Twilight Newbie Desert Drive - Lisaili Adventure - Dubai - 11 May 2023

[Sviatoslav]

@Gaurav, sorry man, need to drop today.
Coolant level below normal level, need to check my Paj in the garage before I go for the new adventures 🙁

[Haneef Thayyil]

I’m so sorry for the last minute withdrawal as I’m forced to quite my son is not well  will join next time. 

[Zubail]

 

[Zubail]

Thanks a lot, it was amazing experience and beautiful views.. when we were not concentrated on driving))

[ChrisW]

Morning all - thank you for a really enjoyable drive. @Gaurav great leadership as always, and @Davie Chase thank you for helping me out down at the tail end!

 

I had a good learning moment yesterday about the risks of sticking with a ridge crossing rather than rejecting and turning down with gravity - I thought I'd share the following still images and invite @Davie Chase to perhaps share a few of the mentoring words he gave me during the break about what went wrong, and what to do differently next time...

The first six images are start-middle-end looking at the car, and the latter four images are the same timeframe but with a "drivers eye" perspective of approach, mid-move, exit.

 

 

[Gaurav]

9 hours ago, Zubail said:

Thanks a lot, it was amazing experience and beautiful views.. when we were not concentrated on driving))

Thanks @Zubail you can upload images in the respective drive gallery

https://carnity.com/gallery/category/2042-newbie-lisaili-adventure-dubai-11-may-2023/

[Gaurav]

5 hours ago, ChrisW said:

I had a good learning moment yesterday about the risks of sticking with a ridge crossing rather than rejecting and turning down with gravity - I thought I'd share the following still images and invite @Davie Chase to perhaps share a few of the mentoring words he gave me during the break about what went wrong, and what to do differently next time...

Well done Chris, to introspect on your action, to make you learn faster and safer, we all learned the same way. I cant comment much, as I havent seen you and these insta360 images have flatten all the key details tbh. Keep it up.

[Davie Chase]

@ChrisW as @Gaurav says the 360 images have flattened reality and it is difficult to see from the images the ridge etc. but basically what happened here was as you approached the cross over, you were slightly low on the dune so angle of attack was ever so slightly off. Therefore, as you tried to make the cross over you turned upward on the dune face forcing gravity to pull the rear of the car toward the base of the dune. This then resulted in you not getting two wheels either side of the ridge before crossing over to the other side. at this point you continued with the maneuver, and once you have one front wheel on one side and one front, plus both rears, on the other, the vehicle starts to rotate it then digs in slightly and changes direction rapidly. This resulted in the car snapping around to the right but as you kept the throttle pinned you were able to make the cross over, however, the situation could have ended in a cresting or worse could have dug in and rolled. However, on the second dune you had a similar experience, but the result was entirely different, as the car started to slide to the right you steered into the slide to correct it and naturally the car headed towards the ground and you exited the side slope safely and re-attempted. 

Two very similar occurrences, one which went well as you learnt from your first one that did not go so well. hence why we teach not to fight gravity, and not to continue on to complete a maneuver that should be abandoned when the better course of action is to steer down towards the ground and re-attempt. 

[ChrisW]

Thanks for taking the time to write that up - exactly as you briefed on the sand, and as you say, the technique works provided you make a prompt decision. Hoping next time to practice getting the crossing a bit more consistent. 
 

Also, not wanting the learning point and Davie’s explanation go to waste, I’ve uploaded a “dewarped” version that tells a slightly better story: