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@Gaurav I thought this was one of your Absolute Newby drives, when there was some important sport on the TV!

Don't be fooled by the wide angle video. It can create the illusion of higher speed and sharp angles. You can actually see the "speedometer" showing speeds over 80 KM/H when they are clearly going slower than that. I suggest, that if you want to do extreme things, get the proper equipment for it. A boogie, helmet, 4 points seatbelts, rolling cage (real rolling cage). Street cars are not meant for driving like that in the desert.

Mahmoud Asar @Mahmoud Asar Mohamed Abo ElKomsan @Mohamed Abo ElKomsan Thomas Varghese @Thomas Varghese Shehab Alawadhi @Shehab Alawadhi Mohamed Seidam @Mohamed Seidam Szymon Stankiewicz @Szymon Stankiewicz Arman @Arman Alphin Aloor @Alphin Aloor Aus Alzubaidi @Aus Alzubaidi Harold Roberts @Harold Roberts Tuesday is the day we all start looking towards the weekend again - after all, even though we are half way through the morning, it's technically the middle of the week! So ... if your plans are likely to change, please do sign out from the drive. Our club is growing quickly and there are people who will fill any space that might become free. Secondly, today is the day to check your vehicle. Last week, we had a challenging time because one of the vehicles started having problems and we ended up on a much longer drive than planned. We all had a ball and really enjoyed it, but there was not as much movement as I would like so PLEASE do make the checks on your vehicles to make sure that you will not be disappointed by their failing to match up to your enthusiasm. I think we all tend to take the cars for granted and forget that these weeklend jaunts really do take a toll on the cars. Check the levels of your fluids - we say this in the briefings, but not enough people actually make the check before they go out. Make sure you have a good spare - last week I had a pop out that would not pop back. Imagine our trouble if that had not been changeable with a good spare tyre. Check your tow points for structural integrity - in the last month, I have seen two tow points go flying during recoveries. Luckily, nothing serious happened, but seeing a piece of metal hurtling towards a car is quite scary. And finally... make sure you have a proper shovel. Over the height of COVID we practiced a lot more towed recoveries because we wanted to be sure everyone stayed safe in their vehicles. Not that COVID is by any means over, but we need to get back to the idea that drivers learn how to reover with a little shovelling and driving expertise than being towed out of trouble every time. This means that if you bring a teaspoon to the party, you'll be working much harder than you need. Happy also to announce that one of our new leaders is joinng the party. @Janarthan has signed up to support the drive. I am really delighted about that and know that he is going to be a great asset for us all. More to follow in the coming days. See you soon in the sand.

Drive report We started with a little delay - late comers, not a big deal, but for your next drive plan to reach a few minutes before meeting time so that other drivers won't have to wait for you. Good point is that everyone, including those who were attending their first newbie, managed to deflate, raise the flag and change the Radio channel without asking for help. It's a detail but it tells a lot about your readiness as off-roaders. I was also blessed to have a wonderful support team during this drive: @Harold Roberts (again, congratulations for your promotion to fewbie level) was my second lead, @Goutam, center forward, and @Frederic in sweep. For the first half, we headed to Qudra South side, starting easy till we reached the long range dunes area next to the oryx farm, where we were able to increase the pace and enjoy nice side slopping. Those middle dunes might be a bit scary for really new off-roaders, but as a matter of fact no one has been shy on the gas (nore reckless) at any moment and, honestly, I wasn't expecting to reach such a good pace at newbie level. Well done @Badar Tariq, @ZakWarah, @rajeshkumar rathod, @frederic demolder, @Salty3Arab, @Carlos Fernandez, @Larry Cadden, @Matthew Ticehurst, @Alphin Aloor! Amazing convoy! For the second half of the drive, we came back to our meeting point and continued to Al-Hathmah, which is a bit more technical area. I was very impressed with all the drivers' skills, especially those who have low ground clearance, @frederic demolder and @ZakWarah, as we had a wonderful smooth drive almost till the end. By "almost", I'm referring to the 1 or 2 last kilometers before the track leading to our exit point, in a more technical area that we usually avoid at newbie level... but since everyone was doing so well… Anyways, we had some good fun with shovels, sand tracks and ropes. Excellent opportunity for everyone to learn something. Hopefully, the recoveries and last difficult crossing ended just at sunset, so we were already on the track when night came. Thank you all, supports and drivers. It's been truly a very fun drive for me, well done everyone. See you next time!

SPOT ON. Well done @Alexander Alcala for nailing it perfectly that such extreme drives need a proper safety too. Doing it with your daily driver without a roll cage, helmet, 5-point harness and other advance safety feature to cut-off fuel supply in case of rollover is highly not recommended here.

The 500 rule is a well known rule amongst photographers to have a guideline when it comes to setting the shutter speed according to your focal length. Basically it means to avoid blurry shots, the longest shutter speed you can use is equal to 500 divided by your focal length. For example, if your focal length is 20mm, the 500 rule says that you can use a shutter speed of 500/20, or 25 seconds. Here’s a quick chart of the longest shutter speeds you can use at night for a given lens. (The numbers below are full-frame equivalents. If you have, for example, an 18mm lens on a 1.5x crop-sensor camera, you’ll need to look at 28mm on this chart): -11mm: 45.5 seconds -12mm: 41.7 seconds -14mm: 35.7 seconds -16mm: 31.3 seconds -18mm: 27.8 seconds -20mm: 25 seconds -24mm: 20.8 seconds -28mm: 17.9 seconds -35mm: 14.3 seconds -50mm: 10 seconds -85mm: 5.9 seconds The numbers keep changing because new cameras have more and more pixels, which means that they can detect smaller and smaller star movements. The chart above is a good guide, but you’ll want to test your own camera to confirm that there isn’t too much movement, particularly if you have a recent camera with an extremely high megapixel count (more than 36). night-sky-cheat-sheet-new.pdf

@Alex Sidorov very clear explanations and suggestions from @Brette @Rahimdad and @VipinShetty... I made changes to front & back bumpers and installed a skid plate.. it made a big difference in my driving, I was able focus on driving rather than worrying about damages (one less thing to worry about) W.r.t 20” rims... I haven’t got any issues in the initial levels but like seniors suggests I too feel that it will be safe to use 18” as we move up the level. About pulling off airbag fuse. This is very important, please make it a practice to do this before the drive.

It was indeed a wonderful drive and we were blessed with a group of drivers who were enthusiastic to explore this area as a team. I was delighted to be in the sweep as it allowed me to have a good look on how everyone was doing, and I liked what I saw: even in places where sometimes I thought it was going to be a little bit tougher due to the churned up tracks, everyone ploughed through it, and the technical area was the perfect exercise and cherry on top of the cake that gave them a different flavor and brought us back to our senses. You've nailed this drive, and the smiles I saw and the positive things I heard at the end of the drive confirm this too. @Goutam you were great in supporting the drive, and everyone stepped up to the plate when needed. See you all soon in the sand !

@Wrangeld I already had all the fluids, checked yesterday at the garage. Got the radiator hoses & spark plugs changed along with the inlet manifold, throttle body & MAF sensor cleaned and serviced. All electricals checked. Hopefully the vehicle will not give me more surprises as it did yesterday at the garage by showing the radiator hoses were weak. Me & my car is ready. I did all this as 2 cars developed problems during our last drive with @Ale Vallecchi and had to be extracted to the tarmac. See you on Friday ay 7am. The only thing which worries me are the stock tow hooks which I didn't get time to replace with new ones. Hopefully the stock ones will serve the purpose as I got stuck 3 times during my Absolute Newbie drive and held when it was being towed out of the stuck by @sertac and once during a Newbie drive by @Jeepie. I pray I won't get stuck much as more throttle control and momentum along with reading of surfaces had been learned from @Frederic, @Gaurav, @Ale Vallecchi , @Rahimdad & @Chaitanya D and I will not hold the convoy up with more stucks.

@Alex Sidorov airbag fuse is designed in such a way that the fuse doesn’t need to be completely removed. It is the big yellow fuse at the bottom left corner, this can pulled off and the fuse stays inside the box. To remove other fuse you can use the yellow color plier at the right side top corner. These fuse can be removed completely and put back, I have not done that so far as I am only pulling of the airbag fuse. yes you can remove lower fascia and can be fitted back again.

Thank you brother, Dr @Mohamed Seidam. You are very much right, distractions can also put you in lots of trouble. @Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader you are also right in your deduction about why it happened. But the video is not so clear and you see some bushes all over the place, his car could have got caught up in one of these bushes. But if you see the first Jeep, just follow it, why you want to prove you can go extra over the other one. This is part of ego that can put you in trouble.

Golden Key by @Rahimdad 🤗

@Aus Alzubaidi next time we drive together i'll take a video of you and make it look just like that. 2.5x publishing speed 🤣🤣🤣

Thank you! After reading all the info you guys shared and doing some more digging (not in the sand), I would like to own a more recent model. @Craig I'll post a pic as soon as I get it, pinky promise ☝️(couldn’t find a pinky😁)

Thank you team, this was very helpful. Forgive my ignorance, but I honestly had no clue what to expect from the advanced levels. Reading the grading structure is not like watching these videos. I totally agree with all of you, it looks very unsafe to drive your road car like this. I'm not an adrenaline junkie and can't possibly risk my life like that. It does look cool never the less!

Hi Richard, I got space in Brette drive you can remove me from waiting list . thank you .

Hi Karthik, You are added on the waitlist. If someone drops out you are 1st. There is still space on @Brette fewbie drive if you want to be 100% sure of your drive.

Hi Richard , Please add me to the waiting list . thanks

@ZakWarah hello Zak i am an owner of JGC 2016 limited V6 however I ended deciding to spare it for the family on road and maybe a light offroad track to Qudra lakes when family all in and I purchased an Xterra 2012 for both on and my weekly offroad drives. There is no doubt at all that JGC is a powerful vehicle and capable in the different terrains offroad including the sand . But I also believe it’s a premium vehicle with sophisticated tech and to make it regularly an off-roader you have to give up some aesthetic items like the chrome .. etc in addition installing kill switches and pulling fuses as mentioned previously above. There are friends like @Brette @VipinShetty and @Ashy whom they can tell better how this elegant beast can perform in sand more than I do . Cheers

Rahimdad, thanks indeed for supporting me. looking forward to it.Friday morning is normally not that busy in this area so will be an exciting drive.

@Aus Alzubaidi I hope you'll never drive like these senseless reckless people. But the high pace drive is possible at Intermediate level when everyone is just as capable and has confidence in one another. I think the biggest criteria to stay safe would be you've driven before with these drivers and know each other like hand and glove. One small mistake can result in disaster. Last but not the least you need wide open dunes in which to enjoy such high speed drives. Stephan, Wagan, Liwa, Umm Al Oush, Bu TaiTais come to mind. @Emmanuel is our Velociraptor for these terrains.

are you letting yourself to be kidnapped by @Arman. I don't mind getting kidnapped too. Let me know the time and venue so that I can surrender myself.

@Alex Sidorov, pls refer to https://fuse-box.info/jeep/jeep-grand-cherokee-wk2-2011-present-fuses and check the details related to your model year. Mine is 2019 model, the F85 & F86 are for airbags and are 1 assembly(yellow coloured) with an inbuilt arrangement to pull them off. F76 is for ESP and would need a nose plier to pull out. There are more fuses which can disable the ABS and ESP like F6, F26 ... i havent tried them yet though... you can also look at the underside of the fuse box cover for your car specific data. WK2 Fuse box diagram 2019.pdf

Hello Off road Gurus, 😊 Need to learn from your experience. What engine oil would you recommend for the cars with old engines or with higher mileage on the dial. My Pajero just completed 200K on the dial. I normally use 20w/ 50 for the older engine. Also for the gear oil. Keeping off roading in consideration of course. Kindly advise. Thx & Regards.

Higher mileage engines might start consuming a bit of oil, hence going for a slightly thicker oil like a 20w50 makes sense. On the other hand the 20w50 is a mineral oil which provides less protection in comparison with a full synthetic oil. I have tried both and for now I stick with the 5w40 Castrol or Mobil1 on both our Pajeros. With regards to gear oil you should strictly stick to what the maintenance manual says. When it comes to oil intervals, if you are offroading on a weekly basis you should consider bringing your interval to 70-80% of time, for example a full synthetic oil 10,000km oil change would better be done at 7000-8000kms. Same formula would apply for gear oil. (20,000 kms). These are general guidelines and everyone will have different experiences of course. I have experience in the machine industry where we keep mineral oils for many years on a running machine but perform oil analysis as replacing 4000l tends to be a bit expensive

@Wrangeld I love the fact that you’re hyping us so much. It honestly adds to the fun of waiting to go on the drive and adds fun to the drive itself.

Going above 2012 is wise choice.

I almost did but then the seller backed out and decided to keep it. After that I almost got a 2005 model but then decided against it. I've decided to get at least a 2012 or preferably newer, and am hunting for a good one now again. Here's hoping I'll soon be part of the Jeep community.

Current Waitlist as of Tuesday 4PM: 1) Rajeshkumar Rathod (1) 2) Larry Cadden (1) 3) Humayun Ghias (1) 4) AlexPol (2) 5) Goutam (2)

Its very advanced calculation and I think only to be used by astro photographers for which you need to have very deep knowledge about modifying the camera, the lenses to be used, the declination of stars etc. I am very happy with the present set up which keeps me wondering which type of photography to be pursued with the equipment I have. After coming to know about anamorphic lenses and how the movie stars were portrayed in movies in larger than life sizes I want to try them for my portraits

https://www.photopills.com/calculators/spotstars

This is specifically related to astrophotography where you would need to use a tripod or stand, and these are just guidelines of course. They are actual seconds. For example: - Max shutter speed for a 50mm lens is 500 divided by 50 = 10 seconds.

I only just saw this @Ranjan Das great to drive with you again , and also looking forward to the fresh challenges this weekend has in store. Ps. Great pics! Nice vid and pic @Lucky sAm. I'm pleased you'll be joining us again this weekend

This is very close to how I feel about it. Would you use JGC for occasional newbie/freebie rides? As I at least want to try it/test it out in desert conditions. @ZakWarah one technical question about fuses-do you completely remove them and put back after rides or just pull them up and they remain in fusebox/slots? @Ashy would you remove lower fascia just to give it a shot for a newbie ride

Sadly most probably not 🤣

Looking forward to the drive with @Pancho and ofcourse with the most experienced the super entertaining @Rahimdadbhai 👍

In my opinion he stopped or slowed at a very awkward position and instead of steering left down wards with some acceleration he stayed still which caused the incident... 🤕

I totally agree with @Rahimdad bhai and if I may add one more . Two things should be left at home Ego and Distraction the worst combination in the Wild

I think its about Ego which should be left at home when coming out to off-road. I can do better and longer than him.

@Thomas Varghese inshallah Friday!

@Shehab Alawadhi to tell you the truth I'm not a photographer. Its like calling me an offroader bcoz I have an offroader. It would be lovely to meet a fellow offroader who likes to take pictures. Looking forward to meet you, your friend and @Arman

@Thomas Varghese I may have a passenger coming with me and he is also a photographer. thought you guys would get along well!

@Arman you have again elevated my excitement. I can't believe myself why I'm excited for a drive. Only 1 answer. The passion to drive and learn new techniques on every terrain. @Wrangeld will surely elevate the passion.

The first vehcile attempted a much smaller U curve and tested it. The second one, I felt there was a stall? There is a one or two seconds still moment before the vehcile flips.

Hello @sertac Please add me to waiting list Thanks !

Thanks for a comprehensive answer @VipinShetty

Well it looks great in the videos to share 🤣 - proper dune bashing. We all do fast paced drives regularly as feasible ( generally at FB+/IM and above), but we prefer safety than be sorry. I would say this is a hobby to energize us without doing anything crazy which would risk anyone. As long as you are doing it safely , do whatever but without crossing that thin line which can end up in a nasty situation.

Drive Report Did I not tell you we would have fun? 😉 We started off promptly and played around for a little bit to get the desert wheels in motion. It’s a well-trodden path and the sand conditions proved quite tricky - So we popped across the road and got down to business! There were lots of technical areas to navigate so the odd refusal here and there was to be expected in such a large convoy. Kudos to the guys at the back @Rizwan Waheed and @Ranjan Das for getting through the churned-up sand. We reached the red open sands of our first play area, Where we managed some nice side slopes, a couple of criss srosses and @Lucky sAm lived up to his name when he had a near miss with a bush. Well done for handling the self recovery, listening to and following instructions perfectly. We then managed one almighty side slope before we reached the track and headed to the roundabout to cross over into the Faya area. I always say the drive is dependent on the attendees, I asked what you wanted, and you all said you wanted to fast track it to the mighty Faya dunes. Your wish is my command 😊 This is where the fun really began. That we had so much fun is entirely down to you guys! We went at some pace which is necessary for those dunes, you all followed my instructions, kept high and kept your momentum. I’m not joking when I say that seeing you all sweep those dunes perfectly in a convoy was thrilling for me. It looked majestic!! There were no other cars, just the Carnity convoy absolutely owning Faya!!! (Where’s a drone when you need it?!) Amazing driving! I was seriously impressed with you all. @Probir Mukherjee I think deflating to 10 really helped you and to see you climb that mighty dune was very pleasing for me. Well done! @Lucky sAm that’s the best I’ve seen you drive my friend, Great Job. @siddharth maheshwari @GauravSoni @Ranjan Das you all did great and handled absolutely everything I threw at you! Excellent driving. @Archibald Jurdi I couldn’t believe it when you flew up that dune, I’m delighted you’re getting the most out of that beautiful jeep. Great driving. Finally, to the guys who supported me, THANK YOU! @Goutam for the amazing 2nd lead , allowing me space to reroute and following my instructions to keep the convoy moving. @Tero Vallas, doing wonders to ensure any refusals were dealt with quickly and easily and to @Pancho @Yousef Alimadadi for keeping an eye on the back of the convoy, digging myself and others out when we needed it, as well as making sure we stayed in one convoy and that no one got left behind. Excellent work fellas! Faya ✔️ Until our next adventure!

As the proud (former - for some reason my wife thinks it's hers!!!!!) of a TJ and also an SWB Pajero, here's my contribution. If I had had the money and could have found one that was unthrashed, I would have gone for the SWB Prado or the 4800 Y61. As it turned out, I could afford a Pajero or a Jeep and so with one jeep in the family already, I decided to go for something different. Why the Pajero - mine is a 3.8, and while it suffers from the dreaded 'upchage at 5200rpm' problem, that does not really become an issue too often because this thing has so much power that you don't notice. It's less direct than the Jeep. Translate that how you want - you can say as an alternative that the Paj is comfortable on an off road, and it's pretty much as capable. The Jeep runs on Gelolandars at around 9PSI and the Paj on street tires at 12.5 - so the Jeep is a bit more capable because of that, and being more rugged gets broken less. The body work on the Paj is plastic, so bits get broken a lot easier than the steel of the Jeep. Mechanically - the 4.0L on the Jeep feels indestructable as is the gearbox. It can take a hammering and come back for more. The Paj, less so. As an SWB both are a much of a muchness. I don't yet have any mods on the Paj, so it suffers more on ridge riding and crossing crests than the Jeep. A back plate will fix that. Truth is they are different sides of the same coin and I love them both. If I want a day out hitting the dunes and going straight up and down to my heart's content, I would take the jeep. It's fun and cheeky and can do stuff that I am not sure is capable in other cars big os small because you don't worry when it is under pressure because all that will happen is that the engine will overheat. With the Paj, I love driving to and from the desert in air conditioned comfort where i can hear myself think. I love the composed way it approachs the dunes and is unflustered by anything. Some days after say a newbie I am sort of questoining if we really went out into the desert because it was so comfortable and we never went over 2000rpm When it gets hammered, however, I feel for it because it seems to be saying, ever so gently. Please take just a little bit more care of me. I am tough but not that tough and yes I am small and prefectly formed but I would really like IronMan shocks and then I will really show you what we can do.