THAR TRAILS- MAHINDRA GREAT ESCAPE OFF-ROAD LONAVALA 2019

Every true off-roader awaits the rainy season like the cricket fans await the World Cup. The rainy season brings mud, slush and water, making every terrain a playground for off-roading. I am no different and come June, I frequently sneak glances up at the sky, searching for the rain clouds. 

With rains on the anvil, I participated in the Mahindra Great Escape event in Lonavala in July, 2019. This event is an annual pilgrimage for many Mahindra SUV owners.

The Great Escape is an event organised by Mahindra Adventure for Mahindra vehicle owners only. This event is being organised since 1996 in various parts of India and this round in Lonavala was the 162nd Great Escape event. Currently the event is organised in 6 cities such as Lonavala, Goa, Chandigarh etc. There are separate 4X2 and 4X4 categories, with the 4X4 track obviously being more extreme. 

This is a half-day event, starting at 8 am and finishing by 4 pm. It is not a competitive event. Instead, it's a great way to enjoy some tough off-roading with guidance from experts. The course covers several obstacles of varying difficulty and all participants tackle these to the best of their abilities. Of course the marshals and recovery vehicles combined with the experience and capability of the organisers ensures that everyone goes home smiling.

Get to know more about these and other Mahindra Adventure evens and training courses on their website https://www.mahindraadventure.com. You can also register for their events online.

This was my second Great Escape event, having participated in the 2017 Lonavala edition of the event too. However, having gotten more experience of off-roading over the last two years, I was looking forward to to participating in this event. 

Our journey began from home in Nasik a day before. The weather looked promising for heavy rains, which made me even more excited for the event the next day. We reached Lonavala and after a good nights rest, we were pumped up for the event. We had to report to Club Mahindra Tungi Resort, Lonavala where the registration and briefing was to take place. Then onwards we would head to the track for the action.

Club Mahindra Tungi resort is tucked away in a very green area, about 1 hour (25 kms.) drive from Lonavala. It's adjoining the Tungi lake and a great place to get away from the city.

Beautiful view of Tungi lake from Club Mahindra Resort

Get..Set..Go

The event cost of Rs. 4000 (For 1 vehicle and a team of 2 persons) includes breakfast, lunch, goodies, participation certificates and of course the support of marshals all through the course. After registration, a hearty breakfast and a quick briefing, it was time to push off. As usual, we got awesome goodies from the organisers including T-shirt, cap, stickers, keychain etc. We also got a trail pack which included water, biscuits, juice and cake.

We are ready...

The off-road track was located at 19 Degree North Adventure Park. This adventure park is a part of Aamby Valley City. It is located 20 kms. from Club Mahindra Tungi.

The gate of the adventure park is bang opposite the Aamby Valley City main gate. We drove in and straight away got into the track, which was a small dirt road heading into the forest.

Since there are about 40 vehicles participating, there is a queue, especially at tough obstacles as vehicles need several attempts to finish or need to get towed out. Soon we were at Obstacle 1. This obstacle was a tough one. It had a steep slope with a large stone in the middle. We needed to go down in 4X4 L in 1st gear. The rear bumper of my Thar hit the stone hard. This was followed by a tight right hander. On the turn, you had boulders on the right hand side and a mound of mud on the left hand side. So the car tilted pretty steeply to the right side while crossing this obstacle. Again, my bumper hit the boulders hard, but we got out without any hassles. I have put several videos of the obstacles at the end of the blog for you to enjoy. Don't miss out watching these!!

Subsequent to this obstacle, we regrouped in an area to allow all the vehicles to complete the obstacle and proceed ahead. Unfortunately, we had to wait at this area for almost 2 hours. It was frustrating to wait, but it also gave us an opportunity to meet fellow like-minded off-roading enthusiasts and chat up on driving, experiences and if you are a jeeper, you will realise that no conversation is complete without common car problems :)

Later, we learned from one of the marshals that a Thar had overturned on Obstacle 1, and the recovery took time. Luckily it wasn't a major accident and the participant continued on the course.

Was the colour black or brown :)

Finally the rain Gods obliged and we got a good downpour.. off-roading is so much more fun in rains, even the mundane drive through the jungle is so much more exciting.

It's not all fun & games though. Vehicles getting stuck is common and the recovery team is always present at treacherous areas to assist us. Below is a video of the winching of a vehicle out of heavy muck, which is not visible under the water, leading to all vehicles going through this patch getting stuck.

The penultimate obstacle.. trust me, it's much more difficult than it looks. It's imperative to keep momentum going uphill. You lose momentum, and you have to come back all the way down and try again.

The roar of the engine in 4WD L, the car swerving through the muck, the dirt flying through the tyres.. its addictive. You have to experience it to believe it. 

After a lot of driving around in the jungle, making our own roads, we reached the last obstacle. The path to reach the obstacle itself was a steep slope and parking on such a slope was also dangerous. It was taking a long time and finally we lost patience and started trekking to the top of the mountain to check out the delay. 

When we got there, we realised that we were in for a lot of fun. The obstacle was a steep slope full of slush and zero grip. It was a straight up slope, followed by a tight right hander, then again a steep slope, followed by a tight left hander and then you finally made it to the top of the mountain. All the cars were losing momentum and coming back down to start again. The cars that at least made the first turn were being winched out by the recovery Thar, which had MT tyres and a sturdy tow rope. The rest had to come back to the starting point and try again.

Finally after an hour, it was our turn. 3 cars ahead of us had to be winched out. We got instructions from the marshals to keep the momentum. We blasted off from the starting point and reached the right hander quite easily. But there lay the problem. It was a really tight turn and there was large boulder at the left hand corner. Our instinct is to leave the accelerator and manoeuver the car to the right hand corner to avoid the boulder. But leaving the accelerator means losing momentum, which is a sure shot way to get stuck here. So I decided to bulldoze through. The car was jumping and I honestly have no idea about how many stones and boulders I drove over. Now, at the second straight slope, the slush was very severe as many cars had been stuck here and their tyres had left big grooves. Accelerating through this area meant that the vehicle was swerving all over. My heart skipped a beat as I caught a glimpse of the steep ravine on my right side. But this was not a moment to chicken out. Swerving and sliding, I hung onto the steering wheel and we made it through the slush and to the left hand turn. With the momentum, this turn was easy and we took it in our stride and reached the top. What a momentous moment!! We felt like kings, being only a handful of cars to make it up in one attempt and unassisted.  

So, it was the end of the course. The number of obstacles in this year's event were fewer than last time, but they were much more technical and difficult. It was a fantastic feeling to come of the other side, without requiring a tow or help from the recovery team.

The Thar came our with flying colours. It took a beating, banging the rear bumper, underbody and side steps several times. But it took every obstacle in it's stride and conquered the terrain without breaking a sweat. Truly a testament to it's off-road capabilities. It is a purpose built vehicle and it fulfils that purpose wonderfully.

I hope to be back for the 2020 edition of the Mahindra Great Escape. Until then happy & safe travels !!

All the below videos have been taken on my Transcend Drivepro 230 dash, which I bought from www.amazon.in. You can also read my detailed review blog of this Dashcam here.