Okay : Let me start by making one thing amply clear. This was NOT a 4x2 event,
it was PURE 4x4 country. Heck, even 4x4 Scorpios & Getaways were struggling on some patches. Congrats Mahindra for giving the Great Escape the terrain that it deserves
Let me know where to send my application for the next one!
5 of our Jeeps left about the same time from Bombay. Not exactly in a convoy but within a couple of minutes from each other. Me & my brothers in the Classic, Allan in a souped up SPoA 550, Ferdi in his Classic, ditto for Stigger and Sabareesh in his CL500.
The flagoff took place around 1030ish, about an hour later than planned. But who's complaining. The weather was beautiful, lush greenery washed by rain every 45 minutes and a whole bunch of petrolheads for company. The drive was unbelievably scenic. 13 kms from the start point and it's 4x4 time.
The first 200 meter patch itself caught many people out. A 4x4 Scorpio right ahead of us bumped, scraped and changed angles several times. The 4x4 Getaway right behind us got stuck, nearly toppled (close shave) and took all of 45 minutes to rescue out. They say, first impressions are the ones that count. I knew that the next 40 kms had a lot of goodies (read = tough terrain) in store for us and was starting to get impatient. Unfortunately, as is the case in any large 4x4 convoy, the waiting time was too long. We waited for about an hour fifteen (after clearing the first spot), that was simply no place for a 4x2 to venture out on. Our starting position was fifth (though badge was no.8). Even after waiting for over an hour, no one was sure how much longer we'd be stationary. This is when we decided to:
Go through the terrain alone. We had the tulips with us, instructions were easy to read and well laid out. In the event that we got stuck or suffered a breakdown, the gang would anyways catch up. We asked the other Jeeps with us if they wanted to join in, but no one was comfortable with the idea.
Off we went. The terrain was perfect, well chosen. It had full throttle wet field crossings, some amount of rock crawling, deep (read = real deep) muck and second low climbs. We completed the entire route - alone - by about 1330.
Unfortunately, Allan, Ferdi & Stigger were stuck in the middlepack and had to wait for rescue operations to clear out every vehicle ahead of them. I just got off the phone with 53BHP (riding with stigger). They completed the route at 1800 hours and are on the way home as I type.
It was raining and we didn't want to get the camera wet. So not too many pictures, though am sure others have caught some good shots. Here's some pictures and signing off. Buttttttttttttttttt not without saying : Bombay offroaders, when are we going back to this spot?
See where we are headed? Neither could we. Right after the rocks was a sharp drop.
Astounding beauty all around:
Getting warmed up:
One's a 4x4 Mahindra used to make in '97. And the other 4x4 is what they've been making since '07. Lets sign a petition and bring the good ol' days back:
Starting off:
Not a car ahead or behind. In the middle of nowhere. Alone: