When mud, slush and more mud beckons: Mahindra Off-Road Media Challenge

Obstacle 1: Rock Crawl

The first obstacle we encountered was dubbed ‘Rock Crawl’ wherein the task was to descend down a steep rocky hill and then drive over or around some fairly big rocks that appeared insurmountable. The trick here was to be extremely careful and precise with the vehicle’s track and use all of the torque low down the range. Brownie points were given to those who drove past the rocks without bottoming out the Thar and to earn those, I knew I had to be loud with the directions and keep an eye out for the unforgiving boulders. 

And if that wasn’t enough, the course was graciously laid with flags that had to be collected by the driver, without getting off his seat or any form of external help. Luckily, we went in last and by the time all the participants made their way round the course, I had all the troubled spots marked out as a precautionary measure. Much to my surprise, Selvin drove down the rocky hill quite gingerly though unsurprisingly, he had no problem squeezing through tight spots around the big rocks. Some of the spots were so tight for the Thar that there was less than an inch of clearance on either side. Despite less room to manoeuvre, ours was among the fastest and the least nerve-racking run of the lot, with only one  big smack on the front left axle while negotiating a big piece of rock.  

Obstacle 2: Ball In Mouth

The second hurdle was "Ball in Mouth: Part II" aimed straight at testing the driver’s skill and the Thar’s off-road potential, for all it was worth. The aptly named obstacle required the driver’s to go up an incredibly slippery incline full of wet soil. To make things harder still, the drivers had to navigate round a massive tree at the summit and come down the same slippery path, all the while making sure that they don’t clear the timed obstacle on their roof.

Looking at other participants trying to progress their way up the slippery incline and endlessly spinning the wheels in the process, it was then that we realised what we were really up against. Nevertheless, Selvin put the Thar in four-wheel drive low, with second gear engaged and went for it. The Thar just eased its way up to the halfway point before starting to lose traction and eventually digging into  the wet soil. Having built a makeshift piece of track by adding heavy rocks halfway through the incline, we were hoping for a better run, however, the Thar got wedged at the same spot again, only to be sent back down to have another go. In the end, we gave in on what was probably the biggest hurdle of the day despite the considerable number of attempts.  

Obstacle 3: Pond Rush

Moving on to the third obstacle: Pond Rush. Here we had to come down a slope, go left and dive into a deep slush pit and come through in the best possible way. We were up first and completely oblivious to the scheme of things which lay ahead. Naturally, we decided to tackle the slush pit by carrying a steady momentum but as it turned out, the approach speed wasn’t enough as the Thar lodged itself deep within the bowels of the pit. Even the good old fashioned rocking technique was of no use as the tiniest amount of throttle input had the wheels digging in further in the slush pit. Submerged in the saturated mud, one of the rescue vehicles was eventually put to service to winch us out. Once free, we sought some shade, only to sit by the trees and watch the rest of the lot get well and truly stuck in the same obstacle.       

Obstacle 4: Army Special

After six hours-worth of climbing slippery hills and crawling over big boulders, we lined up for the finale that was the ‘Army Special’. Piloting an ex-army MM550, we had to drive through a rather narrow course that was full of steep inclines and craters the size of small hot tubs. And to top it off, the 550 had to be driven through a steeply raked lefthander near the finish line. This was where the judges had their eyes set on the drive-through technique and vehicle preservation for the task. The MM550, with its direct injection diesel engine and solid live axle suspension all round felt like a completely different beast on the course. While it clearly had more torque than the Thar, the live axles did not allow each wheel to move independently in response to the massive craters, resulting in considerable loss of traction. Sliding left to right with showers of sticky brown mud flying off the wheels, we eventually gained poise and the MM550 handled everything we threw at it and finished the run rather quickly without any setbacks whatsoever. 

Following a disappointing finish in two of the four obstacles, Selvin and I were not really eyeing to be declared winners but as fate would have it, team CarWale sealed it fair and square. We were thrilled to know how close the battle was between the top runners given how challenging and fun the whole experience turned out to be. We can’t wait to find an excuse to go hit the hills again in either of these brilliant off-roaders you see on this page.