COVID19 Compliant - Saturday Morning Intermediate Drive - Ganthoot Blitz Remake - Dubai - 20 Mar 2021

[Islam Soliman]

On the positive side looks like there is a consensus around how good@Ilya Golubinsky drives.. unfortunately that strengthen the theory about his intentions towards his in-laws 😂😂😂😂

[Ale Vallecchi]

Unstoppable - Ganthoot Blitz (The Sequel) Report

At the time of my writing, the news of the eventful day has already become public, and everybody in the Club knows two facts: 1) even very skilled drivers as @Ilya Golubinsky may incur in a chain of events (missing the line to the ridge, and instinctively steer against gravity to regain that line) that can eventually lead to the unexpected (a flip, with the car ending on its side, just across the ridge); 2) perhaps the incident was well studied (considering it left the car unharmed and the passengers just a little shaken) to discourage Ilya's In-Laws from visiting Dubai too often 😈 🤪😜

Jokes aside, it truly was a thrill filled drive: an early departure, driving into the sunrise, quite a fast pace across technical areas and long range dunes, criss-crossings, ridge-riding, high speeds on sabkhas, small and big groups of oryx, and beautiful palm-trees half buried in the sand.

The great team effort and coordination during the recovery, with each driver contributing knowledge, ideas, or simply encouragement, was the living proof of Carnity's commitment to its members safety and well-being. Everybody came together, calmly and cool headed, to assist the upended passengers first, assess the situation, providing ropes, shackles, and all the other necessary tools to sort out the flip, and the consequent pop-out. @Ahab Shamaa was the winch-man, @Islam Soliman the anchor (not only of the convoy), @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ, @Mohamed Seidam, @Ashok chaturvedi, @Tero Vallas and @Gregory Perkin provided their tools and ideas, @Archibald Jurdi and @Junaid120120, the more junior drivers, assisted and learned the handling of one of the most challenging recoveries they will ever encounter. Many thanks also to @Foxtrot Oscar Angela for supporting my own assessments, and providing her guidance with the recovery of the flipped car from the crest.

The "flip' itself, was very much textbook of what NOT TO DO, so in a way (thanks to the fact that nobody was hurt, and all ended well) it provided a great learning moment for the whole convoy. As seen from my rearview mirror, I can say that Ilya's approach to the crest was a bit too low, just below the ridge line. When the crest was about to end, he tried to climb to the ridge, fishtailing his Jeep to the right. The car turned sideways until it was perpendicular to the slope, and almost in slow motion it slowly rolled to its right flank, and stopped, elegantly balanced on the ridge. The Second Lead's tracks were visible, both just short of the ridge, which in hindsight should have called for an exit to the right, and for a second attempt at the criss-crossing. The momentum the Jeep had gained and kept on the slope was probably enough to make it through, but the line was not. As soon as the car tried to steer up the dune to reach the ridge it visibly lost speed (hence momentum, slowed by the sand building up against its right side's tires), and started to fishtail decisively toward the lower part of the dune (gravity pulling it down). Prolonging the steering up, while not choosing immediately to exit down, led finally to the flip.

Having said this, I commend Ilya for keeping a cool head, listening to instructions and turning the car's engine off as soon as advised to do so, and for his clear presence of mind during the recovery, as well as for continuing, unaffected, the drive until the end. 

With a final thanks to all the drivers for joining this drive, I am very proud of all of them for managing to conclude a very long and taxing trek, which lasted 5:22 hours (but only 2:56 moving), and covered 77.5KM, at an average moving speed of 26 Km/h (a little slower than the usual 30 Km/h of an Intermediate drive, due to the slower driving of the half an hour following the flip's recovery, to allow everybody to readjust to the drive, with confidence).

See you all soon in the sand for more adventures, and safe fun.