For most of us it was the first experience to drive a vehicle on an off-road track.
BHPian thirugata recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Off late it has become a regular affair for us local Team – BHP members to meet here in and around Mangalore. This is the 3rd such meet that has happened in last 6 months or so.
Wait, but this meet was nothing like before. This was different, very different.
No it was very very different.
Now if you are wondering what this excitement is all about if the meets have been that regular, this time we were going to try our hand driving a jeep on a purpose built off-roading track.
Before we get into the details of how it unfolded first thing first.
This event was a brainchild of Akhil scorpion1558 who built this track for us, risked giving us newbies his jeep to learn the skills of off-roading and guided us on how it should be done.
So a big thanks to him and Digvijay @bdn317 for lending helping hand to him in this process.
Director of the day.
If Akhil was the director of the day, his jeep was the hero of the day. It did everything almost on its own and made us rookies who were holding the steering look like pros.
It is a 1988 Mahindra CJ640 XDP*4×4. Has a peugeot aluminium head engine, solid axles on leafs front and back, a 4 speed transmission with a low ratio gear box.
Mods include buckshot mudder tires, metal snorkel, 6 ton winch, raised exhaust, a roll bar, power steering and*booster*brakes.
It was used in Akhil’s saw mill to pull logs in the past and it is the same mill where this track was built for us.
A couple of months ago during one of our regular banters on a social media platform Akhil asked if any of us would be interested in testing our off-roading skills and that idea caught traction and Akhil started building the track for the day. Finally it was decided that we would be meeting on 12/01/2025 and rest of the plan for food and beverages were finalized.
I am sure few didn’t sleep much the previous night because of the excitement and when we met at the track in the morning we were all like kids in the candy shop.
The gang..
Front row left to right : Kiran (thirugata), Arshad (arshad YR), Digvijay (bdn317), Chinmay ( nityaya), Adithya ( a_bharadwaj), Gagandeep (gagan_DB), Akhil (scorpiondicor), Alston’s friend, Alston (alstonlobo), Rajesh (carfreak), Prasanna (prasanna_indaje), Anand (dockap), Chethan (gischathan), Akhil’s friend, Sundeep (deep blue).
Back row left to right: Pravin (PraVINRai), Johnson (johny-desperado), Srinidhi (SRISRI_90), Samarth (samaspire).
Missing in the photo : Vijeth (emvi)
Our cars
Guys who were leaving from Mangalore assembled outside the city and proceeded towards BC Road. Guys who were coming from Manipal and Udupi had started earlier.
All of us met Akhil at BC Road and then we drove towards the mill. By then few of the local guys who lives in Puttur and around also had come.
Chetan was coming from Karkala and even he joined us.
This guy was not impressed at all that we were making all the noise on a Sunday morning
After a brief introduction and greetings, we assembled together and Akhil shared some instructions about do’s and dont’s of off roading.
Then Akhil drove the jeep on the track to give us the demo of how it should be done. After this all of us had drive around the track one at a time.
Some of them also drove their own vehicle on the track to test the capabilities of their ride.
For most of us it was the first experience to drive a vehicle on an off-road track. It was fun and the memories of this experience will remain with me for a long time.
Now I will let the photos do the talking.
Srinidhi was the first one to drive the track. He also showed us how to move the log using the jeep.
Alston’s Bolero testing waters
Johnson who had prior experience of Off-roading drove his Major on the track
Digvijay showed us his SWB classic can do the track even though it was 2WD.
Alston’s Bolero got into a bit of sticky situation and crane was pressed into action for recovery
Akhil’s safari didn’t want to let go the chance to show what it is capable of.
And thus, we ended the day.
Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.
