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COVID19 compliant - Saturday Afternoon Intermediate Desert drive - Faqa Loop 'The Less Travelled Side of Faqa - Dubai - 01 May 2021


Foxtrot Oscar

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24 minutes ago, Foxtrot Oscar said:

Drive report 

 

We started off as expected and tackled some small dunes before heading into larger long range dunes with long corridors . The recent rains meant the usually pristine sands had little ‘land mines’ all over them in the shape of shrubs and bushes . I carefully picked a path to avoid as much bumps as possible, the effect of a small shrub at high speed can be quite damaging so with that in mind we traversed the dunes making our way to the sabka. We had some minor stucks and refusals along the way . 

When we reached the Sabka there was an audible gasp as the convoy laid eyes on the high ridges , beckoning us forward . This is where the fun really began! With the clarion call of “Yalla” we thrashed the dunes . We travelled further into the less travelled side and as we did so the dunes became higher and the ridges sharper! “Go fast or Go Home” was the instruction and the convoy didn’t disappoint . We continued at pace, avoid the land mines in our path, getting atop of those razor sharp ridges.

In amongst the glorious long ridges is a fabulous swirling bowl, I had marked it and was desperately seeking it when finally I spotted the location and the convoy whipped around it , not once , not twice , but thrice ! It’s so much fun!  Yes we had some stucks, cars are liable to get crested when we have so many ridges , and the odd refusal as the sand churned up. But it was nothing that you wouldn’t expect and no one driver had more than another. It is also expected at IM level that you choose a cleaner path, you don't need to follow the tracks as you would at less experienced levels, perhaps some of you chose the wrong path :P

@Armanthat gorgeous silver wrangler keeps you trucking along and you had a very good drive
@GoutamIt was nice to see you again after such a long time, I think you only had one minor refusal. Good driving 
@Jorge Stepniak Felippe You had the roof down and the whole family with you and still managed a flawless drive. Well done! I hope the family enjoyed your driving.
@Mario CornejoThe last time I drove with you was back at fewbie level, it's great to see the progress you have made and a flawless drive from you. Well done. 
@Thomas VargheseJust the one stuck I think and a couple of refusals Thomas, nice driving, I would ask when next you find yourself having a refusal that you step out and assess the situation. You know better than most what your car is capable of and how it is reacting. At IM level it is expected.
@Jon MYou had a good drive, there was one moment I had my heart in my mouth as you slightly oversteered. Perhaps the difference from the dinky SWB Jeep by comparison to the Montero? Otherwise, good drive, 
@GauravSoniAnother very accomplished drive from you , almost flawless , just that one refusal in the churned sand. Well done.
@Jack ThomasNice driving Jack and a lovely stuck ;) haha aside from that no major issues from you. Well done.
@WatteauNice to see you and your better half again, flawless drive and perfect winch man. Well done.
@Shehab AlawadhiHave you bought that lady of yours a Jeep yet? YALLA! haha. Well driven , I don't recall you having any issues .

Thank you to my support team of @Jeepiererouting perfectly, great to have such experience behind me. @Yousef Alimadadihandling the recoveries and stepping in when needed and @Islam Solimanfor sweeping up everything at the back.


Until our next adventure :) 

Dear Angela @Foxtrot Oscar thanks for the advice. Yes I had only 1 stuck and 2 refusals. By the time I was trying to self recover from the refusal the car was already bogged down and @GauravSoni & @Yousef Alimadadi were already beside me and had started to give instructions and told me to stay back in the car. I had opened the door to come out and asses the situation when they already instructed to stay back in the car and follow their instructions in recovery. 

Anyways I hope you remember I had some overheating issues  some time before in a drive of yours and I had to exit. I had tried flushing the cooling system, subjected the car to innumerable computer diagnosis but was not able to eliminate the problem even though controlled it to some extent. The engine always used to cut the power when the RPM rises above a certain limit which resulted in some stucks before. I had to adjust my driving style and somehow managed all the drives till now. No mechanic was able to understand the phenomenon. They all even advised me to change the knock sensor and sort like that, even the engine mountings. Yesterday night I pin pointed the problem. All this started after I changed the spark plugs sometime before. Every time I tell the mechanics the same and they ignored it. I took out the spark plugs yesterday night and viola the culprit lay bare in front of me. 1 of the spark plugs installed was different from the rest. The spark plug number is same but spark plug is different. While 5 were platinum tipped and had blue markings. 1 was ordinary and had green markings but same number marked on it. This spark plug's heat range was different and was misfiring resulting in the engine laboring a lot under stress which made the engine overheat which led to loss of power and momentum. Its sometimes strange we can't even leave the car in a garage trusting the mechanic will take care of it as well as we do. The moment I replaced the different spark plug with a new one, the engine started to run smoother, the overall heat fell down drastically and the acceleration is linear. Hopefully I can drive smoothly during your next Saturday drive. 

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36 minutes ago, varunmehndiratta said:

So wish I was there...somehow Faqa and i have never gotten along .. everytime planned for it, either was forever waitlisted like this time or some other reasons ..Not going to give up ..😀

One day! We have plenty of drives in the area so I’m sure you’ll get there soon 

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