[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Samurai

That is odd, for GV has two tow hooks in the front, on both sides.

Attachment 444787

Its not ordinary GV. It has some additional bars etc, in front which meant your standard D Shackle would not go.
So we had to pull using a rope.
And there was a lot more drama, which resulted in a lot mode damage to the GV.
Stay tuned for the whole gory details.

[sudev]

@Samurai: Since Garuav Chiripal has prepared his GV for rallying by installing a custom skid plate it did not allow much access to insert the D shackle. On top the skid plat was bent further obstructing the access. Tanveer has explained how ultimately a rope tied around front cross member was utilised.

Yeah in between the quick pull trick of using the front door to snag the rope was also tried in vain.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by Samurai

That is odd, for GV has two tow hooks in the front, on both sides.

Attachment 444787

One on the RT seems to be the tow hook and the other more like an anchoring hook?? Pretty neat i say.

[tsk1979]

From my standpoint this was the most interesting part of the challenge.
And precisely due to this reason. I have just one pic.

Sudev has already posted rest of the pics.

Anyways, this involved going into a pit with thick slush.

The goal was simple.
1. Go down a very steep descent
2. Turn right and then left to enter via 2 poles
3. Come back out of the slush pit via 2 other poles
4. Touch a flag in the grass, turn around
5. Go through the slush pit in a different region entering and exiting through another gate set
6. Climb up a steep ascent(steeper and tougher than the descent)
7. At the end of climb take sharp right, and go to finish line poles

So in all the challenge involved 2 slush pits, and a very steep ascent

The first vehicle to attempt was the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado.
As I mentioned, it was equipped with highway tires.

The path was so designed that it was very difficult to maintain momentum while entering the pit

so the prado, entered the pit, and then started speeding up.
But near the end it got bogged down.


The navigator, climbed on the doors and started rocking it back and forth as you can see in the picture, but how can a tiny person shake the mighty Prado?

We offered to offer assistance at the cost of penalty for tow, and he declined.
But after lot of trying, it was clear that resistance is futile.
You surrender to the slush pit

Anyways, I back the white elephant close to the Prado, and she is out.

They touch the flag, and go for attacking the second pit.
Again, mistake on the drivers part.

Here momentum was possible, but the driver did not maintain enough speed.
And the result?

He got stuck.

Now this posed a bigger problem for the towing company, i.e. me

At the end of the pit, there was not enough space for a tow, as the steep hill would come in the way.

So a diagonal pull was needed, as you can see


This meant more problem, as the prado will come out with rear facing the exit.
After losing so much time, they did not want to waste more time, so the navigator requested me if I could pull them straight up.

i.e. the white elepahnt will pull them up while going up a steep incline

I said okay, after all its your time sheet!

So we align the vehicles, and I am facing up 30 degrees on a sandy slope.

I am in 1st gear 4L and start pulling, with a jerk the prado shakes, and soon I am also not going anywhere as the wheels are spinning on the soft mud

Sudev comes up and asks "Is 4WD engaged, your front right is not rotating".
I tell him "Open diff, front left has gone free".

At that moment he tells me to stop and try snatch.
So I back up, and then pull again with a jerk.

And lo, the prado is out.

thankfully it can go up the exit without much fuss.


All other participants are watching this, and they have now realized only momentum can get them through.

I expect that the next vehicle, the extreme rally prepped GV, will do it easily, however, I am mistaken, very badly mistaken

The GV with a broken rear bumper comes in, and goes out as a GV with broken rear and front bumpers, broken fenders, bent door and god only knows what else.

Full story in next installment

TO BE CONT.........

[sudev]

Here is video by Puniet Thukral showing the hectic activity by Abhishek to get his driver through.....

YouTube - 4 Guna 4 - SUV trail: Raju Verma & Abhishek Mishra

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

And there was a lot more drama, which resulted in a lot mode damage to the GV....Stay tuned for the whole gory details.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I expect that the next vehicle, the extreme rally prepped GV, will do it easily, however, I am mistaken, very badly mistaken.
The GV with a broken rear bumper comes in, and goes out as a GV with broken rear and front bumpers, broken fenders, bent door and god only knows what else.....

Looks like prepping a vehicle for offroading and rallying (same class 4x4) should be very different. Many jeepers are looking for every oppurtunity to remove all unwanted over hangs, weight additions and so on... may be the GV should also have done similar preps, and most imp/basic of all, done a study of towing points capability in their vehicle.

[tsk1979]

No pictures from me. Sudev has already added some, so I guess you will have to be content with the story.

Now the GV team had seen what happened to the prado. They had the advantage of AT tires(Continental cross contact AT, which I also run).
Nevertheless they realized that the key was momentum.

So they came down slowly and did not enter the two flags marking the start of the slush challenge.
They came till the start area, and then backed up the hill as high as the GV would go.

After that they just floored it and roared in the slush. It looked that they will clear the obstacle easily.

Alas, things do not go as planned.
Due to reasons unknown, the driver decided to turn the vehicle towards the left a little bit and then continue.
I think he must have thought that the prado had made the slush deeper and following a new line would do the trick.
Unfortunately, this resulted in loss of momentum, and the GV got bogged down near the exit, which had to be at the same place as the Prado, as the flags were there.

After some trying they decided not to waste too much time, and I started backing up.
On aligning the Safari, we realized that the two hooks are not accessible.

How to tow this?

Luckily there was a rope, and it was suggested that the roll cage inside the vehicle would be used to secure the rope.

To be honest the whole idea seemed wonky to me, but people were saying this had been successfully done yesterday.

Well so far so good.

In all the rush and confused, the rope got tied at a lower level, such that the closed doors held it tight.
One side of the rope was touching the fender and came from under the bumper.

I sat inside, and pulled.

What followed can be described as bang as the bumper made a loud noise, and some metal bending and popping sounds were heard, and then the knot was destryoed, and the towing broke.
Luckily the shackle did not hit anyone as people were standing out of range.

What now?

first to inspect the damage.
Well to me it looked like a bent or twisted front bumper, a bent fender, and a bent door with rope tightly jammed near the hinge.

Lots of tricks like burning the roap etc., were tried, but unfortunately, nothing worked.
In the end it was brute force and moving the rope back and forth worked.

Next step was how to recover the stuck GV?
Finally Sudev came and instructed them to use the front cross member.

With a pull she was out.

On the way back they took a good run-up and did not slow down even a bit.
Infact she made the biggest splash of all.

Mission accomplished.

I wonder if anyone took any pictures of the actual towing?

[xtreme power]

time and again, i come back to this thread,
its a pleasure to see the biggers vehicles getting dirty.
raj kapoor if your reading this, good show buddy.
sorry could not make it cause of health reasons,
and congrats to Bobby on his win
great show guys

[vinod_nookala]

Congratulations to the organisers and participants! I could see more action than i expected. Well done and good show!!

[sudev]

The challenges and the challenged.

Some of the best pictures are posted by Nitin Yadav but I can not post them here due to copyright. Check this one out of our own Mahaout - a.k.a. tsk1979 - the driver of White Elephant
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3706723_n.jpg

This being the first 4Guna4 some of the challenges were more than what could be handled - the water snake. An oversight since the evening before all were tested out sans water. So next time "testers" be-aware!! Some of the challenges were possible to be "flown" over in a jiffy - like the rock pile.

Lessons for 4Guna4 Version 2

[tsk1979]

Nitin Yadav has graciously agreed to let me use his pics for this report!

Nitin Yadav | Facebook

Here is the pic of actual towing


This is the GV before getting bogged down, notice how she loses its line


After the GV it was the turn of the Pajero.
Pajero has LSD. As we discovered, this is a big advantage when it comes to slush.
He did not reverse or try momentum, just did it steady


Same while going back


Now comes the gypsy. The marshals expected that towing may be required here, but I know that for the 1000kg gypsy, it would be cakewalk. She would just skim over the slush like a light weight dancer


The fortuner had withdrawn as he was getting late, so that left us with the last warrior the Nissan Patrol.
With those monster tires, I expected it to be a cakewalk, and it was!
But they messed up the approach and knocked down a cone. Which means point lost


This marked the end of the Slush challenge for everybody else.

Now the question, what of the white elephant. With rear LSD, she should be as capable as the Pajero, since both vehicles have similar weight.
Moreover, I run AT tires.

So as the marshals began wrapping up, I decided to have a go.
Sorry no pics, I don't think anybody was photographing it :(

In second low with a steady 2000rpm I entered the slush put.... And in no time we were out.

Climbing the slope back up was a cakewalk.

Infact I had done the same long time back at an NIOC OTR.
Instead of 2nd Low, I decided to climb up slowly and steadily in 1st gear Low ratio.
With little wheelspin we were up.

A lot of credit goes to the Continental Cross contact tires. With their deep grooves, they really pack a punch!!

[sudev]

And since the "unofficial" crossings had begun one of the old rally hands driving a Grand Vitara XL7 took the plunge. Sure enough with HT tires he got bogged down near the end. Fortunately Hitesh, a marshal, was still collecting marker cones and quickly pulled them out!

[wanderhermit]

Originally Posted by sudev

And since the "unofficial" crossings had begun one of the old rally hands driving a Grand Vitara XL7 took the plunge. Sure enough with HT tires he got bogged down near the end. Fortunately Hitesh, a marshal, was still collecting marker cones and quickly pulled them out!

That sounds like Sudev Barar, Sudev. Its time to get an extra pair of Yokohama MT for offroading events.

[sudev]

LOL - No sir. I had done this challenge weekend before and the day before. It was old GV - The XL7