COVID19 Compliant - Saturday Afternoon - Intermediate Desert drive - Area 53 - 6 Mar 2021

[Kailas]

13 hours ago, Foxtrot Oscar said:

Drive Report

I started the afternoon by making every member of the convoy aware of exactly what I expected from intermediate drivers on an Intermediate drive. Pace, no babysitting and if you have a refusal? Get yourself out of it!  I didn’t want to hear constant chatter on the radio, I wanted a drive like no other and by goodness did the convoy deliver!

We limbered up as usual in the smaller dunes, which offer excellent practice for the mammoth dunes that lay ahead. We swept around them at some pace, warming up our desert wheels. @Ilya Golubinsky 's mother asked for  bigger dunes, and who am I to disappoint someone’s mother?!

As we began to climb into the labyrinth of bowls we had a couple of refusals but nothing much, we continued and @GauravSoni experienced a nice crest which @Kailas tried in vain to dig him out of, we got the ropes and @GauravSoni was on the move again.

It’s fair to say that the initial climbs met with a fair share of refusals, I asked @GauravSoni to check his tyre pressure and after deflating he was back in the game and then some. Then @asifk found himself in a nice pocket of soft sand and the recovery saw his transmission oil heat up. We stopped to allow it time to cool down and got the magic spray out (water).That seemed to do the trick and we were on the move again.

I usually try to convey a sense of what a drive was like in these reports but it is difficult to truly reflect this afternoon’s drive. Perhaps my instructions over the radio would be better. “Climb, push it, push t , sweep the bowl, criss-cross, sweep, cross, push it push it! Control the descent , sweep, cross, sweep, momentum, stay high , cross, stay high, sweep. Cross, sweep, cross, climb PUSH IT PUSH IT!! OWN IT! YALLA! Repeat x 50 🤣

Thank you all so much for your excellent driving skills , you were all utterly fantastic and I had a great time leading you. Special note to @Hisham Masaad who was on his first IM and had a flawless drive and also @asifk who did exceptionally well. It was great to drive with @Francois Germishuys for the first time too. Love how you have control of that beast!

To @David Ortells, @siddharth maheshwari , @GauravSoni, @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQand @Ashok chaturvedi, you all had great drives, thank you.

Special thanks to @Ilya Golubinsky who once again was excellent as my second lead, to @Kailaswho kept an eye on everything at the front of the convoy and to @Islam Soliman who was sweeping at the back. Brilliant support!

And that was that, Sharjah’s Bowls….Owned!

Until our next adventure.  

That was an amazing drive @Foxtrot Oscar 

The drive through endless bowls to reach up the dune made me feel like Tarzan swinging through the woods.

I had planned to set up my 360 cam halfway, but ditched that plan so that I could enjoy the drive and not worry about looking after the camera.

Good job everyone.

See you all in the sand soon!!

[asifk]

It was an amazing drive yesterday - thanks @Foxtrot Oscar for the lead. I was surprised how well my pajero climbed the steep and tall dunes - it feels like the engine has opened up a bit over the past few months and cranking more power. Thanks to @Kailas for guidance when I was stuck and to @GauravSoni for the creative advice on using the heating to tackle the overheating of my transmission oil. It worked twice ! Got a nice pic of @Ilya Golubinsky which i’ll post into the gallery. See y’all soon ! 

[siddharth maheshwari]

You have become my favourite Angela @Foxtrot Oscar .Another amazing roller coaster drive . Loved the continuity of the drive and definately everyone did well.  I was happy that we had few refusals and got some time to relax😇. Hats off to @Ilya Golubinsky mom , Its difficult to be a co-passenger on such tracks. Great to see all the fellow drivers 👍. Already missing the dunes.

[Ilya]

Everything has already been said about the drive itself - it was really really fast and spectacular. Short video for memories:

 

[siddharth maheshwari]

16 minutes ago, Ilya Golubinsky said:

Everything has already been said about the drive itself - it was really really fast and spectacular. Short video for memories:

 

Cant see a glimpse of my Jeep!! Hate it lol 😆 .