COVID19 Compliant - Tuesday Evening Fewbie Short Desert Drive - Solar Park - Dubai - 16 Feb 2021

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

DRIVE REPORT

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

this was my first midweek drive and it wasn't planned at all.. But it turned out to be a fun and nice drive. 

When @Foxtrot Oscar unfortunately announced that she had been grounded due to mechanical problems (hope they are fixed soon), I happily offered my support for the drive, as it was indeed an unexpected breathe of fresh air. 

@Chaitanya D was so kind to allow me to take the lead, so we headed west along the pylon track around 3.45pm as soon as everyone was ready to go.

Unfortunately Al Qudra / Solar Park areas are undergoing major works and every week the construction sites and the fences are different. This forced us to go further West that I had planned and to get across a tiny, but yet nasty strip of small technical dunes, where we had immediately one car crested, a second with a refusal and a third badly stuck, to the extent that winching was required. What a start, after only 10' drive!

@Thomas Varghese, who later drove very well, ended up learning the hard way, in these initial minutes, that when the track of the convoy is lost, the best option is to stop and call for help, rather than attempting to go along unknown routes, at risk of getting in trouble, but we have all learned something the hard way (and sometimes it was also hard for the car.. 😭😭). 

When, after almost 40 mins, we were eventually out on the sabkha, the fun could begin. We headed straight toward the long range dunes of Al Qudra South, where we enjoyed neverending side sloping stints, one time with the sun straight in our eyes heading West and the other time with the shadow of our car anticipating our moves on the sand in front of us heading East. 

These large dunes were very tempting, almost completely virgin with no previous tracks and we indulged for quite some time, alternating long slide slopes and straight climbs to cross the crest and dive down on the slip face. In one of these occasions @Ammar Najiapproached the crest with a bit too much enthusiasm, which resulted in landing nose down on the slip face, luckily a very soft one. It takes time, practice and many many mistakes to understand how to find the best balance between speed and safety when crossing a dune crest, so very well done to @Ammar Naji and everyone else, crested or not crested, as you did some good practice today. 

I was pleased to see how well the convoy was doing on those endless sideslopes. I know for sure @Veedooshee enjoyed them, as she confessed, when she was not busy being an amazing Center Forward.

@Ashok chaturvedi was a fantastic 2nd lead. Always super focused and immediately responsive to my rerouting requests, always providing meaningful advice to the following cars, fast and efficient when he had to backtrack to rejoin the central part of the convoy when I requested to do so.

@Rob Harper and @Shehab Alawadhi did extremely well with their long beasts, with little or no fishtailing on the long slideslopes nor any hesitation in crossing the crests. Kudos! 

Everyone else, including @Arman, @Hisham Masaad, @Junaid120120 @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ did a fantastic job, and the drive indeed was very smooth and with a great pace. For the approx 1h 26' we spent in movement, we cruised at 2'35"/km, covering a distance of 33.4km to eventually make our exit on the tarmac in Al Qudra East by 6.10pm, as planned. 

Special thanks to @Chaitanya Dfor his great help and for giving me the chance to lead this drive today.

See you all in the sand soon! 

Edited February 16, 2021 by Lorenzo Candelpergher

[Thomas Varghese]

under the watchful eyes of @Chaitanya D

[Thomas Varghese]

for @Veedooshee its only fun

[Thomas Varghese]

I should be the one driving. Not you dad @Chaitanya D

[Thomas Varghese]

Restrictions are for humans. We can chit chat

[Thomas Varghese]

Whenever my master unleashes me I gallop to the horizon

[Thomas Varghese]

[dune jockey]

48 minutes ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

When @Foxtrot Oscar unfortunately announced that she had been grounded due to mechanical problems, I happily offered my support for the drive, as it was indeed an unexpected breathe of fresh air. 

@Chaitanya D was so kind to allow me to take the lead, so we headed west along the pylon track around 3.45pm as soon as everyone was ready to go.

Thanks to you to chip in last moment , and executing a perfect lead @Lorenzo Candelpergher. Everyone enjoyed the way you took all of us through the dunes with some excellent learning initially. Qudra white sands are so deceptive , need complete attention all the time. @Foxtrot Oscar hope your car is fixed soon, you would have loved this drive for sure, had you been there.

Fantastic self recoveries by @Veedooshee and @Ammar Naji, perfectly executed tugs by @Veedooshee and @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ , super driving the long beasts by @Shehab Alawadhi and @Rob Harper . All in all it was indeed great drive by others too @Ashok chaturvedi @Junaid120120, @Hisham Masaad, @Arman and @Thomas Varghese - kind of a short break mid week.

Thank you all, some pictures uploaded in gallery. No match to some fantastic ones posted here in the drive thread.

[Hisham Masaad]

Totally agree with you @Chaitanya D, it was nice and enjoyed the drive with the lead of @Lorenzo Candelpergher CF @Veedoosheeand your support. I have to mention, I liked sticking to the timing as well by @Lorenzo Candelpergher 👏

[Shehab Alawadhi]

@Lorenzo Candelpergher i really loved the fast paced driving it was quite a change although the convoy was stretched at times I had the ability to mess around a little bit. Thank you for the fun drive @Chaitanya D and @Veedooshee and to everyone else!