COVID19 Compliant - Morning Extreme Desert Drive - The Climbing Challenge - Shuwaib - Sharjah - 28 May 2021

[Thomas Varghese]

15 hours ago, Gaurav said:

Thanks @Francois Germishuys for your detailed and valuable feedback on today's extreme drive.

This surely help us define stringent process to vet extreme drivers. As per Carnity belief we do agree that we have to help each other and wait patiently, but by no means extreme drive should turn as a qualifying round for new extreme drivers.

Extreme drives should always offer a top-notch drive experience for worthy and qualified extreme drivers, who look up to such drives with great expectations.

As we have recently updated the structure, and added new extreme rank, so very soon will roll out the extreme driver selection process shortly.

Dear @Gaurav, I don't appreciate a fellow driver of the same rank commenting on driving capabilities and car strengths of his colleagues in a drive. Please relegate it to the trip lead or it will lead to unnecessary friction. This is my 1st extreme drive and I believe I did well for the 1st extreme drive. The trip lead admitted me as per the policies prevalent at that time and consulting with other marshals I drove with. At least I completed the drive without any injury to my car or others, not exit in between by exceeding the car's and driver's capabilities which as per me is the most important aspect. Let @Francois Germishuys clarify in which other extreme drive he has participated with me and @Gaurav please add it to my profile. I never once got stuck except in a bowl as @Luca Palanca Falsini knows I had to stop as 2 other cars of some other convoy got stuck and was trying to recover. I had to stop as it was the slip face and the car would have crashed into them. Of course I had some refusals. I self recovered from every one. Never once took anybody's assistance to self recover or crested my car or had a pop out. Show me one driver in that convoy who didn't have refusals. I don't appreciate this kind of constructive criticism. If somebody has self criticism about their car and driving style please feel free to post and refrain from other's activities except the report from the trip lead.  

[Luca Palanca Falsini]

Hi everyone I wanna  just try to report about the extreme drive we did.

Sorry for being verbose but I think that a detail of the facts is needed.

 

The drive was organized in order to offer to all of us a great experience in one of the most challenging sites I drove till now.

 

Shuwaib is full of big dunes that are offering a thrilling experience to all the attendees.

 

The convoy was composed in order to put the lighter cars in front and the heavy one on the back. @Thomas Varghese, as SL and Francois Sweep.

 

The idea was to climb on all the deepest dunes and find our and our car’s limit.

 

We started early (around 5:40) and honestly I was excited about what was planned.

The first big dune was in front of us, no tacks on the sand, with a perfect morning light to enjoy the landscapes.

 

Started with the first steep climb and I found that not everyone was able to climb. Thomas was struggling. After three attempts I suggested he reroute and give some space to the others.  The others were able to climb and as soon as Francois joined us we started again looking for other opportunities around the same dune. The same happened a few times after as soon as I was trying to push the limits of the cars. We moved forward because another convoy of crazy people (the leader with an FJ cruiser named “washing machine”) was crossing our path often.

 

The next big dune was the same, as soon as I pushed the level I got refusals and had to stop. Thomas was the one that was struggling the most in those parts and we had our first popout. Hopefully it was an easy fix and in 15 minutes we were on the road again.

 

Between the big dunes we met some technical areas and here all the components of the convoy showed an exceptional level. The pace was always high, above 35 Km/h with no issues of any kind. 

 

Next big dune. I decided to climb to the back side to avoid other convoys. Here the path was different. A sequence of climbs with a big bowl. Everyone did well on that part till Amir had his popout. Joined him and Francois. We spent some time before fixing it because the tire was not easy to inflate. 

 

Started again and reached the Super Bowl. At least 25 cars were there, most of them climbing following their own path. I found some space and reached the top. Just after me Thomas crossed, didn’t see me and continued till on the opposite side. We met on the bottom of the dune and started again. Here the convoy did well until Amir crested. Francoins was helping him but when I reached that the car was impossible to unstuck with the rope. We used the Amir’s winch from the front even if that was the heavy side. The maneuver was successful, reaching the others we started again. After a few minutes Francois had an issue and asked to exit. Hopefully we were not far from the road so we brought Francois there and after being reassured that everything was good we left and dug again in the desert.

 

 Now our target was the Iftar Bowl. The Bowl side was full of cars playing the same game as the Iftar Bowl. After a quick tour I decided to turn around and skip that mess.  Thomas followed me without problems but after the second crest Ilya (who took the sweep position when Francois left) showed up instead of Varun. Started asking to everybody  found that the convoy was splitted in three Luca-Thomas-Ilya , Varum,  Amir-Abu Muhammad. After collecting all the three pieces we moved with the target Al Badayer.

 

On the next big dune while I was doing a side slope I saw two prado stuck just below me in a big pocket and two others were  helping them. I wasn’t quick enough to tell everyone to wait. 

 

Thomas was already following me.  When he saw the situation stopped with the car in the middle of the crest (was the only option as the car was just below). We waited for the other convoy to leave and we unstuck Thomas with Abu’s winch. At that point it was clear that Badayr was too far so opted for an early exit. The area was nice with medium-size dunes. Here Abu was crested once was again an ‘easy fix’.

 

Reached the exit with some delay but we drove almost 60Km, which is enormous compared to the terrain and what happened. 

 

I wanna share my impressions of that drive.

 

@Francois Germishuys and @Ilya were outstanding during the drive. No issue even when I pushed very hard the limit.

 

@Abu Muhammad was the good news during the drive, very few refusals and only one crest (I think that we were all a bit tired that time).

 

@varunmehndirattavery well done! Some refusals are completely fine with that level.

 

@Amir Amiriand @Thomas Varghese, IMHO need to understand better how to exploit your car  on these challenges. The impression was that your cars can give more but need to understand how to ask them for it. Maybe you need more drive in such areas (that's shouldn't be a big effort let's say ).

 

Anyway with all the issues we had we covered almost 60 Km that's a great achievement in such challenging area.

 

Hope to see you all soon again on the sand!

 

[Wrangeld]

3 minutes ago, Luca Palanca Falsini said:

Hi everyone I wanna  just try to report about the extreme drive we did.

Sorry for being verbose but I think that a detail of the facts is needed.

 

The drive was organized in order to offer to all of us a great experience in one of the most challenging sites I drove till now.

 

Shuwaib is full of big dunes that are offering a thrilling experience to all the attendees.

 

The convoy was composed in order to put the lighter cars in front and the heavy one on the back. @Thomas Varghese, as SL and Francois Sweep.

 

The idea was to climb on all the deepest dunes and find our and our car’s limit.

 

We started early (around 5:40) and honestly I was excited about what was planned.

The first big dune was in front of us, no tacks on the sand, with a perfect morning light to enjoy the landscapes.

 

Started with the first steep climb and I found that not everyone was able to climb. Thomas was struggling. After three attempts I suggested he reroute and give some space to the others.  The others were able to climb and as soon as Francois joined us we started again looking for other opportunities around the same dune. The same happened a few times after as soon as I was trying to push the limits of the cars. We moved forward because another convoy of crazy people (the leader with an FJ cruiser named “washing machine”) was crossing our path often.

 

The next big dune was the same, as soon as I pushed the level I got refusals and had to stop. Thomas was the one that was struggling the most in those parts and we had our first popout. Hopefully it was an easy fix and in 15 minutes we were on the road again.

 

Between the big dunes we met some technical areas and here all the components of the convoy showed an exceptional level. The pace was always high, above 35 Km/h with no issues of any kind. 

 

Next big dune. I decided to climb to the back side to avoid other convoys. Here the path was different. A sequence of climbs with a big bowl. Everyone did well on that part till Amir had his popout. Joined him and Francois. We spent some time before fixing it because the tire was not easy to inflate. 

 

Started again and reached the Super Bowl. At least 25 cars were there, most of them climbing following their own path. I found some space and reached the top. Just after me Thomas crossed, didn’t see me and continued till on the opposite side. We met on the bottom of the dune and started again. Here the convoy did well until Amir crested. Francoins was helping him but when I reached that the car was impossible to unstuck with the rope. We used the Amir’s winch from the front even if that was the heavy side. The maneuver was successful, reaching the others we started again. After a few minutes Francois had an issue and asked to exit. Hopefully we were not far from the road so we brought Francois there and after being reassured that everything was good we left and dug again in the desert.

 

 Now our target was the Iftar Bowl. The Bowl side was full of cars playing the same game as the Iftar Bowl. After a quick tour I decided to turn around and skip that mess.  Thomas followed me without problems but after the second crest Ilya (who took the sweep position when Francois left) showed up instead of Varun. Started asking to everybody  found that the convoy was splitted in three Luca-Thomas-Ilya , Varum,  Amir-Abu Muhammad. After collecting all the three pieces we moved with the target Al Badayer.

 

On the next big dune while I was doing a side slope I saw two prado stuck just below me in a big pocket and two others were  helping them. I wasn’t quick enough to tell everyone to wait. 

 

Thomas was already following me.  When he saw the situation stopped with the car in the middle of the crest (was the only option as the car was just below). We waited for the other convoy to leave and we unstuck Thomas with Abu’s winch. At that point it was clear that Badayr was too far so opted for an early exit. The area was nice with medium-size dunes. Here Abu was crested once was again an ‘easy fix’.

 

Reached the exit with some delay but we drove almost 60Km, which is enormous compared to the terrain and what happened. 

 

I wanna share my impressions of that drive.

 

@Francois Germishuys and @Ilya were outstanding during the drive. No issue even when I pushed very hard the limit.

 

@Abu Muhammad was the good news during the drive, very few refusals and only one crest (I think that we were all a bit tired that time).

 

@varunmehndirattavery well done! Some refusals are completely fine with that level.

 

@Amir Amiriand @Thomas Varghese, IMHO need to understand better how to exploit your car  on these challenges. The impression was that your cars can give more but need to understand how to ask them for it. Maybe you need more drive in such areas (that's shouldn't be a big effort let's say ).

 

Anyway with all the issues we had we covered almost 60 Km that's a great achievement in such challenging area.

 

Hope to see you all soon again on the sand!

 

Excellent, balanced report Luca. Seems that there were challenges the whole day. Some people's cars let them down or the other way round and they let their cars down. 

As your report states: people get stuck. It happens and we deal with it. 

[Chaitanya D]

Well done @Luca Palanca Falsini for a nice and honest report without being too judgmental. Looks you all did have some nice fun and well managed Luca .  I would advise the whole team to take the positives out of the drive and let others be sorted better for next extreme drives which are already being planned /done. Have fun 👍.

[Thomas Varghese]

1 hour ago, Luca Palanca Falsini said:

Hi everyone I wanna  just try to report about the extreme drive we did.

Sorry for being verbose but I think that a detail of the facts is needed.

 

The drive was organized in order to offer to all of us a great experience in one of the most challenging sites I drove till now.

 

Shuwaib is full of big dunes that are offering a thrilling experience to all the attendees.

 

The convoy was composed in order to put the lighter cars in front and the heavy one on the back. @Thomas Varghese, as SL and Francois Sweep.

 

The idea was to climb on all the deepest dunes and find our and our car’s limit.

 

We started early (around 5:40) and honestly I was excited about what was planned.

The first big dune was in front of us, no tacks on the sand, with a perfect morning light to enjoy the landscapes.

 

Started with the first steep climb and I found that not everyone was able to climb. Thomas was struggling. After three attempts I suggested he reroute and give some space to the others.  The others were able to climb and as soon as Francois joined us we started again looking for other opportunities around the same dune. The same happened a few times after as soon as I was trying to push the limits of the cars. We moved forward because another convoy of crazy people (the leader with an FJ cruiser named “washing machine”) was crossing our path often.

 

The next big dune was the same, as soon as I pushed the level I got refusals and had to stop. Thomas was the one that was struggling the most in those parts and we had our first popout. Hopefully it was an easy fix and in 15 minutes we were on the road again.

 

Between the big dunes we met some technical areas and here all the components of the convoy showed an exceptional level. The pace was always high, above 35 Km/h with no issues of any kind. 

 

Next big dune. I decided to climb to the back side to avoid other convoys. Here the path was different. A sequence of climbs with a big bowl. Everyone did well on that part till Amir had his popout. Joined him and Francois. We spent some time before fixing it because the tire was not easy to inflate. 

 

Started again and reached the Super Bowl. At least 25 cars were there, most of them climbing following their own path. I found some space and reached the top. Just after me Thomas crossed, didn’t see me and continued till on the opposite side. We met on the bottom of the dune and started again. Here the convoy did well until Amir crested. Francoins was helping him but when I reached that the car was impossible to unstuck with the rope. We used the Amir’s winch from the front even if that was the heavy side. The maneuver was successful, reaching the others we started again. After a few minutes Francois had an issue and asked to exit. Hopefully we were not far from the road so we brought Francois there and after being reassured that everything was good we left and dug again in the desert.

 

 Now our target was the Iftar Bowl. The Bowl side was full of cars playing the same game as the Iftar Bowl. After a quick tour I decided to turn around and skip that mess.  Thomas followed me without problems but after the second crest Ilya (who took the sweep position when Francois left) showed up instead of Varun. Started asking to everybody  found that the convoy was splitted in three Luca-Thomas-Ilya , Varum,  Amir-Abu Muhammad. After collecting all the three pieces we moved with the target Al Badayer.

 

On the next big dune while I was doing a side slope I saw two prado stuck just below me in a big pocket and two others were  helping them. I wasn’t quick enough to tell everyone to wait. 

 

Thomas was already following me.  When he saw the situation stopped with the car in the middle of the crest (was the only option as the car was just below). We waited for the other convoy to leave and we unstuck Thomas with Abu’s winch. At that point it was clear that Badayr was too far so opted for an early exit. The area was nice with medium-size dunes. Here Abu was crested once was again an ‘easy fix’.

 

Reached the exit with some delay but we drove almost 60Km, which is enormous compared to the terrain and what happened. 

 

I wanna share my impressions of that drive.

 

@Francois Germishuys and @Ilya were outstanding during the drive. No issue even when I pushed very hard the limit.

 

@Abu Muhammad was the good news during the drive, very few refusals and only one crest (I think that we were all a bit tired that time).

 

@varunmehndirattavery well done! Some refusals are completely fine with that level.

 

@Amir Amiriand @Thomas Varghese, IMHO need to understand better how to exploit your car  on these challenges. The impression was that your cars can give more but need to understand how to ask them for it. Maybe you need more drive in such areas (that's shouldn't be a big effort let's say ).

 

Anyway with all the issues we had we covered almost 60 Km that's a great achievement in such challenging area.

 

Hope to see you all soon again on the sand!

 

As usual @Luca Palanca Falsini's report is very well balanced and upto the mark. I acknowledge that I had some refusal's in the beginning. Yes I know what my car can do and how to push it but its the same area where I damaged the differential and got stuck inside the desert hopelessly. If my friends wouldn't have helped me to get the mechanic inside the desert I would have had to shell out a fortune to get the car out from that area. From 4pm to 2am early morning we had to spend inside the desert to get out with the car.  Regarding losing @Luca Palanca Falsini in the middle of mayhem up the super bowl it my mistake as I saw him exiting but couldn't take my eyes off the road as it was total chaos where all convoys were running hither and there. Sorry for that. Well at the end of the day everybody made it out. In short i consider this drive to James Bond movie car chases. James Bond aka @Luca Palanca Falsini is trying trying all that he could to throw us off but we villains follow him with renewed vigor.  Thank you all for the fun.

[Francois Germishuys]

Hi all, so the issue with my car was normal  wear and tear as they say, the front drive shaft bushes are starting to wear out and as a result caused light knocking noise/ feedback into the cabin, obviously the regular desert driving adds more strain on a vehicle than normal street driving and then occasional speed bump and sidewalk you drive over... they will replace them under warranty. It’s always a good idea to listen to your car when something isn’t as it normally is rather than keep on pushing just to save face.

[Thomas Varghese]

50 minutes ago, Francois Germishuys said:

Hi all, so the issue with my car was normal  wear and tear as they say, the front drive shaft bushes are starting to wear out and as a result caused light knocking noise/ feedback into the cabin, obviously the regular desert driving adds more strain on a vehicle than normal street driving and then occasional speed bump and sidewalk you drive over... they will replace them under warranty. It’s always a good idea to listen to your car when something isn’t as it normally is rather than keep on pushing just to save face.

My car also had a problem @Francois Germishuys. It was good I didn't push the car as I realised today morning at the garage that my front left side axle had dislocated and oil was leaking out. Thank God it didn't come out. Can't even imagine one more recovery like last week I had. Whole body was stripped off water and I was drinking water to the next day. Good to hear your car is coming out soon with zero costs under warranty. For us who use old cars we always have to shell out money.

On 5/28/2021 at 6:47 PM, Francois Germishuys said:

Hi all, sorry I had to leave early, rather safe than sorry, will have the knocking noise checked out at Ford tomorrow. 

Below my experience today, it wasn't an extreme drive as I hoped, its my opinion, its constructive criticism, use it to improve. 
If anyone has anything to say about my driving skills and ability to handle my tuck please feel free to put your comments below. 

@Luca Palanca Falsini  good location for an extreme drive, perfect for fast paced extreme drive..... just wish we could get to that extreme level but unfortunately the convoy wasnt able to perform to that level behind you...😢 i can just imagine how frustrating it is to be told wait we have refusal over and over just as soon as you getting that Toyota airborne ....

Again an extreme dive like we had the previous week with Alex, an extreme drive with excessive amounts of refusals and few stucks.

It seems like some of the guys are still not 100 sure how their cars operate at best, extreme drive is not a drive where you learn how to drive your car, we struggled to climb long dunes which is something that should be easy by now especially if you think you are capable of participating in extreme drives. 

We did much better through the small difficult more technical dunes which is where problems are usually expected, only a few refusals happening compared to plenty of refusals on the long fast dunes.....🤷🏻

still there are some who take unnecessary unsafe action after they had refusals to get back in convoy to continue not follow previous drive lines into unknown area.... 

Pop-outs happen but from my point of view at sweep they happened due to fighting gravity and then sliding down the dune to flat/ next dune at which point the tyre pops out.
Only @Amir Amiri popout was due to the deep cross tracks which couldn’t really be prevented. a little unfortunate 
 

Ive driven with @Ilya few times and your driving is still right at the top!

@Abu Muhammadvery well done today, you handled that Toyota beautifully and still one of the best sounding cars in the carnity group!! Only one misjudged crest but nothing serious. You were one of the top drivers today in my opinion 👌🏽
 

@Amir Amiri your car seem extremely heavy from driving behind you, it looks underpowered (even with that 5.7 hemi) and difficult to drive in the desert. As you said maybe try and get a lighter bumper front end to lose some weight, as ive suggests also use your manual gears when climbing dunes (1st mostly) do not use auto as the kick down causes power and momentum loss thats most of the time why you cant make it over the dunes. 

@Thomas Varghese you struggled the most today, same as in the previous extreme drive, repetitive refusals and this keeps the convoy back and always causes further complications for the guys following behind, especially if we need to maintain fast pace in the “extreme drive” most of your refusals caused @varunmehndiratta issues behind you and so it affects everyone behind him.
 

@varunmehndiratta driven with you few times, not a bad drive today, just keep more space following the car in front to help keep yourself out if trouble, this was the biggest issue for you today which caused your refusals. Try not to fight gravity, your back end was sliding to far and when it hit the flat patch the tyre just popped off... 

 

have a good weekend and see you all at the next drive. ✌🏼

By the way its my 1st extreme drive today not the 2nd as you mentioned. So I have no clue as to which drive you were mentioning. Excuse me for some refusals but as you found out today with your car I also found last week that subjecting the car to too much strain will destroy the differential. You are lucky to have exited without the need for a mechanic or being pulled out. The same area you exited I had to also in the middle of the night. It takes some time to get mentally out of that harrowing experience and subject your car to extreme maneuvers like we did today. Wish your car good luck after getting out today in the middle of the drive. Except for one refusal due to other cars being stuck & recovered in the same bowl, I had to seek assistance to get out I believe I did fairly good. Please cite 1 refusal which ended in a stuck otherwise where I had to seek any assistance. Constructive criticism is good but please criticize with substantiated facts. You may have done many extreme drives before but its my 1st today that too as 2nd lead. As per me I did good for the 1st. Who completed the drive with zero refusals or stucks or cresting today? Moreover I'm happy I finished the drive without damaging my car and can continue tomorrow without going to a garage. That's because of my previous experience in the same area in a private drive which turned into a nightmare and know how to subject the car to extreme maneuvers almost by now.

[Francois Germishuys]

@Thomas Varghese as you found it necessary to attack me in you original response and due to subsequent response by the trip lead on the events of the day, I see no need to further entertain any discussion. I hope you understand.  Thanks and have a good day. 

[Thomas Varghese]

1 hour ago, Francois Germishuys said:

@Thomas Varghese as you found it necessary to attack me in you original response and due to subsequent response by the trip lead on the events of the day, I see no need to further entertain any discussion. I hope you understand.  Thanks and have a good day. 

Hi @Francois Germishuys I'm sorry if you felt I was trying to attack you. All I said was its upto the trip lead to comment on the driving habits, abilities of his convoy. If everybody in the convoy starts writing trip reports imagine the mayhem it will cause. My only opinion was let it be the trip lead who does that. 

[Gaurav]

32 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

Hi @Francois Germishuys I'm sorry if you felt I was trying to attack you. All I said was its upto the trip lead to comment on the driving habits, abilities of his convoy. If everybody in the convoy starts writing trip reports imagine the mayhem it will cause. My only opinion was let it be the trip lead who does that. 

You shouldn't be taking 360 degree feedback as a Mayhem even when its constructive criticism.

Trip lead can only contribute when he/she has been told of certain issues by other peers or experience a slow down with constant refusals or stuck.

Example: If a person fighting gravity on every dune it may go unnoticed by trip lead and it "has to be" reported by peers for each other safety.

That's why we encourage from Fewbie upward member to share the drive experience and feedback.
https://carnity.com/forums/topic/16479-off-road-club-grading-structure-v30

It's completely up to each member's choice to share such critical feedback with trip lead during or after the drive or share it in drive topic, of course respectfully, helpful and kind.

And this 360 feedback become even more important and pressing on Extreme drives to keep a close watch on each other.