[URJA]

I am all excited for Sunday. Can we share our participant numbers and names so we can meet up before / after the drive?

[CasperRider]

He is ready and waiting, to take the ladies tomorrow

[gigy]

My team car for the event.

[CasperRider]

Here is a teaser before flag off. More pics will follow

[URJA]

Aysel and me all set before the flag off for the drive. It was a awesome experience.

More pictures and the experience in detail be put up soon.

[URJA]

Here is my car getting ready for the drive.

[URJA]

There were many cars that came all dressed up. Pictures of some of the ones that I saw.

[URJA]

Getting the Tulip chart, the flag off and then lunch at Lavasa.

[URJA]

The entertainment that was arranged for the participants.

[URJA]

My report on the event:
Lavasa Women's Drive was organised to promote the prevention of cervical cancer. There were around 650 cars that participated from Mumbai and Pune, that's over 1200 women participants. There were many who had participated earlier and some first timers.

This was my first experience with a TSD format rally. My navigator, Aysel and I, were very excited about it. The previous day we painted slogans to put on the car. In the evening the car was ready with the slogans and stickers.

In the morning we got up all excited, I picked up Aysel, and we reached Bandra Reclamation. The cars had started coming there since 6am. Two cars were flagged off every minute. The first ones were flagged off at 7am. Since our number was among the last few so our time to report was 8:30am. As we reached there, we were given breakfast, tea and some goodies from the sponsors. It was quite a wait before our turn finally came. As we walked around we noticed that many cars were nicely decorated. They had said that there would also be a prize for the Best Dressed Car and for the Best Slogan. The cars were lined up as odd and even numbered cars. There were different routes for odd and even numbered cars.

On the day of the briefing we were given a sample tulip chart. We had tried it out earlier in the week. That did help us to be prepared as to what we could expect. We were flagged off at about 10am. Just before the flag off we were given our tulip charts. At this point of time we were not so sure what to expect, wondering where would the time controls be and if we would be able to spot them all. As we drove along we gained more confidence and then it was fun. We did encounter some city traffic near Sion. The cars that left early were lucky enough to miss all the traffic and have a clear road ahead of them. On the other hand, we had to plan in advance anticipating the traffic and planning the speed to go at. Some of the speed limits given were tough to keep especially when there were lovely open roads ahead. In the city the speeds were 32 to 40kmph. On the expressway it was 67kmph. Parts of the routes were familiar which made it easier to follow the directions. It was for the unfamiliar sections that we had to be more vigilant.

Hats off to all the marshals at the Time Controls. They were all smiles and were in a good mood the entire time. They were on duty since morning but when we reached they would ask how the drive was and wished us luck. It was a pleasant surprise to be wished good luck from the guys collecting the toll at the toll naka. One thing that was a little weird was that at the 7th time control (I think) we were told that we were not allowed to use a calculator and would result in a penalty. But if we were not to use a calculator, then how were we to make the calculations? They had never mentioned anything like that earlier. We realized later that we should have cleared it out with him at that point of time. Well let’s hope they don't penalize us for it.

There was a 20-minute halt at the food court after the second toll naka. They gave us oranges, biscuits and vada pav. We were then handed our second tulip chart. This time round we felt more at ease following the tulip. There were a few tricky points but we were able to figure them out and were on course. We reached Lavasa at about 4pm hungry and tired from our 6 hour, 200+ km drive. The parking was arranged systematically. The food was ok. By the time we were done, we had missed a lot of the entertainment that was arranged for the participants like some dance performances, foot massages, hair braiding etc. There were tattoos and mehendi, an excellent singing performance (don't know guys name) and many more events. We left from Lavasa before sunset so as to get home at a reasonable hour.

Overall, it was a well organized event. It was an excellent experience and we are eagerly awaiting the results to see how we have performed. They will be announced today at 2pm.

[Pottermore]

Would totally with Urja that it was an extremely well organised event with about 1000 or so members including the drivers,navigators and co-passengers. No chaos at all, be it the flag off point at Bandra Reclamation or the compulsory halt or the final destination at Lavassa.

It was our first time and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and am surely going back the next year(provided I am lucky enough to garner enough votes).