[Tejas@perioimpl]

It's been a while since we put up some offroading pictures and a proper thread here on team-bhp. Most of our recent excursions have been small otrs with nothing much to write about and the random pics being posted on FB.

Last weekend, we thought let's do a cook out and an OTR. The rains were abating and it would be perfect weather to barbecue at night and offroad in the day.

A dear friend suggested a private place which had place to stay as well as private land to offroad. A few phone calls and the rate to stay was negotiated and the usual suspects were invited.

AVR (aditya rathore) had told me that any slush fest in this part of the country and he should be invited. So a call goes out and he's booked himself a train to bombay.

The OTR was a comedy of recoveries and one to remember. The recoverer becomes the recoveree and so on and so forth - a vicious circle.

Here's a nice pano shot by AVR that sums up the day:



The usual suspects:

Gogi Singh



Ravi Nayar



Aditya and Kian (Ravi Nayar's son) with Jignesh and Paras



Manan, Tejas, Imran Ladak, Allan & Sanjay Kale



Ouseph Chacko



Prashant Bhandarkar



Amol, Ravi Sharma & Aditya



Ankit



Layla the Official OTR mascot and the only thing on 4 power to go anywhere



Pic Courtesy:

- Sanjay Kale
- Ravi & Carmen Nayar
- Manan Patel
- Prashant Bhandarkar
- Jignesh Goradia
- Ouseph Chacko
- Assorted mobile camera pics from the rest of us

[Tejas@perioimpl]

It all starts with a phone call / message asking "are you in for the OTR on *details*....?" and you get the usual replies

"maybe"

"ofcourse"

"yeh koi poochne ki baat hai"

"depends"

"who else is coming"

"mera jeep workshop main hai"

"mera jeep do saal se ban raha hai"

"i'll come if xyz is not coming"

"i may come later"

"someone drive my jeep"

"what's for dinner?"

After a few hours of Q&A we finally have our people list.

Why is people list important?

Because Ravi Nayar and his pretty wife Carmen are organising the barbecue food and we need a head count plus the veg / non veg count.

Mostly everyone and their dog are coming in on the saturday night but a few could not make it due to other commitments. So Gogi, Jignesh, Imran Ladak and Sanjay Kale come in straight for the OTR on Sunday morning.

The venue is a private place around 200kms away from Mumbai and approx 5-5 1/2 hour drive by the jeeps considering the traffic and ghats.

There are three groups that would leave on Saturday.

Group 1: Ravi Nayar to reach the venue and scout around for an ideal BBQ place

Group 2: Leave a bit later. I take gogi's jeep and pick aditya and drive to the venue. Since gogi is already in pune side for work, he would get join us in the morning. Ouseph from Autocar India joins us enroute.

Group 3: The others who are trying to get Ravi Sharma's jeeps mechanicals sorted and leave the last. Unfortunately the jeep could not be done on time and they come by Ankit's Yeti and Amol's Pajero.

Ravi Nayar and his faithful volvo XC 60



It's one full stocked vehicle. BBQ grill, freezer, table, camp lights, tents, the works.

Carmen and Ravi took great pains to get everything ready the day before.

The Menu:

Prawns
Chicken
Salad
Potatoes
Mushrooms
Corn on the cob
Bacon sausages
Cheese Garlic Bread
Papad
Assortment of Drinks


Three vehicles (a volvo, a mm550 and a thar) were strategically parked and a tarp stretched over in case of rain.

It took us a while to get the coal burning since the intermittent drizzle spoilt it for us. But a lot of fanning and hungry stomach determination finally set the coals going.

Step 1: Putting the coals on a metal sheet with paper on top:



Step 2: Adding fuel to get the coal going:



Step 3: Finding a fan to get all the coals going:



Step 3a: Holding umbrella to prevent drizzle from interfering:



Step 4: Carmen starts preparing the food in the meanwhile



Step 5: The fan has started and the coals start glowing



Step 6: Some hungry boys try to go closer to the fire (under the grill) to get their food cooked fast



Step 7: Finally the BBQ starts going:







Step 8: Happy foodies!









And of course, nowadays there should always be one "awww" moment :

[Tejas@perioimpl]

The conversation at BBQ is the usual:

"thar vs jeep vs gypsy debate"

"did you see that guy's post on t-bhp?"

"that bugger on FB just talks big about otrs but never attends"

"we must do an event"

"yes yes we must do an event"

"when to do an event?"

"next month, the month after, the month after the after"

"im not free then, family commitment, conference, lecture"

"chalo, phir lets offroad only, event ko maro goli"

"did you see that jeep ka photo on fb"

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Goes on till 4:30 in the morning with probably one serious discussion for 40 odd minutes on education in offroading with Ouseph saying that people learn by mistakes (like falling off a bike) and some of us saying that however true that may be, you need to also be educated else that one mistake might be your last.

By 4:45am we're in bed and the guys from Mumbai are awake and preparing to leave and coordinate with each other:




This is the lovely scene that greats them in the morning as they near the venue and wake us up:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Cars are parked outside our accommodation waiting for the morning arrivals:



Early morning greetings, hellos and hi's:





Some group snaps to post on FB walls:



Cars parked ready to leave:



We then hit the trail:



Our first obstacle is a short decline to enter the trail from the road.









Prashant's red classic enters and drives a 100 meters before getting stuck in the soft mud:





Some man power is decided to be applied to the classic. Everything from pulling, pushing, rocking, praying, dancing, cursing is done to no avail:









Sanjay kale goes in after him and meets the same fate in his mm550:



So now we have two vehicles stuck:




Kian finds it a good time to pose for some photographs as imran ladak is dashing off somewhere as seen in the background. The jeep is going nowhere:



Gogi says, no problem, i shall rescue them, but alas meets the same fate 20 feet behind:



Ankit tells Ouseph "you have the thar, which is a descendent of the famous 521 and is supposed to run rings around the jeeps and gypsies so go rescue all with the thar":



But who can win against the mud gods? The Thar sinks in the background as Kian goes jeep hopping for his photographs:



So what if three jeeps are stuck? We will pose with smiles plastered on our faces! Jeepers will be jeepers! It's a jeep thing, since you're on this thread i'm hoping you will understand!

[Tejas@perioimpl]

So now with four jeeps stuck, we keep the gypsies out. We know they will probably not sink due to the light weight but we still think better safe than sorry.

Everyone gathers around Gogi's jeep wondering what to do:



Again manpower is applied to gogi's jeep without any success:



Sanjay kale has a winch equipped jeep. So we spool out the cable and secure it to the anchor point only to realise that he has forgotten his remote at home.

The thar has a blown relay and no remote for the winch either.

So we think again.

A round bonnet conference starts to plan the course of action:





I find a broken branch and try to lever the vehicle up so we can put some stones below. But the vehicle was too heavy, the log was brittle and the suction force of the mud was great. In hindsight, i should have used it from behind the vehicle under the u bolt attachment of the springs to the axle and shovelled away some mud to break the suction as well.





In the meanwhile one of the gypsy (imran ladak's) pulls the thar out from behind and they get ready for gogi's jeep next which will be pulled by the thar.







First a route is found which is rocky so the thar doesn't sink in again and a few tow straps are attached together to compensate for the increased distance.

Gogi's wheel is stuck bad:



So i make myself useful by shovelling some mud away and creating less of a suction effect and pushing a few rocks into the rut to prevent further sinking:







Hard work it was... you can see my love handles bulging against my tshirt!

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Now that the Thar is out, she's going to pull Gogi's MM550 from a distance since that's where better traction is.

So out come the tow straps:



In the meanwhile a crab decides to offroad on a stuck tyre:



Soon Gogi's jeep is recovered by the thar and we now move on to recover Sanjay Kale's MM550.

As usual, human power is applied first to no avail:



Then we decide to pull him out from the front using the Thar:



No success. So we add a gypsy to the Thar:



Still no dice! So decision made to use Gogi's 550 to pull from behind:





Gogi's jeep needs to snatch a bit to get the stuck vehicle out since plain pulling is not working. But due to poor traction surface, she could not back up a small little hump and human power was again applied:



More hands were needed and she was up and sanjay's jeep was successfully recovered.





We realized that his sanjay's jeep's hub locks were giving problems and 4wd was not engaging due to that. We decided to recover prashant's classic next and leave sanjay kale's jeep where it was and tow him back to the road on the way out.

Prashant's classic was easily pulled using gogi's jeep:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Now that all cars are recovered, we decide to head to the next obstacle. We are watching Layla trying to get Jignesh out of the thar so she can get in:



Mission accomplished!:



As we are looking at this happening, we realize that Amol trying to get his Pajero in via another route has also gotten stuck. Our first reaction? Just stand like stonehenge and think, "aaargh! another recovery!":



The stuck pajero:



Thar is again called to pull out the pajero. Since the Pajero is at some distance away, everyone piles into the thar to reach the spot. Allan is shouting himself hoarse that not so many people but by then it's too late, the thar sinks:




Paras's gypsy is called in to recover the thar and then they go and succesfully recover the pajero:




Some posing time:



The muck reminds amol of fudge and makes us all hungry:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

We head to the next obstacle. To reach that we need to cross a small valley / gully. All cars make it through without drama.

The Thar:







The Gypsy:












The Pajero takes a different route:





Next is another climb. Gogi makes it through easily again. I'm with prashant in the classic and advice him what path to take:



He can't make it and i take the wheel and guide the SWB out of the ditch and up the climb. Felt nice driving a classic after such a long time:



Imran is up next. But he realizes the Gypsy is not as nimble as the SWB and get's stuck:



As usual we try to push:



But he's hopelessly stuck:







So back to the tow ropes:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Next up is an obstacle that needs to be tranversed. First one is gogi. He clears it nicely with some spotting help ofcourse:









Prashant's classic follows next:







Suddenly one sees that everyone is looking and laughing:



Why? Cause Imran is doing the spotter's dance:







Realizing that he's the source of some light hearted humour, he quickly hops into his gypsy to attempt the obstacle:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Paras drives up in his gypsy to attempt the obstacle and suddenly has no steering control. The steering box has come off. Probably an old war wound that went undiagnosed and failed. Thankfully did not fail on the highway at high speeds. His vehicle is out of action:







The Thar is next for the rut:









The spotter realizes that some oil is dripping from below the vehicle and everyone stops to check:







Realize that the sump is cracked and the thar needs to be towed out. Try trail repairs using wet mseal and even duct tape but they don't work:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

After the end of the rut, one has to take a sharp left over some stones and make a climb. Gogi clears the climb but the classic cannot make it up. Prashant, Allan and Ankit give it a try but the vehicle is slipping and sliding and making the terrain worse:











Manpower is again tried to no avail:



Gogi goes up to try to guide the classic for a better path. Suddenly the classic gets some bite and lurches forward and gogi tries to jump loosing his balance. Ofcourse the classic ran out of steam and came back and gogi was in no danger but did give us a hearty laugh and he learned never to stand straight ahead:





Ofcourse, no fall can dampen Gogi's spirits:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

By now everyone is tired and we still have a 5 hour drive back home. Some people needed to leave early so they hitched a ride back with the classic to their regular sedans:



Allan and Ravi Sharma took gogi's jeep to recover sanjay kale's jeep which was still on the trail to tow it till the road. Soon we got word that half way through the tow, both vehicles got stuck.

Thus, prashant's classic was called in for tow duty. She first pulled gogi's jeep out. Then gogi's jeep now driven by manan was supposed to re-recover sanjay's jeep but again it got stuck. The classic was recalled and she pulled sanjay's jeep out straight till the road:





The classic now heads back to recover gogi's jeep but get's stuck herself:



Imran Ladak's gypsy now enters to recover both the classic and gogi's jeep:





Thus, ended the circle of recoveries!

[Tejas@perioimpl]

The Thar and Gypsy are towed to a nearby welder's place to get them fixed:











Some of us spend time by playing carrom:



None of the vehicles could get fixed unfortunately. Paras had to call a tow truck for his gypsy and amol towed the thar behind his pajero till a proper workshop in lonavla.

I was driving Gogi's jeep on the way back. All the snatching had taken it's toll. The alternator bracket came off and the alternator stopped working. Thus in a bit, the wipers, horns and lights died. The GB mounts were also broken.

Remember, please never snatch with regular tow ropes or metal ropes, it will take a toll.

Prashant's classic driven by his sister Rucha droveparallel to me on the expressway giving me some light and imran ladak drove behind me and acted as my tail light.





We used tobacco from some cigarettes and rubbed it on the glass. The rain water slid off it but we needed to repeat the process every 15 minutes.

This was the effect between the tobacco side and non tobacco side (passenger side):



Soon we reach lonavla and parked the cars at a workshop, ate some maggi, piled into Ankit's Yeti and zoomed off home.

[bblost]

Thread moved from Assembly Line

Thanks for sharing.

[Wildy]

Wow, That's awesome. The narration and picks are fantastic and this tour must have lots of treasured moments. Thanks very much for sharing.