Mahindra Great Escape (Kottayam) Experience


Thread Starter #1
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Dear All,

Pleased to present my driving experiences and pictures of Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam, 23rd June 2012.

Since the announcement of the dates, I was planning to arrange a Jeep and a maximum of 4 pax per jeep. Finally we ended up in confirmed 3 participants. Myself and 2 of my childhood friends. Everything was organized and one of my friends contact had a 2011 model Thar CRDe, with factory fitted A/C, never abused, ready for off roading.

Just 2 days before the event, I called up the owner of the Jeep to get the registration details. There came the bad news.

Owner: " I am planning to sell the jeep"
Me: "What? But how about the adventure trip that was planned?"
Owner: "Sorry, I have a buyer for the jeep right now"

I hung up and informed my friend. He asked me to keep calm. In my office, everyone knew that I was about to go for the trip and I felt embarrassed to cancel at the last moment.

But my friend, I dont know what he did, or how he convinced the owner of the jeep, on 22nd night at 08:00 PM, I got a call from my friend saying he has picked up the jeep and be ready to go the very next morning. [clap]

I couldnt sleep that night. We are in Trivandrum and we must travel 150 kms to reach our destination, and that too on a high range ghat section.

Did we reach?

Max
 
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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

Hi MadMax, welcome to TAI.

It would be a very nice experience to drive in those types of terrains.
Please post the pic's so we too could enjoy the event.
 
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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

There is a similar event planned on the 7th of july in lonavla. I was invited but my scorpio being a 2Wd i decided against it.
 
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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

Welcome to TAI madmax look's like nice movie is about to start, can't wait for it Bring it on
 
Thread Starter #5
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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

Thanks Varun and Visran..

Next day morning we started around 4 AM. Registration starts at 8 AM.
I did not drive in the beginning, coz I cannot maintain average speed in the roads of Kerala. So my friend Ramesh decided to drive.

We two had owned MM540 in the past, and we knew that after crossing 100 km per hr in our old MM540, the engine seems to communicate to us like "Guys.. Please stop accelerating, I cant take it any more.. Please spare me". But this Thar CRDe was amazing,, I saw the speedometer cross 80 - 100 - 110 - 120 - 130 with ease. And the engine, it was like "Come on,, is that what you got? Gimme more".. The handling, breaking was far better. We reached our destination by 8:30 AM and registration formalities were completed.

Let pictures do the talking now:
 

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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

Haha[lol]:lol!:
I liked the list of do's and don'ts.Its typically written in our style and definitely this is only the types of warnings we people understand..[lol]
 
Thread Starter #7
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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

The Vehicles getting ready for take off
 

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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

^^Where are more pics Maddy(I hope you have no issues with this name) bhai?
I am already in love with those tyres.And where is the Thar you drove?
 
Thread Starter #10
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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

^^Where are more pics Maddy(I hope you have no issues with this name) bhai?
I am already in love with those tyres.And where is the Thar you drove?
Ya Vipul, no issues with the name. I am just organizing more pictures in the order.
 
Thread Starter #11
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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

There was unexpected delay to start the Flag Off events as a batch of Mahindra Team did not arrive on time. They had the Adventure Stickers and T-Shirts for the vehicles participants. Finally flag off was done at around 11:45 AM as against scheduled 10:30 AM.

We are ready to go!!!
 

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Thread Starter #13
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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

I believe you all are aware that Mahindra had organized a Championship Event, whereby you can win a Thar CRDe. We did not enroll for that as this Thar was not our own and any damage to the vehicle will not look nice to the owner, that too he had a buyer for his jeep at this moment.

So we decided to play low profile. Taking very less risks and being very very careful. That too this was our first off roading experience.

There were totally 10 participants for the Championship events and 34 entries for the trail drive and a group of Mahindra's Marshall vehicles to winch out if any one got stuck. There were 2 points selected for the Championship events. It was raining heavily and we could not click good snaps. Above all LEACHes!! eeeks!!!

This is the first entry for Championship Event!

There were flags posted on either side and you had to drive your jeeps in between these flags and will have to reach the difficulty level. Most of the vehicles which tried initially got stuck in the mud and had to be winched out. Then the marshals made a slight change in the approach path of the difficulty level and then the vehicles were able to move out without much difficult.

There was an incline on the approach path and most of the vehicles hit heavily on this incline and was damaged with slightly twisted front bumpers.
But thats what the jeeps are for.

Now pictures!!
 

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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

Nice pictures and i think you have got a nice experience in participating in that event . The thar which you drove had a company fitted ac? . And give as the exact details for taking part in that event.
 
Thread Starter #15
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Re: Mahindra Great Escape - Kottayam

Nice pictures and i think you have got a nice experience in participating in that event . The thar which you drove had a company fitted ac? . And give as the exact details for taking part in that event.
Rajvel, it was a wonderful experience. The Thar was not the one with a Factory Fitted a/c, but it was done by the dealer itself on a later stage. but all original equipment were used.

check this site Mahindra Adventure for more details on taking part in these events and its schedules.

Max
 

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