[Passiontodrive]

Great Narration, as khan_sultan said: it feels like all of us reading were also part of the O-Team. Keep the thread rolling. Congrats.

[AVR]

Now I know what I missed out on. Unfortunately could only volunteer for the Ahmedabad flag off and scrutiny days and missed out on the best parts. Perhaps next year. Thanks to you I know what's in store.

[sudev]

Listening in. I only hope this does not end up painting me a sinner and cause of all hardships.
;-)

[harishnayak]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

This is an experience & an adventure of a lifetime you had my friend. Through your report it feels like all of us reading were also part of the O-Team.

Look forward to the report & your experience. I am sure there will be a deluge of people willing to be part of the O-Team next year. Needless to say, this would also have been very very gurelling and tough work -- but in the end worth it as this is done with people who share the same passions as yours.

I hope to be part of the O-Team next year. Let's see.



. WHAT..??? Please share what happened and why?

I agree with you sir , in fact this was on my wishlist for a while and finally i got the first break so wanted to make sure that rest of us who did not get this opportunity so far should see whatever least that i can explain through words and pictures.

Apparently the Thar guy had lost his brake oil which caused this however he managed to source it from one of the fellow drivers , i heard this while they were talking on the radio

Originally Posted by Passiontodrive

Great Narration, as khan_sultan said: it feels like all of us reading were also part of the O-Team. Keep the thread rolling. Congrats.

Thanks , these words would keep me rolling

Originally Posted by AVR

Now I know what I missed out on. Unfortunately could only volunteer for the Ahmedabad flag off and scrutiny days and missed out on the best parts. Perhaps next year. Thanks to you I know what's in store.

More details to come by my friend which would only make you do the entire storm next year.

Originally Posted by sudev

Listening in. I only hope this does not end up painting me a sinner and cause of all hardships.
;-)

Sir, Like i mentioned on your thread that i could hear conversations abuzz on the first day of the storm that " Yahan do tarah ke log aate hain , ek jo har saal aate hain aur ek jo ek baar aa ke phir kabhi nahin aate ".

To tell you i got a heat stroke on the Pokhran leg and slept in the car on way back , could not have dinner and had little breakfast because i wanted to be fit for the next day on duty but i still want to come back. In fact you were the one who was trying to make our work easier by organizing everything properly - Hats off to your dedication

[harishnayak]

Little OT but few interesting FB status messages that i could capture on Storm

• Had to take one more day break today to let my ears, eyes and mind stop seeing, hearing, feeling the tracks, sounds, and rush of adrenaline of last seven days in Desert Storm 2011 !!

• is sunburnt,bruised ,has a broken neck and back ,sleep deprived and exhausted but the last five days have taught me very important lessons in life...p.s 300km+ does not feel like a big distance anymore. Had the time of my life at desert storm 2011.

• slept like a blacked out dog after sleeping just 2hours in the last two days. God i love sleep.

[harishnayak]

Continuing the story

Soon after the fun at the white Rann it was time to run back to the camp as Sudev Sir was about to start the briefing.

We were welcomed in the room with 2 fat manuals

DCOC roadbook & DCOC Manual

First reaction in my mind was "Itna padhna padega" but then once Sudev Sir started explaining the sequence of events and the responsibilities of the officials is when the feeling became little lighter. He virtually made us enact some practical scenarios and also made us familiar with many Rally official jargons , here are few of them

DZ - danger Zone ( Near villages/habitation where the cars need to slow down )

FZ - Free Zone

HOP - Location/Official name to be used on radio for identifications

S & G - Stop and Go , this is where the rally cars were supposed to come to a complete halt before they could start again

TC - Time check

and many more

It was early evening by when the class ended and we had some yummy non-veg dinner and hit the sack knowing that we had to get up early next morning

[harishnayak]

Day 1

Leg 1 Ahd to camp white Rann free run of about 253 kms

Night run which started at 7.30 was for about 107 kms only for Xtreme and ndure

Woke up to a chilly morning expecting to take bath with cold water but voila there was this camp guy who came asking if we wanted hot water and no prizes for guessing what our answer was. They also had made arrangements for bed tea which was sweet of them.

Quickly took bath and was very very eager to get into the action mode however since the rally was to start a t 7:30 pm so it was decided that we would do a recce of the track to get a feel and also kill some time.

Slowly the line up started and you could see some new faces who had arrived late last night. All the relevant logistics were distributed to the officials which would keep company with them throughout the Storm , here are some things that the officials were supposed to carry in their car depending on the nature of the duty

• A red light baton with a stick
• small red light with a stick
• Relevant flags
• plastic threads to tighten the lights with the sticks
• radio for the car

All this was besides the official kit which comprised of ponchos , pen , paper , writing board , manual , torch etc.

Oh ya forgot to mention that i got to meet Shibu ( Jeep captain ) during this time and we spoke to each other for quite a while before starting the drive on the track. Enjoy the pictures

[sudev]

Harish you need to insert narration with each picture. First upload them and then insert them in write up. But great write up.

[Ricky_63]

Brilliant, the pictures are great, atleast those of us who cannot go & experiance it - get to see all the fun & hardship in completing this course. !!




Cheers

[ACM]

Superb Narration, am following it from the start, and it's in coming too slow for me. Wonder how many more times I'll check this thread in the day.

The seats will get filled all to quickly next year after.

It lets us be a part of this without actually having been there. It will also tell future wannabe marshalls what they might be getting into.

Am waiting for the Wagon R purpose bit to come out.

[sudev]

F5 F5 F5 F5....come on with the next bit and pics!

[MileCruncher]

Sir, all I see is organiser cars! When will the participant cars come ?

F5 F5 F5 F5......

[sudev]

Check with participants...may be they are still recovering from the Storm ride!!

[harishnayak]

It's nice to hear that everyone is enjoying the pictures and the details of the storm. I would be trying my best to give a full insight to ensure that anyone who opts to go as an official next year would already know what's in store for them except if Sudev Sir has more surprises in his kitty.

Since i'm a nocturnal animal and work against the clock and also have lot of pending official work from previous week which is keeping me away from updating as fast as is expected from me.

Well one interesting thing thing that happened when i woke today evening was that i did not realise that i was at home and wondered how many cars i missed monitoring while i felt asleep , so the feeling of storm is still there in me and i guess would be there for atleast few more days.

Got to rush for a meeting & will update the thread shortly with more details and pictures

[harishnayak]

Day 1 Contd

Finally we started going through the stage in the Rann only to find that the convoy was stopped by the Army personnel as we were passing through the Army bombing practice Zone.

Radios started looking for Sudev Sir who was the TAIL of the convoy as it needed intervention from someone responsible for managing the convoy. After some conversation the Army guys let us go and the entire convoy proceeded on the route.

Army Guy " Ganesh" stopping the convoy


Sudev Sir negotiating the stop and sorting it out


Check out the explosions that i managed to shoot


Me taking an opportunity to get shot with the convoy at the backdrop