Sunday off road experience:
A proper off road outing is what every Jeeper wishes to have on a weekend, it nullifies all the stress the mind and body takes up during the entire week. However, this pandemic situation coupled with some or the other issues meant that a proper off road outing remained at bay. Ever since I got the Thar, there had been a strong itching to participate in an weekend OTR session. Luckily, I had been in regular touch with bhpian
Khalil_khan who is a good friend and a seasoned off roader.
As many of you would know, the Ahmedabad was hit by the cyclone Tauktae last week where it rained like cats and dogs the entire day. For enthusiasts it’s the perfect opportunity to take out our vehicles for a small stroll. So while strolling out in the rains, Khalil and I had a telephonic conversation while both us were out in the rains, me in the Thar and him in the Gurkha. Khalil spoke to me about how he and his fellow off roading partners are planning for a off road outing in order to provide some valuable guidance and learning to amateurs who are new to the 4X4 world. Finally we decided that if the cyclone situation settles down we will go in for a off road outing on the next Sunday.
Few messages on WhatsApp groups (Teambhp
& Thar owners Gujarat) and little bit of information exchange later, we had about 7 vehicles ready for Sunday OTR of which 3 belonged to seasoned off roaders

. Hence, the perfect plan was set as it would have been a first proper OTR outing for the rest 4 of us (all Thar owners).
The vehicles participating in the outing were as follows:
1) My 2019 Thar CRDe
2) 2015 Gurkha belonging to bhpian
Khalil Khan
3) Another 2015 Gurkha equipped with winch.
4) Gypsy fitted with Baleno’s 1.6L engine.
5) Thar 2020, HT M Diesel.
6) Thar 2020, HT M Petrol.
7) Thar 2020, HT M Petrol.
The Convoy
So all in all we had 2 Gurkha’s, 3 Thar 2020 and lonesome Thar CRDe and a Gypsy.
The place for OTR was decided as river bed between Amrapur and Ambod which is a little ahead of capital city Gandhinagar and about 50 kms from Ahmedabad. The place is flocked by many off road enthusiasts from Ahmedabad as the river bed remains dry most of the time and the landscape in the surroundings offer a good driving experience. It was decided that we shall assemble by 6:30 am at Gandhinagar and then drive to the OTR location in a convoy.
We woke up around 5am in the morning, got ready, quickly snugged sleeping Ayona into my parents room and were ready to start from home by 6am. The roads were empty in the early morning hours and we reached the decided gathering spot by 6:45am. Almost all of the participants had gathered by then, a little bit of chit chat and formal introduction later we decided to drive towards the OTR location.
Post reaching the location a bit of Dos and Don’ts was shared by the expert off roaders. A rocky surface with couple of obstacles was picked up, the Gypsy first went on for it and got stuck over a big sized Boulder which refused to let the Gypsy go despite putting all throttles. The Gurkha with the winch came to the rescue, I must say Gurkha is an amazing vehicle it just moves over any surface without breaking a sweat and the manual locking differentials at the front and rear give it a brilliant edge in many off road situations. After few minutes of tying up the sling and shackles the Gurkha effortlessly pulled out the Gypsy. Post Gypsy, it was Khalil’s turn to take the obstacle with his Gurkha which had just got a brand new front differentials and was due to be tested off road. Unfortunately, the Gurkha also got stuck on the same Boulder not because it couldn’t cross over but because the front differentials were not engaging properly. Anyways, being at the hands of a seasoned off roader it was out in a couple of minutes.
Next came my turn to take on the obstacle, the experts advised to put the Thar in 4L and let it crawl over the obstacle, only when the rear locking differential is required to be engaged accelerator input is requested.
As can be seen in the above pics, my Thar made it out of the obstacle without breaking a sweat, yes of course over the big sized boulder which gave a tough time to few, I also required a bit of forward and reverse movements coupled with accelerator inputs to take advantage of the rear differential locking mechanism.
Next up were the new Thar 2020, initially the owners were little jittery due to low radiator position in the new Thar but then when you have expert off roaders working as a spotter you don’t need to worry much. The diesel Thar was the first to take on the obstacle and got stucked at the same location where the Gypsy had got stuck earlier, it was again time for the Gurkha to pull the Thar 2020 out. Within minutes the job was done and it was time for the remaining two petrol Thars to take on the obstacle. Since the owners didn’t want to take a chance with their new Thars, they took a relatively easy path, though it also required 4L to negotiate but they made it without a fuss.
One thing we noticed is, upon accelerating Thar CRDe and the Gurkhas scream their clatters out whereas the new Thar petrol as well as diesel is relatively much silent and refined.
Post completing this obstacle, it was time for some cruising on the sea bed and then into the jungle and finally onto the tarmac. Basically from the river bed at Amrapur to the tarmac at Ambod. All of the cars moved sequentially in convoy style and it was dust, dust and more dust all around while we moved. As it had rained for couple of days due to the cyclone, the surrounding into the jungle had lush green landscapes which was a good treat to beat the heat.
It took us about 30 minutes drive from our location to reach Ambod, the last few meters of the trail had a steep incline with loose sand. The Gypsy was the first in line which went through, but Khalil’s Gurkha had its rear stuck in the ditch as the loose sand had slipped due to the vehicles weight. the rear differentials were not engaging properly which made it difficult for the Gurkha to get out. This time again the second Gurkha moved ahead with one set of tyres on a huge heap of sand and other set on the flat surface beside the stuck Gurkha and made to the top, in a few minutes it pulled out the stuck Gurkha using a sling shackle.
Next up was the Thar 2020 mstallion which negotiated the path easily. It was my turn to tackle the path, a similar situation happened in line with what happens to Khalil’s Gurkha while I was negotiating the path. The sand bogeyed down a bit more and the rear wheel was into it loosing all the traction, I put the Thar in 4L and accelerated a bit which made the rear diff locks kicked in and the Thar was out in a few seconds. However, similar issue happened a little further with the sand further bogeyed down making front left wheel loose traction. Unlike the new Thar mine doesn’t get a brake locking differential at the front, hence had to reverse a bit and then at slight throttle it swamped up.
The remaining two Thar 2020 made out with minor tweaking here and there. By this time it was 10am on the clock, so we decided to have some refreshments and start our drive back home.
Overall it was an amazing experience, I learnt a lot many things about my Thar and how it behaved in different conditions. Off-roading is an art which cannot be mastered in a day and never become over enthusiastic in trying an obstacle else you will end up breaking your vehicle which will eventually burn a big hole in your pocket.