Spending a Saturday working especially
when it’s raining outside is not a great idea. Unlike a normal Saturday
which starts at 10:30AM, this one on 26th July started at
5AM. After stepping out of my house in Mumbai and with some amount of
sleep still left in my eyes, I barely made it to the cab waiting to take
me to Lonavala, a popular hill station located at a distance of close
to 100kms away from Mumbai.
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Rain
drops dancing on the window and crunching on more kms as the hour
passed, our cab reached the Mumbai Pune Express way. A late Friday
evening and the driver’s smooth driving made me doze off in the car
again. It was then the road to Aamby Valley which woke me up to take
notice of the picturesque surroundings of Lonavala. Twisty sections,
drizzling shower and dense fog wrapped locations with a chilly weather
made the long drive totally feel worth it.
As
we entered 19 degree North, an adventure park situated in Lonavala, the
level of enthusiasm just sky rocketed with the sight in front. I have
been to this place earlier and it was calm and serene back then but now
It was buzzing with excitement and high spirit. The occasion was
Mahindra’s 112th edition of Great Escape in Lonavala. There
were Jeeps and SUVs unlike the ones we see daily. I managed to see
Boleros and Commanders totally tuned for off-road driving. With raised
suspensions and off-road ready Maxxis tyres, these beefed up monsters
looked ready to take on muck in style.
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Luckily,
I and my colleague were allotted a Mahindra Thar. I am personally a big
fan of dirty messed up Jeeps and our bottle green Thar looked exactly
the part. Mahindra Thar enjoys a cult following among the off-roader’s
fraternity. Launched in 2010, the Thar is the only pure bred Jeep which
has the potential to crawl almost anywhere and everywhere along with
offering decent levels of comfort.
Since
it was an early morning start, we decided to get a quick breakfast at
the venue. Vinod Nookala, Brand Manager Thar and Manish Sarser, Head
off-roading initiatives at Mahindra Adventure, briefed us about the
different obstacles and cautioning us about the challenges and
difficulties involved. They are veterans indeed in off-roading but their
level of patience while dealing with different drivers is simply
fantastic. Being a newbie, I kept asking different questions regarding
the ideal speed, perfect gear and right engine rpm and was sufficed with
precise answers which were very helpful.
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We
drove through slushy sections with great quantities of mud wrapped
around the tyres and reached obstacle number one. This one was a
visually deceptive course. It was basically driving on a steep incline
and reaching end point situated on a hill. It sounds easy on a normal
sunny day on a normal piece of road. Rains played havoc by pouring
generously and making the surface slippery thus affecting traction of
our vehicles. Shifting into 4 Low mode, we drove on the incline and
managed to get ourselves stuck in a ditch. After getting some tricks
from Manish, we steered ourselves out and reached the final point.
The
second obstacle was crossing a shallow pond. Once the vehicles were
inside, driving through the pond was the challenging part as the water
rose up to the bonnet level completely submersing the engine. Normally, a
snorkel equipped Jeep can easily make it across but then many didn’t
have one. The trick is to maintain correct engine speed sufficient to
just push the water.
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If
the speed was more, the traction dropped and if the speed was less
there were occasions of engine shut off. We managed to keep the engine
revving to 1500 to 2500 rpm and easily drove across it. There were some
instances of stalling of other vehicles coz of the water entering the
engine bay.
The third obstacle was
crossing a river and then to continue on a narrow section of rocks.
Driving across a flowing river is tough. If the currents are heavy they
can push the vehicle in any direction. Shifting it to first gear, we
drove on this section carefully.
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The
last obstacle was the most interesting, challenging and grilling as it
needed skills from all the earlier obstacles. In this obstacle, there
was a steep decline and then a river crossing. Immediately after
descending, there was a sharp left turn and then a climb. After crossing
it, the vehicles had to climb a rocky terrain which had flowing water.
The narrow passage of rocks made it complicated.
The
final step was to make a U-turn and then climb a slushy hill. We got
ourselves strapped and began driving through the complex course. No
matter how carefully one decided to drive, all the vehicles managed to
scrape some part or the other on the rocks because of their odd
placement. We had enough knowledge from Naresh Bhosle, a veteran
himself, about the ways and means to get through this course smoothly.
Getting the Thar to crawl on unexplainable surfaces and finally drifting
to the finishing line, we completed all the obstacles.
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This
was our first encounter with Mahindra Adventure’s Great Escape. The
amazing team of trainers and experts showed great patience while
explaining the intricate details which might be as simple as strapping
oneself properly on the seats to the exact engine speed while coasting
on a rough terrain. After a hard but joyous day in Lonavala driving a
tough monster on hilly terrains, we headed back with lessons, tricks and
memories of the day.
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source:-http://www.cartrade.com
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