1&2 finished both the trails. But the people who did Trail 3&4 did only one trail. So it was decided that today nobody will do Trail 1& 2. But everybody will focus on Trail 3 & 4. I decided to go to Trail 3, and it was a good decision. That is because nobody managed do Trail 4 today, after yesterday’s damage of the trail.

Rajesh and Shibu



So we take off.



This is MP Sreenivas’s Jeep, built by a mechanic named Shivanna. Romi drove this one the previous day and was absolutely thrilled with it.



The trail 3 just has one obstacle and this is it.



Looks impossible at first sight, but some Jeeps do make it.





Sandeep does a valiant effort, but finally forced to give when his Jeep gets stuck into a tree root.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjiNvp9jci0

Mallikarjun Sajjanshetty, the leader of Gulbarga team, looks upon with amusement.



And he sends in the axeman.



As the tow cable pulls Sandeep away, the axeman attacks the tree root.





Soon, it is apparent he is no pro with the axe. Another guy takes over from him.



But even the second axeman couldn’t complete the job. The marshal Gypsy tries to go around the root, and then backs into the root.





To be continued...

[Samurai]

Both the earlier axemen were OTR participants and not real pros with the axe. Finally they sent in the pro. I don’t know where they found him, but it was clear he knew his job.







Talk about being fully equipped...



There was a rock in the middle of the incline, which used to stop most Jeeps like a brick wall. Avoiding that rock was nearly impossible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CUL7f6Zqb4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQm9KELFHKc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHH-a6yuPFM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiEHP8oDbG4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjL8o425RFo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTwLPtBx-GY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE04NSWSsPE

Here the locker equipped Marshal vehicle does it in one attempt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzY55yw0eL8

and then it comes back.



But here is the most surprising climb. A total stock Jeep of madhu krishna does it in one attempt. He gets stopped by the rock, then miraculously escapes it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XURh_i3BxwA

Meanwhile, one of the Gulbarga Jeeper decides to take an alternative route to avoid the rock.



But gets caught by the tree when he tried to maneuver back. Axeman is called into action again.



Shivanna, with his creation. He is not really an offroader, but wants to try after seeing all the action.







At this point I decide to cover the action from the top.

Another failed attempt, but it looks cool from the top.







The surface is really battered, it is a wonder how some of them made it.



This is how it is done in the inimitable Robi Style.





And he pays for it in tyre damage.



Meanwhile JeepCaptain’s Jeep is doing all the heavy winching. I notice the nylon winch cable. It is so light and safe to handle, unlike the steel cable on our Jeeps.





We hear word that the Trail 4 has turned into a no-show. Even marshal Vijayanand Prabhu couldn't crack it with his multi-lockered Jeep. That means it was time to wrap up and get back to camp.

At the camp we have quick lunch and wait for others to join us. At first I thought of leaving as I didn’t see any more activity. Then I saw some demonstration happening on my way back. There I found the others having ice candies. So I stuck around.



Then there was the vote of thanks.



There was the photo session.

A solo.



A pair.



And the group.



The End.

[r_nairtvm]

Sharat,

Very nice crispy report eventhough late. Goo photos as well.

I liked your photo study of being "fully equiped" and the "Pro" axemen

Experience wins almost every time isn't it

Best Regards and Drive/Ride safe

Ram

[jmvivek]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Now we enter Trail 2

But some guys don’t watch the signals too closely, so they get to do trail & error a little. For example, this fellow came up fast, turned a little late, so hit a rock. So I got him to back out, and try again. But this time he turned before I told him, there by climbing over the sharp rock I was hoping to have him avoid. But he had some really thick sidewall, so no damage done. So you gotta listen to spotters, that trust is important.

To be continued...

Sharath , That was me on my MM540 , pretty much a rookie then, with only the experience with patches in my farm at Coorg. You were right, I did come in fast, as , I really didn't know the exact crawl speed/capability of my vehicle that time. I lost my left step hitting that rock.

In fact, I was using brakes and clutch too, too often in the first 1 hr or so. I started gaining confidence on the 4l and crawl capability of my vehicle only after this obstacle. It was a very good learning that way.

Best part was that my vehicle held/performed very well for the entire two days of event and drove back all the way to Madikeri without any issues.This somehow got me to develop a good feeling about my vehicle, good ol' 89'er MM540.

Thanks for the lovely video. Its a collectible for me to relish as my first professional offroad event.BAOTR2013 here I come...

Regards,Vivekj

[svsantosh]

small world!!

TN29Y.... Is a hosur RTO Regn.... never would have guessed I would see a 4WD CJ Class Jeep registered in hosur

Small world indeed!!

[fazalaliadil]

Thanks Samurai,

The pics though late, are definitely worth the wait. Thanks!

Well composed, crisp, with a story telling character, is how I would describe your photography.

This was one good event and an equally good gathering of... off roaders and their machines. Great organization, good food, wonderful nights, treacherous track...thats what we came for isn't it? And not a walk in the park!

Had to pull out unfortunately, due to busted fuel tank and supply pipe of the Lynx. The Thar with the HT driven by Prabhu busted not one but two tyres.

Over, all a great experience.
Regards,

[Skyline GT-R]

Great write up. Felt like being there.

The "M" logo on the orange Gypsy is the logo of MotorMind who does vinyl wraps for cars among other modifications.

[NIP]

Wow awesome report Samurai !! Thanks for sharing !!! Enjoyed every pic !!!

[Blue Thunder]

For a moment, I thought I was caught in a time warp ... the Bangalore OTR is going to happen next weekend, and the OTR report is already out . Then, read the title again !

Thanks for the beautiful pics and report, Samurai ! This proves that Time travel is indeed possible...I mean, I got tranported back one year, it was almost as if I was there again.

Going through your report, I was relieving the entire sequence of events, starting from the awesome lineup of off-road-vehicles on Kanakapura road, the interesting 'journey' to the base camp, the drive though some of the forest areas surrounded by pitch darkness, only the headlights of the 4X4s providing ambient illumination, then reaching the beautifully prepared base-camp literally in the middle of nowhere (Kudos to the 2012 BODA O-Team for this effort alone ), and then the technically challenging trails/obstacles. Wonderful nostalgia !

Originally Posted by Samurai

...the toilet arrangement. You know, clean toilets, the kind of stuff our government tourist department doesn’t think necessary, and thus doesn’t provide. Half of them were Indian type and the rest were european type. A water tanker was parked next to it..

I noticed a QC sticker of Sintex in one of those portable toilets, dated Dec 2011...brand new toilets !