Polaris 4 Guna 4: The Great Indian Offroad Challenge

It was a bright sunny Sunday morning and we were at the battle grounds of the Great India Place, Noida for the Polaris 4 Guna 4, The Great Indian Offroad Challenge to witness the ATV's and the SUV's drive through the slush and the sand, steep inclines and do some log crossing.

Organised by Northern Motorsport, the guys behind the Desert Storm, the Autocross and the Summer Sprint, the event entailed that the vehicles attempt nine different challenges laid out on the course while being timed through each of them.

The entire course was divided into two—course A and course B with each challenge having a maximum time allowed. Tasks like the Articulation Ramp and Vertical Wall were not meant for meant for the SUV's. The participants were rated not on time but distance. So, the higher one rolled his car, the better it was (they were judged via an ultrasonic device).

Other tasks involved crossing obstacles on a specially designed off road course like crossing steeply inclined double humps, log crossing and Slush Pit, which required drivers to drive through deep depressions filled with mud and slush.

 
Speaking on the occasion Raj Kapoor, event director and a winner of motorsports like the Himalayan Raid said, "The whole idea of such events is to let people appreciate the other side of driving. People now have better and expensive four-wheel drives and want them to go through tough tests." 

The vehicles were tested on parameters like articulation, acceleration, handling, manoeuvrability, engine torque, traction, wading and fording. The winners who successfully went through these with least penalties were SUV, Sandeep Kwatra, Extreme 4WD, Sunny Sidhu, ATV: Gaurav Gill who was also the overall winner but it was Allan Almeda and Viveck Goenka who took away the champions team trophy.

THE GREAT INDIAN OFFROAD CHALLENGE