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In pictures: 3 Scorpio-N & 1 Thar go off-roading at Mandalpatti

19th March 2023, 09:32 by Rahul Nagaraj

We would leave around 5 am from Mysore, reach Mandalpatti around 10, have lunch at Madikeri and be back home by nightfall.

BHPian nerd1200 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

4XPLORing through Mandalpatti offroad trail

Prologue

This circuit was on my to-do list for a while, albeit I wanted to do it in my Yeti AWD. That didn’t happen. On the bright side, however, I now have a car for which this trail should be just another alleyway. Imagine this next bit Jeremy Clarkson’s voice and Pratap Bose’s demeanour: “some say, this is not just any SUV, rather it’s the Big daddy of all SUVs. All we know is it’s called the Scorpio (to the power) N”

A teaser

Here’s a video compilation of the trail drive.

Prologue (contd.)

A mid-week WhatsApp from me hit soumobakshi’s inbox:

DM – Free this weekend?
SB – Yes, on Saturday.
DM – Mandalpatti?
SB – Offroading?
DM – Yeah.
SB – Done.

Next was ROG_AK.

DM – What are you doing this Saturday?
AK - Hopefully going on a drive with you guys!
DM – Mandalpatti?
AK – Done.

We invited Columbus_500 to join and he gladly jumped on the bandwagon. A WAG was swiftly created, and the meeting time & point was decided. That’s pretty much it! None of us needed any preps since it was essentially a day drive. We would leave around 5 am from Mysore, reach Mandalpatti around 10, have lunch at Madikeri and be back home by nightfall.

The lineup:

ROG_AK’s Napoli Black Scorpio-N Z8L D-AT 4XPLOR riding on 265 BF Goodrich K02s wrapped around some drool-worthy blackened 9J Fuel rims. Proper “gangsta” vibes.
Columbus_500’s Napoli Black Scorpio-N Z8L D-AT 4XPLOR on GY Wrangler ATST 265s
My Deep Forest Scorpio-N Z8L D-AT 4XPLOR on stock shoes
Soumobakshi’s Napoli Black Thar LX D-MT 4X4

We got onto the Bangalore-Mysore highway at 5:30 and were happily cruising along the newly laid expressway with much appreciation for that beautiful piece of tarmac. Apart from maybe 3 diversions, the entire stretch is complete – all the way up to Colombia Asia junction. We reached the junction within an hour and stopped for a quick tea break. It was dawn and I couldn’t resist getting my camera out and capturing some silhouettes.

A closer look at the Fuel rims on ROG_AK's beast.

We stopped at Hunsur for breakfast and that gave me another opportunity for a photo op. The morning light renders such a nice compositional hue to pictures, it’s a photographer’s delight.

In the context of the Indian automotive market, the Thar deserves this "TRAIL RATED" badge much more than the Compass Trailhawk does.

Both these tires are 265s. The perceptible difference in width is due to the aggressive sidewall design of BDG's and the fact that ROG_AK's rims are 9J compared to the 7.5J of stock rims.