Morning Fewbie Desert Drive - Lesaily Run Rewind (Qudra to Lisaili) - Dubai - 3 Sep 2023

[Looper]

The following is the convoy order for tomorrow. See you all in the morning. Sleep well. 

 

@Johannes Roux you will be the second lead tomorrow, followed by the Jeep gang @Cristian, @Miguel Codes, @Felix Obst, @Ignacio Quindós & @Vanessa8580 will be at the sweep bringing the X Factor to the drive and help any jeeps that get stuck - I hope she won't have much to do 🤞.

[Miguel Codes]

Hi : I was able to sleep 1h. I am not ready to go. You guys have a great ride 

[Ignacio Quindós]

Hi Looper. Sorry but I woke up late and I cannot make it on time. Have a nice ride!

[Looper]

 

Drive Report

22 hours ago, Frederic said:

Waking up early can be painful, and summer drives can be brutal. That's why some of us decided to stay in the area overnight so we could arrive well rested.

And others just drive near to home, for a shorter duration with less stress on the car and the driver. I mean one doesn't want to be stressed on Sunday, the day before work starts, right? Thats what we did this Sunday morning Fewbie Drive. There was a truncated convoy as a couple dropped off before the drive started. The rest were ready to move by 5:45, which we did.

In the first part of the drive, we moved steadily avoiding ever present greenery as much as possible and we had a good 45 mins of slow but nonstop drive. This streak ended when @Cristian had the one and only refusal that turned into a stuck for the drive. We tried to pull him initially, but the angle was not good, so we cleared a bit of sand underneath his vehicle, and I winched him a bit till he was out of the pocket. Then he was able to move out easily. 

In the second part of the drive, we started again about 7:00 am in the morning and took a break at half past 7:00. Till now we were essentially in the Qudra side of the desert and after the break we entered the Lisali side. The wind had ready picked up and it was a bit difficult to see the dunes sometimes.

The first section of Part 3 was full of greenery and in some sections a bit technical too. We drove at slightly lower speed keeping ourselves on top of small dunes and finding sand as much as possible. The sand there was occasionally super soft, and we had to give some gas to keep moving. Then we drove northwest through some Sabkhas towards the long-range dunes of Lisaili but avoided reaching them. Now that we were in Lisaili part proper we picked up speed again. The wide-open dunes of Lisaili were tempting for me to pick up speed but I controlled and did not exceed 30kmph, because my objective for the drive was to drive steady not fast. I really enjoyed this section of the drive. On the dot 3 hour mark we reached Lisaili and finished the drive.

I have a penchant for making lists and sorting them to make sense of them. For this drive I sorted by number of drives and found @Johannes Roux in his FJ had the least number of drives and so just went with and was happy that you did very well as second lead, always keeping enough distance so that whenever I was slowing down because of soft sand. It was fantastic having you behind me as second lead. At number three and four were the two jeeps of @Cristian and @Felix Obst and apart from just one refusal/stuck it was a super smooth and non-stop drive. A big thanks to @Vanessa8580 for joining the drive and taking up responsibilities of the sweep.

[Abhilash Kottakkal]

@Looper sorry... i wanted to join there was a party i need to attend also..but I wa determined to make this drive but the drive on Saturday changed my mind...i was so pushed up and can perform well after the tyre change...but unfortunately it was opposite.. i got ready with bfg ko2 with 12 psi...the first part was good...then i started having trouble..I checked my tyre pressure and one was 18 others were 13..I brought down to 12 the again I started having troubles and they were check the pressure with my guage looked okay but it was actually 15 psi...I had a struggle in yesterday's drive and I was thinking all these while it went well and what happened with after my changing my tyres...Hisham was shouting push push...I was pushing but no response from the engine or tyre...I got so disappointed and that is  the reason I left the drive with you...

 

I want an opinion from you any of your experts....I got a bfg ko2 as my tyre now..I have montero sport 3lt v6...what do think it's suitable?? Can manage? Or was it a bad decision...Mr. Hisham told me already it was kind of bad...but I would like your guys opinion because this is the first time I performed so bad and beating myself in my mind..

 

The reason I went with my friends advice is it performs good and I go to wadi a lot and the side walls of bfg will help me a lot. And he's said also for sand like it will float in the desert but unfortunately I don't fell it today...

 

Appreciate your feedback?? Any carnity members please??

 

[Looper]

You need to give some time to adjust with the new tires. The driving dynamics change. The typical recommended action whenever you change anything in the car is to start afresh - do a Newbie, and the a fewbie and move up gradually. This will give you and your car time to get accustomed to the change in the car. Remember I mentioned I don’t worry much about the weight of the tires but @Gaurav corrected me that the weight acts on the bhp at the wheels. Well I was coming from about 200 drives under the belt but, for someone who has fewer drives as well as for the car which hasn’t seem as much time in the desert the driver and the computer in the car both need to adjust with the new driving dynamics. Don’t worry about it @Abhilash Kottakkal Give some drives and it will all set into slot..

[Abhilash Kottakkal]

Thank you for the advice, yes I will take it slow and let the car and myself learn the new ride dynamics...thank you again and see you soon...

[Abhilash Kottakkal]

@Looper i will take a newbie drive as you know on next Saturday. What's the recommended tyre pressure for bfg ko2. I don't have beed lock and the weight of the car is 2 ton. I understand that you put 10 and just forget about it all through the drive but I guess you have beed lock right? Just let me know. Sorry for so many questions...

[Looper]

@Abhilash Kottakkal You can start with about 12 or even 13 because it’s a Newbie drive the terrain choices are normally forgiving on psi levels. After a while check and maintain what you started. When I start at 10 I end the drive about 12 or 13, because of the heat. 

[Abhilash Kottakkal]

@Looper last time I started at 12. May be the guage was not accurate the michelin digital one. I got arb manual one now. Let me start at 12 and see.. thanks for the advice just cross checking..one of my friend tell me that as the bfg have side wall strength may be 10 is better and I remember you told me you start at 10..