Gulfnews Fun drive 2022

[Taimur Khan]

Hi All. What is the opinion of the senior off-roaders on the Gulfnews Fundrive ? Is it safe for newbies ? It's scheduled for the first week of March. Had been on it as a passenger 20 years ago and it was fun dont know now. Thanks 

[Thomas Varghese]

On 2/19/2022 at 6:22 AM, Taimur Khan said:

Hi All. What is the opinion of the senior off-roaders on the Gulfnews Fundrive ? Is it safe for newbies ? It's scheduled for the first week of March. Had been on it as a passenger 20 years ago and it was fun dont know now. Thanks 

Don't know if its fun or the level of drive. For me fun is when I drive with drivers I know under a lead I can trust. To put in more simple words fun is when I know I am safe with friends and will not be discarded inside the desert when some mishap happens. 

Edited February 22, 2022 by Thomas Varghese

[Sunil Mathew]

I've not been on GN fun drive, but i have gone with a local radio station for couple of drives, long before joining carnity, and that too with my Ford Explorer - 2011. It was definitely safe for newbies (*refer end of story below also  ) , and i presume GN also will be safe for newbies, provided they dont ask for any offroad experience as a pre-requisite. 

The drive i went for had a dinner at a good desert camp with all regular stuff in a desert safari - barbeque, belly dance, tanourah etc etc, so that took care of the fun element to a certain extent. The drive itself was a new experience for me, so it was kinda fun at that time. But now, after drives with Carnity, i think the drive part would be boring, because 90pc you  would be going through flat/low terrain, with a bit of climbs and drops - managed one car at a time by the marshalls/organisers.

**now the bad news -  i had a very bad experience on the second drive - the drive was marshalled by a popular offroad group from Dubai,  and there were many convoys, and you wont believe it, one of the convoy leads lost his way!!!   and i was part of that convoy. they kept on coming back to the same point (i didnt have Gaia gps that time,  but from my interest i downloaded a basic app which would show offroad tracks and i could clearly see that we were moving around in circles)  it was getting dark, and they panicked. Finally , to get us out , they took us through really tough terrain, sharp drops, very technical areas etc etc and i and many others sustained damages to cars. One car was abandoned (i think it was a honda pilot) and i dont know what happened afterwards. We reached the desert camp at 9PM , while the scheduled time was 6PM for dinner. So had to satisfy ourselves with some leftovers and go home , a bit shaken.

I believe this would be an exceptional case, but since this topic is opened, i thought i would pen down my experience as well.

Edited February 22, 2022 by Sunil Mathew

[Hisham Masaad]

I think there are more than enough drives in @Carnity to join, enjoy, and get out safely. Personally my experience with few off-roaders groups and independent drives similar to the above is simply…. Horrible @Taimur Khan