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Old 3rd January 2021, 09:41   #31
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

Quote:
Originally Posted by sudev View Post
Thanks for your interest.

Coming to your query in my next post.
Also, please share the details of the vehicles these teams were driving. I guess I saw a guy driving a Crysta in a pic too.
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Old 3rd January 2021, 12:25   #32
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

...

Dec 23:

The first of the crews started reaching Kanyakumari to be well rested before start of the exhausting drive. Others were winding their way down from various parts of the country. Gumball India 2020 had entries from Jammu, Dehradun, Delhi, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai. Conspicuous in absence were adventure seekers from the western parts of the country.

With start from Kanyakumari and finish at Agra almost all involved had to plan for travel distance of 6000 plus kilometres pre-during and post event. Some had sent their cars through transport to Trivandrum and would fly in to pick up and drive the final 100 odd kilometres.

I flew to Trivandrum on 23rd evening to be at Kanyakumari on 24th morning for the final sign-in and admin paper work plus to do start at the midnight of 24th and 25th. Krishna Kumar had agreed to pick me up and drive to Kanyakumari with me next day and also to help out for the starts.

Apr 17:
It was eating a delicious Apple pie crumble that did it. Seriously check my Facebook post of that day highlighting the scrumptious Apple Crumble made by Alka with steps involved.
Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December-93516155_10158723577325864_5724334027016503296_n.jpg

Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December-93658617_10158723577505864_5183205651374931968_n.jpg

Thoughts that had been churning in my mind over night just seemed to crystallise.

The idea of k2K was eliminated as the distance involved would be too much and situation in that part of the country was not yet fully normal. The idea of "3000" kilometre drive competition came about. Honestly it was a mix from Cannon Ball "out and out" speed run and Gumball 3000 that is run in Europe that gave me the concept of "Non-stop", "Endurance" and "Distance" competition.
  • The competition was going to be about distance covered from start to finish. There would be no route - take what ever route you want. Navigation and finding best route would be left on to the crews.
  • There would be few checkpoints in between start and finish. This ensured competition was weaned away from express ways or quadrilateral.
  • There would be cut-off time (maximum permitted lateness) based on easily achievable average. Ultimately there had to be end time else some one could still be "running" after ten days!
  • It will be a mass start and checkpoints would be revealed only at the start. SO no one could pre-plan the best route.
  • Lastly to ensure no stoppage or minimum stoppage all stoppage time would be totalled and added to the run distance at average speed of the competitor to arrive at neutralise distance. This also ensured that no one could do this in fits and starts.


As also the idea that the event will have trophies made form glass filled with real one inch Gumball.

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SO even before the event was ready, even before entries, numbers etc. before anything else was done I had a vision of a glass trophy overflowing with real genuine one inch Gumball's!!! What a goofy way to do an event. Indeed.

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@VKumar
Yes indeed there was Toyota Crysta too. The other cars that participated were Toyota Fortuner, Toyota Land Cruiser, Scorpio, Renault Capture, Maruti SX4, Tata Safari, Maruti Desire and a Pajero Sports.

Dec 23:
Before the night was out one of the competitor was having a heartache - no not heart attack - but heartache. When I landed at Trivandrum at around nine there was a urgent message waiting for me.

I dialled and this ensued:

AW - Sir my car has not reached Trivandrum
Me - Why? You had sent it by truck good ten days ago!
AW - Yes but cannot contact the truck or the truck company office
Me - WHAT!!!
AW - Now I do not know what to do. (And he had been in Trivandrum since last two days!!)
Me - Pray and keep everything crossed.
AW - By what time we have to reach Kanyakumari
Me - As long as you are there before mid night start it's okay.

I reached the night acco and had just hit my head to the pillow when phone rang

AW - The driver is located. He is an hour away.
Me - Then that should be good.
AW - Don't know. He is driving down the car.
Me - What???!!!

Eventually the car reached at around 2AM. But there was another twist to this sideline. Will share later.

To be continued....

Last edited by sudev : 3rd January 2021 at 12:41.
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Old 3rd January 2021, 13:17   #33
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

Dec 24:

Motorsport events run by the clock and it is difficult for some one who has not participated to understand "by the clock" and not by the India clock.

I had released half hour slots for all competitors to sing in starting 1000 and having worked back it had been fixed that we will leave Trivandrum by 0700. I was up and about at 0500 and had finished my coffee - yummy south indian decoction - and toast by 0715.

It was now 0845 when I finally saw my companion come and then getting out of Trivandrum he lost his way as we had to exit through a specific checkpoint that had been mentioned in the E-registration for entering state of Tamil Nadu. I wonder if he lost the way due to my pent up agitation that must have been showing through very clearly. Any ways apart from this Krishna Kumar rose to the occasion all through and I am sure next time motor sports would have an excellent marshal ready.

Mobile rang..

AW - Sir the bugger has driven my car 3000 plus kms when the entire distance from Delhi to Trivandrum is lesser.
Me - Hmmm
AW - and he has broken the aircon switch.
Me - Hmmm
AW - and Renault agency will open at 1000
Me - Hmmm
AW - SO I will start earliest by 1400 and try and be in Kanyakumari by 1700. Is that okay.
Me - Hmmm

At that point of the event there was not much I could do as organiser except lend a bit of shoulder. However the special "trucking" the car got was to have consequences later.

April 21:
From April 17th to 21st were busy busy days. Many many phone calls. Many many discussions and sounding board advice was sought from many.

Having thought the format it was now time to do a complete write up of the event and schedule. As it was drive across India and we were wanting to use "One Nation One People" as our slogan I decided that weekend around Independence day would be the best and since in our mind it was clear that unless the first event is dismal failure it would be an annual event. SO every year weekend around Independence day would be perfect to hold Gumball India.

Things were not very clear around the world but hopes were high that this COVID stuff would be within control by summers - India had high temperatures during summers and like flue virus this is going to die in scorching heat. Or Indians have natural immunity. Or....

We were innocent. We were positive. We wanted to be ready for time beyond COVID.

Yes we were going to be proven wrong but who kew at that time?

I was able to book the domain gumball.in on this day and also registered @gumballindia handles on social media. Quickly web site work was started.

Good part of lockdown was that internet was working and there was hardly any distraction. I reached out to a connect and got the logo designed. Looking back today I am surprised that from conception to web site roll out to registering with RazorPay gateway etc. all was done in matter of few days.

Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December-gumballlogo.jpeg

April 25:
We launched a series of posters on social media and shared the news about the event - including on TBHP - and announced opening of participation subscription on May 01 at 0000 hour. Started answering phone calls and questions.

Dec 24:
Kerala and traffic jams. The two are inseparable? Especially when the highway expansion work is going on. On the move I sent out revised time schedule starting at 1200noon and keeping my fingers crossed that we would make it to the hotel at Kanyakumari by that time. Many crews had landed up and were sharing pictures of their walkabout at Kanyakumari.

Yes the start was merely twelve hours away.

To be continued....

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Old 4th January 2021, 07:45   #34
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

So what was it that enabled us to contemplate running this event now when we had dumped it as too expensive so many years back?

Technical advances in the intervening period made it possible.

ONE: Evolution of smartphone. The period when we were originally contemplating this event was era of Nokia phones and smart phones were not in use. With the coming of smart phones and especially smart phones with GPS lots of things became feasible.

App based app like maps, taxi, time stamp, accuracy, tracking etc. became common place. And these various components were combined by Virtual Marshal ( www.virtualmarshal.com ) to offer possibilities of doing checkpoint timing / checkin virtually possible while at same time allowing tracking of the competitors. Gumball India depended on Virtual Marshal which meant no marshal deployment across India while all essential parameters were still available to us as organisers.

TWO: Wordpress plethora of plugins enabled deployment of web sites with e-commerce and online payment a breeze. As described in the last post we registered the domain on April 21st and by 25th we were all ready to start collecting entry subscription on line. Additionally plugin like social links and mail campaigns meant we were able to reach out to our database of motoring people quickly to announce the event.

THREE: South Indian filter coffee press and home delivery services like Grofer/BigBasket etc.. Without these two the many many cups of coffee such intense quick work was not possible. Yeah yeah this was already available a decade back BUT not on instant home delivery along with choice of ground coffee.
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Old 4th January 2021, 09:19   #35
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

Dec 24:
By the evening all starting participants were briefed. Mass start at 2400 was from the small round about of Kanyakumari high street.

A test re-run for using the Virtual Marshal app had been completed. And for first time since arriving at Kanyakumari I stepped out of the hotel room and walked along with Krishan Kumar to a recommended Dosa shop. Felt the fresh evening breeze. COVID or no COVID people were not wearing masks and so was the case with constables standing right outside the Kanyakumari PS!!! And here was I wearing mask and using sanitiser copiously every now and then since leaving home yesterday to catch a flight to Trivandrum and the drive up and in the hotel. Paranoid?

After the second meal of the day set up the alarm for 2330 and another for 0430 cause I had to drive back to Trivandrum and catch a flight back to Delhi. No I did not want to miss that. Then I crashed out. This was the first time I had travelled away from my home since March of 2020.

April 30:
Three essentials elements had been tied up.

START was from Kanyakumari. Shibu had agreed to help out and conduct starts on August 14th midnight.

END was in Dehradun and Akshat had agreed to get us a good deal as well as some would try for some sponsorship

SAFETY net for participants was in place as legendary H V Kumar had agreed to help out with his network of fans, volunteers and friends spread right across India. They would be the first responders in helping out competitors in case of breakdowns and or emergencies. They would help connect with local garages or 108 services.

Along with this HVK and I were also working out some very interesting checkpoints that would keep the drive off the expressways and open up the interiors of the country to drivers.

Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December-123807872_194809142210982_652789970334978739_n.jpg

GUMBALL - a big dis-appointment till that day was they we could not source ONE inch gumball's in India. The one element of winners trophy!!! Flights were not operating and did not seem likely to operate anytime soon. But hey one of the friends said he could arrange import from USA. We were ecstatic. Only to be told - NO. He cannot as this would require food import blah blah blah and his importer permissions did not cover that. Oh well we had come so far .... actually two weeks ... and we will just have to find ways.

All that was done in last ten odd days was now ready for roll out. We had looked at the COVID trends and talked to "experts" looked at trends again. We felt that by July things should be well in control and country would be opening up. July mid was our cut-off point on keeping with

Our subscription list for the Gumball Drive was opening at 2400hr (midnight of April 30 & May 01) while the COVID lockdown was in place across the country till at least May 03. I had fielded numerous calls and emails since the announcement of the event five six days back. All we had done was use our social media posts and email to participants form the past event.

We had limited the entries to only twenty starters. And had kept go no go point at ten subscriptions.

Why twenty? Because it was the first ever event of this type in the country and we felt we may not be able to handle more. AND this was our break even point. Why ten? Because at that level we were within manageable loss commitment. That was our commitment.

What was the fee? Rupees Fifty Thousand!! Less GST is what we would get.

What were we going to give to the participants? Only one night at the end. AND whopping prize money of Rupees Eight lacs!!!

Did we have any sponsorship? No. None. Nada. This was pure from the heart commitment and we felt things would improve and we should be able to get some sponsorship money to take care of our expenses. A few persons I had reached out gave standard reply. "Do not know....."

To allay COVID fears we had assured every one that in case the event date is changed full refund will be given and also in a first kept the entry transferable without fee. Usually this is not done in motoring events.

Question was were people interested? Would we get subscriptions? Would COVID allow? All these questions and doubts were on my mind when I went to bed and it seemed I had hardly shut my eyes when my phone rang.......ting ting ting.....

To be continued.
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Old 4th January 2021, 10:33   #36
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

Excellent Write-up. Waiting to hear more on how things unfolded.
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Old 4th January 2021, 11:12   #37
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

ting...ting ...ting...

I woke up with a start and picked up the phone. Praying all was well. It was deep COVID times.

Me - Hello
TM - I hope I did not disturb you...
Me - Nahin ji ... what can I do for you?
TM - I am T.... M.... from Nagpur
Me - Ji
TM - Sir entry is opening today?
Me - Ji
TM - Entry ho nahin raha hai
Me - Let me check
..
..
Me - Everything seems okay but it is 2359 yet...entry only open at 2400. Wait a minute.
TM - Oh. Okay.

Few minutes later I got a call again and TM confirmed that he had made payment and officially our first entry was in. By end of the day we had four paid entries and many queries. This was looking good.

We had six entries by May 03. And then lock down was extended to May 20th. People who were on verge of putting in their entries hesitated. And so did we. While all money was kept in a non-use bank account we also waited.

Lockdown was further extended to May 30 ...some ease up by June 10...July was upon us and we had to take a decision though we had got two more people who had paid up.

Mid July we announced that regretfully we will not be able to hold the event as scheduled. We will announce a new schedule only by September end if at all. And all who have paid can send in details for refund. Amazingly four people did not ask for refund but said "Keep the balance towards our entry whenever the event is run...." True support and confidence in the drive across India enthusiasm.

SO passed the months of July, August and September. Only thing we can say is COVID did give us one additional learning - August mid was time of mad monsoon and with so many highways also under water or some mighty rivers over flowing it was a good idea not to keep this event in August in any case.

Only at start of October we dared to look at the calendar again and asked around if end December was a good time? It did seem that COVID trend was finally coming down. From peak of 95000+ cases in a day we were looking at decreasing numbers of new cases - down to less than 60000 a day and declining at a good rate. Lots of restrictions were lifted. Interstate road travel was almost with encumbrances.

Post Diwali we decided to fix the dates of December 25-27 and again opened the entry list on November 01. At the same time we kept on informing every one that the cut off was December 10th for a NO GO decision. Else everything is on schedule. All early entry slots were filled up quickly.

Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December-gumabll-trophies.jpg

GUMBALL
Yes in the months in between we directly imported 10 kilo pack of one inch gumball's from US of A. It cost us a bomb. BUT it was as if without "Gumball Trophy" the whole event was as not exciting.

Dec 25 0000hr
Twelve cars started off on the Gumball India 2020 drive from Kanyakumari at stroke of midnight. They had all of sixty hours and estimated ~3000 kilometres to cover.

Twelve?
Yes we had twenty cars registered when the entries closed on December 15. But three dropped out due to COVID to crew or immediate family. Two expressed regrets that would not be able to turn up due to other reasons. One dropped out on the way to Kanyakumari due to co-driver missing a connecting flight to Bangalore and not being able to join....yadayadayada...

So twelve took the start. The dirty dozen?

Some pictures from start:
Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December-whatsapp-image-20201224-11.49.27-pm.jpeg


In next post will share about participation of some brave hearts. Hope you are enjoying this insight.
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Last edited by sudev : 4th January 2021 at 11:18.
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Old 4th January 2021, 16:17   #38
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

Crew plans:

End November to Early December I held video conference call with all the crews as part of knowing what they were doing in life and if there were any queries in their minds.

It was interesting to know about how each was planning to reach Kanyakumari for the start of Gumball India 2020.

Two crews were taking a leisurely drive from home town up north to Kanyakumari and then attempting the mad dash endurance drive back north.

One crew from Chennai was doing just the opposite. A mad dash followed by meandering drive back till first weekend of 2021.

Two crews were trucking their vehicles to Trivandrum and then flying in. And since both were from Delhi NCR they pooled to get better deal and get their vehicles trucked.

More of that story is yet to be told. But the fact is one of the crew members developed COVID and hence they had to drop out. However since they had already sent the the vehicle by truck they were in a quandary. Some how they contacted the truck and asked him to off load one vehicle. Trucker being trucker - and not yet too far away from Delhi - turned right around and off loaded both vehicles at Delhi. It was the second vehicle which - unknown to the participants - was driven helter-skelter to Trivandrum by road. Causing a bit of anxiety and heart burn to the second crew that I met in Trivandrum on 23rd.

The best story was about a crew from Kolkata. One of the members was getting married in early December and it had been planned they he along with his new bride would meander down to Bangalore on honeymoon drive. The other member would join in at Bangalore while the honey-mooned bride would fly back. This nicely planned story line - like many others - did not exactly go as planned.

Dec 23:
I was at airport awaiting boarding for my flight to Trivandrum when I get a call....
JM - Hello Sir. This is J
Me - Yes how can I help you J?
JM - SS's grandmother is critical and so he is not coming.
Me - Oh (mentally dropping one more starter)
JM - But I have another friend who can join.
Me - Tha is good but how can you get from Kolkata to Kanyakumari in time left?
JM - No No No....ami Banglore ... I mean I am in Bangalore already and he is flying tonight.
Me - Still Banglore to Kanyakumari and then immediately starting to drive back..
JM - No he is coming tonight and we will immediately start driving from airport. Will you allow?
Me - Why wouldn't I?
JM - I mean we will not be able to buy stamp paper for indemnity bond. Can he sign on paper that has already also having signatures of SS?
Me - I don't see why not. See you tomorrow.

Dec 03:

Now about our brave heart teams.

Many of you may have heard or read about Deepa Mallik. As a youngster in college she was an avid biker and loved to ride all kinds of wheels. Her marriage did not stop her passion for wheels. She was a young mother of two daughters when she was left paralysed neck down due to tumor on her spine. With her grit and determination she did not let her self be just another person on wheelchair. She participated and won in para sports and represented India and won gold in Para Olympics. She is awardee of Khel Ratna and recently has been conferred Padma Shree. She works a lot for people with disabilities. And she keeps her passion for driving alive and has participated in couple of TSD rally events. She also runs an NGO Wheeling Happiness along with her daughter Devika.

Around early November we agreed that we will give three free entry slots to teams shortlisted and selected by her. One sole criterion was that one member of the team has to be a specially abled person. We ran a small campaign inviting people for these three slots. Out of the ten or eleven responses final three were selected and their names were announce on this day - International Day of Disabled Persons - December 03.

Picture shows Deepa giving away finishers plaque to one of the brave heart team:
Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December-whatsapp-image-20201228-9.45.59-am.jpeg
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Old 4th January 2021, 16:19   #39
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

@MODS:

Can you please change the topic:

Gumball India 2020 - Event Story
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Old 4th January 2021, 16:21   #40
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abbas View Post
Excellent Write-up. Waiting to hear more on how things unfolded.
Abbas ji it is more of crumpling up than unfolding. But thank you for the positive comment.
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Old 6th January 2021, 17:44   #41
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

Looking forward to reading the entire story!

Quote:
Originally Posted by sudev View Post
Around early November we agreed that we will give three free entry slots to teams shortlisted and selected by her.
What an awesome initiative!
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Old 8th January 2021, 06:30   #42
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

Dec 10:
We had kept an informal video conference for all crews on this day. This was also our NO GO decision day though closing on entries was a still few days away - Dec 15. The participants mainly had only two questions

Are we doing it? Though three or four crews were already on the way as they had plans to meander down to Kanyakumari.

Do we need any pass or test before entering any state - especially Tamil Nadu which had requirement of e-registration in place.

Minor question was where in Agra are we staying?

That first. We had expected to get a very very sweet deal with hotels at Agra but surprisingly all were reporting surge demand and hardly any vacancy. Normally for block booking of twenty five rooms you get decent discounts and or add-on but here - despite COVID - four five hotel that we connected with were all showing not too much inclination. May be it was their collective strategy we thought. Any way we did our booking for the night of Dec 27 with Courtyard by Marriott.

On Dec 27 when we did land up the place was chock a block full!!! I guess people have been locked up too long and Christmas weekend getaway was in minds of many from Delhi. And here on Dec 10....

The COVID numbers were being looked at by us daily and post Diwali the numbers did not seem to come down. See the marked portion on the chart. The numbers were sort of flat and conventional wisdom was that post Diwali / Chaat there would be surge in cases. Already European news was disturbing. We had waited with our fingers crossed but now it was time to say yes or no.
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Nov 29:
Virtual Marshal app was being used for an event that would run for four hours. And we used this event for online meet up and training of all tracking and safety marshals who would volunteer their time during Gumball India's 60 hours dash.

The plan for look after safety of crews was based on two tiers. One tracking them and two quickest possible intervention using the H V Kumar group of connects spread across the intended route.

For the first part we relied on built in tracking system with Virtual Marshal app that shows updated position of competitors. Normally the tags show p in Green. If the reported data shows vehicle as stationary the tag turn ORANGE. If no data is received for five minutes the tags turn YELLOW. The tags show RED is no data is received for twenty minutes or the vehicle is stationary for that time. The screen grab below from the event shows crews approaching Chikhaldara.
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The reason for showing the previous screen grab is to compare with the next. In this most of the vehicles tags showed RED as they passed through jungle area with no data coverage. The vehicle running ahead physically has just turned green
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So the group of tracking marshals gathered to understand how the tracking system would be working and also between the group of twelve of them a roster of duty was worked out where each would be doing a two hour shift with overlap of one hour by other. This effectively meant that there were always two set of eyes following the progress around the clock.

Again a practise session was held on Dec 17 so that any query any marshal has is answered plus SOP is laid down on how the communication would happen in case of emergency etc. Does it now sound trivial? Well it is unless something happens and all hell breaks loose. It is better to have a procedure in place and understood by all concerned.

Dec 25 0030hr:
Tracking chart
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All cars had started off and were making their way north from Kanyakumari. Tracking was on and every one super excited.

The tracking was also available through www.gumall.in site for any one interested. We ended up with around 450 - yes 450 - people watching the online tracking.

Around 1245 hrs with crews away for just about half an hour the tracking server started slowing down... and then crashed!!!!

To be continued.
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Old 9th January 2021, 11:49   #43
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

Dec 15:
Last day for entries to Gumball India 2020 was over and we had twenty subscriptions. But already four had intimated that they would not take the start due to COVID directly on indirectly in their families. Unlike other events the entries were transferable and we did manage to get one swap. Bookings for hotel had already been committed and items for presentation to starters - starters badge, finishers plaque etc. - were already contracted.

Dec 21:
Some alarming news reports indicated that there would be total night curfew in some places as the governments moved to curb the Christmas and New Year festivities. We were wondering if we would also have to cancel out. Keeping everything crossed.
IN the meanwhile our letters to various states informing of the event and seeking approvals were under work. This is another bug bear that any and every event organisers have to undertake. Technically even if there is a group of five (ten??) cars in a processions - be it wedding or anything - it requires permission. We think we got freedom in 1947.

Dec 25 01:00
Tracking team was ringing me up. I was ringing up my software team. Every one was ringing every one.
We realised that too many people pressing refresh on tracking was causing too much load one the server. So after rebooting the server (fraught with consequences) we quickly set refresh limit to 15 minutes and response through cache in the meanwhile. This seemed to do the trick for the moment.
On tracking we could see field spreading out. Front runners were taking the typical google route while the people at the end were being clever and starting to work though routes that would take shorter distance to cover.
See how various team travelled to the first check point at Karaikuddi. Oh the fun and games were starting to set in.
Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December-maduraiacross.png

Some times bye-pass is shorter and through city is not always the shortest.

Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December-throughcitynotalwaysshorter.png

Dec 25 0500:
I woke up with a start. The alarm had been set at 0400 since I had a flight to catch but I guess with all the alarms and resets I must have missed the alarm. Quickly woke up KK and we effectively jumped in to his car to drive back to Trivandrum airport and I was praying that today the traffic should be light and I do not miss my flight.

Dec 25 1600:
I was on my way home in an UBER, after having landed at Delhi, when my phone alarm went off. STUPID. I had set the alarm for 04:00pm instead of 04:00am yesterday. Thank god I woke up in time.

In the meanwhile much attention had been going on within the tracking team on one vehicle that has been showing Orange / Yellow since around 2PM. The team had been contacted and it had been reported that they had wheel bearing seize up. This was the same vehicle that the transporter had "driven" from Delhi to Trivandrum and barely managed to reach in time. I guess one or the other thing had resulted in the bearing seizing up.

The drama that was subsequently happening was that tow truck sent by company workshop from Vellore would not cross the state boundary in to Andhra Pradesh and the car was stuck less than five kilometres away.

The crew then proved their relationship to Mahatma Gandhi and things got sorted out with car being towed to company workshop about twenty kilometres away. SO much for one nation theory.

We had barely sorted this out when another car reported that they have some issue with their headlight and thus have stopped at a small place to get it fixed by electrician.

This while leaders had begun to approach Hyderabad - a good six seven hours away - and it was dusk and soon to be dark all around.

This was going to be a night after almost 24 hours of straight driving and expectation of fatigue setting in was high. It had been decided that the tracking team was going to follow a protocol of ringing every crew at least once an hour through the night between 2200hrs and 0600 hours. We wold get some very interesting feed back from crews at the dinner following the trophies hand over. Here one of the persons said, "Thanks for your teams calls every hour during the night. It was like receiving call from my mom when I was in hostel to check if everything was okay". Other crews also chimed in their appreciation.

Soon the crew with headlight issue reported that they have got everything fixed and are moving.

Drama over?? No. Excitement was soon to follow.

To be continued.
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Old 12th January 2021, 12:17   #44
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Re: Gumball 2020: Endurance drive from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Now from 25th to 27th December

Dec 25 1800~2200hr
The crews had been driving for about twenty hours when they approached Hyderabad. Now the question was which route to take.

The shortest path - and the Gumball objective - was right through the heart of the city as shown in the next screen grab. This involved travelling through old city and narrow inner city roads, traffic jams and more.

Many participants hit Hyderabad in middle of peak traffic in the evening. But the intelligent ones had paced themselves to enter the city only around 2200hr when traffic mess would be least.

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Seeing the next two screen grab you will wonder why the competitors crossed Hyderabad and then again came back.

The checkpoint number three was just north of Hyderabad at Medchal and initially some competitors used the ring road to reach there.

This competitor was speedily continuing towards wrong Wadki but when they reached Sangareddy the tracking team called them. Initially trackers had though probably they were going to use some back roads to reach Wadki. They were told about their wrong destination and pointed towards correct direction.
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This competitor went up to checkpoint number three and then turned back and started going westward on ring road. The tracking team called them up and turned them back to go north.
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Why the competitors were doing this?
The fourth checkpoint was Wadki and when the competitors entered just that they were directed by Google Maps to go to Wadki near Pune (below). The Wadki they were to get to was in Telangana and further north of Hyderabad.

Obviously next question was how would they know which Wadki? The geo coordinates were also given and so they could differentiate between the two location.
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Dec 25 1800hrs

Continuing from the previous post about the drama that took place at dusk.
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The screen grab above shows this competitor was being tracked and guided as they kept on going off on different tracks. This was while crossing Vellore. Most just crossed over from bridge on right which links directly from main road. However this crew decided for their own reasons that crossing from bridge on left was preferable and in the process they had to go left and right and then loop back left again. Accumulating needless distance.

Now they had a perfectly good highway (showing up in as yellow road) through Chagalmarri to Allagadda. However due to disorientation of approaching darkness or pressure of having headlights repaired at some small place they decided not to go through the highway but through small village back roads.

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After going on the smaller roads they again faced some electric issues with head lights. Only dip beam would work. Some how they got that repaired in this village and continued further.
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Now a new trouble arose after crossing the village they were told to go straight and join highway. But on proceeding further they saw water across the road. They turned back and came in to village. They were assured that water was not too deep and they could easily cross it in their SX4.
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At this point I was personally tracking them and fortunately this was one area which had good communications. SO phone and data was working seamlessly.

I called them and got update on this water situation. I advised them to turn back. It was around nine at night by that time. We did not want them stuck in middle of no where in water.

They took the road going left from that village and then joined back the highway at Allagadda. This was almost at ten at night. I advised them strongly to stop at Allagadda or some other main town before Hyderabad. Their car was not behaving and they were tired with all that going back and forth.

By this time leaders were already crossing Wadki and turning off the highway towards interior Maharashtra and heading for Chikhaldara and Melaghat Tiger reserve. Here another twist awaited them.

To be continued....
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Old 26th March 2021, 07:21   #45
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Gumball India 2021
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