Alhamdolillah, team IJC is back after participation in the 9th Cholistan Jeep Rally held on 14-16th Feb.
Six IJCians particpated in this Rally
1, Asad Marwat + Ali Zafar on Pajero V6 3000
2, NN + Hasan Rana on NPP 4.5
3, Suhaib Kiani + Farooq on FJ40 UZi 4.0
4, Shabab Haider + Hassan Asad on Tundra 5.7
5, Zuhaib Jadoon + Imtiaz Siddiqi on Nissan Safari Cruiser 4.5
6, Samad + Faraz on TLC 60 2JZ-GTE 3.0
Details to follow
VDO's
https://vimeo.com/87332066
https://vimeo.com/87332067
https://vimeo.com/87332068
https://vimeo.com/87395893
https://vimeo.com/87400161
https://vimeo.com/87403715
https://vimeo.com/87394231
http://vimeo.com/87804526
http://vimeo.com/87866584
http://vimeo.com/87879989
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1dauxj_assignment24feb2014_news
NN Rally Report
Lets get to the beginning………………………how the IJC rally team came into being. It was February 2010, and on an usual Saturday morning, I received a phone call from Desert Devil, …………Doc I am going for a sand run near Lawrencepur, do you wanna join, and I replied, I can’t, I have my clinic. He said cancel it, this will be super fun! Half-heartedly, I checked my appointments schedule and there was only one booking…………….which was duly cancelled! I called Redbull-AR and woke him up from sleep to come along join for some photography. Long storey short, we went there and did some very interesting sand runs, and it was then that Asad put forward this proposal of participating in upcoming Cholistan Jeep Rally. My instant response was sure, why not! There was lots of too and frooing and eventually it was decided two vehicles would participate, me and Kashif in TLC100 and Asad n Pinky in Jero 4d56. Burhan came along for support! Hectic preparation was carried out, before 2010, roll cages were not mandatory for hard top vehicles, but for 2010 they were! Ehsan Kiani built us an external roll cage as per requirement and we set off for the rally. That was one of the most memorable weekend with minimal sleep, lots and lots of adrenaline and camaraderie! Asad’s Jero tested our patience n stamina to the limit! Qasim Saidhi very kindly guided us in our very first rally. We both completed the rally and that was the start of Zabardast rally partnership, which continues to this day! :)<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
IJC rally team has come a really long way since Cholistan 2010. For one reason or another, I was not able to participate in Cholistan rally again after 2010, until this year. But this year was extra special, this time we had six vehicles participating. And most of IJC clan came along for support of the rally team. We had our very own distinct rally camp and it was an amazing experience for all the gang! <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Some of our rally vehicles were transported on trailer from <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Islamabad</st1:place></st1:City>, while others drove theirs all the way to Cholistan. Asad is now working abroad, and came to <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Islamabad</st1:place></st1:City> a day before just to participate in the rally! We drove all in a convoy from <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Islamabad</st1:place></st1:City>. The journey began at 6am thursday, progress was steady, and we were having a scrumptious late lunch at Taj Hotel on GT road near <st1:place w:st="on">Bahawalpur</st1:place> at 4pm. However progress after that was rather slow, I was pulling our loaded luggage trolley behind NPP. On the way we lost our direction, courtesy the extra clever GPS, which wanted to take us to our destination thru some rather small / narrow streets, eventually which ended up in dead-end. Anyway, when we got to Ahmed Pur sharquia, the trolley leafsprings gave up, which needed to be sorted before we could proceed to the desert. After some struggle we found the right man, but it was almost 10pm by then. The man was alone and he went by the work at his own pace and it was over 4 hours before our trolley was sorted. Than the long dirt track / poor road to the desert. Eventually just after 3am I reached the camping destination. While we were getting the leafsprings sorted, most of the gang had proceeded to the desert and started the camping process. Zeb was our kitchen manager as usual, and he lighted up the fire and started the barbeque on coals, which in the freezing temps of desert was very welcome. Than came the hot tea after which I eventually retired in my camp at almost 5am.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Next morning I was up around 9ish. After just a cup of tea and unpacking rest of our stuff, Hasan Rana (my navigator) n I proceeded to the registration desk in main village. The registration and vehicle tech took some time. At 12 noon, we eventually decided that we should directly proceed for track recce. Some of the other IJC drivers had already been on recce, while remaining started after us. Halfway into first stage, we found Baber Khan’s recce vehicle (Irshad’s TLC40) broken down on the side just past CP5. So we waited there with him, trying to workout what’s wrong. Eventually Asad and Ali arrived on their recce run and Ali spent the next hour+ fixing the fuel line. Eventually after a delay of nearly three hours we proceeded on our recce. Unfortunately, soon the darkness set in and last third of recce was done in lights. Which is a different experience!<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
After reaching back the rally camp we had an early dinner at 7:30. Boy it was one tasty dinner, or could be the fact that we hadn’t had breakfast or lunch! All day we had few oranges and a biscuit packet and nestle water! Then we proceeded straight to the rally drivers meeting. Where after various discussions, the draw was taken out for the qualifying round firing order. This time round the qualifying order draw was according to various classes. The A class was first to do their runs and low n behold my name was called out for first. In the last 4 years I have started the qualifications round twice before, and was 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] starter and 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] starter once each. But then everyone realized that Nadir’s Magsi’s name slip was missing in the draw, and although he said he was fine to go in the end, the draw was re-done and I was 8[SUP]th[/SUP] man out. While Zohaib was 6[SUP]th[/SUP], Suhaib Kiani 7[SUP]th[/SUP] and Shabab 12[SUP]th[/SUP] man out. Asad and Samad were in B category, so they went out later!<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Overall, as Suhaib mentioned, in qualifying, it was a great day out for IJCians, Shabab 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] overall, Samad 9[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Zuhaib 14[SUP]th[/SUP] overall and myself 18[SUP]th[/SUP] overall…………………indeed an achievement to be proud of! With such good qualification’s there was obviously pressure as well. Strategies were discussed. I had decided on recce day to remove one of the two spare tyres on the back, because I had removed one leafspring too many from rear setup and the vehicle was bottoming out easily on jumps! Also after discussion with Suhaib and Rana Sumair Noon, we reduced tyre pressures down to 19psi front and 18psi rear in the evening. Early next morning the gauge showed these pressures to be 17psi front and 16psi rear, but I just left them as is!<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The night sleep before the race was not as peaceful, and I got up from the noise of our support team at 5:15 am when they were leaving with fuel for our mid point break! Eventually I got out of my tent, and turned out Imtiaz was also outside unable to sleep. Probable nerves all round! We chatted for a bit, waiting for first light. Time passed slowly in freezing cold weather!<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Eventually at 7am things started up. Shabab, Zuhaib and Samad left for starting line around 7:20ish, while I left at 7:40 for the expected 8am start. As it is the start was delayed by 30 minutes. Slowly we waited for our turn. As I mentioned before, despite a checklist, we ended up not engaging the 4x4 at start line, and during the first 30+ minutes, I was blaming the lower tyre pressures for it. Anyway, despite everything we gave it our best shot, no point in what ifs afterwards! By the grace of Almighty we ran well overall and finished safely. Podium is always very nice but 12[SUP]th[/SUP] overall out of 88 competitors is not a bad showing! During the race we managed successfully three overtaking manoeuvres over competing vehicles. Looking back, it’s my 8[SUP]th[/SUP] participation in national rallies, and I have successfully completed all and without any mishaps! Eternally grateful to Almighty for all his blessings!<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
After return back to the camp, found out about various incidents with remaining IJCians. Everyone mashaallah was in excellent spirits, despite what ever. Mine n Asad’s timing were reasonably competitive, so we stayed back in Cholistan until official result was announced at 8pm. As luck would have it, we were both 5[SUP]th[/SUP] in our respective categories. While we were waiting for the results, the rest of the gang had already pushed off towards <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Islamabad</st1:place></st1:City>. Eventually we left Cholistan around 9pm, driving NPP all the way back. Progress till <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Multan</st1:place></st1:City> was reasonably brisk. But than we hit the fog, and after that it was a struggle all the way till <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Faisalabad</st1:place></st1:City> until sun came out. At times we were moving at barely 20-30kmph. It was hard work, considering the whole rally and lack of sleep n all. By the grace of almighty we eventually made it back home safely by noon the next day! Some of the lads slept upto 15hours on the trot on return!<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The whole trip was truly memorable, the camaraderie, the leg pulling, the pranks and all were just ongoing and will be remembered for a long time. All those who could not make were missed! Long live IJC! :)<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>