[Passiontodrive]

Originally Posted by Passiontodrive

Me and Deepak busy in useless discussions (were driving without road books) and turned a wrong way crossing a river with a metal bridge and keep on going going and going. Road was going upwards and was becoming narrow with every few meters after around 30 to 40 minutes of driving it was not wide enough to drive a gypsy and we were standing on the edge of a mountain, no way to turn back, no way to drive backwards, we both were shocked and so panicked, we were lost what to do. Main tension: we were thinking that Abhash and Neeraj are ahead of us. Now time to check road book. We both were agreed that we are fools. Turning radius of gypsy is very less and in 4 X 4 low gear, it needs very hard and muscular arms to turn it in any way. Deepak was standing at the edge and was shouting “little more little more”, I was so tired but somehow we managed to turn back. .

YouTube - Lost during Raid De Himalaya.3gp

YouTube - Raid De Himalaya lost around Kaza.3gp

Videos of that track..

Originally Posted by BulZire

passiontodrive, congrats buddy!. Nice set of pics. Trust you recovered from your broken thigh now. Take atmost care in your future rides and adventures. Hope your team finished the ride successfully

Thanks BULZ. Yes, recovery is going on and definitely I will or we can say I have to take care in future adventures. Yes, we finished the ride successfully, but still lot of suspense is there. Will update on that.

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[Turboholic]

Wow, good to know that you are recovering fast. Cant wait for the story to unfold. Keep it coming, we have been waiting and the suspense is killing. The F5 button will be taking a beating from now on.

Take care,

Cheers

[Passiontodrive]

Start of Day 4 at TABO: Very beautiful view. All cars lines up at Tabo Helipad Area. I haven’t found stereo system in any rally car, but we have made special arrangements in our gypsy, CD Player with USB Slot and speakers (extra care taken to fast them in the cabin of gypsy), and what a quality sound we have. We used to play common Punjabi Bhajan “SAI WE SAADI FARIYAAD TERE TAAIN” and we use to listen this devotional song at start of every day with other participants, while crossing a TC (Time Control) we normally raise the volume and some TC’s also enjoyed music with us. So it was all fun.

We haven’t closed our window panes in any leg, on any day. There were some reasons behind that
1. Gypsy is very hot inside even at that much of height and cold.
2. We used to wear very heavy clothes and body warmers underneath.
3. We found it very difficult to breath with closed window panes.
So the result is clearly evident from below pictures.

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[sudev]

I only wish you were participating in Desert Storm 2011 and writing such a log. Enjoying your write up.

[Passiontodrive]

@Sudev Sir: Thanks for appreciating my writing, It is true that I cannot take part in desert storm this year as a competitor , but if you need any kind of volunteer I am more than happy to be there and I promise I will write detailed experience report also.

True car lovers used to wash their cars daily, but we haven't used our hands even to wash front windscreen. One more important tip for all future participants: Don't put an open bag on window (as visible below) we have lost few things from this bag e.g. GPS (brand new), Fast track goggles, spare HMS Calculator etc.

Day 4 again ends at Kaza and then free run to Tabo: Time to enjoy beauty of nature with friends, as visible from below pictures we are drinking rum but actually bottles are tightly closed so just making some fun only.

Upon reaching Tabo we found something wrong with front suspension and upon thorough checking by HMA Service team we found that our front leaf springs are gone: Thank God as we have extra set of that. I have carried those heavy leaf springs all the way from Sangrur (Punjab). They helped and helped well. Thanks again to Mr. Amanpreet Ahluwalia for this valuable tip.

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[Passiontodrive]

Day 5 Tabo (Kaza) to Keylong: Army Jawans are always nice, they welcomed us at Tandi Transit Camp with hot tea and pakoraas (snacks), so nice. Accommodation provided to Extreme Category participants was luxury, but some of us were unfortunate enough: Room provided in a small hotel, we have to wait at reception for 45 minutes for cleaning but still not cleaned properly and guess what? again without hot water No problem now we are habitual to it.

Neeraj thinking about his company and pending appraisals of his staff,

Little damage to front bumper with broken left parking light and indicator.

Day 6: Final and longest day (Keylong to Patseo, Whiskey Nullah then back to Keylong and then finally to Manali) Very long day.

All are happy as this is the last day of raid, we have to drive around 400 kilometers today.

Couple below: Once they were ahead of us between Rohtang and Kaza and their car struck in rocks with no side left for us to overtake them, so I slowly touched front of my Gypsy with rear bumper of their Alto and a big push and they are out of rocks. They happy we happy. All this can happen only in Raid De Himalaya.

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[Passiontodrive]

Patseo Army Base: Most awaited place. Very Cold Area. Again welcomed by Army Jawans with hot tea, pakoras and medical help. Temperature that morning was Minus 7 degree.

[Passiontodrive]

Photo 1: Crossed 15000 ft mark and still going up.
Photo 2 to 4: Beautiful and risky road.
Photo 5: Waiting for our turn to get fuel (at Whiskey Nullah, booked in advance)
Photo 6: We both are wearing my brand "ETISALAT" (not promoting here, but with the help of this picture I will try to get sponsorship for next raid)

Time now to move back to Keylong:

At last we found some snow

Now its a free run to Manali: Around 22 vehicles, started at about 8.00 PM, moving in a convoy. Crossing Rohtang pass at about 12.00 midnight was awesome experience. All were very tired and exhausted, so directly into beds in the super luxurious accommodation provided by HMA, (We have successfully completed the raid, so in our view we deserve it).

Neeraj's flight was booked from Bhunter Airport Kullu, so he left the hotel 7.00 am in the morning, we were not sure what ranking we have gained.

Got Shave after around 7 days with complete and hot water bath, was feeling relaxed.

First job is to get post raid "vehicle scrutiny OK". No problems at all, done within half an hour.

Now we have around 6 hours free time before the prize distribution function.

Photo 1: For scrutiny.
Photo 2: Extreme gypsy with some leakage.
Photo 3: Formal finish line.

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[Passiontodrive]

What a good reason we have to celebrate those free 6 hours. Yes, It was a birthday of our team mate Deepak, we planned a small party on river side restaurant with some very good food. Complete madness and enjoyment.

Evening Time Prize Distribution: Grand Function in the presence of GM SBI, GM Maruti and Governor Himachal Pradesh.
Biggest Surprise I have ever got.
MY NAME WAS CALLED FROM THE STAGE : FOR WHAT?
3rd Prize

Missed you Neeraj.

A grand party was also organized by the HMA but we decided to celebrate in our room only.

That's all my friends. Planning now for Raid De Himalaya 2011.

[AlphaKilo]

Let me be the first to congratulate you on this feat! Hope you will go to the extreme category and win it next time. Cheers for now

[Turboholic]

Congratulations. Going through the thread was like experiencing the Raid first hand. Great writeup and amazing pics to match.

A small suggestion, For the Raid 2011 please have a detailed write up for the preparation, cost breakup, challenges faced, application procedure etc. This will help newbies who want to or who dream of doing the Raid.

All the best. hope you leg is fine now.

Cheers

[Passiontodrive]

Originally Posted by Turboholic

Congratulations. Going through the thread was like experiencing the Raid first hand. Great writeup and amazing pics to match.

A small suggestion, For the Raid 2011 please have a detailed write up for the preparation, cost breakup, challenges faced, application procedure etc. This will help newbies who want to or who dream of doing the Raid.

All the best. hope you leg is fine now.

Cheers

Thank you Turbo,

you are right, I will definitely update the Raid De Himalaya 2011 thread on regular basis, with all the details.

My leg is fine... but I have missed Desert Strom 2011 and SAJOBA due to this


@Alpha: Thanks dear, Trying to raise funds for Extreme, but not sure. In any case I will participate in Adventure.

[amrisharm]

Originally Posted by Turboholic

Congratulations. Going through the thread was like experiencing the Raid first hand. Great writeup and amazing pics to match.

A small suggestion, For the Raid 2011 please have a detailed write up for the preparation, cost breakup, challenges faced, application procedure etc. This will help newbies who want to or who dream of doing the Raid.

All the best. hope you leg is fine now.

Cheers

yes buddy, truly enjoyed your thread, and gave it a 5 star rating as well. Also, could you please give us some idea of the cost of participating in this event? I just have some questions, pls do answer them when u get the time for us new members who are thinking of doing the event some time in the future.

1) I know the entry fee is Rs 48,000, so what exactly is included in that cost?

2) Who organises the accommodation? are there pre selected hotels for us to choose from?

3) How much was the medical insurance?

4) It seems you finished 3rd in the adventure class, so i guess your pace was quite high. But for people who would like to take things easy is it possible to do the daily stages at a slow pace and still comfortably make it to the finish at the end of the day? or do u have to push quite hard to finish the daily stages?

5) How hard was it to navigate? do u actually have to follow the charts and all or can u just follow the roads and get to your destinations?

6) how female friendly is the event if we want to take our partners along?

just this much for now, it seems like a fantastic event and would love to do it sometime in the near future so any info from your side would be of great help buddy.

And congrats on your podium finish, and outstanding result! well done

[Passiontodrive]

@amrisharm: Thank you for appreciating and 5 Star rating as well.

1) Entry Fee of 48k includes your stay and food only. You have to pay a little more at the time of scrutiny at Shimla e.g. Air evacuation policy etc. Last year we have paid around Rs. 5 to 7k extra including some donations for Ladakh Relief Fund. (exact amount not remembered)

2) Your accommodation will be pre-decided, they will give you a slip describing your hotel, you need to hand over the slip at reception. No option to choose.

3) Very minimum charges. I guess somewhere around 2 to 3k. Insurance will be valid for one year. This is high risk category and we found only one company doing it.

4) Pace is not an issue in Adventure. Adventure is basically a navigation game. Sometimes you will feel bore with the slow speeds specially in crowded areas or towns. Even some autorikshaws and cyclists overtook-ed us as the target speed given to us at that time was around 19 KMs per hour. Yes, sometimes they will give targets little bit high in rough tracks just to give you an idea of rallying and there your pace will be so high or if you are running late due to any reason, only way to cover the gap is speed. If you are going in a planned way there is no need to push hard to complete daily stages.

5) Toughest Job: Reading instructions on road book in a moving vehicle on rough tracks that too on high altitudes very very tough. You may suffer from motion sickness and high altitude sickness. There are two main reasons to read the Road Book
a. To keep yourself on right track.
b. To calculate your position at the right place on right time.
remember late penalty in adventure counts as
1 Sec late = 1 Sec
But early penalty
1 Sec early = 2 sec
Means double penalty if you reach early.

6) No need to worry about this thing. There were so many female members last year. Totally safe from all aspects. Little difficulties which are coming in my mind are : on the way bio brakes etc. Even some honeymoon couples also participated and they completed having fun. There was a couple in Alto, they too completed happily(check their photo above).

It is a life time event. Wonderful gift for your better half if you plan with her.
Aside to your questions:

Regarding Navigation: Don't worry, Mr. Sudev Brar (Senior Bhpian) is conducting navigation training sessions from time to time, we all got training from him only.

You have to spend on petrol (In Gypsy around 20k), spares (around 15k), service support (Last year it was 10k) plus you need to buy very heavy clothes, medicines, sleeping bags etc.

So right now you may feel it as a very difficult job, but once you start I guarantee you will enjoy each and every part of it and that too before actual start of raid.

[amrisharm]

Passiontodrive thank you so much for the detailed reply. You have helped us all out quite a bit with your shared knowledge.

And just wanted your information on your gypsy. I have not driven one extensively, just now and then and mostly around urban areas. U did mention in one of your posts that the cabin gets very hot. How hot does it get? does is get unbearable? is there anything u can do for that? i am guessing the heat is coming from the transmission tunnel is it?