[Dr.AD]

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

For me, the answer is February this year. It was intentional and serious off-roading, which I did for the first time.

And boy, was it fun! So much fun that I feel stupid for not doing this before. What was wrong with me? Why was I driving "only" on the roads all my driving life?

Oh well, at least now I know that the fun of driving is not limited to roads. The credit for this amazing revelation (for me, that is) goes to a group called XTLO (http://www.xtlo.com/).

The XTLO team lead by Bertrand DSouza deserves full credit for planning the whole event so meticulously and executing it so flawlessly. The appropriately modified Isuzu V-cross trucks, the XTLO team with their never ending patience and hardwork, the expert "mentors and rally drivers" sitting behind and giving us valuable instructions and providing lifetime's worth of teachings, and my friends and co-drivers in the event are some of the highlights of this trip. A truly memorable event for sure. We had a time of our lives!

Originally Posted by GTO

Was going to post this video in the V-Cross thread, but then figured such fun expeditions are worth their own thread.

http://www.xtlo.com - they have more lined up for 2018, including one in Ladakh.

GTO's above post rekindled the memories, and motivated me to write a short summary (this is hardly a travelogue) of the experience and share some pictures.

Originally Posted by tilt

Heheheheheh, just a little too late. My fellow Bangalore BHPians and I are the ones featured in the video you linked. We are the ones driving the trucks and I am the one waving from the truck.

As tilt said above, we, a group of friends and bhpians from Bangalore were the six out of seven drivers in this event.

As I mentioned earlier, this is not a full-fledged travelogue. It is not in chronological order as well. It is just an unorganized summary of the so many unforgettable experiences that we had.

The Bangalore team: Let me start by introducing the Bangalore team:

This is bhpian "Robimahanta". He ("Robi") deserves the credit for introducing XTLO to us and showing us the "off" side of the "roads". Thanks Robi!



This is bhpian "tilt". He was my partner in Car 3, and we alternated between driver and navigator roles all the time:



This is bhpian "Diesel_convert":


BHPian frictionangel :


And this is yours truly, "Dr.AD":


Our friend Ashok:


This was our group of six from Bangalore:



The XTLO Team: Now let me introduce the guys who did all the hard work behind the scene (and sometimes behind the wheel) to make this possible.

Since these guys were always working hard, I think it is appropriate to show their "working" pictures, where they were loading and unloading the luggage:

In the below picture, from left to right, it is Gulam, Bert, Neshit and Zuzer:



Alok (with hat and sunglasses), Gulam and Rahul:



And here is the official photographer, Bhuvan, who has taken some really amazing pictures of this drive, tracking his drone:



Now that the cast and the crew is introduced, let me start with the actual story from the next post.


(to be continued...)

[Dr.AD]

We climbed rocks, boulders and even some hills.

I was scared when Bert told us this is the hill we were going to climb, take a U-turn on the top, and then drive down.

I meant, seriously?:



Then we took a recce of the driving lines by being passengers in a Gypsy driven by an expert:



View from the top, just after the U-turn:



And then, one by one, all of us did it! Here are some photos of us, the usual on-roaders, doing this classic off-road stunt:












Real-time instructions from those standing "on the edge":



The car next in line waiting for its turn, with a mix of nervousness and anticipation of the fun:



And the cars which already completed the routine parked aside while their drivers were away boasting about "how easy it was":



(to be continued...)

[Dr.AD]

We also drove through dry river beds.

Like this one:



Bert giving instructions about how to "gain momentum before the climb and maintaining it through the climb":



Then we had some conference sessions in the middle of nowhere, literally:



Zuzer, the great rally driver! We were fortunate and privileged to have him with us in Car 3, and he gave us amazing instructions, insights and tips about not only off-roading, but driving well in general. I will forever remember his teachings. Thank you so much, Sir:



Myself and tilt, the two drivers of Car 3, which is in the background:



Some more discussions and knowledge sharing session:



Now it was Bert's turn to explain to us the subtleties of correct sitting position, and the correct hand and pedal positions. It was great to listen to him explaining the intricacies of the topic:



A sharp step down:



Followed by a river crossing:






And another analysis session immediately after:



And then, a big surprise. A beautiful lunch place in the middle of nowhere:









The lunch place was actually a small "village":



(to be continued...)

[Dr.AD]

In-between the off-roading sessions, we stayed at some amazing desert camps.

Our tent in one of the camps:



And another memorable camp with these beautiful tents:



Sunrise over the tents:



Another amazing camp. This was set up by the "Overlander India" (http://www.overlanderindia.com/). This was truly an unique experience:






A nice fire place for the night:



Sunset from the camp:



Our trucks parked besides the camp:



Here they are:



Now the culinary highlight of the trip. Uday of Overlander India cooking the authentic delicacy of the region, Laal Maans:



The spices that go into Laal Maans:



Morning rays over the camp:



And fresh hot breakfast in the desert. Unbelievably amazing experience:



And here is the main force behind this part of the drive. Uday of Ovelander. He set up this amazing camp, and he was the one who organized our dry river off-roading, and also he was the one who found that amazing lunch place in the middle of the dry riverbed. Thanks Uday for the great experience:



Then we went to Pokharan Salt Flats and had a great fun driving these trucks fast on the flats, and some drifting.

Trucks arriving on the salt flats:



Another group session in the middle of the salt flats:



And this is how it looks being in a high-speed convoy on the flats:



That last photo reminds me of some other views from the windshield:







(to be continued...)

[Dr.AD]

And it goes without saying that in a Rajasthan off-roading event, we did some dune bashing.

The cars arrived on a beautiful sandy land:



Where we could not resist posing for pictures:









The official photographer, Bhuvan, doing his job:



The trucks lined up on the sand:



Soon we were facing this steep down slope:



Bert giving instructions on how to move forward:



This is how that slope looked from outside:



The cars that had came down watching the fun:



Coaching session for each car before sliding down:



"It does not look that difficult":



Meanwhile, Zuzer explaining to us what we did right and what we did wrong:



Some more action on the slope:









Finding a way through nowhere:



The experts keenly watching how the truck handles the terrain:



And then a regroup on another sandy plateau:



A quick break, and some quick lessons, under whatever shade we could find:






Some more action before wrapping this up:



In the end, sweet memories of Car 3 (as it was always called; should have been called Truck 3) that I got to drive through this event:



And what better way to end this than a picture symbolizing all the hard work the XTLO team did to make this event so awesome:



XTLO team and my co-participants, thank you to all of you for this unbelievably fun experience. I will remember this forever!


The End!

[GTO]

Man, that looks like an incredible experience! Thanks for sharing. This thread will be going straight to our homepage. Am going to try one of these sometime (along with Mahindra's expeditions) instead of the usual holidays we take.

Can you share the costs please?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by GTO

Man, that looks like an incredible experience! Thanks for sharing. This thread will be going straight to our homepage. Am going to try one of these sometime (along with Mahindra's expeditions) instead of the usual holidays we take.

Thanks GTO. Yes, it was really an incredible experience, and something worth trying.

Can you share the costs please?

Regarding the costs, I am sharing their brochure for this same trip which they are doing again in a couple of weeks. The brochure includes the cost and other details.

The Dune Bash Rajasthan Weekend_A.pdf

[tilt]

In addition to what Dr. AD has already said I would like to add the following:

I never believed that a truck was capable of doing what these IsuZus did - and I do not mean just off-road, I mean on road, on the highways and small roads.

Of course these trucks were modded with better suspensions and better-tuned engines etc., but still - wow!

I think after this drive all of us are fans of the Isuzu D-Max V Cross!

And by the way, car # 3 (AD's and mine) was the luggage car. We did all that off-roading and highway driving and dune bashing and everything in a fully luggage-loaded car!

Cheers

[SJM1214]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

I am sharing their brochure for this same trip

Wow, this is something amazing. Thanks for sharing.

I am toying the idea of doing a two-day course of Mahindra Adventure's Trail Survivor from a very long time. I was under impression that XTLO is a group/club of Isuzu V-Cross owners. Thanks for sharing that PDF brochure and introducing us to XTLO Expeditions.

[robimahanta]

A really awesome narration AD. I never realised that you had so many pictures. It was a great experience with loads of driving time. I had done similar trips in a gypsy but the isuzu made off-roading so simple and easy. This was luxury off-roading at its best. Looking forward to more such trips with you guys.

A short compilation made by my good friend Ashok using the videos/photos from all the participants and the camera crew. Hope you guys like it.

https://youtu.be/CwMsoIMskCo

[drbones]

Dr.AD this is one superb experience, Rajasthan has to explore offroad to get a feel of what rajasthan is. Your thread made me remember my recent drive to rajasthan in dec 2017 on my MU X. I am not hijacking your thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...tory-tell.html. Luni river bed drive is superb, and getting stuck is the best part. For overlander india my rating is nothing less than five star.

[nerd1200]

This sounds interesting AD! Brings back memories of dune bashing I did last year in Jaisalmer. Although our weapon of choice was a few T-Safaris.
Bert is a veteran off-roader (Loved their Offroad videos from Overdrive) and I can only imagine how exciting the experience must have been.

May I ask which part of Rajasthan did this event take place?

[frictionangel]

Originally Posted by nerd1200

May I ask which part of Rajasthan did this event take place?

Around here

[sid_hilldriver]

I was quite excited about this initiative of XTLO. I even mailed them for an internship if the offer any. Unfortunately, I saw the same vehicles for sale at a used car dealer in Gurgaon. Has XTLO shut down?

[frictionangel]

Look at The Overland Experience.

They've changed the model a bit though and yes, the Isuzus are gone.
Glad someone is catering to the self-drive folks in India.