Audi A6, Polo GTI and 4 BMWs on a memorable drive across Karnataka

The four Bimmers consisted of a Dravit Gray BMW M340i, White BMW 330i, Blue BMW M330i and Red BMW 320d.

BHPian Dr.AD recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

6 BHPians in 6 Cars Drive across Karnataka!

Got wheels, must drive! That was a simple idea behind this drive by a group of BHPian friends from Bangalore. All of us love driving. And driving was the primary agenda. Everything else was secondary.

We chose a circuit that offered a nice mix of driving conditions - fast highways, some lovely hill roads and descending down the Western Ghats and reaching the west coast, a small drive along the coast, then a hill drive again and ascending the Western Ghats from another route, and back to four-lane and six-lane highways for a fast highway drive back home.

To add more variety to the mix - not just in the driving conditions but also in the landscapes we would see - we chose one beach location (Kumta) and another iconic location far away from the beach (Hampi) for this 2-night drive! That meant we had a chance for a car photoshoot both at the coastal areas and at the iconic sites of Hampi. Outdoor photography is often a matter of luck. Multiple factors including location, time and light must come together for it to work. As it turned out, we did not find any decent location for a car photoshoot at a beach near Kumta. But we did find a nice location for a car photoshoot in Hampi. So overall it was a mixed bag for photography in this trip.

The approximate route map of this drive spanning more than 1200km is shown below:

We had 6 friends and BHPians driving 6 cars. A solo driver in each car. That is how the most enthusiastic drivers drive.

The group of 6 included @robimahanta (driving his White VW Polo GTI), @jkrishnakj (driving his Gray Audi A6), @RakishRam (driving his Dravit Gray BMW M340i), @praveenbalan (driving his White BMW 330i), @HighRevving (driving his Blue BMW M330i), and myself (driving my Red BMW 320d).

We had another friend, who is not a forum member, joining us for some time on the first morning, in his White 320d. He could not join us for the whole trip, but it was nice of him to join us for about 200km of distance in our early morning run!

The convoy at the beginning of this memorable drive:

Our convoy somewhere on the scenic forest stretch of the road.

We took Shimoga-Sagar-Honnavar (NH69)-Kumta road, and this road is brilliant! Sagar to Honnavar (NH69) is one of my favorite roads to drive on. This road has the best of everything - lovely twists and corners, hilly drives with ups and downs, scenic views and thick forests all around, and butter-smooth tarmac. I have driven on this road in monsoons too, and even in peak monsoons, the road surface here has always been great. We enjoyed our drive on this road.

The six cars at our beach resort in Kumta:

The four bimmers in the group:

Another group photo of all six cars in Kumta:

As I mentioned, we could not find a right spot for car photography at the beach. All we managed was to crawl on an off-road track trying to find a beach location and then returning back with not much success on that front. However, while crawling around on those dirt tracks, I managed to take a couple of casual mobile photos near the beach.

@praveenbalan's White 330i MSport:

@HighRevving's Portimao Blue 330i MSport:

Although we did not get a good beach photoshoot, we did get a great evening at the beach. We spent the evening talking cars while chilling at a beach resort. The simple and idyllic beach resort we stayed in Kumta was "Om Bodhi Retreat". Nothing fancy. No luxuries. Just a simple place that was peaceful and comfortable. The resort and the rooms were clean, it was located right on the beach, had a good parking space (very important for us), and offered a great dining experience at their beach restaurant. The hosts were hospitable and the service was great. Food was fantastic and always fresh! We did not expect much from this basic place, but we got more than what we expected and we ended up having a great time at this beach resort.

Evening scenes at the beach:

Photoshoot at Hampi

From Kumta, our next-day destination was Hampi. We took the dreaded Ankola-Yellapur-Hubli road before driving on the newly developed 4-lane highway from Hubli to Hampi. That Ankola-Yellapur section was notorious for massive potholes and many have had tyre bursts and other issues there. I myself have lost a tyre of my 320d in that very stretch in one of my previous drives. Anticipating such challenging conditions, we made elaborate plans to tackle the potholes and drive carefully and in a coordinated manner.

However, to our pleasant surprise, this road has been fixed well now, and instead of the dreaded potholes, we were greeted by newly laid smooth black tarmac. I loved a fast drive on this new smooth road after painful and slow drives in the last few trips. This new development on this road is great news for our future drives in that area and even drives to Goa.

And from Hubli onward, towards Hampi, it is a newly built 4-lane divided highway. This highway is awesome too. Nice wide divided road with long straight stretches and great visibility for a mile ahead. The only problem is that the road surface is concrete (just like all new highways in India), and that can get a bit noisy and bumpy. My 320d was quite fine and comfortable even on this section, but the more aggressively setup other bimmers in the group were not too happy here. But anyway, keeping aside this minor issue, this road was great and we had a nice fast drive here.

Overall, all the way from Kumta to Hampi, we had a good drive.

We reached Hampi in time for the "Golden Hour Photoshoot" on the backdrops of some of the ancient ruins there.

Group photoshoot in the magical golden hour of Hampi, against the ancient and historic structures:

The three bimmers (I should say "four-cylinder" bimmers, because a six-cylinder bimmer was parked next is not seen in this frame):

Could not resist one more photo of the three bimmers against the ancient temple:

After this group photoshoot, we took a few solo car photos.

White M330i of @praveenbalan:

The lovely Audi A6 of @jkrishnakj (by the way, the A6 looks really big next to the other cars):

One more photo of the huge and majestic A6:

The stunning Portimao Blue 330i of @HighRevving with its even more stunning wheels:

My own humble steed, the only diesel in the convoy:

My 320d bathing in the lovely golden sunset light in front of that ancient temple:

The three powerful modern German machines parked in that historic land of ancient temples:

Talking about modern German machines, the monster in the group, the only 6-cylinder in the convoy, M340i of @RakishRam:

Another look at the three lovely sedans parked on that dirt track where otherwise SUVs would be more at home:

By now it was time for sunset, and we could not resist another round of photoshoot, this time against the setting sun:

My 320d against the setting sun:

The monster in the group, BMW M340i, against the magical Hampi sunset:

And finally, as parting shots, a couple of photos of Robi's Polo GTI against the setting sun:

Continue reading Dr.AD's thread about this road trip for BHPian comments, insights and more information.