[sudev]

As Alka mentioned Cochin (or Kochi?) rally in 1995 was another experience!!

We reached there by flight and had sent the car in a truck. (Alka note it was not mercilessly driven - but I wish I had - but trucked to and from). We were there all papers were ready and scrutiny was going on. Only hitch was the car had not turned up at Cochin. And we did not have cell phones to trace the truck by contacting the driver.

Pleaded with Scrutineer's and got time till 2000hrs to get the car with added fine imposed. Waited the whole day till some how we located the truck which was still about 90kms away sometimes around 1600hrs. Took the service car, a local taxi, pushing the driver to hurry.

Unloaded the car from the truck between six/seven of us. No ramp no pulleys. We do not know how we did it. We were mad and running against the clock of 2000hrs!! Drove like mad back to Cochin stadium and made it with minutes to spare for the deadline. Even after all these years - Whew!!

Finally the first Zen ever to rally on India roads took the flag and we drove in to some jungle sections north east of Cochin. First two sections were just okay. Never cared to remember the timings with what followed....

[saintsinner]

i don't visit this section often. however, i am loving the travelogue!
All the best for the journey sir & mam, i am adding this page to my favorites!

[sudev]

@saitsinner : Thanks for the vote of confidence

.....The third section started at night and it was through a jungle on a narrow tarmac. By this time we were getting with grips with the cars handling on narrow jungle roads with gritty edges. Straights were inter spread with fast flowing corners.

Approaching one smallish right hander at 120+ all of a sudden the car spun 180 degrees with an almighty clanking. We barked and slithered to stop almost at left edge of thick forest. growth and were lucky not to hit a tree or a stump. And then it was all peace and quite in stillness and pitch darkness of the forest and no moon was visible anywhere. Only a small pool of lights was thrown around the car's running lights after the headlights were doused....

[sudev]

...slowly we clambered out of the car after untangling ourselves (me and my navigator) from the four point belts and helmets. We had realised that car was sort of sloping backwards. And in the feeble glow of rear lamps we see that the rear right wheel has go of rallying on its own!!
The axle weld to the rear hub had sheared off and so now there was nothing we could do. So we waited for all cars to pass the section after having positioned the safety triangles to warn them of car on side of road.
After all cars had gone through came some spectators on motorcycle. Five of them on two rides. First of all they scared the **** out of us by calmly telling us that there are tigers and elephants in this jungle and we should not stay put but get out. Question was how? Very graciously they offered a lift for one person. I asked my navi to go with them and locate the service vehicle which was to wait for us after another stage.
Soon i was all alone and frightened to the core. I could not sit inside as it was very stuffy in September post monsoon period. So I got on top of the car roof and lied down there while my eyes played tricks of their own with every movement of leafs in the slight breeze. And my heart would thump on hearing some or the other crashing jungle noises. The time was well past mid night by now.....

[sudev]

Okay one last post about flashbacks and then we are back to the Mughal Road. ...Finally the service team came but without any welding facility they said that it would be impossible to move the car or we need to arrange a crane. How do you do either in middle of jungle in unknown territory?? The local taxi driver was utterly useless chap who was perhaps more lost than even us. So a plan was hatched to tie up the rear suspension arm with the body shell using wires and rope (and with that the axle) at maximum compression setting. Then the lightest driver (my navi and brains behind this scheme) would drive while the heaviest (me) would sit on the right from bumper to give leverage. Believe me you that it worked. I hung on to dear life as he drove, slowly initially then faster. All I had to hang on was a loop of rope attached with the bonnet and the extra bonnet clips mandatory in rally. With me hanging on the front right the rear left lifted off sufficiently for us to drive all of 70 kms(!!) to Cochin. Reached there early morning and some how dumped the car in to loading bay of the truck for journey back to Delhi. And then fought with local union chaps who demanded "atimari" (The Union Tax AFAIK) from us for loading our car on to the truck without their permission and before the shift hours in the port area!!! Learned a new word of malyalam though.

[tsk1979]

You do seem to have your share of disasters! Some experiences! Write a book or something.
Coming back to Mughal road. Its snowing and raining up there. Last month a Pajero attempted and had to be rescued. Looks like the rally organizers are in for a tough time.

[sudev]

Times Now telecast concentrated only on Pajero - the accompanying Fortuner seems to have made it all right. But we shall see what we shall...Although some people are doing the recce today/tomorrow.

[hvkumar]

Today, one guy died in a landslide when he was doing a recce for the rally. The jeep in which he was in got rocks raining down on in it.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100622/j&k.htm#7

Ahead of Mughal road rally, landslide kills enginer
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 21
A few days before the Mughal Road Rally starts, an Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) of the Public Works Department was killed when a landslide hit his official Bolero vehicle at Peer Ki Gali in Poonch district this morning.

Sources said AEE Mohammad Younus Mughal, along with a Deputy manager (Mughal Road Project) of Hindustan Construction Corporation (HCC), was on his way to inspect the Mughal Road when a landslide hit his official vehicle killing him and critically injuring driver Mukhtar Ahmed. The critically injured driver has been referred to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Jammu.

However, HCC Deputy Manager Ishwar Singh Arya had a narrow escape. The mishap occurred around 11 am today, sources said.

The body of the AEE, who belonged to Gorsai village in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch, was buried this evening.

SHO, Surankote police station, Paramveer Singh said, “A rescue party was rushed to the area but by then the AEE had died.” He added that the injured driver and the project manager, who was in a state of shock, were rushed to the hospital.

[vitesh.b]

Latest Results posted on the official site ...
after Leg 1 - Sunny Sidhu from Rana

[sanjaykaul]

Amazing stuff. It seems Maruti Gypsy is again ruling the Rally track (would wait for Sudev Sir to give real time updates). PB 12 F 2052 Maruti Gypsy (Probably being driven by someone named "Mr. Amartejpal Singh Buwal") was on 3 wheels and a rim. You have to see it to believe it. Check the video on RALLY OF THE MUGHAL ROAD.

Does someone know how to interpret the results (Provisional Results of 1st leg are there).

[vitesh.b]

@ Sanjay - i think the organisers put up wrong ssheets for leg-2. i am getting spreadsheets with detailed leg-1 results.

[sudev]

The day before first - June 22 - we rolled from our house at 0400hrs and travelled to Tohana (near Hissar) where the company factory is located. A full days work finished at about 1900hrs and I decided that an early dinner and a bit of sleep was in order before we started. So now we were to start for Srinagar at 0200hrs. By the time I had a bath and dinner was over both of us were feeling very sleepy. All the same Alka - out of sheer habit I guess - started flipping through the TV channels and since Indian Idol programme was coming both started watching the youngsters perform till 2230hrs. Early to bed indeed.

[sudev]

The route was Tohana, Munak, Patra, Sangrur, Dhuri, Malerkotla, Ludhiana, NH1 to Jallandhar and then NH1A to Srinagar, with a small detour from Chak Dyala to Udhampur which saved us some kilometers as well as helped avoiding the crowded Jammu city.

Alarm clock woke us up at 0130 hours and we started off for Srinagar, 700 odd kilometers away. During the pre-dawn it was a pleasure to drive since there was hardly any traffic and excellent road, which is under widening between Dhuri and Malerkotla. We crossed over to J&K at 0700hrs after a brief stop for chai and fuel at Haveli Jallandhar which also offered clean and neat toilets. even at 0500hrs! Breakfast was at a small little dhaba in middle of nowhere before Udhampur.

When we approached Dhuri the road sign in punjabi informed us to take the right fork for city bye pass. While to me it appeared that the road more used in the left fork. Reconfirmed with Alka as she can read punjabi. So despite foreboding we went right. Soon it became apparent that we were going through the town but I thought at this hours that should not be a problem. So onward we went till almost the other end where the railway crossing was closed. Waited a few minutes and then decided to talk to the gate keeper and following ensued:
Me: How much time?
He: See the train is just coming (pointing to our left and showing me a light that was barely moving)
Me: There is no bye pass?
He: Yes, you should have taken that
Me: But at the entry this was shown as bye pass
He: Does this look like bye pass?
Me: No what I meant was that the arrow pointed towards left said town and right arrow said bye pass
He: So what even any fool would have made out that it is not the bye pass

So I, categorised lower than a fool, had to wait another ten minutes before the gate opened. Possible lesson: When in Punjab do not read Punjabi road signs?

[sudev]

The traffic was high when we rejoined NH1A at Udhampur. We kept on meeting and crossing lot of fellow rallyists and officials while some took a break. Near Ramsu we see Hari Singh, a former national rally champion, standing by the road side and stop to say hello. His reason of being stationary is his Black Elephant, Tata Safari Dicor 2.2, becomes clear. The vehicle is showing an "service" light and has just stopped. It did not boil over nor is there any other trouble apparent as the engine cranks but does not fire.

So I pull out my phone and promptly call up Tanveer (tsk1979) whose thread on his White Elephant is storehouse of information on Tata Safari. Step by step he guides me to check if demister has water clog. Through ECM reset which makes the service warning go off. But no luck Black Elephant refuses to start. So lend my tow rope for Hari to get his Elephant to Ramban where he could get it checked from Tata mechanic.

Little did I realise what ECM gremlins were up to.....

[harishnayak]

Have been following this thread for a while now. Just saw Abhey Therejas pics ( on FB ) from the Moghul road rally and looks like it was a lot of Fun.

Any pics sir??