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Intermediate Morning Drive - Sweihan-Nagrah - Friday 15th Nov 2019


Emmanuel

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3 hours ago, Xaf said:

@Gaurav @FredericI like this mentality. Would be nice if I manage to catch the intermediate drives before the summer.

During the weekdays I go with other guys as well to the desert. There is a discussion on this board about driving in a club or private.

In my opinion, the balance between driving in a club and private is perfect.  The drives I already did, have thought me a lot. This knowledge I take with on the private drives where I have free time to practice them.

An example of this is, when @Emmanuel took shotgun with me and instructed me how to take the side-slope. After this instruction I understood the importance to drive in some circumstances the optimum torque band of your engine. Where I would drive before that only in D and try to push as hard as possible, I am now putting the gearbox in manual and hitting the 3000 - 4500 rpm.

My gearbox has 6 gears and in automatic it has the tendency to shift quickly a gear up. Toyotas have the ECT (Electronic Controlled Transmission) button, when switched on, the gearbox shifts at a higher rpm, that already helps when the pace is a bit faster and it becomes a bit more technical, so you keep a bit more control, but as soon when I see that I need my torque, I push the lever to the left, pull 3 times quickly backwards (from automatic to manual it goes standard to the 4th gear).

What I also find out, and now I open a can with worms, is that my tires are doing super well in the sand.

I am already looking ahead and making calculations how much new tires costs if I have them to replace them. As an offroader you start looking automatically at a/t or maybe m/t.

Only talking about dune bashing, I think h/t are performing good enough maybe the best. Yes, when you go to wadi’s you want to have a stronger sidewall and a more aggressive thread to have more grip. With dune-bashing you want to float on the sand instead of digging yourself in. 
I noticed this with my friends and in the group as well. The H/T’s are actually performing very good in the dunes. 

As I said, I probably opened a can of worms and might be shot down now, but this is what I’ve seen and thinking about it, it also makes sense.

@Frederic Thanks for the link, have something to watch again :).

 

 

Private drives with few friends can indeed be useful to learn a bit at your own pace, but the amount of stuff i learned since joining Carnity is so much more useful. Some of my friends also came with wrong information and assumptions, as they were not senior offroaders but had "seen all the Youtube videos".....

If i remember correctly, @Emmanuel is also on HT tyres and we all know how he is doing. Personally i felt a big difference when switching to A/T and it allowed for running at lower psi without risking a pop-out, but you are right, H/T can do a good job in the desert. 

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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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4 hours ago, Frederic said:

Private drives with few friends can indeed be useful to learn a bit at your own pace, but the amount of stuff i learned since joining Carnity is so much more useful. Some of my friends also came with wrong information and assumptions, as they were not senior offroaders but had "seen all the Youtube videos".....

I agree, like: "use L4 all time!" 

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3 minutes ago, Xaf said:

I agree, like: "use L4 all time!" 

Such myth list goes on and on:

  • Drive on LO all the time
  • Drive on HI but in first and second gear all the time
  • Install 10K suspension first before hitting the sand
  • Put biggest possible tire with most aggressive looks and tread
  • Install bull bar before hitting the sand
  • Install snorkel, chip, turbonator, throttle spacer to be desert ready
  • Give strong tug on every smallest refusal to demonstrate the strongest car
  • Shovel and self recoveries are for idiots
  • Why clear the sand when tow rope strong pull will do the job
  • catch me if you can (said / unsaid contest) all the time
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Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

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We love a can of worms. I used to drive on HTs with the exception of Yoko Geolander ATS since 1 year. Feels slightly heavier, but as I got used to them they really help out a lot and fairly quiet on road. Gives me that extra kick in deep sand to just make it a bit further. Plus it really soaks up the throes tracks which is nice.

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Thanks @Emmanuel @Frederic @Javier M for the nice drive. 

I did not know what to expect on an intermediate drive but in a few minutes realized why newbie and fewbie drives are called relaxing drives😄.

Honestly I would not have dared to try a drive like this in the Grand Cherokee, but knowing the carnity family always put safety first and are always willing to train and help gave me the confidence to give it a shot. 

Thanks to @Emmanuel @Frederic and @Javier M for the patience they had with me. I know I slowed you'll down quite a bit. Being the first drive at this level, I was not really sure how the JGC would handle so didnt want to push to much till I got a feel of it.  Pretty sure @Emmanuel would have gone for a 100km drive instead of 60 km had I kept up. 😀

@Javier M thanks for the 2 recoveries when I crested myself. i still need to get the straight up straight down sorted out, always think I am going to nose dive on one of those so end up taking my foot of tha gas to early. 

Thanks again guys for the wonderful drive. Looking forward to the next one. 

Not to forget @Rahimdad and @Gaurav, thanks for all time and effort you guys put into training us and building our confidence. 

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@Brette better safe than sorry. But mostly if the first car has gone through all you have to do is follow. But better to adjust to this level of drive for the first couple of drives. Well done all.

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51 minutes ago, Brette said:

Thanks to @Emmanuel @Frederic and @Javier M for the patience they had with me. I know I slowed you'll down quite a bit. Being the first drive at this level, I was not really sure how the JGC would handle so didnt want to push to much till I got a feel of it. 

As I wrote, I started slow for the first high dunes, just to check that you were comfortable with your JGC, but after that, trust me, we were cruising at the usual intermediate level pace.

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16 hours ago, Xaf said:

Only talking about dune bashing, I think h/t are performing good enough maybe the best. Yes, when you go to wadi’s you want to have a stronger sidewall and a more aggressive thread to have more grip. With dune-bashing you want to float on the sand instead of digging yourself in. 
I noticed this with my friends and in the group as well. The H/T’s are actually performing very good in the dunes. 

I bought Michelin Primacy SUV basically because I also use my car a lot on-road. They are OK on the sand, but weak and slippy on rocks. So, as you said, definitely not a good option if you want to drive in wadis, I mean off the tracks. 

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