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Nothing’s gonna stop us

Making your own road is a phrase that is thrown about quite often. ANAND SANKARdiscovers that a bunch of guys in the city take it very seriously indeed

PHOTOS: MURALI KUMAR K.

Get that rush Off-roading especially for enthusiasts really gets the adrenaline flowing

The locals couldn’t be blamed for gaping in awe. The hills around Ramnagaram were once home to Gabbar Singh. They reverberated with the clip-clop of horse hooves and sharp cracks of gunshots. But for a day they had to make do with the growls fr om engines as the members of the city’s Jeep Thrills Club made their way up the steep rock faces.

“Three little words... four wheel drive (4WD),” says their Internet home, pretty much summing it up. These guys are enthusiastic about their wheels, but they don’t believe in keeping them primed and polished in the garage. They get their rush from finding the absolute limits of performance.

Seven a.m. on a Sunday is deep snooze time for some, but eleven vehicles and their owners were all raring to go. The convoy included everything from a classic World War II Willy’s to standard Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) 4WD jeeps and a solitary import Range Rover. At the head was Giridhar Tirumale, one of the group’s founding members, in his open-top red M&M Classic. It was he who asked me to hop on for a day off the road (OTR).

We passed the spot where Ramgarh was erected and followed the winding road going up Ramadevara Betta. But not for long. We veered off the asphalt onto a mud trail heading particularly nowhere and came to a halt at the base of a medium sized hillock of a single smooth granite. I waited for Tirumale to find a way around the hillock, but without warning he shifted gears and up we went.

It was definitely a weird feeling to be seated in a vehicle climbing at such an angle, but a loud rasping “hahahaha” from Tirumale said a lot about his comfort level. He even had the time to point out the radio station he had tuned into was playing good tunes.

One by one each vehicle made it to the summit and it was time for some motorhead chatter. A few were doing OTR for the first time and the initial climb was enough to get the adrenaline flowing out of control. Time was spent looking over each other’s vehicles. The cynosure of all eyes was Anand Rao’s M&M Pickup with a camouflage paintjob which was pronounced “perfect”. There were quite a few “oohs” when Vivek H.B., another founder of the group, revved his Jeep CJ3B’s legendary Hurricane engine. “The engine is forty years old,” he pointed out while emphasising that the power output of the engine lives up to its name.

A quick huddle decided the most experienced members of the group would lead the way. Then followed a wild ride through dry fields waiting for the ragi seeds to be planted. Sand, loose gravel, mud and bunds don’t stop these guys. At times one felt like it was dune bashing in Dubai, as Tirumale decided that no obstacle was stopping his jeep. The lowest gear in the 4WD mode is called the crawler and true to its reputation it pulls the vehicle over anything.

Off-roading is not something that can be attempted on a whim. The club only goes to a location after a member has scouted it first. Unfortunately the trip to Sholay-land wasn’t scouted and a good number of us spent time on foot scouting the route ahead for the drivers. The biggest dangers are getting stuck, rolling over and mechanical failures. For example when climbing up or down an incline, you must always be oriented in the direction of the slope, a drift diagonally can roll you over. Slush can be nasty thing to get stuck in as is underestimating the depth of the water. In fact the jeep of a member Chetan is nicknamed ‘submarine’ because its previous owner managed to submerge it. Vivek recalled a nasty incident when he rolled down a slope backwards when the brakes of his jeep failed.

We came to a narrow pass between two rocks that led to a valley and a clearing. Tirumale had earlier claimed a jeep can go anywhere there is a “one-foot” path and this was that. After a quick scout it was decided to attempt it and there was a rush to be the first one down the trail. The explanation: “After a couple of vehicles pass, you have a freeway.”

As the first jeeps crossed one of the newbies tried to widen the path by removing a few small boulders and prompted a wry comment: “Hey do you think these are small cars?”

There is no taking away the fact that OTR is not exactly an environmentally sensitive activity. On one hand you have the fuel burn and other is the destroyed flora the vehicles leave behind. To lessen the impact the club has made it a policy to plant a tree for every vehicle that participates.

A crowd of onlookers had gathered from the surrounding hamlets asking: “Why are you doing this? Film shooting?” Perched atop a hillock they watched as the jeeps went about the final runs, up a 45 degree incline. The inexperienced took a couple of attempts to top it but one could sense for the spectators it was definitely more entertainment than a film shoot. There was even time for a little bit of showboating with Tirumale doing the climb in reverse.

Finally, it was time to head homewards, with promises to meet up again and the parting note: “We had fun.”

Jeep Thrills is a club with chapters all over the country. You can check them out and interact with them at http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/jeep_thrills/. Their annual event is the Palar Challenge in Tamil Nadu. It is conducted on the marshy bed of the River Palar and the marked course totals 500 kilometres. This year it will be held from August 12 to 15, and the Bangalore chapter of the club will be participating.