OFF Road Adventure –

Even if you don’t consider yourself a fan of motor sports you are probably at least somewhat familiar with rally car driving. You’ve seen rally car driving in movies or on TV and you may even know that this is one of the oldest motor sports, having begun in the early 1900s in Monte Carlo. The sport of rally driving is somewhat different today than it was in the early days, mainly because it is more mature–the cars are faster, the roads are better, and rally driving equipment is now designed for safety. But rally car driving retains its allure because it still means fast cars, thrilling turns, and brave drivers.

If you think that rally car driving is a sport reserved only for professionals you are wrong. With the help of the many professional rally driving schools that are located throughout the world, anyone can suit up, strap down and experience the thrill of taking hairpin turns at break neck speeds and more »

Rally cars race on different courses from other motor sports: rather than racing on a specially created circuit, as for example with most Formula 1 races, rallies take place on public roads, from surfaced roads to rough dirt tracks or mountain roads.

The second main difference between rallying and most other forms of motor sport is that instead of competing directly in head-to-head races round circuits, rally cars compete indirectly over timed stages, setting off at regular intervals in an attempt to record the fastest time. Rallies consist of a number of stages and the team with the fastest time at the end of the final stage win.

The final major difference between rally cars and the cars used in most other forms of professional motor sports is that the rally cars in which drivers race are very close in design to production cars that the public drive in everyday life – indeed, rall more »

ABYSMAL ROTTEN ROADS – A HIDDEN BLESSING

DR SUDHAKAR NATARAJAN

Next time you bump along the strategically placed pot holes on the abysmal roads at a snail’s pace, don’t curse your fate. Our lives will be much easier if we accept the situation, that is beyond the common man’s control, and take the bad roads in our stride. When I was posted here in Feb 2007, I used to fret and fume over the road conditions. My personal new car has taken a good battering due to the bad roads. As the days passed by, I became immune and got used to the bone jangling bumps and my poor car got a new gear shaft , after it broke on these so called black-top metalled roads. If you can’t change it then accept it. Bad roads also have a silver lining. Bad roads have numerous benefits and are a blessing, if this chronic malady is viewed optimistically

1) Bad roads curb overspeeding: Due t more »

by Matthew Harrel

Ice road trucking is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. With a job description that includes sub-zero working conditions, long hours with little sleep, and the risk of potentially falling through a road made of ice, it’s amazing that anyone signs up for the job. Incredibly, these are only a few challenges of being an ice road trucker.

Ice road trucking has been dubbed as a two month long “dash for cash.” Road crews spend weeks preparing the ice road for the trucks. Using ground-penetrating radar to measure the ice depth, road crews ensure the ice is thick enough (usually a minimum of about 27 inches) to support the big rigs. In what can become a scheduling nightmare, 600-900 truckers are tasked with delivering 10,000 loads at an average speed of only about 20 miles per hour. Drivers haul loads throughout the day and night, often getting little or no sleep be more »

Roads in Nigeria have truly become what we now refer to as death traps, which cause that typical vehicular and human traffic jam, the type you have never heard or seen all your life. The situation described here is worst in Lagos, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt, Onitsha (Head-Bridge) and Benin City. You can expect much more intense traffic jam even along high-ways, especially the now infamous Benin-Ore Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway etc, anyone who for satisfaction of his curiosity can drive around and take a look at what the people of the country call “Go-slow.” It is this word Go-slow that this article will use to describe this situation.

These Go-slow may sometimes be artificial with no visible cause in sight. You arrested by this hold-up for several hours, sweating and instantly removes your jacket, instead you receive stuffy air much to your discomfort, and as you manage to gradually drive to the be more »