Golden Quadrilateral Trip in Nano

[mastiandroid5]

Since the day I got to know that people are travelling in cars and bikes around the GQ route, I wanted to the same.

I got my Nano a year ago (March 2013 to be precise), and have been driving around a bit. The more I read about the GQ trips, the more interested I became of the same. I want to do the GQ trip alone in my nano

I shared the thought with few of our TAI members, and there were more people showing interest in the same, and possible with their Nanos :)

Tentatively the plan is to start sometime in Sept, so that, we can be in Kolkata during Durga Puja, and complete the trip by Oct. 1st week

Hoping to use this thread for discussions, planning and more discussions regarding the GQ trip.

 

[phoenix bird]

In from Pune.....

Vishal Here....

 

[phoenix bird]

Overview of Golden Quadrilateral Road can be observed in this picture.

We are very much interested to keep it closed for Tata Nanos but if anyone is interested and has integrity to respect small wonder on highway are welcome.

We are planning to leave on Saturday, 20th Sep 2014 and come back by 4th of October. The starting point will be Banglore (thread owner's place) or Pune (my place). Plans are there to attend durga puja festivities in Kolkata.

Total distance is around 6000 KMS, per day 400-500 kms with leftover time kept reserved for sightseeing and resting.

No drink and driving
Rash drivers you are cool but not welcome
No driving after 11 PM till 5 AM
Car must be well maintained and able to drive for such long distance.
Nano owners will need around 20 fuel refills so please calculate budget accordingly.
Stays and other expenses are yet to be calculated.

For unsure but interested Nano owners, don't get scared your nano can take this.
I will be providing basic mechanical support in case of emergencies and have basic spare parts on me if something un-forseen happens.

Further trip will be cancelled if anyone meets with accident. In case of major break down decisions will be taken mutually at the time.

Ashesh, put your inputs.

 

[mastiandroid5]

Thanks for putting the details together Vishal.

In fact, I feel, it is better we start driving at 5 or 6 am and cover 400-500km until after 2 or 3 pm. Rest of the evening, we can spend going around places in the location of halt.

I have been collecting some links related to GQ drives, and I am posting them are reference to help us plan further regarding the routes, etc.

1. AR Ram sir travelogue: http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...kms-road-trip-covering-13-states-17-days.html
(I couldnt post threads from other forums - Anyway, we will share via email)
Hopefully some more Nano owners will join for this trip.

 

[mastiandroid5]

Hi friends, Here is the tentative plan that we are considering for the Nano GQ drive.

• Day-1: Sep-20: Bangalore to Dharwad ~ 430km
• Day-2: Sep-21: Dharwad to Pune ~ 408
• Day-3: Sep-22: Pune to Surat ~ 408
• Day-4: Sep-23: Surat to Udaipur ~ 495
• Day-5: Sep-24: Udaipur to Jaipur ~ 420
• Day-6: Sep-25: Jaipur to Agra (via Gurgoan) ~ 450
• Day-7: Sep-26: Agra to Allahabad ~ 475
• Day-8: Sep-27: Allahabad to Dhanbad ~ 543
• Day-9: Sep-28: Dhanbad to Kharagpur (via Kolkata) ~ 398
• Day-10: Sep-29: Kharagpur to Berhampur ~ 487
• Day-11: Sep-30: Berhampur to Kakinada ~ 414
• Day-12: Oct-01: Kakinada to Kavali ~ 432
• Day-13: Oct-02: Kavali to Bangalore (via Chennai) ~ 582
• Day-14: Oct-03: Bangalore to Dharwad
• Day-15: Oct-04: Dharwad to Pune

We need more information on the road conditions, traffic conditions, weather impact, etc to make this trip a enjoyable one.

Please share your experience on the above routes to assist in making our plan better.

 

[chayan]

Dear Sir, I am happy at the initiative, however would advise that you do not do it in a Nano. Nothing against the car in particular, but please consider the following facts:
1) On average you would be covering 450 kms/day. If you start driving from 5:30 AM and stop at 2:30 PM, you would be driving 9 hrs /day.
2) Considering you would spend 1.5 hr/day on lunch, breakfast and tea breaks, actually driving time becomes 7.5 hrs/day
3) Considering that N Highways are not good at all places, lets consider you will spend 1 hrs (possibly more) in congestion etc. where you would be driving at snail pace. So your effective driving time becomes 6.5 hrs/day.
4) 450 kms in 6.5 hrs requires you to drive at ~70 km/hr, possibly you would need to drive at atleast 80km/hr speed to reach your destination.

Logically I dont think 70-80 km/hr in a Nano on India's national highway is not advisable from the safety point of view.
Please consider this as friendly advise.

 

[mastiandroid5]

Dear Sir, I am happy at the initiative, however would advise that you do not do it in a Nano. Nothing against the car in particular, but please consider the following facts:
1) On average you would be covering 450 kms/day. If you start driving from 5:30 AM and stop at 2:30 PM, you would be driving 9 hrs /day.
2) Considering you would spend 1.5 hr/day on lunch, breakfast and tea breaks, actually driving time becomes 7.5 hrs/day
3) Considering that N Highways are not good at all places, lets consider you will spend 1 hrs (possibly more) in congestion etc. where you would be driving at snail pace. So your effective driving time becomes 6.5 hrs/day.
4) 450 kms in 6.5 hrs requires you to drive at ~70 km/hr, possibly you would need to drive at atleast 80km/hr speed to reach your destination.

Logically I dont think 70-80 km/hr in a Nano on India's national highway is not advisable from the safety point of view.
Please consider this as friendly advise.

Thanks for your advice. I am not even sure what to reply.

I have travelled between Bangalore to Hyderabad at least 3 times and I could do at comfortable speed of 70-80kmph on empty highways while reducing the speed around towns, etc on the way. In addition, I had driven to Kanyakumari twice (ones alone and second time with family members), and did not have any trouble.

And most of the times, I drove with an average of around 50-60kmph only, taking into consideration the breaks, traffic conditions, etc.

Actually speed is not even of prime importance for us. We just want to enjoy driving around in Nano.

Looking forward for the same.

 

[amit1km]

I do not find any problem with journey.I feel it is a rather fun journey to do.
It can be done easily with nano.
People are doing 1500 to 1600 KM in bike in 24 hours for Iron Butt certification.
Nano is more capable than bike.

 

[phoenix bird]

Dear Sir, I am happy at the initiative, however would advise that you do not do it in a Nano. Nothing against the car in particular, but please consider the following facts:
1) On average you would be covering 450 kms/day. If you start driving from 5:30 AM and stop at 2:30 PM, you would be driving 9 hrs /day.
2) Considering you would spend 1.5 hr/day on lunch, breakfast and tea breaks, actually driving time becomes 7.5 hrs/day
3) Considering that N Highways are not good at all places, lets consider you will spend 1 hrs (possibly more) in congestion etc. where you would be driving at snail pace. So your effective driving time becomes 6.5 hrs/day.
4) 450 kms in 6.5 hrs requires you to drive at ~70 km/hr, possibly you would need to drive at atleast 80km/hr speed to reach your destination.

Logically I dont think 70-80 km/hr in a Nano on India's national highway is not advisable from the safety point of view.
Please consider this as friendly advise.

Dear Sir,

First let us know if you are a Nano owner or not. If you aren't a Nano owner, spare my arrogance but then refrain yourself from putting advises which are based on false beliefs or from the vague things you get to listen from others.

Logically there is no Indian Highway which should be driven at 80-90 kmph, not even Pune Mumbai Expressway is of that standard compared to the roads found internationally. Logically no cars in India should be exceding 110-120 kmph on our highways, but one always see people driving above that in small cars without seat-belts on, please provide your safety advises to such drivers.

And logically there is nothing wrong in driving Tata Nano at 80kmph, Tata has invested a hell lot of money as well knowledge base to develop the car and people like you despise it just because it's cheap and Indian product, I think.

I have driven From Nagpur to Pune in one night in Tata Nano STD which for your information comes without A/C and with Air Filled Suspensions. If you have knowledge about road conditions from Nagpur to Pune you will understand the point, if you don't there is no point explaining.

I am not trying to be offensive or rude but I am not trying to be 'friendly' like you. Kindly get an experience of driving tata nano with open eyes and once you open your mind to accept the facts about how much more space, P to W ratio and other performances you will more be in the reality.

 

[autosafari]

Mastiandroid5 and Phoenix bird,
Congratulations for your initiative.

Such a long trip with Tata Nano is definitely possible. Would like to see more people joining. Why don't you communicate with other Nano owners in this forum through PMs so that everybody is at least aware of this.

@ Phoenix bird - In a public forum one would get various comments and suggestions and it is not necessary that all of them is to our liking. Should control your emotions.

These two threads below should be motivating for you. Nano has successfully passed the test of Khardungla.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...d-man-drive-nano-across-india.html#post158702

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...cords-driving-longest-journey.html#post300702

In long highway trips in India, we cannot plan the arrival at a particular place in exact timings. Your plan to end the day say at 2:30 PM could easily get extended to 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM or further late depending on traffic, road conditions, weather etc. Lunch breaks and small pit stops could take a big toll on our plan unless we are very much particular about timings and duration.
It is also likely that we will not be aware that we over spend or wasted time until we see that we are running very late to reach the destination for that day.

I have done 4 long trips through a quarter stretch of the GQ in last 3 years.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/voyage-junction/4385-kerala-daman-single-day.html#post89957

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...eri-chitradurga-mysore-kerala.html#post165388

 

[phoenix bird]

Mastiandroid5 and Phoenix bird,
Congratulations for your initiative.

Such a long trip with Tata Nano is definitely possible. Would like to see more people joining. Why don't you communicate with other Nano owners in this forum through PMs so that everybody is at least aware of this.

@ Phoenix bird - In a public forum one would get various comments and suggestions and it is not necessary that all of them is to our liking. Should control your emotions.

These two threads below should be motivating for you. Nano has successfully passed the test of Khardungla.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...d-man-drive-nano-across-india.html#post158702

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...cords-driving-longest-journey.html#post300702

In long highway trips in India, we cannot plan the arrival at a particular place in exact timings. Your plan to end the day say at 2:30 PM could easily get extended to 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM or further late depending on traffic, road conditions, weather etc. Lunch breaks and small pit stops could take a big toll on our plan unless we are very much particular about timings and duration.
It is also likely that we will not be aware that we over spend or wasted time until we see that we are running very late to reach the destination for that day.

I have done 4 long trips through a quarter stretch of the GQ in last 3 years.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/voyage-junction/4385-kerala-daman-single-day.html#post89957

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...eri-chitradurga-mysore-kerala.html#post165388

I was not being rude to him, though my language can be called as a little bit aggressive but not bad or wrong as such. In case of being public forum, if people can express themselves with a bit of stupidity then I do not see any problem being a little aggressive on them. Still for whatever I apologize, my intentions are not to create any kind of fuss.

So let me say sorry as well.

Thank you.

Also yes travelling long distance one can never be precise with timings and schedules. Neither we are being so precise. At moment it's just me and mastiandroid with two Nanos so we are much flexible about timings, places to see and about places to stay and eat.

Thank you for your suggestion about contacting other nano owners through PM, but I am pretty new here and do not know about nano owner users. Can you tell us the users that you know and who are Tata Nano Owners.

Thank you.

 

[ERTIGA_ZMR]

Kinetic scootre has covered entire Sahara desert by Bike Guru - Dilip Bam. In past people used to cover most of distance in M800 which is more or less equivalent to Nano and Tata has not launched a wrong product as Nano but did wrong projection of car.

Many a time I have seen Nano to overtake many cars on highway so I guess there is no harm in covering golden quad in Nano rather to cancel the adventure in hope of another car. A sensible person can easily travel on the highways in Nano and each of car owners are well aware of their car and they handle it accordingly. I believe, we should encourage them to enjoy the adventure.

 

[chayan]

@phoenix bird : No offence taken.

There is a thin line between 'what one can do' and 'what one should do' but lets not delve on this further and as my last post said - "Please consider this as friendly advise" and treat it as so.

 

[envynicky]

Great Initiative, I must say and if Tata's are listening you are about to get a sponsored

I am a Nano Fan but not a owner and will feel proud with your accomplishment. As of Schedule I would suggest to add few more day to your plan. Add a slack day between 3-4 days of your planned trip. This would help relaxing yourself, roaming around destinations you visit and accommodate for break-downs to significant delays in driving times. Just a suggestion.

 

[mastiandroid5]

I do not find any problem with journey.I feel it is a rather fun journey to do.
It can be done easily with nano.
People are doing 1500 to 1600 KM in bike in 24 hours for Iron Butt certification.
Nano is more capable than bike.

Thanks Amit :)

Mastiandroid5 and Phoenix bird,
Congratulations for your initiative.

Such a long trip with Tata Nano is definitely possible. Would like to see more people joining. Why don't you communicate with other Nano owners in this forum through PMs so that everybody is at least aware of this.

In long highway trips in India, we cannot plan the arrival at a particular place in exact timings. Your plan to end the day say at 2:30 PM could easily get extended to 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM or further late depending on traffic, road conditions, weather etc. Lunch breaks and small pit stops could take a big toll on our plan unless we are very much particular about timings and duration.
It is also likely that we will not be aware that we over spend or wasted time until we see that we are running very late to reach the destination for that day.

Thanks for the wishes and sharing the links. We will check them and send our queries regarding the route, etc.

We will ask other Nano users on the forum through PM if they can join in the trip.

Kinetic scootre has covered entire Sahara desert by Bike Guru - Dilip Bam. In past people used to cover most of distance in M800 which is more or less equivalent to Nano and Tata has not launched a wrong product as Nano but did wrong projection of car.

Many a time I have seen Nano to overtake many cars on highway so I guess there is no harm in covering golden quad in Nano rather to cancel the adventure in hope of another car. A sensible person can easily travel on the highways in Nano and each of car owners are well aware of their car and they handle it accordingly. I believe, we should encourage them to enjoy the adventure.

Thanks a lot We too hope to have lot of fun driving this little car all around India. In addition to the capability of the car, the high FE is another reason for me to take the drive in Nano.

Also yes travelling long distance one can never be precise with timings and schedules. Neither we are being so precise. At moment it's just me and mastiandroid with two Nanos so we are much flexible about timings, places to see and about places to stay and eat.

Thank you for your suggestion about contacting other nano owners through PM, but I am pretty new here and do not know about nano owner users. Can you tell us the users that you know and who are Tata Nano Owners.

Thank you.

As Vishal put it, our intention is not to stick precisely to the timing. We are just collecting our thoughts and discussing on how, what, where, when - through the forum. We intend to roam around a bit in the places of halt.

Great Initiative, I must say and if Tata's are listening you are about to get a sponsored

I am a Nano Fan but not a owner and will feel proud with your accomplishment. As of Schedule I would suggest to add few more day to your plan. Add a slack day between 3-4 days of your planned trip. This would help relaxing yourself, roaming around destinations you visit and accommodate for break-downs to significant delays in driving times. Just a suggestion.

Thanks for your words :)

We are having 400-500km target per day to allow rest of the afternoon/evenings to roam around (I know rest of the afternoon/evening may not be sufficient to roam a lot, but due to limited number of leaves cannot stretch beyond those days).

Even though Vishal is ready to stretch longer, I do not have leave and need to report in office on Oct 6th. So, that is the cutoff for me.