2015 Rain Forest Challenge India: 22 teams participate in the Prologue on Day 1

The Prologue to the second edition of the Rain Forest Challenge India turned out to be a fitting start to the grueling mud-fest of a competition that we expect the RFC to be.

22 teams took to the six Special stages (SS) that started at the Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat in Dona Paula, Goa on July 25. The event was flagged off by Taleigao MLA, Jennifer Monserrate along with the RFC founder, Luis JA Wee and Cougar Motorsport founder and director, Ashish Gupta.

The teams got a taste of what the RFC is all about right at SS1 of the Prologue, with Team Polaris India’s RZR 800 getting stuck in the miry terrain and Gerrari Offroaders’ vehicle getting toppled over.

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The second stage or SS2 was, in comparison, easier on the drivers and their vehicles which had to cross two dust mounds and then be brought back to the finishing point within ten minutes. Some teams managed to cover required ground in close to two. Coordination and sync between team members was tested in SS4 where they had to remove the rear right wheel, take it around the car in a clock wise direction and then fit it back properly. Here too, some unprecedented hitches showed up " one team had to frantically fish for a bolt that had fallen into the slush.

No off-roading challenge is complete without the employment of a winch at some point of time or the other " SS6 was specifically designed for this purpose. It involved two five-feet high inclines at 90 degree each, which the vehicles had to cross with the help of a winch and sand ladders.

While the Prologue to the RFC India 2015 had drivers and service teams hard at work putting their machines back together by the end of Day 1, the organisers insist that the days to come will see the difficulty levels of the off-roading challenge increase progressively. The Predator, Terminator and Twilight Zone stages are still remaining and we hope to see more nailbiting action. Stay tuned to OVERDRIVE for more reports all the way from the wet, slushy battlefield in Goa.

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