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Took my Jimny to my life's 1st off-road competition & enjoyed it fully
In the modified class, the cars varied by a huge margin. Big MT tyres, remapping, free flow exhausts, off-road bumpers, lift kits, rock sliders, winches and whatnot.
BHPian hemanth.anand recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
I recently participated in the Rock N Road 4x4 masters event with my Jimny.
On 28th Jan, I saw a post on Instagram by Maruti Suzuki about an event called Rock N Road 4x4 Masters. It was a Jimny-only event where 40 people each from 8 different locations will compete for the title of 4x4 master.
I immediately messaged BHPian avinashsg and checked if he would also be interested in registering for the event. The first reply from his side was “Are we prepared?”.
We had never participated in a driving competition as such. We have driven around the country on some challenging roads and no roads but this would be something else. I read a bit more about the event and I replied “This is an event for both Stock and modified Jimnys which means it would be relatively easier than many such competitions. We may not win, but let’s go for the experience”
The next day he replied, “Done, let’s do it then”. So, on 1st February, I registered my vehicle and both of us for the event.
Later I saw the video of the Delhi event and I saw Vijaykumar from Swastikfabs in the video and I messaged him just to check how is the event. He said the stages are very simple. Although “very simple” was encouraging, I knew that a “Very simple” for him would still be challenging for us who’ve never participated in such events in the past.
On 6th Feb, the organizers sent us the rules and regulations of the event and we were informed that the reporting time of Day 1 would be 0730hrs. they informed us that the location would be revealed close to the event.
With each passing week, we used to see videos of the event from other locations on Instagram and it started to look tougher. We were like “Did we bite more than we can chew?”. But every time I reminded us of Jimny’s tagline Never Turn Back and we were like “Let’s do it for the experience”. But both of us had one aim, that we should not end up in the last position.
On 26th February, we received a second communication from the organizers in which they revealed the location. It was Dirty Drivez, an off-road training academy/track on the outskirts of Bengaluru. This was the same place which I had visited some months ago for another a Jimny test drive event. The place was rather small and simple with no scope for extension. I was wondering how they’ll organize this event.
When we registered, Avinash and I decided that we would visit some off-road tracks nearby and try to understand the car a bit more before participating. But for some or the other reason, we were occupied over the weekends. Only the weekend before the event, we could make time. We decided to drive to Achhalu Betta, an off-road hill climb to a temple 50 kms from Bengaluru. We also took along the Gypsy and another friend’s MT Jimny.
To our bad luck, the road to the top of Achhalu Betta had been recently repaired and made into a smooth mud road. Even a hatchback probably would climb to the top. Some snaps from the drive.
JiGyps at Achalu Betta base
Dashboard footage of Achalu Betta
On March 5th, all participants were added to a Whatsapp group for quick and easy coordination. The reporting time on Day 1 was 0730hrs. On March 8th, the day before the event, Avinash and I spoke and decided to leave home at 0600 to 0615 the next day.
Day 1, Saturday, 09th March 2024
I was looking forward to the event so much that I got up before the alarm and got ready. Avinash reached my home at the agreed time and we left home at 0615hrs.
We reached the venue at 0700hrs and we were among the first few to reach. After a small round of introduction, we were waiting for everyone to join.
The Event HQ
The line up of early birds
The monster Goat
The organizing team took some time to organize everything and the registrations started by 0830hrs.
At the registration desk, our documents were verified and we had to sign an indemnity form. We were handed over the vehicle stickers, food coupons and rules booklet. We were informed that the Scrutiny will begin soon after we paste the stickers on the car. The briefing for all the drivers was scheduled for 0930hrs.
Registration desk
We pasted the stickers and reduced the air pressure of the wheels and were ready for the scrutiny. The officials came and completed the scrutiny and we then waited for the driver briefing.
The scrutiny card, rules booklet and stickers
Pasting the stickers on the door
Vehicles lined up for scrutiny
The breakfast truck arrived and we were having our breakfast while Mr. Ashish Gupta from MSIL addressed the marshals. By the time the breakfast was over, the driver briefing started.
The Marshals being briefed
The stage
We were explained that the event will have a total of 8 Special Stages (SS1 to SS8) which would test not just the vehicle, but the driver skill and ability to complete the courses. We had to complete 4 SS each day. While one SS was within the training academy called Event HQ, three others were designed in a field close by. The 40 participants were split into groups of 10 and each one would start with an SS and after completion move to the next SS. We were in the second group (cars between 111 to 120).
Each SS had a different set of challenges and rules. For example, going around a track in a defined way (marked by pegs and buntings), making a loop a certain way for a predefined number of times, driving onward in a certain path and returning in a different path, etc. There were penalties for breaking the bunting, breaking the pegs, not wearing proper gear (helmets, closed shoes and seatbelts were mandatory).
Only the first group for that track would be given a walk-through and later drivers were supposed to see other cars and understand the track. Failing to start would be awarded a DNS (Did Not Start) which means 0 points. Any driver failing to complete a course as per the rules will be awarded a DNF (Did Not Finish) with 20 points. The fastest driver to complete the course combined with the lowest penalties for a particular SS would be given 100 points and others would be given points in accordance to that. Totally a driver could score a maximum of 800 points and a minimum of 0 points. The timer button was beside the starting box and the driver was responsible to start the timer, sit in the car, wear all safety equipment and start the course, complete the course and come back and stop the timer. All the SSs had a max time of 10 mins beyond which a driver would be awarded a DNF.
All the SSs were the same for Stock as well as modified classes of vehicles. This was probably MSIL’s way of showcasing the capability of the vehicle.
215/75R15 tyres that I had are still considered as stock. But because of the throttle controller and the snorkel, mine is classified as Modified. In the modified class, the cars varied by a huge margin. Huge MT tyres, remapping, free flow exhausts, off-road bumpers, lift kits, rock sliders, winches and whatnot.
At the end of 2 days, only two winners would be picked – one in the modified class and the other in the stock class. Who would then advance to the finals in Goa on March 23rd.
With that done, All 40 cars were flagged off. Since we were in the second group, we started with the SS2 first. The track marshal gave a walkthrough to the group.
The SS official giving instructions
A brief description of SS2:
- Right after the start box, get a small and steep incline.
- 100 mtrs later take a sharp left U-turn (with the right wheel a mtr below the left wheel)
- 100 mtrs further was a tree where we had to take a right turn
- Drive across a small yet deep sewage ditch.
- 10mtrs later Drive across another ditch.
- Take a sharp to climb up an incline
- Make an anticlockwise loop around bushes
- Come back to cross the two ditches and return on the same path
Car #111 was a stock white MT. He started well and completed the course in around three and a half minutes. Although he completed the course, he lost the skid plate to the Ditch#1.
Car #112 was heavily modified (235/75R15 MT tyres, Stage2 tuned, big snorkel, off-road bumpers and all). His car got stuck in Ditch#1 and had to be recovered. While trying to navigate, the tyres dug up further to make it slightly more deeper and more difficult for the next cars. This was the first recovery of the event and we got to see the recovery vehicle do its thing. it’s a monster and not how a Jimny should look like, but then, it is a recovery vehicle after all.
The Monster Goat
Recovery in progress
Car #113 was a stock one and he ended up getting stuck in the same ditch and had to be recovered.
Then it was my turn. I had planned to take the ditch at an angle.
Starting SS2
I started the timer, got into the car, started well, I got down the first incline, took the U-turn and soon I was in the ditch. It was a narrow right-hander path with bushes all around. I had planned to take the ditch at an angle, which meant I had to go straight at the right hander. But when I actually came to the ditch, with the narrow path, I got more focused on not breaking the peg and bunting on the left and I turned right and thud! I got stuck in the ditch with my number plate bang on the other side of the ditch. There was grass on the ground and all 4 wheels lost traction. Trying to steer and accelerate only worsened and the marshals warned me of excess wheelspin. I had to be eventually recovered out as well. The number plate was bent which was just straightened by hand.
Stuck!
After the recovery, my car started again as number 115 with Avinash at the wheel. Same story repeated! With 4 drivers recovered one after the other, the word soon spread out and a lot of people started gathering at the spot.
#116 was a stock red car and the driver came and asked me how it was and I told him to take it at an angle. He did exactly that and cleared the ditch. Everyone started clapping and applauding. He crossed it on return too and completed the track. He lost his number plate though. He came and thanked me for the advice.
I learnt that giving advice is easy but doing it is difficult. Later I realized that the whole event was designed around this. You may have the best vehicle, you may have the best mods, you might be skilled too. But it comes to how you perform at that time. Over the day, the ditch took a toll of 10/37 (3 DNS) cars and all 10 had to be recovered. I think these 10 were the only recoveries of the entire two days.
SS3 was right next to SS2.
A brief description of SS3
- Get down a small incline
- 100mtrs later take a left-U turn around a pine tree
- Drive up a long incline with a right hander
- Take a right and cross an opening in between two pegs making sure all 4 wheels cross those pegs
- Reverse into another opening making sure that the rear wheels cross the pegs.
- Get down into a clockwise loop around some pine trees once and you’ll end up at the top
- From there come back down on the same path as the onward.
While Avinash and I passed this without any penalties, some really fast drivers got a DNF because of small errors like missing to follow the defined course or the wheels not crossing the marking pegs etc.
We then moved to SS4. A description
- Get out of the start box and drive into a small canal-like area
- Drive through the sandy/stony path and exit via a steep right-hander.
- Get down and circle around a tree anti-clockwise to come up again. Repeat this loop twice
- Get down into the same canal-like area with a left
- Drive through the canal and exit further ahead (not the same that we got in) and finish.
The exit was much steeper than the entry and tests the breakover angle of the vehicle. This was the challenging part of this track. Apart from this, the loop in this was just beside the ditch#1 of SS2. With recoveries in SS2, this track also had to wait for some time for clearance.
In the previous group which did this, one vehicle got beached! When we came to the start point, One Jimny took the exit a little too fast and broke his bumper.
Both Avinash and I passed this without much fuss. Avinash was a little too careful because it was my car (although I told him multiple times not to worry) which was quite understandable. Due to this, he couldn’t exit the steep incline on the first attempt. He had to reverse a little and then crossed it at the second attempt.
We later on moved to the HQ for SS1. The previous batch was still doing this track and hence we went to have lunch in the same food truck. In the entire event, food on day 1 was probably the bad part. The options were not enough, too expensive for what it offered, it was all too dry and tasted bad, drinking water was also not available and each litre of water bottle was priced at ₹50/- (one food coupon). I generally don’t waste food but I had to give away half of what I ordered to some stray dogs in the area. I just bought some juices and then we also finished some snacks that we had already bought ourselves. The unusually Hot weather this year in Bengaluru made it even worse. All of us gave this feedback to the organizers.
Breakfast and lunch
After whatever we could eat, we reported at the SS1 start point.
The SS1 was:
- From the start box, Drive on the ground level that gradually slopes upwards (one level up).
- Take a sharp Right U and get into a steep and deep gorge that is one level below the ground level (two levels down).
- Navigate the wavy gorge and at the end of it exit into the ground level with a left U almost the start point (one level up)
- Drive back in the same gradual slope and then this time make a Left U turn (one level up)
- Get into a patch filled with slush and drive through it to come close to the start point again (one level down)
- Cross over into the deep gorge and drive through it in reverse (one level down)
- Exit the gorge with a steep climb and take a Left-U (two levels up)
- Descend down into the start box (one level down)
The tricky part in this was only remembering the track. The vehicle can easily tackle the other things. A shorter turning radius would’ve helped in faster track timings. Both of us finished this easily without any penalties.
With all the SS of the day done, we both decided to return home. We left at 1500hrs and reached home. We both had only one regret…the regret of not completing the SS2!
Later in the day, the standings were shared and I was at #34 and Avinash was at #31. There was one car which didn’t start on any track.
Later in the night, the organizers sent a note that they’ve got a new vendor for food and the prices were revised. They apologized and told that they will take care of the food for the next day. We really appreciated the quick action.
I had kept an alarm for 0600hrs and slept off.
Continue reading hemanth.anand's off-road experience for BHPian comments, insights and more information.
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