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Trip Report: Wow. Amazing. Exciting. I just seem to run out of words. My best Liwa trip ever, well planned, well executed and the best 5 cars for the job. The excitement was so obvious that neither the people who decided to go to Liwa overnight and camp, nor the people who decided to sleep in their beds and drive to Liwa in the early morning hours got more than 3 hours sleep. As we started calling each other, everybody was wide awake and ready to take on Liwa. Everyone met on time, we filled our cars with Petrol and extra cans as well for emergency. We adjusted the fire wood into all the cars and set off. As we approached the area to enter we were awed by the size and formation of the dunes around us. @Gaurav bhai made the best decision to change the entry point from a more approachable dune. As we deflated and got the briefing for the first part of the day and what we need to concentrate on, we also set the convoy numbering which would be crucial in this area. With @Gaurav bhai in the lead, @EmVarlet in second lead, @Asif Hussain right in the middle, and @skumar83 and myself making way for the sweep duties. As we entered and played around for some time, we realized that portions of the dune were very soft and we needed to push our stock cars to get through the terrain. Playing on these dunes was absolutely amazing, but we needed to be cautious as some of these dunes formations were very different than the ones we are used too. The best part of this area is when we have to drive down steep tall dunes and the cracking of breaking the sands with your tires. I had missed this sound for a whole year. As we came close to Friday Prayer time we switched to plan B and drove on road to the Moreeb Hill. After reaching there we were told that they do not have Friday prayers in that area. After playing on the Moreeb hill for some time we settled down to have lunch. After a quick lunch and smiling faces we washed up, packed and headed to offer our Qasr prayers. This bought our journey part 1 to an end. Part 2 was also well planned and we headed from Moreeb to Arada. This was wonderfully planned to give us enough time to play in some of the most gorgeous dunes, find our way through some mazes with the help, patience and understanding of the best team ever and some tracks to cover time. We came across several challenges and the team stood up to take every challenge with a huge smile and enthusiasm. This area is not for everyone as both the formation of the dunes and some very soft patches makes it difficult to drive in this area. We even encountered the tire pressure raising by 4 PSI to make it difficult to climb, so we had to monitor our tire pressure constantly. We were almost through our second phase when I heard a strange sound from my car, it seemed my tire had popped. I came to a flat surface and inspected the tires but there was no pop-out, so what was making that sound? At this point I went back to inspecting my tires when I saw the driver's side from tire pushed back into the fender of my car. Luckily Jalil was at hand to take a quick look and announced that the Lower arm was bent. Now discussions started as to how we can get the car out of the desert, it was definitely not going anywhere on the night, and we were just about 5 kilometers away from the point we were supposed to camp at, so we decided to make that our camping spot. The first suggestion and plan of action was to remove the lower arm and pull it with @Gaurav bhai winch and @skumar83 car. As we tried our best and put the whole thing back in, it had not made a lot of difference. The new course of action was Jalil started removing the mud guard which made little difference, he went on to remove the cover inside the wheel well which made a little more space, but getting the fender off made the space and gave the car a fancy look. We were all hungry by now, so after starting a bonfire, setting up the tents and @skumar83 warming up dinner, we were on the food like a pack of hungry wolves. after dinner we all sat around the fire admiring the weather, the quietness and the beauty of the surroundings. Finally we went to sleep. Upon waking up the next morning, breakfast was served, we all had a good fill. Heading to my car I saw that the wheels were pointing in opposite direction which would have its own set of troubles on hard surface so Jalil adjusted the wheel till i was able to drive it again. After a quick pack-up and thorough check around we were on our way to the last way point and out. Here we saw a lot of black camel farms with a lot of baby camels around. While I called for recovery and due to delay we started off to Birbir Ghost Town, after circling what used to be the Ghost Town, Gaurav Bhai aptly announced on the radio that they have demolished it and we neither were able to see the ghosts or a town. We played around for some time, headed back to my car, started inflating the tires while I waited for the recovery truck. After a episode with the recovery truck we loaded my Pathy onto the truck and headed off for another adventure while others headed back home. The recovery driver told me that he had to leave lunch to come save me, my hero. His room was on the way and if I mind if he would stop for lunch as he is not able to eat out, i agreed. Than he asked me if I was hungry and took me along for a nice home cooked meal. After the meal we set off and thanks to @Asif Hussain who stayed back with his family to make sure I had a helping hand when trying to source the parts and the mechanic to fix it. After a quick fix we inflated my tires and we head back home as well. Wonderful day and night and day out with amazing people and great team work, this is part of the reason the Liwa trip was such a huge success. Other reason was the immaculate planning, back planning. good decisions made at the right time and a capable trip[ leader with all the help he could ask for. Until next time.. Adios Amigos!!!

Amazing write up once again @Rahimdad bhai. Reading it almost feels as if I was there. Is it time for @Carnity to produce a magazine and make you a senior story writer?

When are we going back to Liwa ? 😁

After the last few drives in terrains that had plenty of red sand, its time to change the game a bit and have a drive through the lovely white sand starting at Lisalli and ending Qudra lake. This area offers some nice medium range dunes that would offer plenty of opportunity for side slopping and ridge crossing. Also, if lucky we would be sighting gazelles and oryx the closer we get to Al Qudra. Once we reach Al Qudra, we can sit down for a nice chat around one of the lakes and have barbecue (if interested). When: 1 Feb 2019 at 1:30 pm. Convoy will move sharp at 1:45 pm. Where: First Emarat Petrol station on Dubai - Al Ain Road after Outlet Mall. GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/WCDCa7tHwxL2 Level of drive: Fewbie Newbie+ and Above. No absolute Newbies Plan: Drive followed by BBQ (if anyone is interested) Approx drive finish time : 7 pm What to bring along: Snacks, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. If anyone is interested in BBQ, then charcoal, wood, lighter fluid, meat / chicken. Please RSVP the below calendar event

As per the title, do you think you could pass your driving test again? A lot of the members on here have been driving for many years, and as I can attest to, it’s easy to pick up bad habits, maybe not habits that are necessarily bad but not conducive to passing a driving test. If you were asked to do your driving test again tomorrow, do you think you could pass it first time?

@Barry thank you for your generous comments, but if you haven't been to Liwa, no amount of words or pictures can replace the experience and feel.

We will have a newbie drive next week.

Nice cool down drive after an awesome Liwa trip. Thanks @skumar83 for posting this one.

Bargain 79 Mk3 Capri 2.0 Pinto for £3,500. These are going up in value and impossible to find something decent for this money. Proper useable everyday RWD retro. Seller says it comes with a free Darkness CD so that swings the deal for me. If I was at home, I’d go pick it up.

Maybe yes to eagle eyes, but this is mentioned on the comment on the same video. I watched this video last month and now planning to DIY this same stuff for a testing purpose.

Have you given your vehicle a name? What is it and why? My favourite was an old Kawasaki GT550 I used to have. I named it Lucinda. Me and my friends used to take turns riding the bike to the shop to buy beer. There was a girl named Lucinda who used to hang around with us and everyone took turns riding her so it was a natural name for the bike we took turns riding. She was so proud that I named my bike after her until I explained it. She didn’t hang round with us much after that.

Normally i am not naming my cars. But when i am buying my current Benz the owner told me the name is Luigi and i like it. It stayed like that.

Sometimes. My Sheep was named Chuck and my Discovery Big Red. Was never able to come up with names that suited any of the multitudes of range rovers I owned or own.

Shhhhh, I’m trying to live a quiet life. Back to the memes,

No, that doesn’t sound right at all. You need 2 rocker cover gaskets (maybe, maybe not depending on condition) at around 30 dhs each. I don’t remember the exact cost of the tappets, maybe @Gaurav can remember, I changed some for him. They aren’t expensive but if you change all 24, it will add up a bit. The new ones are a better design than the old ones so probably better to change them all. From what I can tell, it sounds like the mechanic is taking you for a ride and wants to strip the cylinder heads off and build it on a bench. Its half a days work to do it. Inlet manifold off, rocker covers off. You can use a bar to push the compress the valve springs a bit, lift the old tappets out and drop the new ones in. No need to even remove the cams never mind take the heads off. Its not something you need to do right away but it can lead to cam and rocker wear and the car will be down a few horsepower. If the car is a keeper, best to just get it done and out of the way. Make sure the mechanic measures the cam lobes, rockers and clearances so everything is even.