Morning Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - Faqa'a Done Right - Abu Dhabi - 25 Feb 2024

[Looper]

DRIVE PLAN

We have all seen a lot of vegetation in Faqa'a whenever we drove down the line from Chimney, so this time we will start at a new place and directly go to the fun areas of Faqa'a. While we will meet at a slightly distance place to start to drive, but we save ourselves the hardship of driving though all the bushes. From our favorite playground at Faqa'a we will go towards Little Swihan and end our Drive at Solar Park ~ 10:00 am or so.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

We request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette and responsibilities.

MUST READ AND COMPLY

• Environmental Policy
• Offroad Flag Guideline
• Two Way Radio Guideline
• Off road Driving Etiquettes
• Emergency details for all off roaders
• Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities

DRIVE DETAILS

Level:  Fewbie Plus and above
When: 25 February 2024, Sunday
Meeting time:  7:00 AM - Sharp (we will start the drive at 7:00)
Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/c7csDnXfSSVzZzgz9
Approximate finish time: 10:30 AM
Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance.
What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn.

RECOMENDED OFF-ROAD GEAR:

• Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge
• Compressor (MANDATORY)
• Walkie-talkie radio (MANDATORY)
• Off-road flag (MANDATORY)
• Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles
• First-aid kit
• Fire extinguisher.

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE

• This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Saturday - 12 PM.
• If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list.
• RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list.
• Latecomers will be returned - Without any exceptions.
• Members without RSVP will be returned - Without any exceptions.
• Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others.
• Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month.

PLEASE RSVP ON THE CALENDAR

 

[Looper]

@PAJERO petelczyc luke, @Rafey Hashmi, @Batuhan Kulac, @Juan R, @Hugo, @george charbel, @Bravoecho , @Stumpy 

Hope you are all ready for a quick drive starting at Faqa’a that will end at Solar Park, after we cross a bit of technical terrain in Little Sweihan. We will also encounter some long range dunes on the way.

Some of us have done this few times but we were also frustrated with a lot of vegetation on the way to the main play areas of Faqa’a and trying to find sand. This drive will start where many drives end, at the far side of Faqa’a in Abu Dhabi.

We will climb dunes on Channel 2 and we will follow this convoy order:

[Luke K P]

Thanks for the fun drive @Looper

Nice early start promptly at 0700 and the fog had cleared to give us a beautiful clear day. We started by heading past some very skinny camels and then getting the heart pumping with some quick climbs and criss crossing.

Crossing one of the sabkha, it was cool to see some guys practising falconry!

The technical dunes in little sweihan left me with a very bent number plate held on by zip ties so that will be my mission for the week to get it solved. My bash plate got quite the work out 😅

Around 60km covered in 2 hours moving time! Good motivation to keep pushing was the roar of the @Stumpyraptor could hear it all the way from the front!

Thanks for the fast drive everyone!

 

Edited February 25 by PAJERO petelczyc luke

[Batuhan Kulac]

Thank you again, @Looper for this great drive. Fast-pace, variety in the terrain as well as cars. Seeing @Rafey Hashmi's Jimny hop voer the dunes was a true sight to behold. A bit sad we had to end early but hey, I was running out of fuel anyways lol. I wish everyone a good week ahead. See you next time on the sand.

[Stumpy]

Thank you @Looper another great drive, some good Crisscross at the start to warm up, short drive but a great mix of long range dunes and technical. New car destroys the track so my new position will have to be sweep 😂

only managed one self promotion photo 🥴(to busy trying not to launch 🚀 )

 

Edited February 25 by Stumpy

[Luke K P]

1 hour ago, Stumpy said:

Thank you @Looper another great drive, some good Crisscross at the start to warm up, short drive but a great mix of long range dunes and technical. New car destroys the track so my new position will have to be sweep 😂

only managed one self promotion photo 🥴(to busy trying not to launch 🚀 )

 

Mate here ya go.

Where do I get the boxing kangaroo flag

[Stumpy]

31 minutes ago, PAJERO petelczyc luke said:

Mate here ya go.

Where do I get the boxing kangaroo flag

@PAJERO petelczyc luke 😂Thanks mate 

flag is a Amazon special

[Luke K P]

5 minutes ago, Stumpy said:

@PAJERO petelczyc luke 😂Thanks mate 

flag is a Amazon special

*add to cart*

[Looper]

 

@PAJERO petelczyc luke, @Rafey Hashmi, @Batuhan Kulac, @Juan R, @Hugo, @george charbel, @Bravoecho , @Stumpy and @Varun Mehndiratta

Thank you all for joining this Sunday Morning drive. It was a quick drive - in speed and in time. We could have done perhaps half hour more, but it would have been more of the same so ended it sooner than anticipated. But we enjoyed everything that was on offer to us.

I was slightly amused on the fact that we were not the only ones at the starting point, as I did not expect anyone else to be present at the starting point. We did reach the tall dunes at the Faqa'a sooner than ever. Having done that seemed to me that we reached there a bit early robbing us of the anticipation and the gratification that comes with the effort that goes into achieving something. The area looked a bit used up and a lot tracks, but we found our own in certain cases. 

The mid-lands were fast long-range dunes, and the end at Little Sweihan was a bit bumpy at places. We could have spent a bit more there but, hey there is always a next time.

I was driving at in the low 40s in most parts; but could have done faster. I always love to drive fast - taking smooth lines and today we were presented with the best terrain to drive as such. Gaia GPS under reports the stoppage time. All our stoppages were only because of breaks and none because of refusals, at least I did not.

PS: This is perhaps the first time that I noticed there were no dropouts from the sign up on last Monday. Bravo!

[Rafey Hashmi]

My first drive with @Looper - and damn he is fearless. If anyone has played the old Prince of Persia games, you might remember the 'wall running' technique. Pretty famous. 

I really didn't know cars can wall run too. Even though at times I gulped before attempting, but the sheer passion of pushing myself, kept me going. As Looper said himself, there is a fine line between challenging your self and stupidity, I steered down whenever I started to fall towards the latter. 

@PAJERO petelczyc luke, great SL, and thanks for the heads up, plate watching and ofc the fuel top up!

Learning from the drive 
- 95% of the time 1st gear on 4H, a Jimny can take it. 
- Wiggling worked on higher climbs.
- With enough momentum a vertical wall of soft sand can be driven on and even crossed over.
- Radio silence means people are having a lot of fun 
- Fuel up even if it shows full 🤷🏼‍♂️

#JimnyPower