Morning Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - Dubai - 19 Apr 2026

[Frederic]

DRIVE DESCRIPTION-WHAT TO EXPECT

In this session, we aim to go and explore 3 different dune cordons in the Marmoom Desert Conservation Area. All three are quite technical and will keep you hopefully on the edge of your seat!

 

⚠️IMPORTANT-PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND COMPLY:

All participants must review and follow the club guidelines below:

• Environmental Policy
• Safety Protocols During Emergency Alert
• Offroad Flag Guideline
• Two Way Radio Guideline
• Off road Driving Etiquette's
• Emergency details for all off-roaders
• Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities
• Convoy Off-road Drives - Safety protocol during emergency alert

 

🕖 DRIVE DETAILS

• Level:  Fewbie Plus and above
• When: 19 Apr 2026, Sunday
• Meeting time: 8AM - Sharp (Without any exceptions).
• Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Mr9vvadx4x1yAq318
• Approximate finish time: 12PM

🚗VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS

• Any proper 4x4 vehicle. If in doubt, please mention on the drive topic.
• Front and rear tow hooks / recovery points.
• 8–10 inches minimum ground clearance

🎒 WHAT TO BRING

• Loads of water, snacks, smiles, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. We also recommend adequate protection from the sun and closed shoes.

🧰 OFFROAD GEARS

• Tire deflator and Tire pressure gauge.
• Air compressor.
• A programmable Walkie-talkie radio.
• Off-road safety flag.
• A proper shovel.
• First-aid kit and Fire extinguisher.

✅ RSVP

• Confirm your attendance by clicking on "GOING" in the Calendar Event. Your name will appear on the RSVP list.
• If the RSVP is full, add yourself to the waitlist. As soon as a spot becomes available you will be automatically moved to the RSVP list.
• The RSVP closes approximately 1 day prior to the drive so the lead can finalize the convoy setup.
• Latecomers will be turned back (no exceptions).
• No RSVP = No Drive
• Please withdraw your RSVP if plans change.
• Repeated no-shows may result in 1-month suspension

PLEASE RSVP ON THE BELOW CALENDAR EVENT

 

[Abdullah A.]

This is probably the fastest RSVP in the history of carnity drives 😂

[JC_E]

Have to miss this one, car not done yet and wont be done until next week 😢😢 have fun guys! 

[Frederic]

@Jose Luis Campos@Eddie-Dune-Glider@Infaz@Carl Stanley@_Herman_@Andrew John Melvill@Shahid Mehmood@Ash S.@Myrko@Zsolt@Mei Ling@Frans M

Thank you all for signing up! 

We will be using Channel 8 tomorrow: 446.18125 Mhz

Please try to arrive by 7.45AM so you have time to deflate and set up your flag, so we can get the convoy in the sand by 8AM. 

I will have a last look tonight at 9PM to see if any dropouts occurred. If so i will add someone from the waitlist and tag his/her name. As this is a FB+ drive you can probably imagine that i cannot stretch the convoy beyond 13 in total. 

See you all in the morning !

 

 

[Shahid Mehmood]

@Frederic Apologies, I will not be able to join the drive tomorrow.

 

[Frederic]

1 hour ago, Shahid Mehmood said:

@Frederic Apologies, I will not be able to join the drive tomorrow.

 

Thanks for informing @Shahid Mehmood

 

@Ahmed Farouk you’ve been moved to the going list. If you see this in time feel free to join in tomorrow. 

[Ahmed Farouk]

Nice , thanx, see you tomorrow 

[Frederic]

Thank you all for joining today ! We set off under a bright blue sky and headed immediately into the first cordon of technical dunes where I could already see how strong the convoy would be today. Even the boys with the big trucks were flexing their axles with ease and took all the challenges I threw at them with a big smile 😃 

as we moved to the second part I started to notice my clutch didn’t engage anymore (which is an old sore that I’ve been throwing parts at for the last months but to no avail). This meant parts two and three were to be done in first gear only 😅. Nevertheless i think we had some great fun out, and perhaps next time when the problem is revolved we can push it a bit more and include Little Sweihan as the bonus area into the mix. Hope you all enjoyed and thanks to @Jose Luis Campos for his superb second lead, and @Andrew John Melvilland @Frans Mfor the help on the drive.

 

https://loc.wiki/t/260019290?wa=sc

see you all in the sand soon !

[_Herman_]

Thanks @Frederic and team for this drive!  Three distinct areas I had not been to before, they were interesting dunes as they seemed to be quite ‘erratic’ formations, no repeated same-shape dune formations, which kept the drive interesting and unpredictable.

Not clear which one was the good, the bad or the ugly in the end.  But if you ever want to continue this theme in style, do so when you visit Spain: the circular shaped Sad Hill cemetary where the good, the bad and the ugly have their final showdown is to be found close to the Madrid-Burgos highway, and has recently been restored by volunteer movie-fans of the region:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/EhWmf6MpQkd8cYhy7?g_st=ic

(area has become much greener since the movie was recorded)