Morning Intermediate Desert Drive - Solar Orbit (A Long Range Circuit) - Dubai - 18 Sep 2021

[Danish Mohammad]

Hi @Ale Vallecchi If possible please add me in WL as drive-1.

Regards... 

 

 

[Ale Vallecchi]

8 hours ago, Danish Mohammad said:

Hi @Ale Vallecchi If possible please add me in WL as drive-1.

Regards... 

 

 

Yes @Danish Mohammad. You are #2 at the moment. Thanks

[Ale Vallecchi]

Dear Desertnauts

As promised, this will be tomorrow's concoy order:

@Ranjan Das will take Second Lead

@Alain Canivet-Abikhalil will be #3

@Chinthaka Ruwan will drive at #4

@Humayun Ghias at #5

@GauravSoni will assist from the Anchor position

@Looper will be #7

@Matt.T at #8

@Russ will take #9

@Amir Amiri will be #10, and

@Rob H will Sweep.

Once at the meeting point, just on the left of the tarmac, heading from Qudra's Last Exit to Solar Park, please start deflating; we'll choose the radio channel on the spot. Kindly reach the meeting point as early as possible, looking for a swift departure as close to 6:00 AM as possible.

See you tomorrow.

[Matt.T]

@Ale Vallecchi great drive today, 100km despite a rear coil spring replacement, and a pop out shows some good driving by all with 

@Gaurav Soni Centre forward and @Rob HSweep doing good work on the repairs.

Edited September 18, 2021 by Matt.T

[Alain Canivet-Abikhalil]

Beautiful drive @Ale Vallecchi the opening with the sunrise was stunning ! It was just the hors d'oeuvre of the rest of the drive... I did loose a bumper 😅 but I had it coming. 

Thank you @Gaurav Soni and @Rob H for the support and help on the bumper.

@Amir Amiri hope it will all be sorted out.

Good to see you all and see you soon.

[Humayun Ghias]

Thank you @Ale VallecchiI thoroughly enjoyed my first intermediate drive and that too a 100km one! Thank you also for the memorabilia sticker!

I could definitely feel the difference of pace during the drive and it helped in maintaining concentration. 

Thank you to @Ranjan Das @Gaurav Soniand @Rob Has well! 

[Ale Vallecchi]

Solar Orbit - Intermediate Drive Report

Limp along until your legs are spent, and you fall flat and your energy is drained. Then the grace of the Divine will lift you" - Rumi

As expected, perhaps even as planned, we did drive long, we did drive hard (not only, occasionally, with speed, but also with determination and endurance), and we did drive steadfastly. Sir Winston Churchill would have been proud of us. The tribulations mentioned in the drive's brief, actually materialized only in the form of a pop-out (quickly fixed), a broken bumper (promptly removed), and a rear shock's spring ... springing out of the car (needing a lengthy temporary repair and early exit). Other than that, the drive was perfectly executed by the whole convoy., including all the new Intermediates, who managed just as well as the veterans.

The circumnavigation of Solar Park started, with the blessing of a spectacular sunrise, in the direction of the south-western dunes of Lisaili, across its sabkhas, to Murqab's bushy tall dunes. The time needed to reach Lisaili first and Murqab second was a stunningly fast 1:20 hr, with virtually no stops, and a lot of concentrated radio silence, as we crossed the mostly technical dunes which skirt the innermost parts of Lisaili, and the western reaches of Murqab. The first stop brought with it a small lapse in concentration (I noticed this often happens, if the break lasts too long), which led to the pop-out (thankfully, a quickly solved one), and to the accidental detachment (and removal) of a rear bumper. Both incidents were solved with total 19 minutes of work. The last, and less common, predicament was that of a spring coming literally off the right back shock of @Amir Amiri's truck, probably due to an excessive torsion while criss-crossing the last dunes before reaching Faqa's sabkha. @Rob H, with the assistance of @GauravSoni, came through with a brilliant repair, which allowed the big truck to get back in action within the next half hour, and then reach the tarmac bordering the sabkha, for its safe exit. The drive proceeded to cross, again uneventfully and in just 1:10 hour, a stretch of closed, soft dunes, nested between Faqa's sabkha to the south, and "The Chimney" to the north (actually a solar tower, in the latest development of Solar Park). Having completed the southernmost side of the orbit in good time, we moved north, through that set of tall, long, and quite bushy dunes, better known as "The Middle Earth", from which we managed to exit, tired but unscathed, just next to Solar Park's glass spire. 

With a total of 104 Km covered, in 4:18 hrs of driving time (with just 1 hour of additional mechanical breaks), at an average moving speed of 24 km/h, the convoy, assisted by @Ranjan Das in Second Lead, @GauravSoni as Anchor, and @Rob H in Sweep, and composed of @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @Chinthaka Ruwan and @Humayun Ghias (all 3 debuting at Intermediate), as well as @Looper, @Matt.T, @Russ and @Amir Amiri (BTW, how is yiur truck doing?), earned their wings as Long Range Desert Group troopers. 

Looking forward to seeing you all again in another sandy adventure. Enjoy the weekend ahead. 

[Matt.T]

@Ale Vallecchi it was a great drive thanks got your efforts and writingwriting great review.