[khan_sultan]

Originally Posted by condor

Khan saab, one question : once you were back on regular roads, couldn't you find a mechanic / MASS to put in a new clamp ? Since there were 3 other vehicles, it shouldnt have been too difficult for one vehicle to recce for spares / service.

Yes, you are right condor. That was the plan and once we hit the road, we sent 2 vehicles to Kanakpura to look for a mechanic and the parts, while my Gypsy & Mukund's gypsy came driving slowly . But it was nearly 8.00 pm when we reached Kanakpura and no luck with parts/mechanic there.

There we realized that our '30 minute experiments' were holding a bit ok on the highway roads and Mukund could make it Bangalore with say 1 more U clamp loosening/hammering stop.

Cheers,

[sreerajunnithan]

Oh!!! There you go, One of the most unexpected problem one can expect in an OTR. Moral of the story: OTR is not only about negotiating challenges but also a big team work which is rarely seen in any other sports!!! Kudos to you guys who made him come back home.

Thanks
--Sree--

[kittigadu]

Having done the solagiri trail, i know how unforgiving the terrain is. But after all the hardwork and logic that goes into negotiating this treacherous terrain, nature has a gift waiting for you at the summit.
guys, excellent OTR you had there.
Dhwanit, your report and photos scream just one thing. "TEAM WORK"
I really missed being there doing that.

Apart from that all fellow participants should stand by each other and pitch in -- as happened on this OTR. NO ONE complained on why it is taking so long or that we are delayed etc.. (and this problem had to be addressed some 7-8 times in this OTR and every subsequent time it took 20-30 minutes). All of us started together and came back together.

That spirit & camaraderie can potentially overcome seemingly unsurmountable problems.

"Team Spirit" Thats the thing that keeps me pulling to join the OTR each and every time. khabaddi is what i relate closely to an OTR experience. kudos to the team.

Have to add a few nuts and bolts to my spares.

Krishna.

[dhwanit]

BTW the photographs that I'm uploading on multiple posts is actually a subset of all the pics clicked by the "official photographer" of the OTR -- my brother Akshay who accompanied me.

Continuing after the 3 hour pit-stop, lots of hammering and banging later, here Mukund has (as usual) jet setted off and I was at an intersection not knowing where to go. This was what faced me -- a narrow inlet between two trees. My jeep passenger canopy brushed against one of the trees and Vijay's jeep's rear bench seats took a slight beating at the same point


After squeezing through between the trees, followed by Shahnawaz



More trail pics





This was the second technical spot. It was a switchback at an incline of around 40 degrees full of boulders. What is not very visible is beyond the grass and shrubbery on the driver side of the vehicles is a steep drop. This bend was to be taken in one shot up. If you couldn't negotiate, make sure that the rear of your vehicle is pointed to the tree so that you don't roll off the cliff! This was where my vehicle took a hit. Up until this point there wasn't any problem but then just after the switchback, probably a rock came and hit something resulting in a growling noise from under the passenger side compartment (this has now been diagnosed as a problem with the body and not the chassis or steering unit or the transmission case as I had feared at the OTR)



Some scenery shots before we reached the summit


Shahnawaz joining us at the pit stop after carefully going up the switchback.



More to come...

[dhwanit]

The second breakdown stop. This time we were considerably faster. Instead of taking off both rear wheels and precariously balancing the vehicle on multiple jacks, we just decided to use one hydraulic jack and Shahnawaz's high lift jack in place on the rear passenger side chassis member. We also removed only one wheel. Previously, Mukund had the presence of mind to buy some food stuff before we left Kanakpura and now was the time it all came out, considering it was well past lunch hour and everyone was pretty hungry after having contributed to the banging and resetting of the leafs and axle!







Finally this is what we came to see! On top of the world! (er... ok... on top of Soligere! )

[dhwanit]

Fifteen minutes is all that we could spend on the summit. It was already getting late and we didn't want to be stuck on the hill with the damaged gypsy at night fall. It had been quite hazy all day and dusk was soon approaching. Instead of taking a more challenging route, we decided to use the "road" that went through a couple of villages. You will see more of the "road" we took a bit ahead in these pics. But first, the third stop to get the axle back to position





The "road" that we took back downhill



Through the backyard of some of the hamlets along the way.


You've seen dolphins in front of large ships in the movies, right? Here're are some chickens leading the way in front of my jeep!


Navigating in between the fields



More "road"


Back to civilization... signboards, electricity poles, drivable path and finally the road!






Sunset at the end of the OTR



All in all, it was an exciting OTR and one worth remembering. If everything had gone off very smoothly, it would've still been memorable but not this memorable! The excitement and dispair of this OTR will come up in future trips when jeepers shall chill, beers in hand, fire crackling in the night and reminsce about the day of the three-hour premiere of "OTR Garage" and six other 30 minute sequels.

End of report.

[Sabareesh]

Wow, thats an awesome report Dhwanit. This should teach me quite number of lessons on the importance of a high lift jack and tools to be taken for an OTR,

Great job guys, the team spirit always wins and this case was no exception.

Thumbs up to you all..