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-   -   C.O.R.E SUV Off-Road Excursions - 2014 Calendar (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-excursions/145123-c-o-r-e-suv-off-road-excursions-2014-calendar.html)

Hi Guys,

We are happy to announce our SUV Off-Road Excursion Calendar for 2014.

Regards,

Arka

Great going, Arka :thumbs up

Would be interesting to know the format of the March and September events which are mentioned as competitions.


...and Gals :)

Attended my first C.O.R.E SUV Off-Road over the weekend in my Pajero. The Terra Tigers had planned and organised the event very well.

I had been reading so much about the sandy Palar terrain, finally I got to experience it. This event helped me understand my vehicle and learn and improve on my own skills.

Many thanks to the team for the hospitality, the overall arrangements and organising this event so well. I look forward to the next event in March.

My friends who came with me have taken some snaps, will post them over the next couple of days.

Sharing some pics shot by Arun, a participant from Tuticorin driving the silver-grey Pajero:


Day-2: Driving down to the location in a convoy lead by Arka


Participants do a recce by foot


Vishnu's Endy with 33" M/T Tyres


Sid and Satya from Terra Tigers do a recce by Jeep


Once the track is decided, Vishnu starts off. I ride shotgun with him



To be continued...

Some random pics of Vishnu's Endy and my Pajero

Started driving around and just when I thought I was getting a hang of the sandy terrain, I got stuck!



Tried to get out of this situation, ended digging deeper into the sand


Rear wheel stuck real bad



Vishnu to the rescue, had to pull the Pajero out



Sid attaching the tow rope

Pics of Arun in action in his Pajero










Some pics of the Black Scorpio 4WD (I forget his name). My friends were quite impressed with the Scorpio 4WD's capability:











Have some more snaps, will resize and post tomorrow

Hi Guys,

The Scorpio 4WD was driven by Manoj Sharma from Triveni Motorsports.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb0zA...ature=youtu.be

Video edited by Perith Manoj Durai.

Regards,

Arka

Hey!

Its been a wonderful experience from both the Jan Excursion and the March Extreme Competition. Looking forward to the SUV Excursion in May, I was wondering if it would be alright to put up a request.

I've got a metal off road bumper for my Pajero from Swastik Fabs, Bangalore. Few of the main reasons I went in for this was, an improved approach angle and provision to hold a winch. Talking of which, I really don't have much winching experience, apart from being recovered a couple of times by the organisers of the Excursions and coming across a lot of terminology online.

I felt, God willing, on the may excursion, if there are a couple of vehicles with winches, it would be good to have a winching session on:
- various surfaces
- selecting and using anchors
- force multiplication, change of force direction
- using winch for purposes other than recovery
- plus I'm sure there are a lot more things i don't know.

I know there are a couple very experienced resources amongst us. At the last event, I got the opportunity to meet Mr. Mahendran, Sanjay Davids who have participated in events in the international turf. I'm sure such resources have a lot of knowledge, skill and experience that can be shared.

Personally, I feel this would be a systematic, technical and safe way to start learning this art. Besides, I don't want to be driving around in a vehicle with a winch thats to be looked at :Shockked: and used less :Frustrati.

So, Arka & Team, atleast one part of the next excursion winching session in May please:

Thanks!


Note from Support: Please run a spell-check before posting. Thanks!

Hi Guys,

The Terra-Tigers welcomes you all to another edition of the SUV off-road Excursion on 3rd & 4th May 2014.

Itinerary

3rd May
1200hrs - Assemble at PNC Farms Pavunjur
1300 - Start off-road for 2WD & 4WD SUVs
1900 - Reassemble and head to Overnight Stay.

4th May
0700 - Breakfast
1000 - Start off-road for 4x4 SUVs with Low-Range.
1600 - Finish Off-road.

Lunch - Packed - Cakes/Biscuits/Chips


Dress code

The summers have started and it going to be really hot please carry umbrella/caps/hats/sunglasses.

Light cotton garments will help, full sleeve shirt will prevent sunburns/tans.

Sports shoes will protect the feet better than floaters/sandals.

Online registration & payment

http://www.meraevents.com/event/suv-...rsions-may2014

Regards,

Arka

Day 1

Its been itching on the wheels, the transfer case and the whole fore limbs for a long time. Finally time to go on all 4s, yet another SUV Off Road Excursion.

May 3rd; 1PM; Pavanjur Farms; 20km off-ECR; Madurantakkam.

We were five vehicles for Day 1 - 2 Organiser Vehicles(an MM540 and a Thar), an MM540, Mitsu Pajero SFx and a Mahindra XUV500 2WD.

We drove to a site nearby where we picked up a few obstacles. The organisers had the challenge to cater to a wide range of capabilities from the prepped MM540 to the more civilised XUV500.

Obstacle 1

It was just a warm up round. A small mound of rock. The Pajero went through on all 4s followed by the MM540. Then came the XUV500. We got an opportunity to learn the basics of spotting. The 2WD made it more interesting an obstacle. We all went through twice. The MM540 and the Pajero did a couple more runs on more aggressive lines.

Obstacle 2

This was a much higher, rougher rock which was picked by the organisers to practice winching.

The MM540 went through on all 4s. It took two attempts and the driver had to realign himself for a good climb. Once on top of the rock, the driver had to turn around in the small area and then climb down the side carefully.

It was time to demonstrate winching with the Mitsubishi Pajero. The Pajero is an SFx variant, running on 31 Maxxis Bighorn 762s, a relevelled front stock torsion bar, Swastik Fabs Front Winch Bumper, Swastik Fabs Rock Sliders and a 12000lbs Milemarker winch.

Once the Pajero was aligned to the approach, the vehicle was left in idle and gears disengaged. Chief Arka did a briefing on the basics of winching and guided us through the whole process of winching the vehicle up and the back down.

The most emphasis of winching was on the safety aspects. It was mandatory to put on gloves first. The area was scouted for the best anchor point which in our case was another rock near by. Our aim was to winch the vehicle on top of the rock. So it was necessary to make sure that the anchor point was higher so it would not only provide for pull of the vehicle forwards but also in an unhill fashion. Care was taken to make sure that there would be a clear line from the winch to the anchor point so that the winch cable would not be damaged. The tow strap was worked around the anchor rock making sure the strap wasnt twisted and did not pass through any sharp edges. The two strap-ends were held together by a shackle. It is a good idea that the shackle pin is locked fully and then unscrewed by one or two rounds. The winch was put on free spool and unspooled till we connected it to the shackle and then the winch gear was engaged.

We decied to keep the engine running to reduce the strain of the winch on the battery. Very mandatory safety aspect was to put a blanket on top of the winch cable. It is ideal to do this at 1/3rd of the distance from the anchor point. The purpose of this is, in the event of the winch cable snapping, the blanket would absorb the potential energy and prevent the cable from lashing like a whip. There have been incidents of the cable lashing out causing damages to both man and machine. Once the blanket was in place, we made sure that all by-standers moved away from the radius of influence of the winch cable. Then we started winching. In our case, we felt it better for someone from the outside to use the winch remote, so Arka held it standing at a point where he was both safe and had a good view of what was happening.

Once the cable slack was pulled in, the vehicle first began to sink on the suspension a bit before starting to move forward. Once the vehicle started to move, it was a slow and steady move up. It is also adviced that under load, the winch be used intermittantly to prevent heating of the solenoid. Once up, we had the freedom to drive down or winch ourselves back down. We decided to to winch back down. Without unhooking the winch, we just decided to spool out and the vehicle was slowly let back down.

Then we unhooked the winch, spooled in the cable back while holding the cable without slack(something I find as the most irritating part of the job), the strap, shcackle were all put back in the vehicle, winch remote unplugged and gloves came off.

Obstacle 3

We drove to the place of the third obstacle. This was like the side of a dry canal which gave us a provision to drive along the side with the vehicle banked. It was sandy and as we drove along we found that gravity did its job of pulling the vehicle sidewards. So we had to countersteer to maintain the desirable line of driving. The XUV500 made a couple of rounds followed by the MM540 and the Pajero.

There were a few excavated pits there which we decided to use as an obstacle for the jeeps. The MM540 went in first. It had difficulty getting in and needed to be pulled in. Coming out, after a couple of attempts, the vehicle climbed out. The Thar likewise had difficulty getting in. But we decided that it was better to winch the Thar back out. Finally, Arka did a demo on how to get in and out of the pit on his 540.

Obstacle 4

This was a snake pit where we practiced driving on the edges of the pit with the pit in the middle. It was a challenge for all the vehicles involved.

Obstacle 5

This was a plateau type of rock. A huge, not so tall, but broad rock. The Pajero went in first. Arka spotted and slowly but steadily the Pajero made a pass. Decided to do one more round and we were through with that Obstacle.

Obstacle 6

We drove a little further to a dry lake bed. The whole area was dry and hence we missed the slush. This place involved quite a bit of cross-country driving followed by a free-drive area. We all practiced a bit of short sand climbs with and without run ups.

It was a long day with various terrain, exposure with different ranges of vehicles, different MO used on obstacles from 2WD, 4WD to winches, recoveries done using two straps, winch, etc. With the sun setting, we decided to call it a day.

Terra Tigers SUV Excursion

May 3rd 2014; DAY 1 - Part 1

Terra Tigers SUV Excursion

May 3rd 2014; DAY 1 - Part 2 of 2

Terra Tigers SUV Excursion

May 3rd 2014; DAY 1 - 2 Missed Pics

May 4th; 930AM; Pavanjur Farms; Madurantakkam

Day 2; Terra Tigers SUV Excursion

An MM540, a prepped Gypsy, a Mahindra Thar and a Mitsubishi Pajero 2.8IC set out to have a day of fun and learning at the Palar river.

This is an exciting place to be because everytime you go there, the terrain seems to have changed. Also, Palar provides one of the most radical terrains. The total substructure of the soil changes at will every 100m. Besides this, used sensibly, this provides a very safe ground to practice our driving skills.

Once into the river bed, we decided to check out some new ground. This meant passing through some of the places we had been through during the previous excursion. Though it was the same place, the mounds had changed places, the ground was different. The organisers led us to an area with a couple of soft sand patchs and soft sand climbs.

I found this a new experience. All the power and torque could come to vain if we couldnt pass it on to the ground properly and the soft sand seemed to absorb everything without giving traction. Further lowering the tyre pressures helped a bit, but it was still a challenge. After a few runs, we drove back into more familiar territory which seemed unknown because of the climatic changes. The sun had the surfaces dry and we couldnt find any signs of slush or puddles anywhere.

The organisers set up an obstacle course which we have covered previously, but with a few changes in directions. It made it interesting and all the vehicles went through.

Then we headed to an obstacle which was previously a special stage. Though I had driven in the area previously, I got beached on a hump. Apparently I miscalculated the momentum required. I tried to winch myself using a jeep as an anchor, but it only risked pulling the jeep in. Finally Arka had to tow me out backwards. I redid the obstacle a couple of times till I felt comfortable with it.

One more obastacle course which comprised rock and soft sand. With expert spotting, I managed to clear the rocks, but was caught by the soft sand, managed to winch myself out though. With the help of the organisers, I did the course once more without much difficulty.

However, the place has left an open challenge within me and I cant wait for the next excursion to try them out again.

All gear packed, windows rolled up, 4WD disengaged!!!