[noviceDriver]

Kudos to you Farhaan and your team......................exxxxxcellent write-up.

Eagerly waiting for your pics to be posted here.

[rchimni]

Wow excellent write up , what thriller of a journey !!!

[suman]

Farhan, congrats once again & a superb write-up......even if I may never be able to participate, at least I have seen some of it through your eyes!

Cheers!

[Sideways]

Before the rally, jeep was all cleaned and stickers were put on: -







Coming down Baralacha La.





Suresh Vaidya's palio - Gives you a good idea of what the terrain is like: - (Picture courtsey HMA)



Vishu from Bombay brought his brand new Cedia. (Picture courtsey - HMA)

[Sideways]

I will put up some more pictures a little later during the day. alot of people asked us what we ate during the rally. Well, we carried a lot of choclates and biscuits with us. It's most convenient. By end of day 7 I was sick of eating anything sweet. And I am sure our blood sugar levels must have been sky high.

However have been told that on an average a climber burns about 10,000 calories everyday. I am sure we didnt burn anywhere close to that number and inspite of eating between 6 to 8 bar ones and assorted biscuits everyday we shed about 2 or 3 Kgs before we came back home. Good way to loose weight huh ???

[ported_head]

Absolutely fantastic report! And what an achievement, finishing the Raid as well as winning it! I have never read a better first hand report. I want to participate in the Raid so bad, and I want to do it in a 4WD Gypsy. Now to find two looneys who think the same way I do, and err a Gypsy too.

[tsk1979]

Amazing report!
One question though, since you were at 18000 feet, the temparatures must be below 0. How did you start your scorpio in the mornings? Are the glow plugs good enought for such extreme temparatures?
I remember in an car magazine article that to start their safari in morning they used to put hot water on the engine, and then engage glow plugs 2-3 times.
I have seen trucks with fires below their fuel tanks to heat up diesel in winters

[normally_crazy]

Absolutely brilliant report Farhan ! Thats a fantastic acheivement - competing , finishing and winning the raid. Waiting for more pics.

@ported - Im looney !

[Sideways]

All the bags you see on top have spare Parts. We were a moving / bouncing spare part shop: -



View from Morey Plains - You gotta be there to beleive it : -



Pangong Lake - heaven On earth



Patseo Army camp - The wind blows like crazy here: -



Terratrip On board Rally Computer with Halda as standby: -



Winners All - The survivors in our category at final Scrutiny - Manali



Prize Distribution - We were the only non Maruti vehicle out of the Top Six.
From Left to right - Krupesh - my navigator and chief engineer, General Manager Maruti Udyog North India (Sorry i forget his name) Manjeev Bhalla - Veteran rallyist And the man responsible for making the tulip - gem of a guy, very helpful, Kunal Sood - the brains and strategist and finally yours sincerely.

[Sideways]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Amazing report!
One question though, since you were at 18000 feet, the temparatures must be below 0. How did you start your scorpio in the mornings?

Shimla,Manali and Leh were no issues. Tabo is at 10,800 and odd feet and although really cold we didnt have a problem here. We never stayed anywhere above 15,500 feet. Patseo was the highest night halt we had. I have mentioned our experience in Patseo in detail. People might throw jootas at me if I start my ram kathas all over.

Also the Scorp does not have glow plugs or a heating element in the engine. It employs direst injection and therefore there is no need for glow plugs.

[Revvhead]

Way to go senor!!

Great report

I'm hoping for some higher res pics to put up. Send them when you have the time.

[Sideways]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Excellent report Farhaan. I could see the roads or whatever you call it.
Well Farhaan, did you find it any better?

The only difference was that we didnt have too much of slush. Thankfully the ground was mostly dry. But terrain wise it was like exactly the way Ajay's pictures show.

Also I remember Ajay's report where he mentioned his average speed to be 18 Km/hr. We had to do 36 to 38 Km/hr on the same roads !!!!

[Vid6639]

Hey sideways excellent report. Was you car the CRDe model?
The models previous to CRDe had heater coils right?

[Sideways]

Originally Posted by vid6639

Hey sideways excellent report. Was you car the CRDe model?
The models previous to CRDe had heater coils right?

Thanx Vid. No it wasnt the CRDE model and no the models prior to the CRDE did not have any glow plugs either.

[Joz]

Great account of a superb performance Farhan.

The bargain with the organisers to start the engine early-on was funny. You surely got the Scorpio much more respect than what it gained all these years. At least for me.

When do i ever get to doing something like this?? Sigh!!