COVID 19 Compliant - ABSOLUTE NEWBIE Morning Desert Drive - Al Qudra - Dubai - 11 Dec 2020

[Sanjay Malik]

Hi

This is Sanjay Malik. I have a 2005 Land Cruiser which has served me rather well. I have some off road experience since I was with Gulf News for many years and have participated in a few Fun Drives! My daughter too, my co-driver has basic off road experience.

The vehicle has both front and back tow hooks so pretty set.

Looking forward to the drive.

Cheers.

[Srikumar]

RSVP is Closed

Convoy Numbering

1. Srikumar

2. Harold Roberts

3. Jayachandran

4. Juan Carlo

5. Barisyuriger

6. Sanjay Malik

7. Michael Glavanis

8. Alphin

9. Alex Pol

10. Saneesh Thomas

11. N@ved

12. Vladimir

13. Vanessa

See you tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM Sharp. A little early would be better.

For those who have radios can program to Carnity Frequency 446.006.25 (Channel 1). For those who don't have radios, we shall be providing spare radios.

[Vladimir Cirilo]

Hello guys, im will not be able to make it for tomorrow. 

 

See you next time. 

[Barisyuregir]

Sorry guys , i will be not able to join tomorrow  hope to make it happen following week. Thanks

[N@ved]

Had a great time, enjoyed the drive. Thanks to Sri and Vanessa 👍

[Srikumar]

TRIP REPORT

Absolute Newbie drive has a different charm from other level drives, as it always reminds me of the day when I started offroading as an Absolute Newbie. At that stage I completely moved away from my comfort zone having never pushed my car beyond 3000 rpm and always worrying about what is on the other side of the dune (it took a wise man to tell me that there is only sand on the other side, so do take a leap of faith esp if the car in front has done it). While some might feel its one of the easiest drives to lead, it can become extremely challenging very quickly. Yesterday was one such drive which was quite challenging in a different manner and this is despite no use of a rope or shovel. 

All the participants did the first perfect thing of arriving at the meeting point on time which is much appreciated. After a proper briefing we headed out towards the long range dunes at the back side of Qudra. We started with small sideys and U-turns so that everyone would start getting a feel of steering as well as how much gas is needed. As the level of confidence increased so did the pace of the entire convoy, with longer side slopes on the long range dunes of Qudra. As we ventured deeper into the desert, we cam across a group of locals that called us out for help. It seems they had a pop-out and didn't have a proper compressor to reinflate their tyre and plus a leaking clutch oil resulting in difficulty for them to engage the gear. So it took us a while to help them fix the pop out and after giving them a can of clutch fluid we were off on our way.

As we were approaching one dune we noticed that @Juan Carlos Elizalde Reyes had a flat tyre as a result of worn out tyres. Sadly we had to exit him on to the road and return back to the rest of the convoy. As the desert can be quite unforgiving, tyre conditions are extremely important and hope you get them replaced soon and join us for a drive. 

With more than expected few breaks and delays we started moving towards the flat track to get an exit. Unfortunately what stood between us and the flat track was some semi technical dunes. Many of our other members would be aware of how nasty some of the technical dunes in Qudra can be, and for Absolute Newbies to listen the instructions carefully and go through them with the minimum of delays, was a brilliant achievement. Well done everyone. 

Few mentions about all the drive participants:

@Harold Roberts was my second lead in his mighty FJC and did the necessary rerouting as and when needed. And once we reached the flat track towards the end of the drive he also managed to have a conference video call from the desert. Overall well driven. 

@jayachandran joined us with his Prado. While a powerful beast you need to keep practicing on how much gas to give and also listen to the instructions more attentively. This will come with a few more drives, but still overall you had a good drive. 

@Juan Carlos Elizalde Reyes It was good to see you back after the last AN where you had to exit out as soon as the drive started. Your Cherokee felt and sounded much more healthier than a few months ago. Just put on some good tyres of the same size (235/75R16) but preferably ATs like Geolandars (which are among the lightest AT tyres in the market). If you are at stock height, this would be the largest size that would fit your car without causing rubbing. 

@Sanjay Malik joined with his family in a nice 2005 Land Cruiser and let his daughter Tanvi drive throughout the day. She managed the might LC pretty well and overall was quite impressive. As mentioned during the debriefing, moving forward please make a separate ID for her, so that we can track the progress of each driver. 

@Michael Glavanis brought the all powerful LR3 which performed very well during the entire course of the drive. Ofcourse, with these cars at times the electronics can play mischief, so it would be better you can get the air suspension checked once if its at fault. Rest, you and your car seemed to be at home in the desert.

@Alphin Aloor brought a beautiful Xterra and the power of the Xterra helped him push through some of the churned up sand left by the cars in the front. As mentioned, just get a proper bash plate and a kill switch installed for the traction control and ABS. We have a lot of proud Xterrians in our group and I am tagging a few of them to give you some advice @Emmanuel @Chaitanya D @sertac @Foxtrot Oscar. At the moment there is no need to spend a lot of money on other modifications unless you really want to. All these senior members I have mentioned do Advance level drives in stock Xterras. 

@AlexPol had a nice Wrangler and with some prior offroading experience hardly set a foot wrong as he went through the entire truck with the minimum of fuss. Well done.

@Saneesh Thomas was with the second wrangler in the convoy and through he struggle in the initial phase his confidence grew along the duration of the drive. As mentioned in the debriefing you might have better results by driving it at 10 psi especially since you have heavy thick walled side tyres.

@N@ved had a nice clean (which is kinda rare) TJ at the back end of the convoy and it was wonderful to hear the roar of your 4.0 through the dunes. Nicely done. 

Finally a bit shout out of appreciation to @Vanessa8580 who has been supporting quite a few of my Newbie drives and is always a constant source of motivation and energy for all the drive participants throughout the day. 

Moving forward you all will be joining the Newbie drives and not an Absolute Newbie drive. Drives are announced every Sunday at 11 am, and they go live on Sunday at 7:10 pm. Due to the high demand, these drives get full in about 10 minutes, so please be online at 7 pm to book your spot. If you miss a spot, put your name on the waitlist asap. Generally, by Thursday with dropouts everyone does get a spot if they have waitlisted. 

For the next drives, please bring along a deflator, pressure gauge, flag and radio as a minimum. 

• Learn to deflate your tires and checking them precisely
• Learn to fix a flag on your car
• Learn to program and fully charge your radio

Also like I mentioned during the debriefing, join the Carnity Whatsapp Drive Notification to get the latest updates on the drives, so that you can RSVP on time for the next weekend's drive.

Please have a look at below topic which describes the tools needed for every level. There is a separate tutorial inside which explains which radio we recommend and how to program them: (Please do not buy the Baofeng 888S spare radio we gave you, as these cannot be programmed without a special cable and software).

 

Please have a look at below grading structure that explains various off-road levels:

 

See you guys soon in the sand again !

[AlexPol]

Thanks indeed, Shrikumar and Vanessa for the great drive, fun, coaching, leading us through beautiful dunes in wonderful morning. It was great time with great people. Can’t wait see you next time for the next drive. Thanks.