91st Mahindra Great Escape, Lonavala

You know the day is going to be interesting when it starts off with 100-odd off roaders ahead of you, waiting to explore the luscious green wilderness swelled across the hills of Aamby Valley. After all, getting off the tarmac and taking a route seldom explored is what Mahindra’s Great Escape is all about.

With over 100 Mahindra SUVs lined up and raring to go, the 91^st edition of the Great Escape also happened to be one of the biggest Escapes in the event’s history. The lineup included an array of Mahindra’s existing range of vehicles and also quite a few tastefully specced up models from the long-gone past. Moments before the flag off, a short pre-event briefing gave all the participants an idea of the arduous 10-odd km course; now that may not sound like much of a challenge but a 10km course is plenty when you are doing pedestrian speeds.

Briefing over, it was time to head over to the vehicles, which is where things straight away started falling into place. Despite having limited off-road experience, I was keen to get behind the wheel of a Thar. After having to browse through the entire car park, I was left grinning ear to ear as the vehicle given to us was, indeed, a Thar. But before setting off, there were a few things to look for. Starting with the most essential tool when mud plugging, a low-range gearbox. The Thar comes equipped with one. What low-range gearbox does is that it engages a different set of low range gears to offer maximum torque in low-speed off-road situations, such as climbing up steep hills, crawling over rocky terrain or going through deep mud.

4WD mechanism checked, all of dash readouts checked, it was time to take the road less traveled.