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Afternoon Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - Rush Hours - Dubai - 9 Feb 2022


Ale Vallecchi

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@Ale Vallecchi enjoyed the fast paced, riveting drive yesterday afternoon. I have been wondering recently, how the IM level looks in terms of speed, car requirements etc, and wondering if I'm/my car (Pajero without any lift) would be up to it. You gave me a good introduction yesterday 👍. A lot of silence over the radio (meaning we were all focussed and few issues experienced) meaning I checked every so often to ensure that my radio was still working 😂 Excellent weather, familiar faces and a smooth flowing drive in beautiful terrain. Sometimes you gotta love Dubai! 

Until the next time @Santoso Marjuki@Sunil Mathew @Looper @KAMALIO @JeromeFJ @Fabien Monleau @Vaibhav @Naveen Raj 👍

 

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1 minute ago, Gregory said:

@Ale Vallecchi enjoyed the fast paced, riveting drive yesterday afternoon. I have been wondering recently, how the IM level looks in terms of speed, car requirements etc, and wondering if I'm/my car (Pajero without any lift) would be up to it. You gave me a good introduction yesterday 👍. A lot of silence over the radio (meaning we were all focussed and few issues experienced) meaning I checked every so often to ensure that my radio was still working 😂 Excellent weather, familiar faces and a smooth flowing drive in beautiful terrain. Sometimes you gotta love Dubai! 

Until the next time @Santoso Marjuki@Sunil Mathew @Looper @KAMALIO @JeromeFJ @Fabien Monleau @Vaibhav @Naveen Raj 👍

 

Hi @Gregorywe have many pajeros in the group without lift that passed the IM levels, the only issue is the tyre rubbing the inner fender can be minimized with the lift and others benefits are better control on ridges and off-road ride comfort.

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@Ale VallecchiI have to declare yesterday drive as my favorite drive.  Non-stop action and zero stucks in such soft and tight dunes.  Just an unbelievable experience.

Thanks to the support team @Looper @JeromeFJ

I am worried I am spoiled and might only sign up for Fewbie Plus drives because if this is what I have to expect every Fewbie Plus then seem very difficult that I can do anything slower again.

Met some new people but I guess since it was "rush" hour we did not have time to chat to make new friends like a regular drive. 

Until next time fellas! Will see if I could take any pictures and upload in the gallery whenever I can.

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Thanks @Ale Vallecchifor yesterday afternoon drive. It was the perfect escape from the work week, and from the city ! The target set for the drive was challenging but beautifully executed by the team. The perfect sand condition has helped for sure, but really, excellent performance from all drivers.

@Gregory @Santoso Marjuki, happy to see you at this level, excellent progression !

Thanks @Sunil Mathew and @Looper for the yellow Wrangler support, and all the team for joining and driving so well!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Rush Hour / 7-Eleven - Two drives against time and space - Report

Time is a brisk wind, for each hour it brings something new.” – Paracelsus

Dear Desertnauts

considering that both these last 2 drives of mine had a similar theme, which unfolded as a challenge through time and space, I'll describe both of them together. Both drives had goals to reach, in terms of maximum time driven, and space to be covered: the first was a 2 hour, late PM drive, while the second was a 4 hour, AM drive, which allowed a greater length and duration. The spirit of both drives was the same: racing against time, and covering as much ground as possible. The skills required were about the same: concentration, perfect execution, making split-second decisions, endurance.  Both proved to be fun, interesting, and challenging.

The first drive, nicknamed Rush Hour because of its late starting time in the afternoon, diverged from the second not only because of its length, but also for the terrain chosen: more open, less technical, with the possibility of driving fast almost throughout the whole itinerary. We went from Solar Park, through the fastest, less vegetated, stretch of the so called "Middle Earth", to Little Sweihan, and after a few ups, downs and across this area of taller, sharper dunes (the "slowest of the terrains"), we moved on to Faqa's long range dunes. The execution was perfect, with non stop driving, and only one refusal throughout the track. We achieved all the objectives of the drive: we covered 60 Km well before the clock ran out on us, driving 65.1 Km in the scheduled 2 hours, with only a 1 minute break, and a pace of 33Km/h. We stopped the chronometer at the edge of Faqa's sabkha, where we exited with an extra 15 minutes of calm, leisurely, sunset drive. Perfect Second Lead by @Sunil Mathew, virtually inactive Center Forward and Sweep roles, which saw @Looper and @JeromeFJ taking turns, and an immaculate drive by @Naveen Raj, @Santoso Marjuki, @KAMALIO, @Gregory, @Vaibhav and @Fabien Monleau  . Thanks for one of the most fun drives I had.

The second drive against time and space, the duration of which inspired its 7-Eleven nickname, was expected to be more complex, mostly due to the choice of the terrain where the first segment took place: Murqaab to Faqa is a very diverse driving area, mixing tight technical dunes, strewn with vegetation, with longer range dunes, quite close to each other, which require a bit of tight turning to zig-zag across their cordons. After covering this first area, we proceeded 1) through the southern perimeter of Faqa's dunes (skirting the AD border), then 2) reached and traversed Little Sweihan longer and taller dunes, cut north through the Middle Earth, to reach 3) the Solar Park glass pyramid just as the 4 hour clock expired. With hindsight, the goal of covering 120 km in 4 hours was almost impossible to achieve, both in light of the difficulties of the first segment, and of the assumption of not having any issues with refusals and stucks along the way. Indeed, we had very few of these, except a couple of stucks that required tugs, and a pop-out that needed some time to get fixed. Considering that in 4 hours of total time we had actually driven for 3:25 hours and 93 Km, we decided to keep going for an extra 35 minutes, to reach Qudra's Gas station through the 4) Bab al Shams sector of Qudra's dunes.  The day ended with 4:40 hours of total driving time (3:39 moving), covering 115 Km, at a moving speed of 31Km/h (25 Km/h total). As far as the convoy's performance, this was a busier drive, with @Waqas Parvez completing a very precise Second Lead, @Looper and @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil exchanging duties at Center Forward and Sweep, providing very precise instructions, and a perfect monitoring of the convoy, and @Rob S, @Stav, @Tom B, @Mohamad Anwer, @Vaibhav and @Rsjiv Samuel enduring with great concentration and skills my second longest drives (except for full day drives), only 500 meters shy of my longest lead. 

Thanks to all the thrill seekers who joined me in these two fun drives. See you soon in the sand.

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