[Venom_rider]

Toyota has setup an offroad track in Chennai along with its 3 dealers in Chennai – Epic Toyota, Lanson Toyota and Harsha Toyota, to experience the Hilux in its true elements.

As an off-road enthusiast I couldn’t let this opportunity go, especially to experience the mighty Hilux.

The course setup is quite technical in nature and is designed to explore/showcase the ability of the pickup truck.



The marshals (off-road experts) take the participants around the track first, explaining the nuances of the course and the right way to use the 4WD abilities of the vehicle. After the demo, the participants were allowed to take a shot at driving around the track – an exhilarating experience for someone who is new to offroading.

There are around 18 different obstacles, and each one tested the vehicle’s ability in its own way.

The “Chicken Holes” and “Articulation Pits” showcased the articulation of the vehicle, the live rear axle flexing while keeping the body relatively even, was quite interesting to watch. The car has so much low-end torque in 4x4 low, that one had to just hold-on to the steering and the car did the rest. Here are some of the photos from those 2 obstacles.







There were a couple of interesting obstacles that were a combination of “Table-top” climb leading to a “Trench”. It was like a best of both worlds – a) The Table while being at a sharp angle, was not high enough to be dangerous for newbies and b) The trench being naturally protected by a wall on both sides was safe to have a relatively aggressive drop.

Again, the vehicles sorted dynamics made it look easy to climb the obstacle and the Hill Descent Control feature made light work of maintaining speed and stability on the downward slope.













The "C-Pits" and "Off-Camber" Walls were a different type of beast to tame, gnarly ~40 degree tilt of the vehicle was a bit scary, thrilling and even unbelievable at times. These obstacles were easily the most interesting ones.

One had to be careful while negotiating these, making sure that there is constant momentum, no hard acceleration / braking, ensure smooth transition of weight from one side to another to maintain a bit of balance.













To make it interesting, there were 2 Off-camber walls back to back with walls being on the opposite side, the transition from the left wall to right, made for some nice photogenic moments with the wheels sometime being a couple of feet from the ground.









"Slush" and "Water Pits" had a quite an aggressive approach and departure angle, Hilux with good ADB clearances was able to manage these quite impressively. The traction control ensured that vehicle climbed out of the pit without any major dramas.

In the more deeper Water pit, the vehicles rated water wading capacity of around 700mm was put to good use, with the water reaching almost up till the headlights.











The Track also had various Rubble Beds, Wooden Logs and Rock Bed mini courses – what impressed me the most was the fact that these rigs have been doing rounds around this track for days at end but I could hardly hear any squeak or rattle!

I however did notice that the brakes had faded quite a bit but that’s also understandable – the car was used by people with varying degrees of ability and this is bound to happen.

Also, coming from an Endeavour I did find that the Hydraulic steering was quite hard in the slower, tighter sections of the course. It suits the application and perhaps make it more robust (?) but certainly something that can be improved.







Overall, it was a good event and for someone who is keen on purchasing a Hilux but is in 2 minds, this event will seal the deal (figuratively speaking).
It seems like a major investment from TKM and dealers alike as this program is set to run for another 3 – 4 months!

Guess it’s a great opportunity for us enthusiasts from Chennai and I would highly recommend paying a visit.

I believe the dealers are taking turns to host their respective customers and this weekend it seems to be Epic Toyota’s turn. If you are interested in the same, feel free to please get in touch with them directly.

[Venom_rider]

Some mobile-browser friendly action shots -

BTW., forgot to mention that the course was expertly curated by a couple of long-term BPHians @petrol_head and @hotrod - great show you guys!





















Cheers!

[Abhisheknott]

Thanks for the post which resulted in awesome experience at the course.

The course truly brings out the best of the Hilux and for a beginner to offroading, the vehicle gave enough confidence to tackle the various obstacles of which the off camber was thrilling.

Kudos to Toyota for arranging this and I guess this is the first of its kind in Chennai.

The marshals were well experienced and guided us expertly when needed and left well alone when they knew the drivers have control.