Recee or mini TPC 2009:-) Hello guys,
We had a blazing hot recee on 2nd of August 2009 or rather i should say a mini TPC which gave us the the glimpse of whats in store for us It all started from the usual campsite on sunday morning at about 9a.m after a heavy breakfast. Guys who drove 100+ kms including me we dozing off as we didnt have enough sleep before night and early morning drive made it worse. We guys reached the river bed spot (a different location this time) and a steep decent greeted us. Siva a newbie had his first taste of extreme OTR when his white jeep leaned in extreme angle when he misjudged the side slope. He was so terrified that he kept his one leg out to prevent the jeep rolling. Later instructions from seniors helped him get out of that situation unhurt:-) This situation made us demonstrate how to make a safe decent to other guys who were also relatively new to offroading. The trick was simple attack slope straight with no clutch and no brake. No rocket science!!
Later after making few minor climbs we headed to the spot where there was a steep slope with a water hole and soft sand on exit. Raja mohan with his newly revived green MM540 with XD3p and JK sand cum highway tyres on army rims attempted the slope and came out struggling for grip. The same section was attempeted in revese direction only to get stuck by participants:-) Mahendran a newbie again in his white MM540 hard top with p/s and NDMS 700.16 was loosing grip too early due to over aggresive tyres. He also ended up in a dangereous side slope while reversing! Later he was asked to turn into the slope and that was the lesson he learnt.
The next section was a water hole crossing with water upto bonnet level. Pepped up raja mohan in his green 540 was again the first one to try it and came out in flying colours! Later Ravi a newbie took a new path straight into the ditch where water was too deep with lot of muck without much momentum. He got stuck and big time. Arka didnt mind going going into dirty water for rescue the black XD3p powered Cj3B. My jeep and Arkas jeep driven by Major Roy struggled pulling out the 3B which was deep stuck in the mud. Later in the process of pulling even i got stuck. some front and back manevouring helped me come out of that stiuation. Later Arkas mighty jeep with diff locks and LSD combo pulled out the 3b.
This didnt deter other guys from taking the plunge. We all took our turn to cross the water mud hole. Rajamohan did it repeatedly and later inspection of airfilter by us just as a preventive measure showed up water in it. We cleaned the airfilter unit and dried the airfilter element and drove back the vehicle. His clutch also got stuck but later released it by itself after muck and water dried up.
Dr.jones vehicle suffered transfer-case checknut failrure and was resting after minor OTR. The jeep was repaired on the spot and doc could drive it back home. Vikrams gypsy didnt take the plunge into water as it was a petrol and second his condensor was exposed and didnt want to damage it. Further lack of articulation always kept its one wheel in air. This shows how each vehicle behaves in different situations.
We all headed back to the camp hungry for food. I and couple of guys left the place and organisers stayed for further breifing and OTR in the evening.
All in all a good and tiring OTR
Lots of pics are there! Will be uploaded shortly! |