Introduction

We all love being dirty. It is something that none of us will ever confess out in the open but in confidence will be more than happy to admit to extended periods of ‘lesser than acceptable standards of hygiene’ .

So it should be no surprise then that rolling around in the dirt is perhaps one of the most primary urges in humans. It has been a way of life since before the wheel was invented and is the ultimate connection between humans and Gaia a.k.a Mother Nature.

See where I’m going this? If not, then let me lay it out for you in the context of my story…. Cue in some heavy dubstep (ish) music and heavy cut to cut video editing while picturing a large group of Mahindra Thars being pushed to their very limit in the dirt.

Here’s the checklist

10 teams and 30 Mahindra Thars : check

Six obstacles filled with rocks, sand, mud and vegetation i.e slush level high: check

- Diesel fumes, clutch smoke, burning rubber and the chants of team mates guiding each other - excitement !-check

Welcome everyone to the Mahindra Club Challenge 2015!

Participation criteria

For a first ever event the attendance was not bad. You would not crowd the track anyway. There were a total of 10 teams participating. Each team had to enter SUVs in three classes: pro stock, modified and pro-modified and all of them had to be full 4WD vehicles.

The pro-stock participants had to use a fully stock Thar 4X4 while the modified had to have a Mahindra body and engine. The pro-modified could run any engine and gearbox but with a Mahindra body and chassis. Say hello to the world of automotive madness!

Day-1

There is a saying in life that if you want something and want it really desperately then there has to be a challenge to achieve this goal. Okay, I made that up, but this being the first ever club challenge to be organised by Mahindra, the Mumbai-based automaker pulled out all the stops when it came to the toughness of the obstacles.

Just to add to the challenge, Mahindra also decided to hold this first stage of the competition at night and in the midst of intermittent downpour. A la khatron-ke-khiladi

Oh, and I must mention that the event was held in Goa, in the middle of July, about the wettest time of the year for India’s adventure and tourist state.

If I have managed to build up enough excitement, then let me go into the details of what happened. The first obstacle was called a mucky relay where the participants using all three vehicles had to clear an obstacle each and pass on a flag from car to car within seven minutes.

The catch was that none of the participants could step on the ground and had to indulge in some acrobatics to clamber out and over the cars to pass on the flags (I should have paid more attention to those baton relay practices in school).

The first and second cars had to push their way over some articulated humps while car number three had the biggest challenge. It had to push through a river of muck before clambering up one slope and then descending the same one on the other side while dropping two wheels in a ditch.

While most were able to clear three out of four, it was the final one that had everyone stumped and ultimately remained uncleared. In fact, the challenge seemed so tough that one of the teams got their modified Armada stuck in the ditch for well over 40 minutes before it could be hoisted out by a JCB.

Around the turn of the fifth team, the rain began to pelt down hard and fast, adding quite a bit of colour especially when it came down to clearing the final bit of the challenge.

After a quick break for dinner, the teams moved onto the second challenge which was aptly named ‘No Man’s Trench’. It basically involved the jeeps entering a large trench from one end and then exiting the same trench up a near vertical slope on the other side.

This simple yet equally challenging obstacle saw a variety of off-road techniques being used. However, it managed to stump a few others including the legendary racer Jagat Najappa who managed to snap his drive shaft after accidentally hitting a branch.

Day-2

It is never fun to sleep late and then wake up early the next day. However, when the reason to sleep less and wake up groggy involves a large group of heavily modified Thars doing exactly what they have been designed to, then sleep is secondary.

I arrived groggy but excited to see what the second day had in store for me and was not disappointed. The challenges dubbed ‘Rock the Flags’ saw the participants climb over rock trails while the tricky trailer challenge (as the name suggests) involved trailer pulling across a steep obstacle which most participants managed to do so without much trouble. In fact, I even saw one Mahindra official hitch the trailer to his Thar and do the challenge twice for the heck of it.

I chose to briefly skim over these two challenges as they were quite puny in comparison to the big daddy of the day which was the demolition derby. To quote a video game analogy, this challenge was literally the Boss level of the whole event (except that it was the second-last obstacle…)

It involved the participants making their way over a stack of damaged vehicles in an attempt to climb down a slope. Sounds simple doesn’t it? However, don’t let the simple nature of the challenge fool you for even a second as it took a great amounts of cooperation, strength and precision driving from each of the teams to successfully navigate the cars.

Wanting to throw a spanner in the works, Mahindra gave the participants their turns by drawing lots thereby ensuring that each of the teams would face a different kind of terrain and consequently modify their approach to completing the obstacle.

Staying true to its name, the very nature of the challenge changed with each participant’s run as the roofs of the ‘crush lineup’ caved just a bit more each under the weight of each Thar and its four Maxxis Bighorn tyres.

By the fourth participant, the disabled SUVs had become convertibles and the crushed hatchbacks were slowly turning into coupes. As time wore on the approach to completing the task at hand became more and more creative as participants began to use metal boards, tyres and even winches to clear the line of vehicles.

The last challenge of the day and for the competition was the ‘Make Your Path’ obstacle which saw the participants construct a bridge from wooden logs to help their vehicles cross a large ditch dug for the purpose.

In the end, after two days of gruelling conditions, wet soil, sweat, dirt, diesel, Maxxis Bighorn tyres and rain, Bangalore off-road Development Authority (B.O.D.A) emerged victorious with 168 points ahead of team Tamil Nadu Off-Roaders and V5 Off-Roaders from Coorg who scored 156 and 151.5 points respectively.

Bye-Bye Goa

Once the challenges had been completed and the participants managed to shake off the adrenaline rush from all off-roading, it was a moment to reflect upon what had taken place and how the various clubs of India’s burgeoning off-roading scene had come together and successfully tackled each of the challenges.

It was never said but conveyed more than enough through actions that camaraderie and team spirit took the highest priority in the completing of the challenges.

Oh…that earthly feeling I spoke of in the beginning, it took just once glance at the participants’ dirt-caked faces to show the sheer joy that they were experiencing in what they were doing.

Here’s hoping that Mahindra Club Challenge 2016 will be just as successful and hopefully have even more number of participants.