Morning Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - High speed drama - Tawi Nazwa to Big Red - Sharjah - 21 Aug 2022

[Varun Mehndiratta]

27 minutes ago, Imran Kashif said:

Sorry @varunmehndirattathis weekend can't join you guys in Sharjah,I have some guests,so may be i will join to @Fredericin Abu Dhabi.

Sure @Imran Kashif have fun.. wise decision with guests along better to go a level Lower than usual

[Morshedi]

Thank you @varunmehndiratta Sorry, I had an emergency last week and couldn’t join the drive, but will not miss it this time, I will be on time tomorrow, See you soon ☺️

Edited August 20, 2022 by Morshedi

[Gertjan]

Dear Sand Sailors, it was indeed a morning of sailing over dunes!

Thanks @varunmehndiratta for selecting a great route and giving all the guidance.

Have loaded a few picktures in the gallery! Enjoy!

[Imteeaz]

@varunmehndiratta@Beide Worku @Morshedi @salah2u @Gertjan @KAMALIO @takeshi sobue 

what a drive.... started after the sunrise, and after couple of warm-up dunes, @varunmehndiratta really pushed all of us during the drive.

i remember before the drive that @varunmehndiratta was making reference to Intermediate Drives, where the radio was kept silent; well for most of the drives, our radios were barely used.

the couple of refusals experienced by us (including pop-outs) were reminding us that the terrain was not an easy one, with couple of steep dunes, super-soft sand, and lots of tracks.

the mighty Nissan Y61 struggled with the climbs; maybe time for me to look into an ECU tuning for additional HP and traction.

my youngest son accompanied me today after couple of months; he was so excited with the ridge riding, the climbs, the criss-cross, just to name a few of our achievements today.

looking forward to drive again with such an amazing lead, and outstanding convoy - we should be proud of ourselves.

enjoy the rest of the weekend.

cheers

[Varun Mehndiratta]

Dear Sand Sailors

Thanks for joining in for the drive and making it a fun outing on sand. The terrain, convoy and weather all were worth every minute of sleep we lost last night 😊

Timely arrival of all meant we could start the drive with the first ray of sun light around 5:45am. Small but soft dunes at the beginning of the drive provided us with good place to warm up as convoy sailed through these dunes with no concern at all. Around 615am, 30min into the drive, view of sunrise was too tempting to let go and we took our first break. Well it’s these mesmerizing gifts of nature that bring us back to sand every weekend.
 

As we started to roll back again, there was no stopping this convoy -  I continously ramped up the pace, added multiple ridges to our drive, however you guys ensured that by 7am, having travelled around 25Km in less than an hour of moving time , we were already on the top of Pink Rock. 
 

And then we started the real high speed car chase.Swaying through countless awesome bowls, criss crossing and riding on top of those lovely ridges, we were almost close to the Big Red, when @salah2u’s patrol decided it’s time for a break and a pop-out. @Beide Worku,s magic fixed it in no time and we were back again. 

As we reached the Big red, it was clear from word go that it won’t be easy with all the cross tracks and super soft sand. We had our challenges -  multiple refusals, my jeep landing in a tricky pocket and couple of small stucks,  however the convoy didn’t give up and we all managed to complete our first round to Big red successfully. 

However the second attempt proved more complicated - while rest of the convoy managed to sail through, by that time @salah2u’s patrol had decided Enough is Enough and just wasn’t ready to go.  Re-routing Salah, we climbed a few more high sides of Big red and with sun shining bright, decided to end the drive as planned at 930am. Overall we travelled around 50Km at an average moving speed of 20Kmph - and completed our goals of a high speed drive through a beautiful and challenging terrain. Moving time was around 2hrs 30min, a brilliant outcome for a FBPlus level. 
 

Thanks @Morshedi for being a perfect SL, you responded proactively to all my instructions and drove beautifully throughout. Hope your passenger was okay on way back home, this route with all big bowls is never easy on passengers. 
 

@Gertjan other than couple of refusal on big red, you had an awesome drive . Handled the FJ beautifully through the ridges and cross-crossings.

@takeshi sobue your ridge riding today was a sight to cherish, beautiful control on the car throughout. 
 
 @Imteeaz thanks for being the back bone of the convoy and handling it all very nicely. 
 
 @KAMALIO as was with last drive, you did awesome through the drive. Only thing that challenged you was your own jeep and it’s electronics - you should get it checked. Brillant execution of self recoveries as well as tug. 
 
 @salah2u few refusals, stucks are part of being an off-roader. You generally managed it all very well - it’s never going to be easy handling a Patrol through high climbs in D mode. Let’s get started with top tronics, I am sure you will realize that you have a lot more to unearth out of this beautiful vehicle.

 @Beide Worku thanks for keeping the convoy together - another perfect drive for you and brilliantly executed the pop-out fix and other recoveries. 

Thanks all, looking forward to see you all soon. 
 

 

[Morshedi]

thank you @varunmehndiratta for the amazing drive, the track was awesome and you know what you are doing, I really had fun, sorry I got distracted a few times, my wife couldn’t handle the quick turns and the speed, no more speed drives for her 😄

thank you @Beide Worku you did very well yesterday as a sweep,

it was a perfect route selection on big dunes, and all drivers did Great 💪

@Imteeaz you are right we should be proud! 

we got a few refusals, stuck, and pop-out but Teamwork got us through.

an amazing outing yesterday. thank you guys  

[Beide Worku]

Thank you @varunmehndiratta, as always a great drive with a mix of everything, with some climbs thrown in for fun. @Morshedi thanks for being our savior from most of the troubles with your great second leadership. @Imteeaz yet again you carried the critical center role beautifully, props!@KAMALIO you did as much support as any of us, thanks for that and nice to ride with you again. And to the rest of brothers-in-ride, glad to have shared a nice morning with you. Wishing all a great week ahead!