Leaderboard

Good morning fellow adventurers, Y'all up for this? The dunes will be scarred from the constant flow of traffic, we may have to give way to marauding dune buggies as they dart in front of us, and we could encounter tourists keen to see the sunset from the top. Will it be worth it? You had better believe it! Badayer/Area 53 is an off roaders dream. Here's hoping the conditions are good to us today and we have the best adventure. We shall be using radio channel 3 (three) My proposed convoy is as follows: Driver Car Level Position Angela @Foxtrot Oscar Black X Expert Lead @Ilya Golubinsky White Wrangler IM 2nd lead @asifk Silver Pajero LWB IM 3rd @Hisham Masaad Black FJC IM 4th @GauravSoni Pajero LWB IM 5th @Kailas Red Wrangler Adv CF @Ashok chaturvedi Yellow FJC IM 7th @David Ortells FJC IM 8th @siddharth maheshwari White Wrangler IM 9th @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ Yellow Wrangler IM 10th @Francois Germishuys F150 IM 11th @Islam Soliman Yukon Adv Sweep

Thank you @Ale Vallecchi, @Vanessa8580 and @Rajeevan Vickneswaran for a very enjoyable drive yesterday. As usual, with @Ale Vallecchi's lead, the drive is very educational, and @Vanessa8580 adds the twist of fun to it. Though the drive was easy, it was a combination of nice scenery and some enjoyable dunes. Noticed though we don't have a slot in the gallery, hot some nice photo. @Vanessa8580 got a nice photo of you on top of a dune, is it ok to post? or I share directly with you?

I quite agree that we should never venture out alone. I can narrate my personal experience yesterday opposite to Global Villege towards Emirates Road I took my dogs in my Pajero which had nothing on board as everything has been shifted to my FJ. The sandy and shrub area looked appealing and I ventured put only to be stuck in a sandy trail. Tried to deflate tyres with car key and used my hand amd a piece of wood to spade out nothing happened. Had to later call my wife from work to bring my loaded FJ to tug out the pajero. So learned my lesson not to venture out alone and never without gear and tools on board. These desert area look innocent and appealing but can become difficult and embarrassing to call for help.

Thank you once again @Luca Palanca Falsini @Jeepie @AlexPol for your guidance on the drive. It was a good drive, barring a couple of risking moves which was a matter of poor judgment on my part. Nevertheless all of those have been chalked up to experience. Cheers!

Drive Report I started the afternoon by making every member of the convoy aware of exactly what I expected from intermediate drivers on an Intermediate drive. Pace, no babysitting and if you have a refusal? Get yourself out of it! I didn’t want to hear constant chatter on the radio, I wanted a drive like no other and by goodness did the convoy deliver! We limbered up as usual in the smaller dunes, which offer excellent practice for the mammoth dunes that lay ahead. We swept around them at some pace, warming up our desert wheels. @Ilya Golubinsky 's mother asked for bigger dunes, and who am I to disappoint someone’s mother?! As we began to climb into the labyrinth of bowls we had a couple of refusals but nothing much, we continued and @GauravSoni experienced a nice crest which @Kailas tried in vain to dig him out of, we got the ropes and @GauravSoni was on the move again. It’s fair to say that the initial climbs met with a fair share of refusals, I asked @GauravSoni to check his tyre pressure and after deflating he was back in the game and then some. Then @asifk found himself in a nice pocket of soft sand and the recovery saw his transmission oil heat up. We stopped to allow it time to cool down and got the magic spray out (water).That seemed to do the trick and we were on the move again. I usually try to convey a sense of what a drive was like in these reports but it is difficult to truly reflect this afternoon’s drive. Perhaps my instructions over the radio would be better. “Climb, push it, push t , sweep the bowl, criss-cross, sweep, cross, push it push it! Control the descent , sweep, cross, sweep, momentum, stay high , cross, stay high, sweep. Cross, sweep, cross, climb PUSH IT PUSH IT!! OWN IT! YALLA! Repeat x 50 🤣 Thank you all so much for your excellent driving skills , you were all utterly fantastic and I had a great time leading you. Special note to @Hisham Masaad who was on his first IM and had a flawless drive and also @asifk who did exceptionally well. It was great to drive with @Francois Germishuys for the first time too. Love how you have control of that beast! To @David Ortells, @siddharth maheshwari , @GauravSoni, @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQand @Ashok chaturvedi, you all had great drives, thank you. Special thanks to @Ilya Golubinsky who once again was excellent as my second lead, to @Kailaswho kept an eye on everything at the front of the convoy and to @Islam Soliman who was sweeping at the back. Brilliant support! And that was that, Sharjah’s Bowls….Owned! Until our next adventure.

I’m happy to offer my services when I can 😂. @Arman and I try our best to make everyone laugh and not think about the difficulties of shoveling every now and then. Thank you @Wrangeld for making me your second lead I hope I did you proud, and I hoped I helped and did everyone else proud in the convoy! I thought sweep was fun, but being second lead is more so fun to be honest 😂 now I’m in a dilemma, second lead or sweep.

Good drive today. Few hairy moments on high ridges and unexpected turns. Smooth sailing though. Thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks a lot @Luca Palanca Falsini

Oh then you missed the RAK drive in December. It was close.to area that you refer to and was awesomely scenic...again thanks to @Ale Vallecchi and @Wrangeld for exploring that track...was simply the most scenic drive i have been to.

Hey all, did anyone take any videos or photographs? I had a GoPro on my roof for the drive so will share the video once edited.

Hi @Foxtrot Oscar thanks for the add. C u later

In addition to the new constructions on going, which I Don't know what for?! Could it be more ghost roads🤔

Thank you Fred for leading and all the support crew for their help on the drive! I felt that I needed to keep the revs high mainly in first to get into the sweet spot torque band to tackle a few of the higher dunes. And to trust the momentum of the car to take you across the ridge when you reach the top Clearly lots to learn and explore Really nice to meet everyone and looking forward to future drives😀

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi would be interested to visit this place... 😀

Hi @Ashok chaturvedi. It's an area off of E611, with a grid of tarmac roads and roundabouts almost all buried by the desert. Beyond these disappearing grid is a nice desert area (reaching toward E44) with great views of Downtown Dubai, the Burj Khalifa and the Burj al Arab. Very nice area.

Hi @varunmehndiratta. That's still the plan, with a full day drive that I would like to post in another couple of weeks. I am still "re-educating" the FJ to the sand, and will wait just a little more for a long range drive. Still, this should be quite a long drive (in the realm of 60+ Km). Hope to see you there.

@GautamaialniMost of the off road garages and workshops can fabricate and install the skid plates for you...You can find these garages in Ras Al Khor and Al Quoz area...just ensure the thickness is between 8mm to 10mm for the front and for the back you just need one just to prevent the rear bumper to scoop sand. The front skid plate should not exceed 1100 dhs and the back 450 dhs max... You might need a front bumper trimming as well.

Hi Humayun, it is not very hi res as an extract from a video. 750kb I do have other photos, check the gallery ( for some reason named E66)

Hi Paul, very nice pictures! would it be possible to get a high res version of the second picture?

Of course you can share it 😉

Thank you @Vanessa8580 for taking us to such an adventurous ride. You and @Jeepie (Mariam) have tackled all the hurdles very professionally even it was very bad weather. Thank you once again.

Hi Thomas. It's not that close to Business Bay. Its to the right of E611, in the direction of Sharjah, after E611 intersects E66. The grid is visited by many, for picnics and photographing. There you will not get lost. Going beyond it, toward E44 is tricky, you need to know your way, and things can happen like in any other desert. So no going there alone is suggested, as at Carnity we never suggest to venture in the desert alone, ever.

Yes I hav heard that expats are not allowed to export car older than 10 years... No idea about exact rule though...

Indeed very sad incident Dr @Mohamed Seidam. This is laziness or lack of knowledge which created such incident. The stuck vehicle did not budge an inch. The way the Patrol was stuck it would have been better to recover it from the other side. As we are unable to see the other side for any dangers, securing the rope with a heavy bag or a bungee cord could have saved the Hummer driver. Diging behind the wheels to create an easy path could have also saved the hard tugs. Such a hard tug is never recommended. Much better to have a few tugs of much lower intensity.

Today was really nice drive. Despite extremely hot weather for March we had lots of fun. 6 driver was ready to leave at 6.30am so we left around 6.35. There was some late comers reached us trough radio around 6.40 but as per Carnity rules we can`t wait for anyone. We had to leave otherwise it would be disrespect for the people were ready to leave at 6.30. Anyway we found our way to beautiful Big Red. We had few refusals but everyone managed to handle the big dunes. After that we came to front side of Big Red where we pushed our climbing abilities. From Big Red we start driving towards to Pink Rock. Drivers were so flawless we didn`t even touch our radios for long time. Once we reach to Pink Rock we made some climbs. Man that Tundra was looking amazing, sounding amazing and climbing amazing. Anyway we start moving to Suwaydan area where our little Jimny start shining. That thing had hard time at long climbs but impossible to get it stuck in technical dunes. Anyway overall that Jimny shocked everyone. It reached every point with all other V6 and V8 cars. Suwaydan was scenic drive with trees, bushes and camels around. From Suwaydan we found our way to Faya. We were lucky to find the Faya empty. We had several climbing attempts and since still we have time we drove bit further to my famous Bowl. After playing in the bowl and driving around the Faya we reached safely to the Exit. Thank you all for joining. You guys were amazing. Special thanks for @Nivin for his fabulous support. I am unable to share the drive log since my phone got overheated and closed while recording the track.

Trust me its better to let her drive so she joins too, otherwise wifey drive joining quota last 2-3 drives as a passenger. I learned offroading for my wife and then after 3 drives she got bored and I got the sand bug for life.

@Tbone don't have words to describe the fun we all had during your drive. Short convoy more enjoyment. @Mario Cornejo, @Rob Harper, @Anvar Sadath Bekal all driving good. Not even one stuck to free the hands from the wheel. The entire drive I couldn't smoke as both my hands were busy holding the wheel. 1st time in all these almost 20 plus drives with @Carnity I had to switch off the AC. Thanks for the amazing side slopping areas you showed us and let us practice. Shall I call this side slopping and ridge flattening drive? The apt word is motocross. The way you let us drive after checking out fun areas yourself for our safety is commendable. You not only check out for safety but every step of the climb is being announced on the radio for us to watch and understand. I wonder how you do this during the climb. The black Xterra sailing through those dunes really inspired all of us. The advice you gave at the end of the drive turned out to be true about hypertension. I checked my BP and was surprised to see it has dropped down to levels unbelievable. I was planning to drop out of drives once summer is in full strength but now in 2 minds. Anyways going to consult my physician to check out about the medicine dosage as BP has dropped dangerously low.

@Wrangeld @Jeandre Bezuidenhout @KalahariThank you for a super drive today! The trip felt like we were supported by 3 marshals!! I know you didn’t sign up for a workout @Kalahari @Jeandre Bezuidenhout however you left us feeling a complete comfort/confidence at the back of the convoy -thankyou. I didn’t say much during the whole drive, I was concentrating as the route was challenging and a faster pace for me, however the main reason was I was enjoying the @Shehab Alawadhi and @Arman show! You two are a gift to any convoy as you both really do make it a laugh the whole ride! My personal favorites ... @Shehab Alawadhi offering his washboard abs as a jack-board, being branded the bridge maker for his unselfish and consistent flattening of dunes and both of them doing pull ups and dips on the TJ as one of the group was being recovered! ... there were many more hilarious moments and thank you both for the energy and great vibes throughout! @Wrangeld drives are famed for being technical torture (my motivation for joining them ) so massive kudos to @Shehab Alawadhi for being a SL with the boat and managing it with such poise and control... seriously impressive! I was excited to have a chance to use the ATRAC butting at the beginning of the ride ... it felt like a magic button!! It was great to be with some old newbie/fewbie friends @Danish Mohammad @N@ved ... And my favorite Jeep has been the TJ so to be sandwiched in the convoy by @Arman and @N@ved made me feel like I was cheating on my FJ at times! Thanks again @Wrangeld for what was a challenging, technical, fast and fun ride! I’ll try and speak up a bit more on future drives (and write less)

Hi @Frederic your feedbacks are spot on and invaluable. I remember every word of yours, I can feel that I am already started learning quickly about Pajero and started loving it. Probably couple of more drives I should learn more coupled with all your inputs. Thanks to all seniors who did a great supporting role making every one feel comfortable. Thanks to entire convoy for sharing the great day and providing such opportunity to learn from every moment. @Thomas Varghese you are very true, already off roading is making me crazy about it. I had just recovered today morning from covid vaccine side effects and was on my first drive. Could imagine how far it can go. I believe now every one above 40 age can get vaccinated, kindly go for it asap as per your convenience. Thanks, Lakshmi narasimhan

Hello @Chaitanya and the rest of the team leads! Thank you for a fantastic drive this morning. It felt good to get stuck a few times and get some assistance in recovery. All of you are class A in my book!

Most Mitsubishi Pajero owners might have heard about the 4WD Super Select II system, which is the control system on their Pajero 4x4. There are a lot of misconceptions on what mode to use in the desert, and the use of differential locks. Below I will describe the functionality of the 4WD Super Select II system and how to use it for offroading in the UAE sand. Also, we will talk about the use of differential locks (center and rear) functionality, when needed. Your Pajero equipped with the 4WD Super Select system has 4 modes. Switching between 2H and 4H can be done while driving (max 100km/h). If you need to switch to 4Hlc or 4Llc you will need to stop the vehicle, put it in Neutral, then select the desired gear. 2H - 2 Wheel Drive This mode is for dry highway roads only, and will slightly reduce road noise and fuel consumption. 4H - 4 High This mode is the one we generally use for offroading in the dunes on most levels. The Viscous Coupling System distributes the power to the front and back based on the condition of the terrain (33% front / 67% rear). 4Hlc: Instead of the viscous coupling used in 4H, this mode locks the front and rear wheels together at a 50/50 ratio. (Center Diff lock) This mode can be used for more advanced offroading or soft areas when required. This mode is not for on-road driving !! 4LLC: - 4 Low with Lock Center differential This mode is used for self-recovery, steep hill climb, and descending from very steep slopes only. The maximum speed you should use 4Llc is 30km/h. Driving beyond 30km/h in Low gear will damage the gearbox sooner or later and should be avoided at all times. The well known Omani hack puts the car in limp mode, and can only be used in Low gear, hence is not recommended to be used if you go beyond this maximum speed. Rear Differential Lock Some Pajero models come with the R/D Lock or Rear Differential Lock. This option can be activated during your self recovery. How does it work ? In normal situations, your rear differential is "open". This means the rear left and rear right wheels can turn at different speeds, and this is necessary because of the speed difference when turning your wheels on the road. When the rear differential is open, and you are stuck in the sand with one rear wheel free, and one rear wheel stuck, ALL the power will go to the wheel that is free, hence recovery is quite difficult. Engaging your R/D lock will lock both wheels on the rear axle (like it becomes one solid axle). So even when your one wheel is free, it will still send power to the wheel that is stuck. The Rear Differential Lock is very useful, but not a MUST HAVE. It will come standard on the 3.8 Models. Drive Mode or Tiptronic Mode As you learn offroading, we generally advise you to keep the car in "D". The reason is that we want you to focus on the terrain and let the car think for you which gear it should take. Once you start entering higher level drives, you might find that the gearbox is a bit slow in reacting, or that it is upshifting or downshifting at the wrong time. This is not always the fault of your transmission, but could also be yourself who is quite nervous with the throttle pedal, making it hard for the car to decide what you want. As a result during offroading the transmission will be constantly shifting and during hot days this will lead to overheating. Tiptronic mode gives you as a driver full control over which gear you want to select. Initially this takes a bit of practice, but soon you will see that you'll be able to keep the car better controlled by choosing the right gear and keeping it in that gear as much as you can. For example during offroading you can keep it in 2nd gear, and shift back to 1st gear whenever you need to tackle a dune. As you can see, the Pajero has a lot of functionalities that might be confusing at the start, but once you start using them it will become clear that the Super Select II 4WD system is one of the best systems for 4WD on the market since a long time.

I think the one I mentioned was on 26th Dec, a Newbie i believe...if ever get chance do explore it...

I have seen a trail going past the RAK The Ritz Carlton Wadi resort and always wanted to explore there. Any marshal's in @Carnity have plans to organize a drive in that area? I suppose it should be a full day drive considering the distance. I probably went a km into that trail in 2020 June and backtracked as the road was going on an on into no idea where and was afraid I might get lost as I have no navigational skills.

It looks I got this sand bug long time back ( Dady work trips in empty quarter ) and Carnity just triggered the hibernating bear inside of me , I guess my little Abdallah is just on the same path like grandpa and papa 😅

Hi Osman Any limitations on the age of the car? Example cannot be more than 10 year old etc. Thanks in advance

Thanks a lot @Chaitanya and the rest!!! Great drive this morning 👍

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi as usual for the smooth lead, and great drive, it was an interesting one for sure with many scenic varieties. Thanks @Vanessa8580, @Rajeevan Vickneswaran for the support and keeping the convoy together, and for the informative conversation at the end 👍😀

Apologies will have to drop off.

@Paras Ali if you are new to the club, you will have to join an Absolute newbie drive first. There is still a spot available tomorrow morning or you can join the one next Friday. I removed your name from this drive.

RSVP is closed I welcome @Rob Harper, @Anvar Sadath Bekal, @luwaimn, @Bhaskar, @Thomas Varghese and @Mario Cornejo to this drive. We will be using the carnity Channel 3. Find the convoy order as in below We will start sharp by 2PM. See you in the sand.

Thanks @Wrangeld. I will be there sharp at 6 am. Just reached home after today's drive with @Chaitanya D as the 2nd lead.

Hi Sertaç, I will be traveling tomorrow therefore dropped off the ride today. Could you please remove me perhaps someone from the waiting list could be added.

Hi @Hennie Schoeman, @Watteau, @William Fernandes, @Mario Cornejo, @AlexPol, @Javier Lucero, @imranaasghar81, @Sreejith Sreenivasan And @Jeepie please find below the convoy order for tomorrow. We are going to use Carnity channel 4 (44608125). See you on the sand then!!!

Hi @Ale Vallecchi thank you for these information Can’t wait to discover the «Ghost Road » 👻👻👻👻 i had the same question as @Ahmed Wagdy but he was faster than me 😉 See you tomorrow

🤞

@Shiju Manuel thank you so much for the detailed info. I will check there.

Thank You Khaleej Times, For sharing Carnity's vision with millions of car owners and enthusiasts. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/car-owners-bank-on-portals-to-make-informed-decisions-says-carnity