Leaderboard

So good to get such an honest trip report from @Foxtrot Oscar. My morning started with a surprise as after deflation and hoisting my flag I saw no one. A quick call to @Foxtrot Oscar meant Google maps had taken me about 400 metres off where I was supposed to be. Followed the pin sent by @Foxtrot Oscar to the correct spot which took me about 5 minutes. Everyone was ready and we quickly moved on to the place I was before for the early morning breakfast in the form of a briefing. Loved the way @Foxtrot Oscar delivered the briefing and we were off on a trip that I've been waiting for a long time. Having a lady lead a trip I could support has been my long awaited dream. This weekend saw my dream come true and I must say she is a strong lady and a damn good off-roader. It was great to see everyone do so well and a pleasure meeting everyone, some for the first time and some I've had the opportunity to drive with before. I would be lying if I said the drive was not action packed, it had drama, action and romance all the recipes of making a good Hindi movie. I could hear songs also after digging for about 10 minutes, my dream sequences only coming to an abrupt end with the shout of Jaldi karo from our fierce lead. The drive ended with a huge smile on my face which even grew wider getting to see all the convoys in the area finish and drive past us as we inflated our tires to get back on the road. My smile widened as I got to meet @Ahab Shamaa who made me feel 4 years younger. @Ale Vallecchi who just finished his first Absolute Newbie, @Wrangeld and @Lorenzo Candelpergher who were inflating after their drive were all there with smiles and felt like an absolute moment. My day did not end there as I decided to surprise @Desert Dweller who got stuck at her place in the morning due to a blockage of roads in her area for a bicycle event. I had the chance to talk for a whole hour and a half without stop. The only thing I like besides off-roading is talking. If my school teachers were to see me today they would go into a shock, but I guess we all change with time and I would love to hear from you all if you think it would be better for me to go back to being myself as I was in my school days, quiet.

Drive Report It was a gloriously cool morning and everyone arrived at the meeting point in good time and deflated promptly. We drove along the track and entered the Bab Al Shams dunes with ease. I decided I would gently awaken everyone from their morning slumber and coasted along the open, rolling dunes of Bab Al Shams. Once everyone had found their ‘Desert wheels’, and with everyone’s agreement, we took the opportunity to practice some ridge riding and criss-crossing on Bab Al Sham’s forgiving dunes. We had a couple of moments when vehicles were crested, which is always a risk when you ride a dune. The balance between having enough momentum to keep you moving and not giving too much gas is a fine one but everyone coped incredibly well, especially considering not many on the drive had experience of ridge riding. Thank you @Ranjan Das for the vigorous morning workout as we dug deep (literally) to remove you from the crest, I’m in dire need of some upper body toning so I wasn’t complaining. We decided to up the pace and the challenge and headed towards Qudra. What seemed an innocuous dune proved to be quite problematic. We were riding high when @Ashok chaturvedi decided he wanted a closer look at the sand formation at the bottom of the dune. I’m sure you’ll admit @Ashok chaturvedi that you could have taken an easier path and the Gods were certainly with you as your car suffered little damage aside from a scrape to the bumper and a pop out. Even the pop out was easy to fix as the car was positioned in such a way that the wheel was already off the ground and it saved us the hassle of getting the jack out. It’s always best to stay away from sand formations, I realise momentum directed you there but hitting the brake as opposed to the accelerator is always the best option. @Mohamed Abo ElKomsan , I saw you on your first drive as a Newbie and have seen you progress really well, just don’t be so shy with the accelerator pedal when you need to get over those dunes. All stucks and refusals are a learning opportunity, for all of us as no two stucks are the same so it is always interesting. When you manage to self-recover by listening to advice from Senior Drivers you will also grow in confidence so never fear a stuck or refusal, it happens. Special thanks to @Nacho who was excellent as the second lead, you listened and carried out my instructions to adjust the route when needed and drove very well. The wrangler lads handled everything with aplomb, well done @Archibald Jurdi @Hennie Schoeman and @SureshVNair. Thanks to @David Ortells for the encouraging words and also @Vineeth John Joseph. You all had greats drives and made my job at the front so much easier. Well done. A very big thanks to @Rahimdad, for your guidance and support. Just having you on the drive made it special. Once again, thank you all for the camaraderie and good spirits, it was nice to lead you. Until next time 😊

Drive Report: Thank you everyone for joining this drive on a cool Friday morning. All arrived on time and following the relaxation of COVID restrictions , we had a briefing outside our cars maintaining distance with masks on. There were some of you with whom I was driving for the first time , but with proper advise on how you all drive from the senior members in Carnity ( Thank you seniors) We started off without our convoy numbering so that we could get inside as there were lot of cars from another club gathered at the same starting point as ours. Once the numbering was done and we started driving it was a fantastic time for me and you all. We started on a very relaxed note, doing sideys and small ridge crossings which was perfectly done by every one. We drove quite a bit in the area between Tawi Nazwa and Pink rock which nicely warmed you all up on a cooler day. Once near the pink rock, as it is always seen nowadays that the off-road season has kicked off the sand was super soft with multiple tracks heading up the pink rock. Hence I felt it was better to loop around and try some route which was cleaner, but as this area is literally circled by many there were many cross tracks making our ride bumpy. As we drove around pink rock we started to pick pace, and head towards Big Red area. Heading towards big red bumped up the drive , as we needed to push our cars further to get in and out of the multiple bowls to reach Big Red. I have to say you all drove beautifully maintaining perfect speed, momentum, approach and technique to cross the terrain which was getting more and more difficult as we got closer to Big Red. We did reach Big Red in Quick time and had a nice play time where all tried multiple steep climbs and larger loops. With so much time left , I was of the opinion it was best to ask you all if you would like to play more in Big Red or drive more and head back to 2nd Dec Cafeteria. I would say it was a sweep that all of you agreed to head towards 2nd Dec Cafeteria, which was nice to see. As you all progress you will realize that the small dunes are the more difficult and tricky - technical to say it aptly, where you need more finesse to drive through them. Hence we drove into a slightly technical terrain and again you all did wonderfully well. We made it in good time heading back to 2nd Dec Cafeteria , only here we had our few incidents which need to be sorted- the usual refusals (2 or 3, well managed by self recovery and some crests giving the intermediates on the drive some practice on tugging safely). We stopped exactly at 2nd Dec, inflated and headed back home happy! To summarize we drove from Tawi Nazwa to Pink Rock to Big Red and finally to 2nd Dec. @Janarthan did a perfect 2nd lead rerouting/ retracking whenever he saw me struggling. Fantastic work Jana! @Ali Abas Ali well driven buddy all the way to Big Red. I hope you are fine now after exiting out early at your request. Take care and see you soon next time. @Abu Muhammad was the driver of the day for me. Driving a massive car like your needs lots of concentration and proper technique which you did very well.Fantastic to see you self recover from your refusals. @Anand Nataraj did well managing the tricky terrain and the softer bowls. Perfectly exiting out as soon as it was time when you were losing momentum. Well driven! @Tariq Carrimjee with his new desert toy was enjoying himself in the open top jeep which is an offroaders dream I would say in this weather. @Kailas did the job of center forward to perfection, assisting in refusals , tugging safely and perfectly coordinating when there was a radio coms loss owing to the dunes. Thank you for your assistance. @Rizwanm2 drove well in his X. Some minor refusals which were well managed, exiting perfectly and hardly heard on the radio which is a testament to how well you were driving. @Shaaz Sha drove well towards the back of the convoy. Really like your positive energy and always smiling in any situation , which of course were not many on this drive. @Rajeevan Vickneswaran was seen enjoying as much as everyone did, if not more. Pushing your car towards the rear of convoy on churned tracks ,managed perfectly. Well driven! @Luca Palanca Falsini was sweeping and coordinating on the convoy movement to perfection. Thanks for some lovely pictures , and thanks for your fantastic support. Please upload pictures in gallery.If you feel you have completed the required number of drives and ready for the next level , you can apply for your promotion on the Carnity website. To share some stats with you Total time 3hrs 32min Stopping time 23 min Ave Speed 17.4 Kmph Total distance covered 61.6 Km Enjoy your week after an energizing weekend, see you next week.

@Frederic Thank you for a wonderful drive. It was fun & challenging as well for a newbie convoy everyone drove really well. Each drive i am personally learning something new and gaining more confidence on sand. @Rizwan Waheed @sri ganesh @Anvar Sadath Bekal the pajero gang drove well! Great Team Spirit from everyone throughout the drive and it was very enjoyable experience. @frederic demolder @Jon M very well managed with the Discovery Sport & Montero Sport. @Nathan Evans you were driving the Jimny very chilled and it was too good to watch the grey beast in sand. @Sajit Modiyil Very well driven and great progression buddy! @Mohammed Razeen @Prabuddha Madusanka @Lukas Lewis @Jack Thomas you guys were flawless! Thank you and see you soon!!

Hi @Niki Patel it was nice meeting you yesterday and it was fun drive considering your very first off-road drive. For having a tire pop out there are multiple reasons responsible. Type of tire - Dunlop Grandtrek AT22 is mainly an on-road tires and not ideal for desert. I have been branded as king of pop out when I was driving my Land Cruiser with Dunlop Grandtrek. Every drive I used to have one or two pop out. Later on I changed to Michelin LTX and never had a pop out again. Deflation for road tires like dunlop grandtrek, bridgestone dueler and any other HT (Highway Tread) should not be lower than 14-15 PSI, as if you must have gone lower (by mistake, gauge error or leaking valve) it will result in pop out on smallest bump or sharp steering on high speed. For TPMS, don't bother much as of now, as if you are running on Grandtrek you might have pop out soon again, so drive for 4-5 drives and see if you have complete buy-in to this new hobby, then think about changing tires or adapting greater control with grandtrek. Once you do that, then you can get the TPMS sensor as with TPMS wheels, sensor breaking is quite common and replacing will be a bit of task and an extra expense always. For Traction, FJC comes with TC off button that I think (not sure completely) you need to either press and hold or press with key on/off @Ale Vallecchi can share the steps. This TC button disables partial traction interference and that should be again enough for newbie level drives. Then later on you can decide to install the kill switch (search and read here) or not with its pros and cons.

@Pancho many thanks for a good lead on this drive .It was challenging and good fun too unusual to see @DANIEL NOGUEIRA requiring two tows but luckily for me was showing the way and is full of confidence .Aneesh , Jamie and @richard were great support with the refusals & recoveries as allways .@ Richard's sense of humour on the radio communications is good fun too. Look forward to the next drive with all the wonderful members of this great club.

Ready Anytime! Thank you @Brette for managing and leading the drive exceptionally well as @Jeepie had some issues with the car unfortunately, we did miss you Marjan..😔, was glad to meet you and @Wrangeld in the afternoon drive.. @Brette, we have been to Fossil Rock a few times now and I really appreciate that every time you keep making the experience unique, enhancing our skills along with having loads of fun ..the whole team responded well with the challenges...👍 Thank you..

Dear @Rahimdad In addition that Alqudra is one of my favorite places family wise , also other reason that it’s not quite uncommon to see the other convoys ending up inflating as finish point adding up a reason for me and most of us to meet and chat behind our masks , Bless you and all the good people whom I know in person and also for those who’ve I wish to meet and know . cheers 🙏🏻🚙🌷

I just got my Geolander 4th Set early this month. Using them since 2011, 2014, 2017, 2020 and couldn't be more happier. If you use your FJC lot on highway, then you can consider Michelin too, as they are super quiet on highway and reasonably good in sand BUT MINUS the rock and mountain driving capabilities. Yokohama Geolander are great all rounder. I have used their G012 (model) for first 3 sets and this time I got G015 as Yoko discontinued G012 and upgraded to G015.

A day to remember....20th Nov 2020. Start of the day with a warning signal from @Wrangeld that you might have a pop out and later changes to reality. However this pop out came out to be a opportunity for all of us to learn something new. @Wrangeld as a true leader always ready to share, explained very well all the technical and safety points to look out. @Lorenzo Candelpergher a big thank you for your support. Your collection and quality of tools is great. Thanks for the spare valve which you have provided. Thanks for the compressor which inflated the pop out tyre. Thanks for the recovery of my flag. Thanks for the tug. Once again thanks for everything and every guidance. You are my saviour. I really miss my drive when your drone was capturing others and I was busy in fixing bumper. 😀 @Ahab Shamaa You are truly very kind hearted man who is ready to come forward and eager to help others who are in need. Please convey my Regards to your lovely daughter. I was so much occupied fixing my bumper issue that I didn't realize my flag has gone away, and then I saw your daughter running towards me and handed over to me the flag. I really didn't get the chance to say thanks to you and to princess properly. I really owe her a treat. Thanks everyone for showing patience to the delay. It was really a amazing drive today. Unforgettable..

The Devil's in the Details What a great drive. Playful bowls, a great popout, some technical sections, the rat run, wide solar dunes and a little bonus at the end. And that's before we get to see the drone shots. I'm already quite breathless! It was an excellent drive. This was a great test for newbie level and it was for the main part well driven. We had problems where I expected, and the drive was scaled up because the convoy did so well. @Ahab ShamaaSuperb second lead again. Never put a wheel wrong. Hope your radio capitan had fun. @Pickey Singh you are getting more confident with the FJ, but you need to use the power properly and more often. @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQRest assured, driving the jeep will just get more and more fun. Great job today. @varunmehndirattaok so you did not need the shovel for yourself today. I like the way you are progressing. @Explored Dubai sorry about the bumper. I don't know a Pajero that has not lost bits of the car on a drive. Less recoveries today and more confidence. For your second outing, great job. @VipinShetty great drive. Well done with the help you gave. You'll understand a lot more in your own driving by helping others. @Derek FernandesFrom what I could see, you really started to enjoy playing with the car this week. Excellent 2nd drive. Really showed what you've learned to the best of your abilities @Sai BaskaranBaskaran dynasty drives meant we had you this morning and your mastery of the car is showing. Please continue this trajectory. @bassel el rafeireally good to see you bring your car to the game ... Although there was some competitive offering with 2 Y62s in your mirrors (must have been terrifying 😂😂😂). You have the power, use it. @Ken HüüdmaHüüdma your preference might be for slower drives, but you did really well today. I promise to let you know when we have a big technical sections coming in a drive. @Lorenzo CandelpergherCanCa you do more on a drive? Support, drone flying, popouts. As ever you were the ultimate senior to have on a drive. Thanks. As special thanks as well to the radio captains today. You did great too. See you soon in the sand.

Beautiful Pictures @Luca Palanca Falsini. Thanks

Drive Report: Thank you everyone for arriving on time and joining this drive. We prepped our cars in quick time , a quick brief out in open on a cool morning and off we headed on the pylon track which takes us further of the camel track. We entered an area which is slightly less technical , how much less is a relative term. You all would agree on this because as soon as we were on this smallish 100-200m baby dune area , we had our moments of the day. Some refusals and crests on baby dunes in a very tight spot gave us an opportunity to learn - some self recoveries and tugs in "not so routine" manner. Once we were off this technical area everyone was delighted to see the long range dunes which Lisaili has on offer. As soon as we started to pick pace and climb some dunes ,try some criss cross and ridge rides we had our next learning experience. One car getting stuck longitudinally on a crest with a pocket on the other side. We tried to recover his by shovelings but the sheer softness on the other side and the weird angle made it difficult, and decided for a tug. As we positioned ,fixed the rope and started pulling the tugging car stopped on an incline with a tensed rope which made it more tricky. We had to shovel quite a lot, deflate the tires further and with careful maneuvering by the driver the car was out safely. Lesson learnt for everyone , but we all have made such mistakes and learnt from them. After these initial moments where we spent quite a bit of time, we had our learning experiences. Best part was it was all happening on a cooler morning and was really good that 3-4 drivers chipped in for shoveling burning their bit of calories needed for the day🤣. Once we started driving again , there was no stopping . We did multiple sideys, some climbs , lot of criss cross and lots of long ridge riding. In fact as I was looping back on some long range ,it was a delight to see all of you riding the ridges in unison and ruffling sand from the top. We headed towards murquab after squeezing out as much as we could riding safely in Lisaili. Compared to last time , we managed to get onto the smaller Sabkhas separating Lisaili long range and Murquab Long range. This kind of avoided the technical area in between , and we could get into the Murquab area quickly. We again enjoyed the Long range dunes here , repeating what we did before probably even better. Not to forget to mention to you all again that Gravity is your best friend on sand, especially on doing side slope, climbs and getting off ridges. Please remember never to fight against it ,no matter what car /gear / mods/ be it anything you have. As it was well past the intended time for drive completion, we decided to play some more time in Murquab and exit out there. @Pancho thank you so much for an awesome 2nd lead. Some great advises from you on the recoveries and refusals. Tugging me twice when I got stuck in super soft pockets twice which were frankly out of my sight coming down at times. @Tero Vallas you were the driver of the day for me today along with @Heisem. Fantastic driving, great control of steering on ridges and perfect exits whenever needed. Absolutely no fishtailing anywhere from what I could see. @Nizam Deen did well on the ridges, technical areas and had some refusals. As you drive more everyone gets more experienced and drives better which will be the same with you too. Well done buddy. @Yousef Alimadadi was hardly heard on radio which goes to show how well you have improved and how well you drove on this drive. Fantastic my friend @Tamas Hoffmann impresses every time with his great control over the steering and technique. Such a delight to watch you maneuver your car to self recover , I still remember the self recovery in Big Red area which was simply amazing. Great driving buddy. @Mehmet Volga is always in love with the dunes in Lisaili, can see the happiness on his face every time he finishes driving here. Great to see you driving ,well controlled and hardly any calls for assistance today. Bravo @Anish S along with his copilot @Veedooshee enjoyed the dunes as much as everyone did. Always great to see you on any drive , full of support and assistance whenever needed . @Heisem did not drive like it was his first intermediate drive and shared the driver of the day with Tero. Infact you drove so well that at the end I wanted to double check if it was really your first one. Well driven buddy! @Jorge Stepniak Felippe in his open top jeep on a cool morning is what I would hope to do one day, enjoying the dunes- as we did today. You have improved and are improving tremendously with each drive. @Foxtrot Oscar thank you for sweeping the convoy today. Your presence ,assistance and advise when needed is no less than that from an "Angel". Gets difficult at times when you are at the end of a longish convoy at intermediate level ,but you did great Angela. I would like to request feedback from the seniors @Pancho and @Foxtrot Oscar as it is not possible for me to keep a watch on the whole convoy, which gets longer as we drive faster at this level. I would suggest cars without a front bash plate to have one before you break anything as drives on intermediate level gets intense as you do more in future. Please upload pictures in the drive gallery. Some stats from todays drive Total time 4hrs 37min Stopping time 1hr 31min Ave Pace 19Kmph Total distance 58.9 Km Enjoy your week and get ready for another thrilling weekend on the dunes.

Thank you Chaitanya. Lovely review and reading the same captured great memories of the drive. See you soon.

Dear @Chaitanya D superb well described report , felt while reading it like diving in a 25 meters swimming pool go and back under the water with no snorkel , breath holding . Can’t wait “diving “ with you buddy ! Well done to all drivers from me cheers 🙏🏻

Both Ram T-Rex and Raptor have spent time and money building these machines. But they are both costly not only to buy but also to maintain. If you can afford these you can go for any one of these without a regret. I'm sure they perform wonderfully well and will cater to your every need. But most people get these just because they look good, they sound good, is a show-off tool among friends, mine is bigger and better than yours. These are created for a niche market and thus there are fewer of these available as the cost cannot be afforded by all. After all this being said and done, they are machines and similarity of these with your X is they can fail, with more computers and more chips more the chances of these failing. Question is will it satisfy you? My choice is using an underpowered rig that I need to think how to reach my next point knowing the capabilities of my vehicle. But I cannot force my views on others, there are some who like brute force and reach their destination in the quickest and straightest line. So it all depends on your affordability and point of view. Maybe if I win a Million Dirhams I might end up buying one of these machines. Most probably the Ram T-Rex as I heard they are there to devour the Raptors.

@Niki Patel firstly let me congratulate on completing your first drive successfully and sounds like you're already bitten by the sand bug reading your questions. Ignoring doesn't come easy for some as an OCD seeing something is wrong. However if you don't have OCD and can ignore it, as @Gaurav bhai put it you are still learning and can spend a fortune on spending on the TPMS after every drive. @Asif Hussain had a Ford Explorer truck which kept having this issue, maybe he can help you with suggestions as to what he had done. Regarding Traction Control try to keep the button pressed for 10 seconds till you hear a beep and see 2 orange signs on your dash. For Toyota's this is the trick to get rid of 90% of the issues and no need for a kill switch. @Atif bhai can vouch for this as he drove smoothly ever after. Enjoy your ride and time with us, we are a community who likes to help and hope you'll pass on the tips and tricks you learn to those who join behind you.

Thank you for amazing drive yesterday, really enjoyed it. Please let me know if you have an issue with me sharing this video or you would like your car removed. @Rob Harper some amazing views of your Tundra https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159394035799750&id=790369749

Was a amazing drive, slightly different that what we are used to, loved the way briefing was done, as you said commuNITY, back in carnity. Thank you @Wrangeld @Lorenzo Candelpergher, thank you for the support, looking forward for your drone footage

@Frederic thank you very much for the drive. me and @Syed Raza Hussain were missing driving with you and after a long wait,we decided to enrol with you. As always @Syed Raza Hussain is a lazy ass man and backed out at the very last moment.. 🙃 Jokes apart, loved driving with the wonderful people infact skillfull people 😉. And would like to thank everyone for their support and patience and the team work. Today^s "refusal cum pop out "was full of challenges and delt with calmness and patience by everybody. Thanking you all for that.🙏 @Nivin cheers brother, for your humblness and for your support without loosing smile and energy at all time. You were a superman today. @Sajit Modiyil thanks for that powerful pull which helped a baby elephant out of the tiny pocket of quick sand. 😄 Love you All and thank you again for the team work. See you when i see you. Cheers 😃😎🤓

Thank you @Chaitanya D for great fun drive. I appreciate your feedback @Shaaz Sha, enjoy the rest of your weekends everyone. See you soon

Hi all, thanks a lot for a superb drive and had a lot of fun driving with all of you. It was my second drive with @Chaitanya D and it was as good as the first drive , and the choice of terrains , sideys and dunes crossing were excellent. Though we didn't have any stucks and very few refusals @Kailas did very well as our CF. it was unfortunate to see @Ali Abas Ali leaving early and hope he is feeling better now and hope to catch up next week buddy. @Abu Muhammad, @Tariq Carrimjeeand @Rizwanm2 were really good and @Luca Palanca Falsiniplayed his sweeper role perfectly. All others in the convoy were great and we had enough time to enjoy the nature . Thank you all for a memorable experience. Take care and keep safe and cool

Looks like the signup went pretty fast ! A few topics that I wanted to highlight to all of you: 1) You need to make sure that your car is 100% in technical fit condition: recovering a broken vehicle in Liwa is an absolute enormous task which will take hours and in some cases we might have to just leave it behind. Please be aware of the long journey and the extreme stress your vehicle will undergo in this terrain. Get your vehicle FULLY inspected before joining this adventure. Make sure fluids, battery, spare wheel, and brakes are in optimal condition. If your vehicle already shows signs of slight overheating from regular Fewbie drives please do not join this drive. 2) We will be driving in dunes which are more than 200m high and this also involves coming down steep slopes. If you are currently Fewbie and struggle with fear of heights in Pink Rock or Fossil Rock, I would advise to think this through. Safety is our main focus but nevertheless we need people to stay calm and listen calmly to instructions as there is only little margin for human errors. 3) More than anything, you need to be realistic in what your vehicle can do and choose the number of passengers wisely. If we see an underpowered vehicle with 4 adult persons inside and stuffed with camping gear, we will not allow you to join. This terrain will require a lot from your vehicle, and traveling light with minimum passengers will make sure your underpowered vehicle can survive this.

Thank you Mr @Chaitanya D for this nice drive which, I got some new experience of rage riding and enjoyed alot at the beginning, but because of too zigzag driving I got dizziness and motion sickness, which I was not able to continue and complete the drive. I was lucky that the exit was near just few hundred meters away. after half an hour of resting, I was feeling well and headed back to home. once again I appreciate and thank to Mr @Chaitanya D and @Shaaz Sha for caring about my health.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank Angela and Rahimdad for giving us some great experience by a continuous drive over some interesting crest and dune criss crossing a time virtually non stop. I did have a mishap best avoided had I picked up a stone formation which was near flat with the sand and previously noticed Angela at her calibre struggling to get through the softness of the sand. I accelerated through the stone formation rather than breaked.. the car did a couple of nasty pumps but thankfully nothing serious happened the new A/T tyre took the impact and bounced off the rock formation and landed with front right tyre partially in air..having popped out. This was fixed by able hands of Rahimdad sir in less than 5 minutes and we were on our way. Yes a portion of the plastic covering over the tyre bay came out and wonder whether to leave it as it. Lesson to learn for me to watch for icebergs in sand too.

@Gaurav thank you 🙏🏽 awesome advice spanning near a decade is incredibly helpful. The current tires are only a month old so I will look to sell them on as may still attract interest and are flawless... ease the pocket when moving to rapidly upgrade to Yokohama G015. as we have another car as the daily driver I am less concerned about road noise so will invest in the Yokohama - I searched briefly and see you had this conversation in a previous thread where you also gave some tips on suppliers (rough location in Sharjah) so I will follow those .. again thank you - the whiskeys I owe you are mounting up ... I may just send you a bottle in advance

Hi dear friends What you think ? Such modern very expensive and electronically highly sophisticated trucks from technical point of view is it worthy to go for ? I don’t know , I don’t think I will be more happy with what I have .... still I am discovering new things in my X which is still to add to my skills and experience ! Cheers 🚙😎

Hi @Nivin Thank you so much for your comments 👍 See you soon with my Discovery sport which is (as you can see) a very efficient AWD car in the sand and dunes (at Newbie level of course ! )😉👍

@Gaurav 3 years on from this post, would you still say this holds true regarding recommendations! And I am lol reading about my stock Dunlop’s making it to the bottom of the list I was tempted to run the tires I have for a reasonable period (through Newbie levels) and then invest in an upgrade as my first spend... however my recent experience makes me feel it may be wise to change earlier vs later!? Opinions welcome!

Thanks @Panchogreat job in your first lead, @Wrangeldand @Jeepie always very nice.. @Desert Dweller thanks for the sweep and help... thanks all for the patience, I got crested twice, more than all my drives together, so I learned where I have to work my game with my big truck .... see you in sand !!!

Hi team, Just been prepping for tomorrow and my car seems to have dumped a lot of coolant. Will have to back out of this drive and get it checked out. Better safe than sorry. Enjoy

Thankyou Adel for the fantastic drive today. Just some highlights of our drive..

‘The Devil’s Deceit’ ; A catchy but not so welcoming of a name. We arrived at the starting point with a strong mindset to conquer all the technical dunes that the ‘Devil’ presented before us, and the convoy did a great job conquering them. Of course there were several refusals and a couple of stucks, the technical dunes dont go easy on the drivers, yet the convoy managed to hold itself together with each driver helping the other, especially with the brilliant communication they had among them. The drive was full of adventure and new learning experiences, such as a tutorial presented early into the drive on fixing a popped tyre and driving cinematically for some cool drone shots. @Wrangeld did a great job guiding the convoy through ‘The Devil’s Deceit’ , making sure each of us enjoyed the drive to its full potential. The middle of the convoy was managed by @VipinShetty, hence it remained in order and was able to keep up with @Wrangeld Lastly, one of the greatest sweeps that I know of, @Lorenzo Candelpergher, did what he does the best, helping drivers out of trouble and guiding them back into order. Hope you got some good shots with your drone 😉.

DRIVE REPORT Fossil Rock always comes with its own adventures, and when you're taking off in the cool morning breeze with your target in sight and an amazing convoy of people who were equally excited, nothing much can go wrong. With my little blue Pajero in the workshop, having caught a "clunking noise" cold that no antibiotics can heal, I had to be very friendly to my wife and ask her if i could use the big blue Pajero. Which is a car I love to drive, but needs some getting used too. The drive went super silky smooth with the minimum amount of refusals until we had a first pop out. @sri ganesh was excited to learn on how to fix that pop-out on his car, and with the help of @Nivin it was fixed in a matter of minutes. Fast forward another 40 minutes of avoiding bushes while trying to find play areas that were not too much churned up. While passing a little pocket, my trusty second lead @Rizwan Waheed who really did well today got swallowed into that pocket, and it took a lot manpower, shoveling, some excellent recoveries from @Nivin and @Sajit Modiyil, and lots of laughs to get out of it, and the teamwork which we always preach was executed perfectly. The recovery work popped out the tyre on top of that, so it was extra difficult getting the vehicle back to flat level. We all learned something again today and that's what matters. @Nivin came with ideas, never gave up, and he really showed that his offroading experience and calm approach to every situation really makes the difference. We eventually reached the pylon track, where a guy was waving at us since he got stuck with his Patrol while going a little bit off the beaten track. A quick pull and he was out. After all we've done our part of recoveries already that same morning, so one more wouldn't hurt us Taking Newbies up to the base of Fossil Rock and climbing it is sometimes a bit challenging, but the whole convoy was so hungry to get to the top that everyone flew on it like it was their destiny in life ! @frederic demolder week after week you are improving your skills, and the lack of ground clearance your vehicle has is something which you are smartly working your way around by choosing the right path and keeping the momentum at all times. Good work ! @sri ganesh and @Anvar Sadath Bekal were sliding effortlessly with the white Pajeros and perfectly in sync with each other. @Jon M who really doesnt want to get stuck it seems is so ready for his Fewbie drives, amazing buddy ! @Nathan Evans takes his Jimny through every terrain without any difficulties. Rarely have I seen a car that feels so comfortable in this terrain. Well done !! @Sajit Modiyil you have progressed from a very shy, silent driver, to a very skilled off-roader, and having seen that recovery that needed a bit of a dynamic pull, you "pulled it off" perfectly. Amazing! @Kaile Barrameda that car is a sight to behold, and you took it effortlessly through the terrain. I told @Jun Zamora not to interfere so I hope he behaved 🤣 @Lukas Lewis taking the mighty Explorer through these dunes without any struggle is proof that the driver has become one with it. Well done man ! @Prabuddha Madusanka and @Mohammed Razeen were silently digesting every dune without the slightest effort, amazing work guys ! Same for @Jack Thomas who gave the truck some petrol to burn. Nice !! For the Newbies who have completed their 5 drives, you can apply for the promotion to Fewbie. Have a look at below grading structure and click on the "Apply for promotion" button. Fewbie level drives are similar but a bit more fast-paced and technical at times. https://carnity.com/forums/topic/15289-off-road-club-grading-structure-v20?tab=comments#comment-68672 See you guys soon again !

It was a lot of fun and a great learning experience! I have also attached a few photos and videos... Thanks for the patience! Martin

Tank you to everybody for the wonderful drive today! Almost no stuck, very few refusal and for the first time we did more than expected!. Thank you @Chaitanya D for the excellent lead! See you soon on the sand then

Group camping is not allowed. However, you are free to camp individually. Alternatively you can try to book a hotel room, but from what we heard they are not available at the moment or are a bit pricey.

UPDATED BASED ON THE LATEST REGULATIONS OF 17 JAN 2020 1. DPI / PCR test is mandatory and has to be done 48 hours prior to entering Abu Dhabi. If you continue to stay in Abu Dhabi, then on the 4th day you need to undergo a PCR test. 2. DPI test is done via a small painless prick on your left index finger. DPI report comes within 2 mins of collecting the sample. PCR test is conducted via a nasal swab and the results can take between 24 - 48 hours. 3. The test can be done at the drive through centers located on the Al Faya Truck Road (E75) just off the Ghantoot exit. The drive through centers are available on both sides of the road. Generally the center location in the direction towards E11 has less rush compares to the one on the opposite side of the road. The locations are as follows: Al Faya Road (E75) is the stretch between Sheikh Zayed Road (E11) and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road (E311), so you can reach these stations by taking either of these two roads. If you are taking the Sheikh Zayed Road (E11) you would need to take Exit 403 and follow signs for Al Faya Road. If you are on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road (E311), take the exit to your right for Al Faya Road or Al Faya Truck Road (E75). Location (from E311 towards E11) : https://goo.gl/maps/wkG1vSq1E2m61qo19 Location (from E11 towards E311) :https://goo.gl/maps/uVZ1hywrzbaFPiBz8 There is no rush in the early hours of the morning and the entire process would take less than 10 minutes. Payment of AED 50 is to be done during the test. Payment is via Card only. Cash is not accepted. No prior booking is needed. Original and valid EID is mandatory for the tests. 4. Alternative is to book an appointment via the SEHA app at various screening centers. Appointments are generally available for the same day and from my recent personal experience if you have an appointment for the same day but at a different timing, say you have an appointment for 1 pm but you are at the screening center at 11 am, they will let you go through. But the same day appointment is a must to take the test. Also, generally there is more rush during the start of the week, but towards the end of the week appointments are easily available. The entire process including waiting in the car can take upto 1 hour depending on the queue. SEHA APP on Apple Store https://apps.apple.com/ae/app/seha/id436297690 SEHA APP on Google Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linkdev.seha&hl=en 5. Kids below 12 years of age donot require the test to be done. 6. If the test results states "No Swab" means you are good to enter Abu Dhabi. In the unfortunate event that you dont get this SMS, then I was informed that you need to do the PCR test. Further details need to be checked. 7. if you have taken the COVID19 vaccine, then you don't need to undergo any of the above tests. 8. If you have no symptoms of COVID19, there is nothing to be worried and you can go ahead and take the test. 9. If you have done a prior test you can enter Abu Dhabi from any of the routes including E11, E311, E611, E22, etc. Now, for the main thing whether the trip to Abu Dhabi is worth the above. With a little bit of planning the above can easily be done and ofcourse any offroader who has already had a taste of Abu Dhabi sands would say an overwhelming YES. DISCLAIMER : The above information are subject to change at any time as per the guidelines of the UAE Government

You are entering dangerous territory my friend. Once this happens, I can assure you that in a year she will start asking "Why are you at home this weekend?"

Thanks @Foxtrot Oscar & @Rahimdad for the wonderful drive. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks @Brette for a wonderful drive. It was non stop fun and a lot of experience on sidees. Fossil Rock is becoming my favourite place to go.

Waitlist 1. Anoop Joseph 2. Srijith

Thank you @Srikumar, I attended my first drive with the new Xterra last week on Saturday which was led by Ale. It was in deed a drive full of fun and adventure and I got quite confident with the car without any issues. I will not be able to join any events this weekend but will try to join the following weekend before Liwa. Hope to see you there as well.

Thank you @Nivin finally I got it done from Juma Al Majid sharjah same person Richard. It was the last 4 piece left with this price. Can’t wait till Friday to hit the dune with it. 😀