Chandigarh, April 9 : A group of SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) owners have joined hands to become members of The Offroaders Club, set up three-months-ago. It today boasts of 25 members from both genders coming together to explore adventure of driving off-road.

Owners of 4X4 SUVs from Chandigarh, Delhi and Shimla recently gathered in Chandigarh for some adventure and fun with their machines.

"The idea is not to achieve anything. The idea is to just have fun. Most of the four-wheel drive vehicles which are coming to India are not being fully utilized. What we are doing is try to build a sport where people enjoy going offroading, going where there is no road. We want to see what a man is capable of with machines and what can machine and man synchronising, drive into the hills, where normal vehicles will not go," said Billy Gill, the President of 4x4 Offroaders Club.

The group started its 40-45 miles journey from the Chandigarh Club. On the way, they encountered slush and dirt, which made it slowdown.

Some tackled it better than others. But, with help of other members, all of them got back on track.

The idea behind organizing such an adventure rally was to bring together people who like to drive SUVs. And it was a welcome change to take their machines off the road and see how it reacted.

But in this group, it is generally said, to have fun one needs to know his or her vehicle quite well.

Passing through the plain-sand fields and rocky terrains along riverbeds - these adventure seekers enjoyed every moment.

"Offroading is a sport in itself. It's very enjoyable and we love to go off- roading or any chance to just go. Basically, rallying is also going fast on off roads," said Sunny Sidhu, owner of 4*4 Vehicle.

"When you need more power, you put it into four-wheel drive and high, so you had four gears before or five gears before and you got five gears ratios now. If that's not working, you put it into 4*4 and lower. It gives you an option of five more gears. So, in theory, you have a mixture if 15 gears to choose from. That's very unique selling pair of a 4*4 offroading vehicle," said H. Kishie Singh, auto expert.

Adventure rallies have become popular these days among the owners of SUVs in north India. The high that these drivers get by pushing these machines through such tough terrain is what gets them to do such tracks.

The passion for SUVs is spreading. They are gradually making in-roads into the Indian psyche and look set to bulldoze, quite literally, a new path for themselves. (ANI)