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DRIVE REPORT Dear Desert Wanderers, This morning drive was an experiment, as I wanted to test the appetite of Carnity Club Members for a mid-week short morning drive and to understand how it should be implement to make it as successful and pleasant as possible. As an experiment, I would say it was a positive one, even if - it must be said - it wasn't the luckiest nor the smoothest of all drives, and we certainly came home with a series of good ideas to make it better next time. We hit the sand at 5:54am, with almost 10 mins of delay, as a few members of the convoy reached at the last minute. On mid-week morning drives, respecting the time in and the time out is a critical success factor as everyone has a job waiting at the end, so next time it should be everyone's clear understanding that the time stated in the drive post is the DEPARTURE TIME, ie by then we should be deflated and flagged, possibly briefed and ready to go. We were just 700 meters into the drive when @Islam Soliman announced his pop-out. The sign was clear and I knew, at that point, that our morning was going to be complicated.. The pop-out was quickly fixed and we could get back on track. We crossed a small section of technical dunes with no major challenges, then we reached the first group of long range dunes. With the sun mostly to our front right side, we had perfect visual on the sand and we really enjoyed a good 40 mins of long ridge riding and side sloping. The convoy was doing great: @Lakshmi Narasimhan, on his 1st Fewbie drive, was doing an excellent job, following the big Yukon in front of him. @Antoz was also a relatively fresh Fewbie but managed his Prado extremely well. @Werno was totally relaxed in his Wrangler. I guess today it was more about the landscape than the driving for him. @Ahab Shamaa, pampers or no pampers, was always where he was supposed to be. An excellent Center Forward, looking after the guys in front and dispensing precious advice when needed the most. @Batuhan Kulac's G63 was a pleasure to watch today. I must say I was expecting more trouble with those low profile tires, but everything was smooth. @Lawrence_Chehimi led his Y62 excellently. I must confess I felt a bit sad watching him ride the same beast I used to drive until just a few weeks ago. The Jeep Wrangler is a beautiful car, but the personal sense of achievement one gets when managing to do some crazy stuff with one's Patrol, honestly has no comparison. @Dodi Syahdar with his F150 did everything everywhere as if it was a walk in the park. I guess it takes more than this to stress his monster car. @GauravSoni at the back, enjoyed all the pleasures of being a sweep.. Driving on churned up sand, but in total freedom. The landscape was beautiful, the light was amazing, the sky was blue, the drive was great. What could we ask more? Thrill and adventure, no doubt. We started with a couple of crested cars, including @Antoz's and @GauravSoni's one, who got a bit too much carried away by the freedom that being a sweep can afford: a sweep can choose any line and not necessarily follow the convoy's track in churned sand, but deviating from the leader's line may be tricky at times.. All stucks were quickly recovered.. But still, not enough thrill.. We then met a huge group of camels, which was really a fascinating view (I hope someone managed to get a some good photos), but again this wasn't enough adventurous. In search of more excitement, I then crossed a crest in the wrong point, finding myself on a very steep face with the nose of my car pointing straight into a huge group of convoluted rocks. Nasty business: no way to go back, no way to go on either side, my only option was to get down to the bottom and somehow get past the rocks. In the end, I collected a few scratches on front and rear bumper, tested the Rubicon sway bar disconnection, and, indeed, somehow got out. The funny thing is that everyone but @Islam Soliman was on the other side of the crest, and missed the show! We had just regrouped the convoy and started moving again, when @Lakshmi Narasimhan announced a the 2nd pop-out of the day. This one required a bit more effort, as we had to lift the car twice, but was anyway sorted out rather quickly. By 7:30am we had been 1h 35' into the drive, with more than 49' stopped. It was time for @Islam Solimanto take his partial lead, as he deserved at least a good full hour for himself. We soon exited the long range dunes where we had spent so much time and moved to a more technical and demanding area with medium/small size dunes. @Islam Soliman took us across some very nice spots driving along very nice lines. As happens to every daring leader, he got crested a couple of times, but that only means he didn't hold back in trying to find non-trivial trajectories for us to follow. Well done! At 8:40am I'm sure everyone would have continued a bit more, but time was of essence for those of us who had a job waiting in the real world, so I took the lead to reach a well known flat track nearby and get us back to our starting point, where we reached at 8:55am. In the end, due to the many events that held us back, we could only cover 31km (plus which 13 on sabkha / flat track to get back to Al Qudra), half of the distance we were supposed to cover in order to reach Lisaili Fort. We drove for 3h, of which 2h moving and 1h stopped, at an average moving speed of 20km/h, a figure doped by the final high speed stint on flat ground. Our actual moving speed in the dunes was actually way less than that, around 15km/h. It was great fun, despite the many challenges. On the next midweek morning drive, hopefully we will be a bit luckier, but I'd say there will be definitely another one and I hope you'll count yourselves in once more. Have a great end of the week and see you in the sand again soon. Thank you all for your company and thanks to @Islam Soliman, @Ahab Shamaaand @GauravSoni for their precious support.

I would advise the following: 1) calculate the total wattage of LED lights that would be activated at the same time. If you have different switches for different configurations maybe you won’t be switching them all on. 2) Divide the total wattage of the LED lights with 12. That will give you the current in Amps. An example: 450W total LED power divided by 12 Volts gives you 37 Amps. This is perfectly fine for a stock battery but a 75Ah battery will run empty after about 2 hours. Think about the following setup: 1) Powerful setup for off-roading. As long as your engine is running the battery won’t run empty. 2) Economical setup for camping which has lower wattage so it doesn’t drain your battery quickly. A few of those small cubicle LEDs could be good enough. A second battery will require a lot of extra cabling, extra weight, and will need to be installed properly. If you go that direction, Optima Yellow batteries are fantastic but need to be equipped with battery management systems. As an off-road vehicle you’ll need to make certain compromises: if you like dynamic dune bashing and fast pace driving you should think about the fact that every kg reduces engine power. If you want to make a kind of overlanding vehicle where you focus more on crossing the desert safely this is less of a concern.

OK - Wednesday morning and you're all making weekend plans. Here's my pre-briefing for the drive on Saturday: No dropouts please, because your Friday drive overran or you're tired or the dog ate your homework. If you don't know your weekend plan by now, unless thermonuclear war breaks out, your vehicle got damaged on Friday or there's a real family emergency, any other excuse will be called for what it is. IM drive instructions are pretty simple. If you have a problem, call it out. If you can self recover, take the time needed and do it. If you need help, ask. It's not a race so we are not looking for the fastest recoveries so we can move on. There is a hierarchy in sorting out problems. Drive, dig, rope, winch, helicopter. At IM, you get yourself into trouble, you get yourself out. No excuses, no blame. If you got stuck you got stuck. It's not because the guy/girl in front braked suddenly = you were too close or not in control of your speed. It's not because you did not see the correct line = you're IM so if you don't see the line, make the adjustments needed. Focus on you. Short, implies this will be a technical challenge. It will help your drive skills immensely. Sharp, implies criss cross, ridges and side slipping. Let's see which gives more pleasure. See you Saturday in the Sand.

Thank you @Lorenzo Candelpergher was a pleasant drive. Looking forward to another mid week escape. My my wife manage to capture the camels

And just to add to the mix Pro-Fender have some great solutions that are really well priced compared to the others and worth a look.

@Luca Palanca Falsini i found out that the Toyota dealership rotate guests companies to promote their products, so IronMan being there is not an endorsement from Toyota that they are their chosen/recommended Off-road suspension provider (don't believe their sales person if they said that). I found this out when i purchased my car, ARB had a stand/corner of the dealership advertising their suspension in Jan/Feb. I have no personal experience with IronMan HOWEVER please do not take their presence in the showroom as a sign of their recognition as main/recommended provider. Also the staff are separate, so the Ironman Sales team are completely different than Toyota. You will be spoilt for choice (1st world problem) as your car shares the same frame and suspension as the Hilux. Look into ARB, Dobinsons, TJM, Ironman - likely they will all fall into a similar budget. Sorry i offer no help - just confuse you more

Breathtaking scenery, spotting the Orix heard, driving with the sun setting behind us - just a few of the highlights of today’s drive. Couldn’t have hoped for a better mid-week breather. Thanks @Ale Vallecchifor organizing yet another memorable drives. Looking forward for more!

Thx a lot @Lorenzo Candelpergher for a great weekday morning drive. Having 12 signups for a morning workday drive in Ramadan and the hot summer shows how thirsty Carnities are always are to get back on the sand! With an early morning start we got to enjoy nice breeze and been accompanied by a magnificent camel convoy and the sighting of the camels roaming the desert freely without robes around their white 10s of large birds lining up on that large dune observing the whole convoy was a joyful moment. Excellent performance from everyone in the convoy specially with new fewbies who all did a great job and we were blessed with the support of @Ahab Shamaaand @Gaurav Soni today, thanks all another special thanks to @Lorenzo Candelpergherfor allowing me to lead part of the drive, really appreciated. As my first convoy lead I had lots of learning today battling the urge to enjoy the best dunes that area had to offer while being conscious of our direction to head towards the fort and avoid the tech area, a job that proved challenging with the dunes laying themselves west to east giving only one option to keep crossing these dunes in order to head north toward the fort. With the time pressing and work commitments waiting for all we had to forgive our plan and fast track back towards Qudra to exit on time. Thanks again everyone, can’t wait to drive with you all soon.

Same goes for TJM (suspension) as well.

Ironman 4X4 are an Aussie brand and it seems they've got a really good reputation in Australia where they really LOVE Japanese 4x4 cars especially Pajeros, Patrols, LC and Tacomas. And since the terrain is very similar i would think they'd do fine here. Having a local dealer also means that warranties and maintenance are much cheaper than getting other US parts.

@Lorenzo Candelpergher, @Islam Soliman, @Ahab Shamaa, @Gaurav Soni thanks for the short beautiful morning drive. Well done @Islam Solimanleading us in between. Thanks to every one in the convoy for being so patient with couple of popout, refusals, struck, but lot of learning. What a team work, thanks to all seniors for supporting and guiding. Pretty much relaxing mid week drive love having more!!!

@Mikhail Lukichev @Frederic @Gaurav how would you three like to plan the follow up to the Astro photography drive (original drive was back in Feb and I sadly had to miss it). Moon calendar shows Tuesday-Thursday May 4-6th could be a nice weekday/weekend drive?

I am absolutely looking forward for it. Man with a plan on Astro Photography are @Frederic and @Mikhail Lukichev.

The sun's corona is so overpowering that no amount of editing can subdue it. The MIGHTY SUN. So many people praise the sunrise and sunset at the beach. After joining @Carnity I realized they haven't seen the sunrise & sunset in the desert and seen the most beautiful of them all. The light reflecting from the sand gives it an out of the world view. The sun literally paints the horizon and the desert with its colors.

Thank you @Ale Vallecchi for the relaxing mid week drive, it’s fun to get close to AD the color of the sand is just beautiful there! Great seeing you back @Foxtrot Oscar See you all in the next one inshallah!

Thanks @Lorenzo Candelpergherfor arranging a midweek drive, it was pleassure driving with you. I just noticed you tagged another Lawrence😂, didn't know we have someone in the group with same name and veeery close matching family name😳. I'm sorry to hear what happened to your beast, hope it gets back on tracks really soon. Managing such a car is reallu a pleasure. When we had the first popout today, I switched off my car but forgot to disingage the traction control after starting it again🤦🏻‍♂️ I was feeling the car a bit sluggish and only knew what's going on after we crossed that steep climb in which you said "keep pushing keep pushing" I was actually flooring it but the car was losing power... I guess I would have noticed it immediately if I had my old street tires.. Something I need to be careful about next time... @Islam Solimanyou did great today leading the convoy. See you soon on Sand.

Usually, at least for the first drives, we recommend to come with no passengers so that you won’t be distracted and you can stay focused on your driving/learning. That being said, if you are 100% sure that 4h inside the car won’t be too long for your 9 year old son, and that he won’t feel sick, we respect your decision. Thanks again @Tareck. And welcome to Carnity! (I just realized that I hadn’t welcomed you, sorry)

Thanks for such a detailed feedback @Lorenzo Candelpergher. Experiment, learnings, team work and enjoyment all was there, felt like continuing driving for some more time, considering the time factor its understandable and it was perfect relaxation mid week. Definitely waiting for another drive soon..

@Lorenzo Candelpergher You are a legend for organising a mid-week drive. Some unfortunate events but that is what we need to expect. Can't wait for the next one!

From what I can see, your car fishtailed abruptly to the left, enough to slide sideways and rip your deflated tire out of the rim. When sidesloping, throttle control, combined with countersteering, is key to control fishtailing. It's totally counterintuitive for drivers with limited experience: when fishtailing to the left, as in your case, your instinct would suggest lifting the foot from the throttle and steering to the right, whereas what's needed is more gas to maintain momentum (and traction) and steering to the left to correct the fishtailing. With time, your instincts will make you do the right thing.

@Anish S Any chance you can help me with the Fewbie promotion? Still haven't received my response yet Thanks!

I think you lost some tire pressure at second 12-13 when you made a sharp right turn not sure if you were fishtailing there. Few seconds later you had a popout as you were running low on pressure. In my first drives I was sometimes losing pressure on such turns where it drops instantly from 15 to 8 psi.

@Lakshmi Narasimhan obviously too much pressure on the tire wall due to sliding combined with torque. that's the fine line between tire pressure and tire grip on the rim. hope you enjoyed the recovery 😀😀

This can be due to a few reasons: 1. Your car was fishtailing towards the left and hence the weight of the car was heavily on that tyre 2. You might have been lower than 10 psi in very first place 3. Though not very clear but probably the rear took a bump during the side slopping

@Fiel Francis Telan welcome to Carnity! In preparation for this drive, it is important that you inform us : 1. if you have any prior off-road experience; 2. your vehicle has front and rear tow hooks / eyelets in good working condition. Thanks!

@Lakshmi Narasimhan, my question is do you really need all that much of light? I don't believe you might need them unless you are going on an extreme night drive and not sure if they are necessary. I'm currently running 2 high quality Leds installed on front of the bumper, they provide high lumens and consume less amps than the OEM halogen fog lights. And honestly I don't feel i need much more. My next upgrade will be swapping the combo lenses with Flood lenses for the installed Baja lights and add another Baja spot LED bar with 12000 lumens and I guess that is more than enough, unless you are tending to race at night. With the above setup you won't really need any upgrade to your alternator or battery. As for my night trips/ camping with the family or friends, I have a 500W LED light bought from the gas station and that gives some good light, and i connect it to a separate power bank that i charge at home. I don't want to connect it to my car's battery as it will drain it out unless i keep my engine running.

@Lakshmi Narasimhan, i follow some Facebook pages where they do modifications for the Y62s below is an example they are adding to the Patrols.(if money is not an issue) , below image for example is a 110 Ah lithium battery with built in power management system, and that is 11kg only. Not sure if you can find something similar in Dubai for your car.

@Warren Flay these are Geolander AT G012, I was deflating to 11 on newbie drives, today on fewbie drive I had a popout on pretty straight forward sidey, I was advised to stay on 12 to ovoid popout.

Hey @Lawrence_Chehimithe beast engages the traction control after going from 4low to 4high also. Got me in a couple of nasty situations before

Thanks for thinking of my request Niki. I have looked into this shop once before but have never tried it. Hoping my Cruiser stays together for awhile, at least long enough for my wife to forget how many "not broken" things I have already replaced. hahaha

Hello, i previously went couple of times on a drive desert in my car and yes i have all the required accessories:) Looking forward

@Srikumarplease check this video of my popout, this happened on my rear left wheel which is surprising!!!

Thanks @Frederic for the suggestion. Second battery needs to be put in rear, looking for optima 65 Amp slow discharge battery only with 200amp IBS management System from Switzerland, over all it adds another 20-25 kg, hope it should not drain the power a lot. As suggested i will try to optimize the usage of lights at any point in time.

Actually, no I am not suggesting you are on your own, more that at IM you should have the skill set to get yourself out of trouble and not rely on the guy with the winch to pull you out. If there's no option, that's fine, but it cannot be the default position. Yes, IM should be fast paced - when moving. But if someone gets a refusal then take the time and work the problem. That's how we get to be better drivers.

Hi, I am planning to put on my Fortuner a lift kit. At the moment I choose the Ironman 4x4 foam pro suspensions price is around 4k. The main reason is that are kind of approved by Toyota (found the stand on Toyota shop) and they proclaim to be the strongest (with similar price) because the foam technology. Anyone had experience with that brand?

As we have been respecting authorities guidance & Carnity COVID guidelines to resume desert drives with caution by keeping social distance and wearing mask at all times outside the vehicle Unfortunately few off-roaders have difficulty in understanding and abiding these guidelines. As published in the national newspaper of UAE, everyone need to understand that still there are no gatherings allowed and authorities are issuing fine for 10,000 AED for host and 5,000 AED for attendees. https://gulfnews.com/uae/health/people-caught-violating-covid-19-safety-instructions-prosecuted-1.1591381059748 If you spot anyone stepping out of the car not wearing a mask, please remind them on the radio immediately. As we all are in this together, so we all have to help each other to remind. Failing to abide below list of restriction will result in an immediate ban from Carnity Off-road Club: FIRST WARNING Minimum 1 month ban from joining any Carnity off-road Club drives. Written warning will be issued on your Carnity profile. SECOND WARNING Minimum 6 month ban from joining any Carnity off-road Club drives. Written warning will be issued on your Carnity profile. If you do not like these restrictions, please stay at home and do not join for any off-road drives. Every Carnity Off-road Club Member has to COMPLY WITH THESE COVID19 GUIDELINES FACE MASK IS MANDATORY, WHENEVER YOU STEP OUT - NO EXCUSES. LEARN TO CONFIGURE YOUR RADIO, before the drive. Nobody will teach you or exchange radios like before. Read the detailed instructions posted here - to configure. If you still cannot configure, ask on forum ahead of time. Click "TOTALLY AGREE" Emoji here before RSVP any drive or else trip lead will remove your name.

slick72, you reminded me of old time contessa classic history from India, where it was the only one real luxury car among bunch of FUGLY Ambassadors and Fiat's in 80's.