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9th July 2007, 15:00
| #46 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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9th July 2007, 15:02
| #47 |
| Team-BHP Support   | |
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9th July 2007, 15:28
| #48 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
Hi Sohail, Trip was awsome no words to explain just wait for the pics and the videos. Aasifs last name is not pani as far as i know and yeah altaf had a mahindra 4*4 he sold it. | |
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9th July 2007, 17:38
| #49 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 434
Thanked: 25 Times
| Oops Devang... Sorry for the Name... just reconfirmed that the name was Afzal pani,and not aasif  and yeah he happens to be Altaf's friend.A very close friend of mine bought Altaf's Classic, needless to say he bought it through Teambhp.....LOLS thanx.... Waiting for veyron1's pics and videos |
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9th July 2007, 17:47
| #50 |
| Senior - BHPian  | Hoo Boy....!!! Phew. What a weekend. Had a blast would be a gross understatement. A special thanks to Devang for ensuring that I had a good time. It has been a long time since I have been off-roading, and rallying the Gypsy through treacherous terrain in 4L, at night, brought back some really fond memories... 10 cars. 36 people. Utter mayhem. And that's putting it lightly. Here's the classified list. 4 1 litre Gypsies (Open & Soft Top). 2 1.3 litre Gypsy King Carbs (Open Top). 1 1.3 litre Gypsy King MPFI (Open Top). 1 Trax Gurkha 4x4 (Hard Top). 1 Mahindra 4x4 (Soft Top). 1 Ford Endeavour XLT 4x4. Interesting point to be noted here is that none of the cars had freewheeling hubs except fot the Mahindra. All the Gypsies were post 94'. No lockable hubs. So here's how the day began. After getting a wake up call at 8, I asked Devang to meet up at Hotel Fountain, at Thane bypass. Since it was a sunday, we got kinda lazy. I reached the hotel by about 9:30, & called up Devang to ask where he was. "I'm standing right in front of the gate, where are you?" goes the off-roader. After exchaging pleasantries (involving a couple of our ususal sunday-morning profanities), we decided to get a move on. I parked my ride at the hotel, instructing the security to keep an eye, and we were off. So here we are, cruising along Thane bypass, and Devang keeps going.."Veyron, don't revv him, yaar...#$%^&*/ engine abhi baandha hai....". A rebuilt engine on an off-road excursion. Sweet. We were supposed to regroup at the Khargar Mcdonalds by 10:30. And by 10:30, we were still crawling along the Airoli road. Needless to say, gaalis were the main theme of the off-roading meet. We were greeted by some dilli-ishtyle ones by the time we reached McD's. We decided to break off after a quick loo break. While the others were busy leaking, I was busy gawking at the off-roading machines & a brand new S 350, parked at the lot. The ride was uneventful throughout the expressway, except for the sighting of an orange-ish 350Z, which blasted past us by the opposite lane. Real nice. We regrouped at Lonavala, and boy, what a sight. Big burly men, cargos, kits, chais, and the machines. The odd man out was this poor Endy, looking like a gentleman amongst the yeti's. Finally, we began our off-road journey. People were ecstatic, and you could cut the energy in the air with a knife. There were about 4 people in each car, & everybody was raring to see the machines in obscene angles. Ramp approach, breakover, departure angles....hain? What are those? Once you're in the wild, everything goes bananas. But I must make it clear here, that even though fun was the theme of the whole journey, everybody went about the off-roading part in an almost understated proffessional manner. Needless to say, most were seasoned off-roaders. Some of them were regulars, making it a point to get dirty every weekend, or whenever possible. Most of us petrolheads would despise rains, as it brings about aquaplaning, loss of traction, blah, blah. Off-roaders are quite the opposite. They love rains. More the muck, better the fun. And evidently, the rain gods were quite happy with us. But then again, I saw some people complaining at the end of the day, citing lack of rain as one of the reasons. Mad? Naah. What followed was superb fun. Negotiating rough terrain is no child's play. But it's a lot of fun. One of the more lucrative aspects of off-roading is that you don't need millions stashed away in swiss lockers to participate. You don't need NOS, stage X engine kits, body kits, turbo kits, blah blah. Get a Gypsy king, acquire some skills, and you're off. Bas. It's one thing to get the adrenaline pumping by rocketing to 220 kmph and still accelerating hard enough to rip the shoulder joints off your sockets, and quite another to see 3 wheels of a 4-wheeler lodged in the air trying to disprove the existence of gravity. That's a rush that perhaps very few others can match. Oh, and I almost forgot. 2 of the Gypsys had unbelievably loud systems to keep us entertained. While off-roading. So loud, that the entire chain of 10 cars required only one of the Gypsies' deck to be cranked up to enjoy music. People were cheering the other cars to climb up ditches while swaying their hips to the music from the 2 gypsies. My god. The Endy had a loud system as well, but the acoustics assured that most of it never got out. All we could make out was the bass, which kept rattling the windshields of cars 10 feet behind. This was for the first time ever that I saw an Endy being pushed to its true limits by someone other than auto journo. Boy. The owner/driver was doing 180 degree spins at an open stretch, with muck flying all over whilst the wheels spun away to glory. Yeehaa. But then again, the off-roading capabilities of the Endy is limited. The Endy got stuck at one of the slushy ramps, and sank in about a feet deep. That was fun, again. The owner was actually happy to sink the Endy. Wow. There I was, thinking..."now THAT's how you own & drive an Endy. Not to intimidate ricks at traffic jams..." And then the Gurkha. It took us almost an hour and half to pull the Gurkha out of a mess. It got in so deep, that the car was resting it's chassis on the muck, and the wheels were spinning away to glory. Gurkha, as it seems, is not that happy an off-roader. With such a heavy chassis and open differentials at front and rear, what more can you expect, eh... There's a reason why Gypsies are called mountain goats. Absolutely phenomenal at off-roading, perhaps even battle tanks cannot conquer terrain that they can. Wheels were spinning, engines were redlining, and counter steering was a given. But none of the Gypsies got stuck. All cars were drifting through corners. No two ways about it. If you wanna corner in a Gypsy (or any other 4x4, for that matter) in slushy terrain, you gotta drift. And what a spectacle that makes. Hallelujah. Crawling in 4L, through a creek bedded by smooth rocks, with 2 feet of water flowing through, at 9:00 P.M in the night, with the spot lamps lighting up the terrain , (did I mention each car had about 4 spot lamps & 2 fog lamps on an average?) is one of those experiences that you'd want to cherish. Ah. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So here's an essay......  The Lonavala regroup. Just before we started off. Which explains the cars being clean.  Entering the den. Beginning our off-roading journey. Don't be fooled by the darkness. It's only 1:30 or so in the afternoon.  The open space where the Endy was doing the 180's. The Endy's hiding behind all the Gypsys...  One of the many pitstops that we made en' route..  Hey, now that we've all safely crossed the riverbed, let's open up those bigarse bags of chips, and everybody sway your hips to "Kajra re" (at which point dhinchak Gypsy No.1 cranks up the volume, much to everybody's delight)...  Nya nya na nya na....see, I'm dirtier than you...  One of the, erm, more serene moments of the trip...  Gypsy's the name, slush's the game....  Look ma, I got dirty too...daag acche hain, na....  Abey oye, this pond is not deep enough. Follow me, I know of a deeper one..  I know you said deep, but this...?  Ok. So I got jealous of the Endy. Now stop laughing and get me out..  60 BHP not enough? Try 140. Sequentially. Now, zor lagaake....pull....kheencho.... And here are some of the interesting moments from the trip...  Check out the enthusiasm of the offroading club. "Whooohoo..this's gonna make the best stunt-video ever...." Ya. & I'm gonna get the best stunt photography award for leaning out of the door halfway and clicking this pic...  Abey jaldi photu kheech...dekh apun kitna keechad main hai....  Now, wasn't somebody asking for more slush? Some of the pitstops we made, had some stunning artwork by god's craftsmen. Check these out.    It's impossible to pin down the entire off-roading experience, because unlike describing a track day where you can get technical about C1, heel-toe shifting, and what not, this's much more involving. Too much happening to remember, you see.. The trip got over by about 10:30 in the night, & I reached home by about 2:00. And I'm still tired. There are a couple of videos depicting the predicament of the slush-engulfed endy, rock-climbing & drifting by the mountain goats, etc. But since I'm tired & have been composing this report since the past hour or so, I shall post that later. I'm not in the mood to edit & crap.... P.S- Kindly forgive the pics' quality, since phone-cam wasn't upto it's task under dark lighting.  Last edited by veyron1 : 9th July 2007 at 18:05. |
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9th July 2007, 18:02
| #51 |
| Team-BHP Support  Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: MH-12
Posts: 8,451
Thanked: 13,971 Times
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9th July 2007, 18:43
| #52 |
| Senior - BHPian | |
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9th July 2007, 18:56
| #53 |
| BANNED  Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bangalore (the city of modded cars) !!
Posts: 4,820
Thanked: 45 Times
Infractions: 0/1 (10) | Pics look awesome. Atul, I thought you only talk a lot. But I stand corrected  . |
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9th July 2007, 20:15
| #54 |
| Senior - BHPian | |
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9th July 2007, 20:56
| #55 |
| Senior - BHPian  | Hmmmmm sunday morning is YAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWNNNNN!!!!...hmmmmm..get up at 2 chill around..then watch lewis,kimi n alonso in another boring f1 race........that wht we normally do..  freak missed this one again....after seeing the pics and heard from devang it sounds awesome, looks even better with the pics.Last edited by danlalan : 9th July 2007 at 20:59. |
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9th July 2007, 22:14
| #56 |
| BHPian  | |
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9th July 2007, 22:33
| #57 |
| Senior - BHPian | |
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10th July 2007, 02:03
| #58 |
| Senior - BHPian | |
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10th July 2007, 09:47
| #59 |
| BHPian  | |
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10th July 2007, 11:14
| #60 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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