Leaderboard

Well I think I spoke too soon, blame it mostly on getting old. My start in thr field of safaris and offloading is like that. Around 20yrs back it was a pretty close knit group freelance drivers which every tour company used after they used up their own crew which was not more than 5-10 for moat Co's and almost impossible for a total noob who has never driven with a license just a couple of years old to get into the game. Even though I had good contacts none of them came true.save one who was able to hook me up doing the dirty work for the company for free that is drive the company pickup to run camp setup and at that time they were alao expanding and building two more camps. And none of the old hot shot freelancers wanted that work because first of all they didnt get to use their own cars so less pay, then work was tough first one in and last one out. No riding cushy land cruiser picking up possibly some nice babes and/or get good tips, work was hard and most got a back ache driving the pickup on washboard tracks, dunes and loading and offloading the pickup plus a lotta responsibility as the whole operation depended on the camp pickup and its driver So I said yes and quickly became their goto guy as the camp pickup driver because even the companydrivers didnt want this job. Then I ended up rolling over the pickup. Was rallying down a sand track at around 110-120. It was like a proper rally stage with lots of tight turns because it was bulldozed through a patch of technical dunes and was about 5kms long. I took a bend the pickup was unloaded so started to drift off the track. I over corrected and hit a 3-4 foot dune on the other bank, which send the pick up flying, did a 180 midair and landed on thr roof. The afore mentioned roof mounted tyre and carrier acted like a pseudo roll cage but it was bad enough that I was knocked unconscious and later had to transported via ambulance to Dubai Hospital. I thought I would never work for them again but guess it was such a dirty job not long after I was called back again or maybe I was so good at it and no one else wanted it, Atleast that's what I like to think anyways

God bless you @Gaurav bhai. I have tears in my eyes. I was going through this post and thinking which one was my favourite car. If I had to give an award to this post it would go to @Barry as his story is very touching. I was thinking about the Toyota Celica that Mohammed Bin Sulaiyem used to drive or the Porshe 911 Turbo Cabriolet which his Qatari opponent Saeed Al Hijri used to drive. With all these thoughts flying through my head, your post touched me deeply and reminded me of what my brother Karamullah would have said "it's not the gun but the man behind the gun.". My moment was with the man behind the gun Mohammed Bin Sulaiyem and to share it with a brother who has always been by my side. Well on this occasion behind the camera to save my special moment forever. Thank you Gaurav bhai.

Mohammed bin Sulayem is a true UAE legend and I totally agree that he is one of the most humble motorsport icons of the UAE. Last time @Rahimdad got lucky too to get the biggest gift of being his fan from childhood.

Thank you all for your support and safe exiting. Unfortunatly this incedent happen and the axel got broken at the begining of the area expoloring. But the experiance of you all and the proper mangement of the leader with well study for the area geography, helps for safe exiting. Thanks god tye car made it to the road and i kept driving it slowley and safley to home. Good news the car got fixed and ready for the next off roading. Again thanks for you all

I will resist the urge to make jokes about the Devel Sixteen. The classics hall at the last international motor show was nice. Buy again, it was mostly cars from Tomini showroom which you could call sales based. No heart or passion in it. I agree though, unless you’re into 4x4 and off-road, the car scene does suck here. There’s nowhere to go unless you want to shell out a few hundred every time for a few hours on the autodrome. The real fun is in street racing but you can’t get away with that here with all the cameras. Seeing Ferrari’s and Lamborghinis every day gets boring after your first month here. The only other thing you see is automatic lancers with crap body kits and replica wheels or automatic corollas plastered in TRD stickers, neither of which interest me. I even saw a special edition TRD lancer last week. Dubai is a very transient place. People come to make money, save and leave so it’s pointless modifying a car and putting your heart into it when you will have to leave eventually and sell it for a lot less than it’s worth. Things can go wrong for you overnight here and you just have to get on a plane and go. I was planning to stay here for a long time but the longer I stay, the more cynical I become and I’m at the point where I am falling into the same thing. I just want to grow my bank balance and get out. I love cars but owning a nice one in Dubai just doesn’t turn me on any more.

@NOOR OMAR Shukar Alhamdolillah all went well and glad to hear the ride is ready to take to the dunes again. It was a pleasure seeing you again and hope to see you more often. @Asif Hussain thank you for posting such a wonderful drive in a beautiful area, apart from the one incident it was well planned and equally well executed. @Gaurav bhai thank you for being you, keeping a cool and clam head and making all the right decisions. Making the best of the limited time we had in the area. @skumar83 no drive is complete without you.thank you for being you, your infectious smile just lifts the spirit of the convoy. @EmVarlet thank you for being inquisitive. Besides coming to a drive with loads of enthusiasm, you have some very good and engaging questions and I love explaining you those aspects as you are always willing to learn and develop yourself. Thank you to all who rocked the Umm Al Oush drive.

Not so much nice, more corrupt. One of the owners liked to take computers and stuff off the newbies deliveries before they went out. Noobs being noobs, everyone was like ok boss. Nobody saw a problem because the company was letting them drive and build their experience. The insurance would pay for it anyway, right? Well one day the insurance company decided to investigate and close the company down. Many of the workers got screwed and lost 2 months salary. There were huge protests at the place, police involved etc. The details are available online. I won’t post them on an open forum but if anyone wants I will share the link by DM. I got lucky, I got a cushy job managing the machinery in a recycling plant and got out literally a week before all this happened. Bonus twist - the recycling company got fined millions for illegally burying waste and got shut down. Sometimes I was sent with the cat loading shovel to drop some waste up the hill but I never thought anything of it, it’s just what I was asked to do. Again, I got lucky and got out just before the shit hit the fan. Non public links also available for the naysayers.

That looks like it has been bad for a while. Don’t ignore your grease nipples friends.

I got my first truck driving job when I was 22-23. There was only one company in the area who hired noobs with no experience so that’s where I went. Being the new guy I got sent to all the far away places where nobody else wanted to go. I thought this was great because all I wanted to do was drive. One day I’m driving down one of the roads near the coast and there was one of those arch type bridges over the road. I slowed right down and thought about if I was going to fit through. A voice in my head said feck it, it’ll be ok so I put my foot down. Next thing I hear an almighty crash and the truck stopped dead in the road. I reversed back a few meters and got out to check. The whole top of the truck was pushed back about 3 feet. How I didn’t get fired I’ll never know. These days there are dedicated truck sat nav systems which will steer you away from low bridges and narrow roads.

That looks like a sheep axel.

Flintoff is an ex cricketer, pretty good all rounder in his day. Hosts sports quiz type shows in uk. Nice guy but dull, not the sort of person you would expect to see on TG.

Here car shows either all about showing the next year zero km models or focussing on selling spare parts to mechanics and auto workshop

Who’s that handsome guy, second from left, army pants and sunglasses on his head

Congratulation to all club members.. @Rahimdad & @Gaurav i really appreciate your hard work to put this system in place. This will definitely encourage all of us and help the club to grow.

I don't think anyone watches Top Gear for their informative and unbiased car reviews. TG stop being that when the series was given a overhaul in the early 2000's