Every off-roader must know: What Went Wrong?

[M.Seidam]

Agree with you @Chaitanya D and for this reason I keep posting these clips here and there and I encourage every one to put any positive input to learn realize so slowly slowly each one can develop his approach in safe environment 👍

[Rahimdad]

Although the information here is available to all, but it's their choice if they want to view it. If through this thread We are able to educate a handful of people at least those people will be aware the dos and donts when in the desert. I totally agree with @Mohamed Seidam and Dr @Chaitanya D regarding their insight in this incident. I have seen this group a couple of time in the Fossil Rock area. They seem to be impatient lot who would just drive through a convoy without any regrets. I think part of the cause of this incident is also due to that impatience and this guy trying to push his vehicle to the limits and fight the refusal to keep on moving. Luckily he escaped the inevitable and even more lucky to have someone sensible behind him to realize the Pajero guys nerves wete wrecked and he needed a breather to come over the incident and carry on with the drive later.

I keep repeating myself, drive higher on the ridge of the dune, if you are anywhere below the ridge even by a fraction the soft sand will catch hold of your vehicle and the gravity will always win in such scenarios. Turning left and making a second attempt would have been a better decision. As @Mohamed Seidam already pointed out, the momentum caused the vehicle to travel sideways and gather sand on the sidewalls of the tires causing it to act like barrier at the bottom, whereas the top of the vehicle continued with the momentum to what could have been a nasty flip.

[Ahab Shamaa]

So @Rahimdad, is it a rule to follow “drive higher on the ridge of the dune”?

Maybe we can have @Ale Vallecchi illustrate how to do that this coming Friday or Saturday with his toy car. My first drive with Ale, he used a toy car and a made-up sand dune, to explain to the group what he wanted us to do. Low and behold, things just sunk in for me. I have to visualize things to understand them I guess 😀

[Ale Vallecchi]

31 minutes ago, Ahab Shamaa said:

So @Rahimdad, is it a rule to follow “drive higher on the ridge of the dune”?

Maybe we can have @Ale Vallecchi illustrate how to do that this coming Friday or Saturday with his toy car. My first drive with Ale, he used a toy car and a made-up sand dune, to explain to the group what he wanted us to do. Low and behold, things just sunk in for me. I have to visualize things to understand them I guess 😀

@Ahab Shamaa any advice coming from @Rahimdad is gold. His experience, and the fact that he can do virtually anything with a very regular car (no disrespect is meant) shows you how it's always the driver's choice to make the difference. In the case of the almost roll-over, no amount of power, no super high clearance, no other fancy mod, would have saved the driver. It was just his luck that the car didn't roll. Going back to Rahim bhai's advise, if the Pajero had approached from a wider/higher angle, and had stayed higher on the slope, he would have gained/kept the momentum (why do you think parabolic curves aid drivers in race tracks?), and gravity would not have taken over. Having failed that, of course, his capital sin was fighting gravity (he should have gone down the slope to his left, and re-attampted). 

This weekend be ready to put Rahimdad's suggestions to good use. There'll plenty of slopes to ride slopes, and plenty of opportunities to climb them, or to make a safe exit, rather than fighting a losing uphill battle.

[Ahab Shamaa]

Thank you all for these lessons; I perceive them as invaluable 🙏  

However, the more I read and learn, the more I'm getting nervous; I'm not sure I'm going to remember any of these lessons once I'm on the sand 😂 Let's see this Friday with my new set of Yokohamas.

[M.Seidam]

speeding to fight gravity will Always lead to this . But truthfully why ppl keep fighting gravity ... while you leave your comment I will dig it out and tell later !

watch 

 

[Rahimdad]

@Ahab Shamaa none of us would remember everything until we started to preach it. Now it's part of our DNA. We didn't by heart everything overnight, but little by little. That's why we have a grading structure and feed it to you little by little so that at each level you can learn and perfect your skill. As you come closer to becoming one of the senior members, you'll be the one preaching and someone will be telling you it's difficult to remember everything. 😇

@Mohamed Seidam brother. Great video to post, but a lot to learn from here also. Fighting gravity is part of our hobby. When we are side slopping we are defying and fighting gravity as it gives us the thrill. But more importantly as you grow in the sport you'll realize there are areas where we have no choice but to defy every logic in the book. When we go to Liwa for instance we have to defy gravity through narrow nooks and corners and stay aware throughout as any lapse in concentration can be disastrous. Everything we learn at any level is important to use in future whenever you're faced with any situation. @Gaurav bhai is testament to the Pajero bowl in Wagan which comes with a one way ticket unless you're ready to give gravity a nasty fight. Still it could take the whole of your winch and 4 ropes to pull you out of it. The video just posted by you is not about fighting gravity, that was the manoeuvre he was trying, due to sand you can't see much, but the revving of the engine stops just before you see the dust settle and FJ flip. I can think of 3 reasons why it happened. 1) the driver got scared and let go of the accelerator. 2) the drivers foot slipped from the accelerator pedal. 3) the engine stalled. I would put down all 3 as driver's mistake. Don't be scared, stay calm and steer down if in doubt. Wear proper foot wear for your foot not to slip off the pedals. Keep your ride in good shape, it's your responsibility.

off-roading is an extreme sport and thus gives us a lot of thrills and joy. From our side we should be strong in our basic skills required for this sport and keep our rides in good nick.

[Chaitanya D]

12 hours ago, Rahimdad said:

Don't be scared, stay calm and steer down if in doubt.

Words of wisdom!!Thanks @Rahimdad.

Steer down should be the simple step for everyone to avoid such situations.

[Ahab Shamaa]

Got it 😀 I’ll keep your explanation in mind, Jedi Master @Rahimdad!

For now, the only senior I see coupled with my name, is senior citizen 😂

O ye of little faith

[M.Seidam]

On 2/19/2019 at 5:03 PM, Rahimdad said:

I know this one is a bit difficult as it is the shot from inside the effected car, but what do you think he did wrong here.

After reading all the comments , I was thinking what is real cause from the beginning ?

One word : distraction 

The driver was focusing on the front vehicle      and not on the track exactly as he was distracted may be by the music or something else , in an attempt to follow where his eyes are looking at , I guess the realization of flip came after it happened not even before .