I took delivery of my D AT HT Thar on 16 Feb'23. It's clocked ~ 4000 kms so far. I've gone easy with it for the first 1k kms trying to do a "run-in" of sorts. And i've made a conscious decision of not taking it to tough off roading till I get acquainted with the car. That call has been a tough one after having waited for the car for long. Still, i've given it some mild exercise by doing very easy and moderate stuffs like climbing few inclines and few trails and slush driving etc but nothing remotely challenging to test it's capability.
I've a Gypsy too which over last few years have taken it to multiple off roading events and other recreational off roading. I'm quite confident with Gypsy now, it's shortcomings, strengths and very well adept at the angles etc. But with Thar, i've never test driven it in off road conditions. All the test drives on my friends' Thars and dealers' car etc were primarily on tarmacs, li'l slush and bad roads and nothing at all to call it off the roads. Hence I wanted to take it slow and understand the behaviour, weight, dynamics etc of the car in off road obstacles before I really conduct it's off road baptism.
In this context, I learned about M&M conducting off road Adventure Experience in their Mahindra SUV Proving Track(MSPT)facility near Chennai. I immediately signed up for that including the MSPT experience package besides the 4*4 course.
More details about the event was shared in detail by bhpian
livetodrive on this thread.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-e...ing-track.html (Experiencing Mahindra Xtreme Adventure | With a Thar on Mahindra's SUV Proving Track)
The package included a tour of their testing facilities, driving on the high speed track(ours were the second batch to be allowed driving on that), and driving on 4*4 track that had different obstacles to test the Thar's capability. This was exactly what I was looking for.This batch was conducted as a day night event, which started off at 2:30 pm and went on till 10 pm and dinner afterwards.
So I drove to Chennai and reached on the day before the event. From the thread, I had a clear idea on what to expect, thanks to
livetodrive. Since it's been elaborated very well by him, I would not go into such details. Instead I would share my experience.
Quote:
Excerpts from ACI on MSPT from one of their articles.
The 454-acre MSPT, apart from the 4X4 centre, also has 20 purpose-built tracks. These include zero percent slope, high speed test with a 43.7-degree parabolic banking setup for higher neutral speed testing. Vehicles on this track can reach over 200kph on the straight high-speed road.
Additionally, an arrow straight 2 km, 11m wide road with zero percent longitudinal slope is built for performance and coast down measurements.
The circular dynamic platform that spans 250 metres in diametre is meant for vehicle dynamics development and evaluation.
A Braking pad with 6 different surfaces, and, dry and wet tracks is built to test braking, ABS, ESP and TCS.
A General Highway Durability track and a Simulated City track are built for simulating public road durability.
An Accelerated test track which has all imaginable bad road surfaces including potholes, undulations, Belgian pavement, cobble stone, rumblers and various kinds of wash board and speed breakers are factored into it.
The MSPT can simulate rain, water wading and water splash. Also, it can simulate dust storms in a chamber.
MSPT also houses a full vehicle corrosion test facility with humidity chamber.
The 4X4 experience centre consists of the 4X4 Adventure track that has over 25 obstacles to test 4X4 and AWD vehicles.
Exclusive prototype workshops, a health centre and an administration tower that can house over 200 engineers completes the MSPT facility. And yes, MSPT has its own fuel station.
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The first striking thing is it's truly a world class facility. It was mind boggling to watch the series of vehicle testing that was going on in their curated tracks. The effort they put behind the product testing is unbelievable.
ESP testing, wet and dry braking, high speed braking, slalom runs, traction test, humps, highways, fly over joints, axle twisters, ice surface simulation (on paved smooth tiles), water fording, splash test, dust tunnel, city roads, rocks and boulders and even forest trails. The list goes on and on.
This must be a standard practice in the industry. But after seeing it all up close and the efforts put in by their development and testing team made my confidence in Mahindra products grow by leaps and bounds. Thar is my first Mahindra buy. They've come a long way in the last few years and it's showing in the products too. Be it Thar, XUV 700 or the Scorpio N. They're superbly built cars and excellent offerings. All the aforementioned cars were born in this SUV proving track facility. It's indeed great to see an Indian manufacturer upping the ante and aspires to be a world class SUV maker. Many of you must have read about them benchmarking these cars with the best in segment(Kodiaq, Endeavour and Fortuner) during their product planning and development.
We also had the opportunity to interact with Dr. Veluswamy - Chief of global product development at M&M. He surely doesn't need any introduction at least on this forum. He spent a good 40 mins with us. We were shown few concepts and proto types that are in the pipeline. One was an off roader EV. He also listened to our thought processes while choosing a Mahindra. Some of them owns other cars like Kushaq, Fortuner etc and are in line to buy a Mahindra. There was one participant who brought his spouse for the events to convince her on buying Thar. That's surely something Mahindra team wouldn't have envisaged while designing this programme.
During the interactive session, I asked questions on E20 compatibility on their m Stallion engines. The word from the horse's mouth is that they're already testing them with E20 fuel and I also learned from other members in the team that they're using the E15 in the present m Stallions without any issues. There were concerns aired by participants on issues at service centres and the need for more stringent training for their personnel. India Garage of Whitefield, Bangalore came in for scathing criticism from few of them.
During the tour of the track, we spotted many other OEM s vehicles being tested by Mahindra. BYD, Ioniq5, a VW ev, Tata Intra were few of them.
Driving on high speed track and on the banking.
We were allowed to drive two laps on the high speed track that includes the banking section also. The cars available were XUV 700, Alturas and Scorpio N. Each car had one of their trained driver instructors who sat beside while each participant drove. Two participants sat at the rear on each car waiting for their turn while others drove. I wasn't too comfortable with this for the simple reason it was a high speed drive besides it includes a banking which many were experiencing it first time. I had no idea on their driving skills or their experience. Hence I chose to get down from the car and wait for my turn.
I chose to ride shotgun with one person whom I trust with his brilliant driving skills. He's our D Bhpian
dhanushs. As many of you may know, he's a pro off roader and a seasoned guy at the wheels and now incidentally a lead engineer in M&M in their 4*4 special projects team. He hails from Wayanad and I call the place my third home. Also he's the ex owner of my off road spec Gypsy. We've always been in touch since then and I had gathered details about this event earlier and wanted to do it after taking delivery of my car. He was there throughout the programme and was leading us for the track experience and the 4*4 legs too.
I sat with him while he drove the Alturas. What I realised during those few laps was that it wasn't as easy as one thinks to drive on those banking at speeds of 170-180, especially for first timers. It appeared business as usual for him. As shared by him, the steering response and feel would be different. In the third track on banking, one doesn't need to steer the car while at 140-145 kmph. I also watched his super extreme focus while on the max banking which is the right most lane at 44.5°. He hit 180-190 comfortably and was a smooth entry and exit. It was a thrilling experience.
When my turn came, I chose the safest of the lot - XUV 700 and being the monocoque. Took it easy at 120-130 on the first lap on the banking. With li'l more confidence, on the second lap and on the third track of banking, I upped the pace and did 150 or so. It wasn't easy at all for me as the car starts to approach the banking at speed and when the corner starts, one's instincts of easing off the throttle comes into play. I was also little disoriented with the helmets on as i've never driven a car by wearing one. Few valuable tips by Dhanush helped. While it's appreciable that Mahindra allowed non pros like us to drive on those tracks, I see a risk in the exercise.
1. They have absolutely no clue on people's driving experience or skills.
2 It would be better if they judge a person's driving skills and then allot tracks with appropriate speed. This may be impractical owing to time constraints.
3. Only one participant(the one driving) and the instructor to be allowed in one car. The others shouldn't be travelling in the car on the high speed runs.
4. I wish the tyres in some of those cars were in better shape. Not to say it was alarming but there's definitely scope to improve on that aspect.
The 4*4 track and driving.
It had all the typical 4*4 obstacles that one would find in such a course. None of them were really a challenge for the Thar. It did not even test 50% of it's abilities. But then, it's for an experience the event was designed. We did water wading of around 2 feet. That was quite reassuring though I would prefer a snorkel always.
I could get first hand experience of Thar's behaviour in various obstacles. It was the sole reason for me in choosing this event. The vulnerable angles, the ground clearance, the level of suspension travel when in tricky spots were all experienced. I could also get a sense of wheel articulation it's capable of while doing the chicken holes. The crawling speed on rocks and steep inclines was amazing. You don't need A,B,C pedals at all. Just steer the car and enjoy the show while the electronics take care of your worries.
In Gypsy, it's exactly the opposite and you're on your own, no electronic or mechanical aid whatsoever. It's the single biggest difference I guess with Thar and Gypsy.
Overall, a very fruitful and enriching experience. The high speed drive on the banking was a surreal experience. The icing on the cake was able to interact up close with the Chief. Man himself was seen test driving a 5 door Thar. An unassuming and affable person at the helm surely helps the organisation.
I would strongly recommend this programme to our petrol head friends here, even if you're the sedan guy the whole life. I've been driving since 25 years and been a sedan person all through till five years ago. I accidentally explored this side of motoring fun( off road) when my friend dropped his Gypsy at my farm in Wayanad for few days, back in 2018. I've not looked back since then and making up for the lost time. Today i've two Gypsies at my disposal and now the Thar. Needless to say, how much i've been bitten by this off roading bug. I repent of not discovering this fun when I was at my younger age. So I urge all of you high speed corner carvers and speed junkies to try your hand at off roading. It opens a new world to you - in motoring and in life, just what i've found out in last few years.
And I take this opportunity to thank M&M for providing this great experience. They had a bunch of team that whole- heartedly organised this impeccably. Kudos to each of them especially Dhanush, Saravanan, Suhail and Srinivas. May your shadow never grow less and wishing M&M all the very best in your upcoming projects. You've truly won in me a Mahindra loyalist for life.
cheers,
bibendum
Few pictures from the event. Photography was strictly prohibited on high speed track. One of it's pics here was taken from the web.