Thomas Varghese

Thanks @Srikumar. I agree at least 10+ IM drives are absolutely necessary to qualify for an extreme drive. I joined @Luca Palanca Falsini's drive last week with 7 IM drives under me and it was not very pleasant in terms of refusals. I was surprised why he even selected me as the 2nd lead when there were other experienced extreme drivers whereas it was my 1st. Moreover I was apprehensive about pushing the car more higher up in those dunes when I had a bitter experience of differential breakdown just the previous week and got stuck inside for almost 10 hours mostly at night. I love the style of James Bond style car chases but let me be more confident and perfect my technique with more IM drives. The area I need more practice is controlling RPM under factory specifications as I doubt I broke the differential by exceeding speeds specified by the factory in lower gears to gain momentum. Just my hunch. I have @Ale Vallecchi's drive and @Chaitanya D's IM drives coming this week itself and let me try to perfect the technique of controlling the RPM when climbing. I have noticed when you drive in lower gear to climb higher once the RPM exceeds 6000 the ECM cuts it down maybe in another 10 sec. So I think once I initiate the drive it should be in 2nd gear rather than 1st and downshift once the RPM falls below 3000 to 1st gear to boost up. Climbing in 1st gear limits my downshifting option and I will be left without any more gears when I start to lose momentum.

Please waitlist me for my 2nd drive

Please waitlist me for my 2nd drive

Hi @Francois Germishuys I'm sorry if you felt I was trying to attack you. All I said was its upto the trip lead to comment on the driving habits, abilities of his convoy. If everybody in the convoy starts writing trip reports imagine the mayhem it will cause. My only opinion was let it be the trip lead who does that.

My car also had a problem @Francois Germishuys. It was good I didn't push the car as I realised today morning at the garage that my front left side axle had dislocated and oil was leaking out. Thank God it didn't come out. Can't even imagine one more recovery like last week I had. Whole body was stripped off water and I was drinking water to the next day. Good to hear your car is coming out soon with zero costs under warranty. For us who use old cars we always have to shell out money. By the way its my 1st extreme drive today not the 2nd as you mentioned. So I have no clue as to which drive you were mentioning. Excuse me for some refusals but as you found out today with your car I also found last week that subjecting the car to too much strain will destroy the differential. You are lucky to have exited without the need for a mechanic or being pulled out. The same area you exited I had to also in the middle of the night. It takes some time to get mentally out of that harrowing experience and subject your car to extreme maneuvers like we did today. Wish your car good luck after getting out today in the middle of the drive. Except for one refusal due to other cars being stuck & recovered in the same bowl, I had to seek assistance to get out I believe I did fairly good. Please cite 1 refusal which ended in a stuck otherwise where I had to seek any assistance. Constructive criticism is good but please criticize with substantiated facts. You may have done many extreme drives before but its my 1st today that too as 2nd lead. As per me I did good for the 1st. Who completed the drive with zero refusals or stucks or cresting today? Moreover I'm happy I finished the drive without damaging my car and can continue tomorrow without going to a garage. That's because of my previous experience in the same area in a private drive which turned into a nightmare and know how to subject the car to extreme maneuvers almost by now.

As usual @Luca Palanca Falsini's report is very well balanced and upto the mark. I acknowledge that I had some refusal's in the beginning. Yes I know what my car can do and how to push it but its the same area where I damaged the differential and got stuck inside the desert hopelessly. If my friends wouldn't have helped me to get the mechanic inside the desert I would have had to shell out a fortune to get the car out from that area. From 4pm to 2am early morning we had to spend inside the desert to get out with the car. Regarding losing @Luca Palanca Falsini in the middle of mayhem up the super bowl it my mistake as I saw him exiting but couldn't take my eyes off the road as it was total chaos where all convoys were running hither and there. Sorry for that. Well at the end of the day everybody made it out. In short i consider this drive to James Bond movie car chases. James Bond aka @Luca Palanca Falsini is trying trying all that he could to throw us off but we villains follow him with renewed vigor. Thank you all for the fun.

Dear @Gaurav, I don't appreciate a fellow driver of the same rank commenting on driving capabilities and car strengths of his colleagues in a drive. Please relegate it to the trip lead or it will lead to unnecessary friction. This is my 1st extreme drive and I believe I did well for the 1st extreme drive. The trip lead admitted me as per the policies prevalent at that time and consulting with other marshals I drove with. At least I completed the drive without any injury to my car or others, not exit in between by exceeding the car's and driver's capabilities which as per me is the most important aspect. Let @Francois Germishuys clarify in which other extreme drive he has participated with me and @Gaurav please add it to my profile. I never once got stuck except in a bowl as @Luca Palanca Falsini knows I had to stop as 2 other cars of some other convoy got stuck and was trying to recover. I had to stop as it was the slip face and the car would have crashed into them. Of course I had some refusals. I self recovered from every one. Never once took anybody's assistance to self recover or crested my car or had a pop out. Show me one driver in that convoy who didn't have refusals. I don't appreciate this kind of constructive criticism. If somebody has self criticism about their car and driving style please feel free to post and refrain from other's activities except the report from the trip lead.