[oldmonk]

Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare 2011 was held between Jun 11 and 17. I took part in the TSD rally with my wife as navigator, in our Grand Vitara.

Jun 11 - Early scrutiny
We were one of the first competitors to arrive, and finished document and car scrutiny in less than an hour.

Jun 12 - Scrutiny, ceremonial start
There was nothing to do other than wait for the ceremonial flag off in the evening. Spent most of the day hiding from the brutal Chennai sun.

Flag off:

YouTube - ‪1.mov‬‏

Jun 13 - Leg 1 - Chennai to Kodaikanal (566.14 km)

We started at 6:30, 15th car to be flagged off. First section was a loop around Sriperumbudur. Driving was not a challenge at all, the entire route was wide, tarred roads. There were 4 TCs in this section, and we gave a penalty of 3s. This was followed by a long free zone which took us close to the plains before Kodai.

In this section also, roads were good, so driving was threatening to be boring. 4 more TCs followed and we gave 6s penalty.

Last section of the day was the climb to Kodai. We took a sparsely populated narrow road (not the normal route from Kodai Road) up. There was hardly any traffic, so even with broken narrow roads it wasn't too much of a problem. There was only one scary moment. At some point we came up to the competitor who had started before us. This should ideally not happen, since cars are started off every 2 minutes. This car was in a stand off with a bus that was coming down the ghat. Bus wouldn't reverse (uphill for him), so the car was trying to back out slowly, trying not to fall off the road. Didn't want to wait around and lose time, saw that I could barely fit the gap between the bus and shoulder, and went for it. Unfortunately there was a ditch which I didn't see, two left wheels fell into it, panic, rev hard, drifted while getting out of the ditch, and hit the right side back door at the corner of the bus. Small dent to show for it, but also only a 2s penalty in the 3 TCs that came along in that section.

1st TC of the rally:

YouTube - ‪2.mov‬‏

4th TC:

YouTube - ‪3.mov‬‏

We ended the day with a 11s penalty, and led the rally. The competition was tight though, with the top 5 cars having less than 30s penalty and the top 11 having less than a minute penalty.

-contd..

[Abbas]

Just 11 Sec !!! OMG. That pro stuff definitely.

[oldmonk]

Jun 14 - Leg 2 - Kodaikanal to Coimbatore via Munnar (456.98 km)

We started at 6:38, narrow ghat roads leading us down from Kodai. There were 5 TCs in this section, and we weren't too hot this morning. 3 early checkins made us give a total of 12s penalty.

2 more TCs followed after a free zone, and we gave 7s there.

This was followed by a transport through tea estates in Munnar, towns like Adimali, Kothamangalam etc. and we entered the forest area next to Athirampally falls. This was probably the most beautiful section of the rally - practically a closed stage, narrow, sometimes broken roads, very green, rains etc. There were 5 TCs in there, and our penalty was 11s. This was followed by a long, exhausting free run to Coimbatore.

Some TCs in Kerala:

YouTube - ‪4.mov‬‏

YouTube - ‪5.mov‬‏

YouTube - ‪6.mov‬‏

We ended the leg with a penalty of 30s (3rd in leg, best time was 8s), but still overall 1st, leading by 4s.

-contd..

[oldmonk]

Originally Posted by Abbas

Just 11 Sec !!! OMG. That pro stuff definitely.

Thanks Abbas, though we could never do as well in the subsequent legs! It was really tough being consistent for 5 days..

[oldmonk]

Jun 15 - Leg 3 - Coimbatore to Ooty (148.23 km)

It was a 9:00 start, with us starting first. First section took us away from Coimbatore on good roads, and in 5 TCs we gave 11s penalty. Next section also had 5 TCs, but some miscalculations saw us checking in early a couple of times, and we gave 24s penalty. The last section was the ghat roads into Ooty. Narrow, winding, having to fight through village traffic. Luckily there were only 2 TCs in the section and our penalty was 8s.

Ended the day with 43s (4th in leg), with only one competitor having done really well. We lost the 1st place and now were overall 2nd, trailing 1st by 3s.

Jun 16 - Leg 4 - Ooty to Mysore (331.58 km)

Started at 8:32. Leaving Ooty we were taken through narrow roads. We were often stuck behind traffic, and lost time. Gave 17s in only the first 3 TCs.

Losing LHS mirror (bottom left of screen at 00:34):

YouTube - ‪8.mov‬‏

A TC:

YouTube - ‪7.mov‬‏

Getting stuck behind the media van, and a TC:

YouTube - ‪9.mov‬‏

Things got better as the leg progressed, and we ended the day with a total of 28s (5th in leg), still overall second and trailing 1st by 5s.

-contd..

[oldmonk]

Jun 17 - Leg 5 - Mysore to Bangalore (268.72 km)

This was the last leg of the rally. We started at 7:02, trailing the leader by 5s. But after the first 5 TCs, where our penalty was 17s, the lead was cut down to just 1s.

We did well in the next 2 TCs and led the rally by 3s. But lost time and the lead in the next 2. So with just 2 more TCs to go in the rally, we were tied for first place.

The whole day was very intense. With results coming in via SMS after every 2 or 3 TCs, all competitors knew where they stood. But nothing much anyone could do, other than do well themselves and hope that the cars ahead of them made mistakes.

In the last 2 TCs, our penalty was 4s, while the car we were tied with, had 42s! The top 5 were so bunched up together that just because of this one penalty, they went from 1st to 5th.

We ended the day at 28s (6th in leg).

And overall 1st, with a total penalty of 2:20.

Notes

1) The rally was very well organized.

2) There were more than 10 manufacturer sponsored entries (6 Tata, 4 Mahindra, couple of Marutis may be) in a field of 19. Having seen many cars in the Bangalore one-day TSD rallies, I was expecting a lot more private entries.

3) Wish next time they throw more challenging terrain at the drivers. May be send TSD through the closed stages after the 'ultimate' cars pass through them. At least it would make for a more dramatic TBHP log -

4) Rally was extremely competitive. Even a small mistake (say, a penalty > 10s in one TC) was enough to take you out of the top 5. Only reason we made it to the top was because of the way my navigator held her nerves.

5) We got 11 zeroes out of a total 55 TCs in the rally. Thought this was pretty good. Until I saw that another team had 23!

6) Result management was amazing. The entire TSD side of the rally (tulip, TCs, results etc.) was managed by Mangalore based IMSC Motorsport (Musa Sherif, Ashwin Naik, Srikanth GM, PVS Murthy etc. with a very competent team). They were so good that as soon as the rally finished a section, everyone would get an SMS with the results! So at every re-group, drivers would be running around comparing times, odo readings, standings etc. I felt this was a nice thing, and increased interaction and camaraderie among competitors.

-end.

[Twinn]

Congrtas Mr Monk!!! Which catagory did you participate in!!! I assume the adventure group. A great write up. Short, sweet and crisp. BTW its good to hear that you navi really held on to her nerves, else you'd be in deep trouble

11 zeros is a good number!!! I agree the guys from the IMSC are really a great bunch, with Musa, Murthy, Naik and others since they are in this profession - they know the best.
So when are you planning to run the INRC calendar? Plans to participate in any events planned for this season, from the INRC?

[oldmonk]

Originally Posted by Twinn

Congrtas Mr Monk!!! Which catagory did you participate in!!! I assume the adventure group.

Thanks Twinn. Category was TSD. Dare called it "Endurance". I wish all these big rallies stopped calling the TSD categories "Edurance", "Enduro", "Adventure" etc. and just called it "TSD". That way there might be better brand building for the term TSD. Today most people (who are not involved in the sport) have no clue what TSD is..

Originally Posted by Twinn

BTW its good to hear that you navi really held on to her nerves, else you'd be in deep trouble

True. More than the navigation/calculation it was her cool that saw us through. It was pretty tough the last two days especially when everyone was fighting for seconds at each TC!

Originally Posted by Twinn

I agree the guys from the IMSC are really a great bunch, with Musa, Murthy, Naik and others since they are in this profession - they know the best.

True. They did a very commendable job.

Originally Posted by Twinn

So when are you planning to run the INRC calendar? Plans to participate in any events planned for this season, from the INRC?

Never, I think! Don't have money to spend on stage rallies. One of the reasons I got into TSD was that I could do it in my car without spending money on mods..

[Twinn]

Originally Posted by oldmonk

Thanks Twinn. Today most people (who are not involved in the sport) have no clue what TSD is....

You are right and most welcome!!

Originally Posted by oldmonk

Never, I think! Don't have money to spend on stage rallies. One of the reasons I got into TSD was that I could do it in my car without spending money on mods..

Wooah !!! You can take part in the raids - himalayan and the desert storm. Its really difficult to get a wife who also shares the same passion about this sport

BTW how many private participants were there and the different classes? I bet you made a lot of friends

[oldmonk]

Originally Posted by Twinn

You can take part in the raids - himalayan and the desert storm.

We are. Both TSD though.

Originally Posted by Twinn

BTW how many private participants were there and the different classes?

3 in 'Ultimate'. 8 in TSD. And top 10 had 3 privateers..

[theexperthand]

Thank you for sharing the experience and congrats on the win! It was a new experience reading through the report and the embedded videos gave us a very good perspective. Any snaps of the cars?

All the best for both the Raids.

[oldmonk]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

Thank you for sharing the experience and congrats on the win! It was a new experience reading through the report and the embedded videos gave us a very good perspective. Any snaps of the cars?

All the best for both the Raids.

Thanks expert. Waiting for pics, will post when I get them..

[sudev]

OM has given a very clinical account of how he demolished the competition. Come on we want more than that sir!!

Can we get inputs from your "boss" of the event here?

I am prejudiced and always wanted them to win. A privateer winning outright against intense professional is no small feat.

[oldmonk]

Originally Posted by sudev

OM has given a very clinical account of how he demolished the competition. Come on we want more than that sir!!

This is it. I know it was a lazy attempt but nothing really stands out actually, to write more. Terrain was peaceful, speeds were ok, and generally as a team we never had any tense moments..

Originally Posted by sudev

Can we get inputs from your "boss" of the event here?

I think she had fun. She's still averse to the idea of competition though. Which actually might have done us good here - she just didn't care if people were catching up, or we were only seconds behind somebody etc. So there was no 'competitive tension' clouding her judgement. I was the one who was getting nervous and worked up - but then my contribution was far less critical

Originally Posted by sudev

I am prejudiced and always wanted them to win.

Thanks Sudev, and Alka for all the support on calls and SMS! You should feel proud, now there are atleast two winning teams (Abbas) on TBHP, from your camp!

[JayR]

Congrats on winning the TSD to you and your navi! Enjoyed the brief chat with the two of you as well. Had a nice time trailing the rally, barring stray inconveniences.