Morning Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - Shuwaib and Ghost Town - Sharjah - 15Apr 2023

[Benjamin]

@Frederic amazing drive today! we had some refusals and car problems, but these things happen, and we shouldn't dwell on them; instead, I'll reflect on them as a chance to learn something new. 

I had the opportunity of rope recovery practice (and please anyone who got videos/photos can reach me on my whatsapp 0585610117, or my Instagram 'benjethemarine'😁)

And also, the chance to revisit the method of fixing a popout, which is always good to see these techniques carried out correctly and safely, so I have a reference for the future. 

The whole convoy drove well considering how soft the sand was this morning, possibly because of the warmer weather. 

looking forward to the next one @Chris Wing @Patrick van der Loo @Gary F @Stumpy Paj @Krishna R @Joji varghese @Joseph Raju @Mario Cornejo @Mohamad Anwer @Gurcharan Mehta

 

[Frederic]

@Benjamin thats the right spirit and totally agree with you. 

 @Chris Wing @Patrick van der Loo @Gary F @Stumpy Paj @Krishna R @Joji varghese @Joseph Raju @Mario Cornejo @Mohamad Anwer @Gurcharan Mehta

Today was a drive where the ghosts plagued us from the start. We had our fair part of issues throughout the drive, and when Joseph his Patrol decided to take some rest after overheating, we had to put all heads together to get the car pulled out of the desert. A massive hats off to @Zed and @Chris Wingfor coordinating this mission while I could focus on finding a smooth track out. Great teamwork and help from everyone involved in fixing 2 popouts and still we all kept the smile and soldiered on.

Without teamwork this would have been a disaster to get that car out, but today showed that we can pull off anything if we all work together so I thank you all !

There will be more drives where we’ll be able to roar the engines. Until then let’s keep the Carnity flag high !

see you soon in the sands !!

[Patrick van der Loo]

Well said @Frederic and I am sure some day you will get to Ghost town! As @Benjaminsaid we learn something every drive and seeing @Zedget @Joseph Rajuout the way he did was simply stellar. Great seeing you all again today and I look forward to the next one!

[Zed]

It's almost iftar time, and as I'm about to cut my rope... i mean steak, what better way than to give thanks to everyone here 😊

@Patrick van der Loo @Gary F @Benjamin @Stumpy Paj @Joji varghese @Joseph Raju @Mohamad Anwer great teamwork guys, thanks for spotting the pop-out and helping when the V8 pulled a bit too hard trying to do a non-straight tug. Can't ask for a better convoy today in terms of spirit and helpfulness...

@Gurcharan Mehta brilliant idea on the ECU Reset, as software developer not sure why I forgot about restarting the computer! The previous codes (Knock Sensor Error) probably got stored and cached and Nissan programmers tried to be smart by reading from cache (faster) instead of loading 2mins for all the sensors to return values 😅 Anyone with Land Cruiser or Lexus of course will make a joke about helping with the tug 😁 but I wanted to check how far the 360hp VVTi engine can tow before giving to the Toyotas. 

@Krishna R thanks for always being the first to get out of the car and support anyone with refusals and stucks. You're on your way to Support Team i'm sure 👍

@Chris Wing great second-leading with the New Black FJ (is that the Good-Bye Edition?) and being patient to explain when I misunderstood the tug-planning instructions 😊

@Mario Cornejo sorry for stealing your thunder, but in the end you remained the True Sweeper 😁 I'm just the Recovery Guy they called all the way from Abu Dhabi 🤣

And finally @Frederic I don't know how you do your time-keepings. Even when there's stuck and dead-car-tug, you still finish at 11am! Great Project Management & Leadership skills 👍 Maybe next time decide Ghost Town or Iftar Bowl, one destination to concentrate on 😂

[Gary F]

Not every drive goes as planned but every drive that ends safely is a success.

I think we can safely say winter is over and there is no moisture is left in the sand.

Time to relearn how to drive on soft sand again and leave more space between myself and @Patrick van der Loo Airing down the 11 psi , with the heat and speed my tires were quickly back up to 13 in the first part of the drive which caused me some issues. Deflated down to 10 and I was on my way.

What I didn’t know is that I was going to spectacular demonstrate how to crest a long wheel base Jeep Gladiator first first, rising up from a ditch that I had attempted to avoid based on @Frederic comms.

Then secondly another crest while going up a relatively minor dune.

 

in both cases it was great to hear @Krishna R comms on the radio.

 

AND I was immensely proud to have my son @Benjamin tug me out from the front and back, despite the extra weight of the Jeep Gladiator, driver! And passenger. Nice work. Indeed I will be living  this down for a long time to come 🤣

 

all my future drives I think I will need @Benjaminas my personal recovery personal.

see you next time…

@Frederic I hope you make it to ghost town at some point, a full moon midnight guy drive would up the spook level.

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Gary F
Spelling as always

[Krishna R]

A better late than never drive report.

A drive that taught us more than just desert driving. 

The convoy was bang on time excited by the fact that this drive was different. After all, we were going to have a tete-a-tete with ghosts 😅

A great start with big climbs from the get go, overlapped with fast paced technical portions. It was great to see @Fredericfly with his new heavy beast. As @Gary F mentioned, the sand has started getting softer and it surprised us at a few places. One person (@Benjamin) is surely happy with that as his weekly allowance just increased by 5X  .

 @Joseph RajuIt was your day man. You couldn't avoid it. Your patrol throwing a tantrum reminded me of Thunder, the german shepherd that i had when i was a kid. When he didn't wanna play, he meant it. He would just sit there without eye contact and no amount of pushing and begging would make him get up to play with us kids . In hindsight, I think the coolant hose might have come off during the technical patch as it was bouncy and jouncy just before your car overheated. Do let us know what the garage says.

@ZedMan. Thank you for your kind words. You are the designated recovery guy for carnity  Jokes aside, Your experience and expertise in these kind of situations is much appreciated. you along with @Chris Wing and @Frederic ensured every car is out on the tarmac safe and secure which shows the true spirit of carnity drives. I think you missed your LC in this drive man  

Great stuff from the rest of the convoy, especially the innovative ideas when trying to cool the car down and during recovery. @Joji varghese@Patrick van der Loo @Gary F @Benjamin @Stumpy Paj @Mario Cornejo

 @Mohamad Anwer @Gurcharan Mehta We couldn't resist the final dune  

 @Frederic I think the ghosts weren't happy with the fact that we were going to enter their territory with roaring 4x4s, so they summoned the dark powers and stopped us on our tracks. We will get them another day 👍

 

Until then, Keep calm and Eid Mubarak guys!

 

[Gary F]

@Zed I meant to say seeing your Cherokee climb gave me some remorse for my Hemi equipped Durango I sold, would have loved to make that work off-roading but it would have been way too much in mods.

I’m curious, how are is your tow point you had to do do some pretty impressive pulling to get the Patrol out.

[Zed]

45 minutes ago, Gary F said:

I’m curious, how are is your tow point you had to do do some pretty impressive pulling to get the Patrol out.

Hi @Gary F believe it or not it's stock rear tow point from Jeep 😅 see below photo. I think the wider tires 265/70/R17 and constantly shifting at 4Low between 3-4-5th gear helps traction & momentum 🙂