Leaderboard

Unfortunately, @Jeepie's Jeep is out of action this weekend. Fortunately, @Chaitanya D has offered to kindly step in and will lead the first convoy. This convoy will use radio channel #1. Please park up on the left hand side of the road. @Chaitanya D @Nabil Bishara @Werno @luis mantecon @Goutam @M.Seidam @Ranjan Das @Darren Brooke @Rawad Bahsas @Malachy McGrogan @Gaurav Soni @Dodi Syahdar The second convoy will use radio channel #3. Please park up on the right hand side of the road. Everyone on the waitlist has been included. @Rizwan Waheed @Abdul Rahman AK @JeromeFJ @Chris Wing @Humayun Ghias @Watteau @Russ @Danish Mohammad @Nithin Vaidir @Matt.T @Thomas Varghese @Arman See you soon in the sand.

Having waited over 20 drives for a chance to join a @Frederic experience … all I can say is it was worth the wait! I got the best seat in the house as a SL, no reroutes, no shovels, no ropes, no winches, finishing on time and you even arranged for the weather to be mild! To top off my first Frederic experience, you seemingly organized a group of Camels to wave us off as we exited, allowing the inner-farmer hiding inside you to herd them as a convoy! I have to also salute and compliment the entire convoy of 16!! No stucks, all refusals self recovered and the seniors showing us all how to lead and support all the way through! @Frederic same again next week please…. 😃 I did manage to get some action shots, which I will upload to the gallery later this evening! thanks all for a perfect Friday morning!

DRIVE REPORT Waking up at 4AM has its perks: You get to see a beautiful sunrise from the dunes, and enjoy some offroading adventures in the great company of our Carnity family. We first headed towards the sun and covered the Suwaydan area, which is a bit more technical and bushy/bumpy, but the scenery is totally worth it. The lonely ghaf trees, shrubs, and even a bit of a forest which i fell in love with a few years back and labeled it "Sharjah Forest" We took a nice photo of the entire convoy over there, before heading out to Faya. We reached Faya from the back side, but as it was quite busy with other convoys and cross tracks, we quickly climbed via the cheat route, and descended with some nice playtime in the bowls around it. Everyone was managing so well and the ropes and shovels remained in the car during the whole drive. With some time left, we decided to head towards Camel Rock and Fossil Rock. Once we had our fill, we took the pylon track and exited at the Mahafiz Mosque. I was stunned by the entire convoy on how you guys all did so well. My aim for today was to practice a smooth track in which the drivers practice restraint, in order not to churn up the tracks for the team members behind them, and everyone did this superb. Thanks for the great support of @Hisham Masaad @Mukundan Nair @Nivin and @Nabil Bishara, and the team spirit shown by all, our newbies were in great company and we were able to cover 52kms in 3 hours with hardly any refusals. The few ones we faced were easily dealt with, and that meant we could keep driving and enjoying this wonderful morning. Special thanks as well to @Niki who was my SL, and finally was able to get into a drive with me 😅 Hope to see you all soon in the sands again ! Enjoy the rest of your Friday !

Thank you @Frederic @Niki @Goutam @Nivin and @Nabil Bishara for the nice comfortable drive. Every one did a good job, no efforts, just sitting in the car and enjoy driving.

@Thomas Varghese @Xavier Treasurer @Matt.T @Lakshmi Narasimhan @Watteau @JeromeFJ @Batuhan Kulac @Gok Krish @Wrangeld @Jeandre Bezuidenhout @Jeepie Post Drive Report Wow, the summer heat has such an impact on the softness of the sand. After a day of the sun beating down, the sand retains a lot of heat and this makes the sand soft, more pliable, later in the day. Not that the drive had an unusually high number of stucks or refusals, or that any of them were unexpected (last time I did this drive one of our vehicles literally ended up on two wheels) and we did have a long, long period in the drive where we just ... drove! I like a drive that has the shift from day to night. It makes the second part of the drive more 'different'. As a few of the drivers remarked, the same sand somehow feels more ... sandy ... in the dark. The lights following each other as we snake through the dunes showing our train making it's way past unsuspecting campers or those simply terrified we did not notice them is wonderful site to see (perhaps you understand now why I sometimes indulge myself and snake back to see the convoy. . What we did practice, a lot was criss-crossing. For anyone with aspirations towards promotion, along with the ability to self recover, safely crossing from one side of a dune to the other is an essential skill. Perhaps your ridge riding needs refining, but you simply cannot keep up with a convoy if you cannot follow it over the crests. Everyone did really well here: I cannot recall one incidence of someone crested while crossing - quite exceptional. I'm going to sign off on this post with a request. It's a general one, but also specific to some of the behaviour on the drive. Give drivers the time to self recover. Undoubtedly, it is wonderful that there is such enthusiasm to help tug drivers out of their stucks, but that's not always helpful to them. Sometimes, a driver at this level and above just needs a moment and a bit of quiet to work out the best way to drive their vehicle out of trouble. We need to respect that if someone wants to try to drive out of a refusal or stuck (or wants assistance digging) we have to let them have this chance. I wrote this a few weeks ago. The recovery hierarchy is Drive, Dig, Rope, Winch, Helicopter. There is absolutely no need to propose a tug as soon as someone looks stuck. Yes, it might be the case that from your perspective that they cannot drive out, but maybe, just maybe they want to try before you pull them out. Perhaps it means that you are sitting waiting, but all drivers need these learning moments, and we do them no favours at all by pressurizing them into feeling that the convoy is being held up and that you know a quicker way to get them out, 'so we can get driving again'. Finally, a massive thanks to @Jeepie, sweeping, swooping and solving problems all drive long and @Watteau, perhaps not the busiest of drives to support, but where you did, once again, impeccable. Thanks also to @Thomas Varghese for your great second lead - making the adjustments when needed and advising of potential pit and pratfalls. See you soon in the sand p.s. @Lakshmi Narasimhan - hope you remembered to put that relay back in place. p.p.s. @Jeepie Jeep is a little sick, but we did successfully get it taken to the car hospital, where after the necessary triage, I am sure it will soon be back on the road (and sand).

Really enjoyed this morning's drive Thanks @Frederic for leading a great drive with lots of little and big challenges on the way. Thanks also to@Hisham Masaad @Nivin@Niki Looking forward to the next one

I would like to thank @Wrangeld, @Jeepie & @Watteau, It was a nice drive and well worth coming from Abu Dhabi. Oh and @Thomas Vargheseour second lead, thanks!

Good luck for hill climbs now with almost 33 inch tires, unless you have done some good power mods.

@Frederic for the great drive. It was different, with challenges and rewards on offer equally. @Hisham Masaad@Nikifor all the guidance and encouragement. Looking forward to meet up with you guys at the earliest.

Thanks @Frederic for the great choice of track with the right mix of dunes and technical challenges thrown in, along a very bushy terrain. I need to thank @Hisham Masaad , @Pacific, @Mukundan Nair for their help and assistance during the drive in the form of guidance over radio and showing me the route when i lost track. Great supporting roles by @Niki, @Nivin and @Nabil Bishara too. Looking forward and coming back for more!!

A wonderful drive indeed. Thanks a lot @Frederic! Looking forward to many more drives with you.

Thank you for today's drive @Frederic @Hisham Masaad @Nivin it was very interesting to focus on technical driving on small dunes and bumps and enjoying the high dunes all in one drive!

Thanks @Wrangeldfor the drive this evening ! Very rich in experience and learning ! Thank you @Jeepiefor the guidance, always there when needed, and thanks @Watteauand all for the assistance especially during my pop-out. It was fixed in no time thanks to your experience and tools See you all soon on the dunes !

Dear Angela @Foxtrot Oscar, I will be achieving half century (50 drives) drives when I participate for the drive you are leading tomorrow. All the very best to you and the convoy.

Thank You @Wrangeld and @Jeepie for the day and night drive. It was very enjoyable. Must make sure to join drives from now on with @Watteau and hope he brings his lovely wife 🙃. @JeromeFJ @Gok Krish @Lakshmi Narasimhan nice driving beside you guys as always and I hope to see you all again! Have a great weekend everyone.

@Thomas Varghese @Xavier Treasurer @Matt.T @Lakshmi Narasimhan @Watteau @JeromeFJ @Batuhan Kulac @Gok Krish @Wrangeld @Jeandre Bezuidenhout pictures in the gallery

Thanks @Frederic for the perfect, relaxed, refreshing drive with right amount of challenge for a newbie drive. Great choice of terrain. Thanks to all the seniors in supporting and guiding and providing tips and confidence. Started with chasing the beautiful sun rise and technical ares were ever one did really well and with nice side slopes and the steep climb. We had couple of camel convoys accompanying ours was pleasant to view and we exited on time. It was nice to catch up with known faces and new ones. Looking forward for another such wonderful drive.

Wonderful drive, thanks to all especially Federic. see you all on the next drive. Cheers 😊😊

The weighted average of the convoy makes it a fewbie drive in disguise... looking forward .

@Wrangeld thanks for a great drive today was most enjoyable, and preferable for me than getting up so early for a morning drive!!!😴 @Jeepie great support as always and I really hope your Jeep is easily and cheaply repaired. @Watteau good to have you in the middle sorting the recoveries.

There is a saying in my language “ no better than your nail can scratch your skin” so I learned since I joined Carnity not to cut my nails till Saturday night 🤣 and yes I agree with the DIY concept more or less at least for the basic stuff on weekly basis or let’s say after the weekly drive ! ... from after leaving the inflation point back home listening to what she might whisper to my ears! To visual inspection to fluid levels , under car , cv boot cracks , springs , leaks , filter cleaning and replacing , towing points integrity especially after many pulls ...etc ..and if I can’t DYI at least I know somehow what’s going on and recheck . One time I have been told by my mechanic that what you hear is your differential is dying ... but I was not convinced .. digged my self with taking pictures and videos that he him self was convinced it’s not and issue solved in 10 min standing work and refused to take one dirham from me ! Unfortunately there are some situations we need a scratcher when the thing is in the back and our nails can’t reach 🤪 but at least we know where the itch is located 🤣

Good evening fellow adventurers, Eid Mubarak to those of you celebrating, Tomorrow we shall meet at 3:30pm in the tree shade at Murquab. As mentioned the aim is to get to Last Exit, but teh main aim is to have lots of fun in the safest way possible We shall be using Radio channel 2 (two) My proposed convoy is as follows: Driver Car Rank Position @Foxtrot Oscar Black X Marshal Lead @TT_Dubai White LC Newbie 2nd Lead @Zixuan Huang Pathfinder Newbie 3rd @Charbel Yazbeck Silver Pajero Newbie 4th @Senthil Kumar Red Wrangler Fewbie 5th @Ishraque Ahammed Explorer Newbie 6th @Kassem Zaiter Black Pajero (SWB) Newbie 7th @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ Yellow Wrangler IM CF @Probir Mukherjee White LC IM 9th @Cale Hugill White Wrangler Newbie 10th @Wade Pat2 Black LC Newbie 11th @Craig Finlayson Grey Wrangler IM 12th (team) @Lakshmi Narasimhan Gold Pajero Fewbie 13th @Thomas Varghese White X IM 14th @Desert Dweller Red Wrangler Adv Sweep PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND AS WE HAVE DRIVERS ON THE WAITLIST

Dear all, I've upgraded to Methods 703 BeadGrip + 285/70/R17, so I'm selling my previous Yokohama Geolandar G015 275/70/R16. Bought them for around ~2000aed in Feb 2021. They ran about ~5,000kms now, still long way to go for 10,000kms rotation. Since I don't go offroading every weekend, they've been used in 6 Newbies + 1 Fewbie Carnity Drives only. Willing to deliver anywhere in Abu Dhabi & Dubai, so hopefully good value here 😁 PCD/Bolt Pattern is 5x150, compatible with Toyota Land Cruiser 100, LC 200, Lexus LX 470, LX 570, Sequoia, Tundra

Richard @Wrangeld I hope you are satisfied that I kept far away from your car so that you can warn us of hazards and close enough not to lose you in the mired of endless dunes. I hope I stopped myself pursuing your car the moment I sensed that route is not drivable and waited for you to re route and ensured I myself don't get stuck in the process. Maybe its my 3rd or 4th drive as your second lead but probably more than 15 drives in total behind you. I could sense the moment the Pajero is going to redirect from a difficult situation just by seeing the angle it makes while going straight or up and adjust accordingly. Its always a pleasure watching you drive in the desert and look forward for more with you.

Yes I did that first thing on exiting. Every drive with you I learn some thing new and I am happy to be on your drive. Thanks a lot @Wrangeld.

Haha, it is a 'Newbie' drive therefore priority lies with the newbie attendees. Our more experienced drivers will have the responsibility of adhering to the correct tracks as you will have less experienced drivers behind you

I lost trust in mechanics many years ago, even car agencies here know nothing and cannot be trusted. Most of the times I have to tell them what to do and what to check because I had to spend some time online reading what other people did that had similar symptoms. I like to work on cars, I also help my friends resolve small issues from changing a coolant tank, changing disks, brake pads, engine mounts, shocks,etc... I tend to save a lot of money by doing these simple jobs. For example, when my mercedes had 30k on its odo, the agency wanted 4000 aed for changing the brakes!! I ended up purchasing the parts from them, and got from amazon two different types of grease (one is rubber safe to lubricate the pins and another one for lubricating the other moving parts) and a brake cleaner, I replaced all parts in my parking. Took me around an hour and half but I saved around 2000-2500 aed. I once replaced a coolant tank for a friend, got the parts from the agency for 120 aed and the coolant for 100 aed and replaced it my self then bleeded the system also was a 30 min job and saved around 1000 aed. I did same thing on an older car I had and replaced all shocks and springs. Just look online you can find tons of videos, and most of the jobs are quite easy. I have tons of stories with agencies here and back home, and some salesmen try to fool you if they think you don't have much knowledge on cars. I had a fight with Nissan few years ago over an AC compressor, they wanted to change the whole assembly but it was only a faulty clutch, they couldn't fool me on that so the salesman wanted to convince me later to do a system flush for 400 aed saying that when the compressor's clutch fails, it contaminates the system😂, so I made a scene im front of other customers and ended up getting 50-60% discount on the part and no labor charges... The worst stories are with private garages that work with insurance companies😂

Prelude: When i bought my car back in October 2020 a combination of trust in professionals and a lack of knowledge and time led me to sign a third party service contract for my car along with (at least internally) committing to going to said garage for all my repairs and the such. Over the past couple months i've been quite disappointed with my experiences as prices were very high and as time went on kept feeling like i couldnt trust the work being done or if the work i was asking for was being done at all. This has culminated in a recent visit to my garage of choice where i presented them with a list of symptoms and observations after which i received a bill that was about half the rice i bought my car for. I will use one of the items on the list as an example: Car details i presented: CEL (check engine light) is on, the TJ has a dashboard diagnostic feature, it is basic but very useful so the code that was displayed after i input the konami code was P0431 (Catalytic Converter efficiency below expected threshold) Car passed registration in October with near perfect emissions Noticed wires dangling from the engine bay that werent there before OBDII diagnostics port broken by previous owner Garage assessment: OBDII port repair : AED1500 (they wish to plug a diagnostic tool in to figure the issue based on the O2 readings in the PCM) Replace Catalytic converter: AED1100 I then took that car back and did what i normally do, cleaned it up properly and took a look myself when i had some time, albeit this was probably a week later. My observations: O2 sensor in Bank 1 Sensor 2 had it's wires ripped clean off (my assumption is that we went over bush or something and it got caught as the connector unfortunately has a poor mounting location under the chassis. I then tracked the wires that had been tangling and they went into the connector for said sensor. A simple visual inspection in my garage with the light in my phone has given me the answer to which the solution is 10 minutes of my time (if you dont count the time it takes to ship the part from the US) and AED160. I've attached relevant files like the Locations of the cats and sensors and the old sensor. Epilogue: With all this in mind, im willing to accept that i perhaps got unlucky on many fronts. Im a low value customer because i do a lot of my own work on the car, i aslo dont have much money to spend on frivolous addons and such, and i could just have drawn the short straw and gotten the laziest of their otherwise good mechanics. This all though leads me to this, would there be any space in carnity for a DIY car maintenance section or even a day teaching each other how to diagnose issues and fix them? How often do you check your car yourself? How often do you lubricate joints and metal bits that are likely to rub? How often do you check your Oil, Coolant and Steering fluid? Are you willing do something as simple as screwing in an AED160 piece in your car yourself to save AED2600?

Imran. @imranaasghar81 You're in. Straight swap for Rizwan. See you in the morning.

Hi @Wrangeld @Chaitanya D Any possibility for me to join? Kindly advice

@Gaurav yups, re-gearing to 4.88 to get more wheel powers 💪🏻 😄

Few last minute dropouts and then lead by @Chaitanya D we did really well in the play area for about 1 and 1/2 hrs and then @Tbonehad oil leak followed by over heating due to which we had to abandon the drive half way, which is the right decision. After taking the convoy to tarmac @Chaitanya Dand team went back to tow away @Tbone out of the sand safely. Hope you fix your car soon and be back on sand soon. Thank the entire convoy for the patience and understanding the situation, hope we will have many more drives together!!!

Very good topic @Arman many amongst us have that initial fear of trying something ourselves, but there is so much we can do with some common sense, elbow grease, and the occasional Youtube video to help us out. I don't think every mechanic is trying to rip off their customer. In most cases they are just not interested in digging a little bit deeper into the problem and want to kill the mosquito with a bazooka. On the other hand i have seen small workshops doing wonders with what they have. But it takes time to find good reliable workshops but yes even then you'll need to keep an eye on them and be a critical and difficult customer to get it done properly.

Looking forward to the drive tomorrow!! Just scrolled up to confirm that this is still a newbie drive , 😁 Only 4 of us newbies surrounded by an army of fewbies and intermediates!! This is going to be interesting !!! I think an anticipatory bail would be worthwhile, sorry if we NBs pull down the level of tomorrow's drive a bit 🙏🙏😁😁

Absolutely agree with you @Arman on the way the "trusted" off road garages or mechanics behave. If you dont agree with them , and if you dont do a lot of mods with them they will be least interested in doing your simple works. DIY checks is good because it always helps you understand your car better atleast for the minor or easily doable fixes. Some tiny bit of it is included , and will be explained when you do your advance lead/ recovery trainings as you progress in your levels with Carnity. For a desert car , check every week better. Especially cleaning the air filters , oils , coolant . You will be surprised to see how much sand will be there in the air filters .

And am going ...on the Scottish drive ...looking forward 😀

Drive Report Good evening fellow adventurers, Well that was fun! Everyone met promptly and got themselves ready for the drive without any issues aside from the radio frequency that for some reason was not clear but easily resolved, we switched channel. As we made our way into the dunes the large convoy following, we had some nice low dunes to create little u turns in. Everyone seemed to be coping well. The convoy headed to some more challenging dunes where we kept a nice pace and had some decent climbs to conquer. En route to the more playable areas Murquab has to offer we had a car side crest, ever so slightly, it clearly just slipped off the track . With Carnity we always try to recover without the need for ropes, and with @Craig Finlayson, @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ and @Desert Dweller all on hand with shovels we dug it out of trouble. The key to de-cresting a car is knowing where to shovel and allowing gravity to work for you. With some left/right and gentle gas the car was free. As we approached another medium sized dune the convoy took turns to climb on top and carry along, with all of the convoy doing well and managing to get on top with only a few refusals caused by being a bit gas shy. This is par for the course when you’re learning what your car can do in the desert sands. You will all learn with time and practice just how much gas is required for certain dunes, taking into account, not just the incline but also the consistency of the sand. As we approached the last dune before the sabka we took turns to drive up, across and down in a nice u shape, taking care to follow the tracks created as to avoid the little land mines that are shrubs of grass. These should always be avoided at this level as they cause your car to bounce erratically. The entire convoy coped well with the challenge. We were also treated to a masterclass in how not to tackle dunes safely as, what I can only describe as a marauding convoy, gate crashed the drive with not a safety flag in sight. We saw fishtailing, overtaking refused cars and quite frankly utterly reckless driving. Those guys were very fortunate not to collide with each other or worse. Still, it was very entertaining haha. We headed back into the small tighter dunes to experience something a little different before we headed across the sabka and onto the track that led us to the enchanting dunes of Solar Park. All the convoy handled the more technical dunes well with only one refusal. With the sunsetting and the pristine sands offering a range of challenges the convoy continued along its way. The convoy became disjointed a couple of times. It can be hard to see tracks in the sand but I choose a path that I know you can all follow and is free of danger therefore its important to ensure that you always have eyes not only on the car in front but on the car behind you too. I have to say it was heartening to see the gradual improvement of many of the drivers during the course of the drive. I was pleased that many were following advice and using the correct technique to tackle dunes safely and without creating an issue for yourself. As darkness began to fall, we had one more crested car to deal with A little digging, and the car was free but the issue was not resolved as it then got stuck at the bottom. @Craig Finlayson used the winch to get it out safely as it was in a particularly tight spot. Refusals and stucks are part and parcel of drives at this level, they are so incredibly valuable, as you learn so much from them. For example, you all now know that, at this level, you must approach an up and over dune straight on, or to put it another way be perpendicular to it. Darkness was truly upon us by the time we had recovered the crested vehicle and the sabka and track were not far so we made our way out having covered 42km with the newbie convoy experiencing a little night driving as a bonus. Charlie, @Zixuan Huang you had an excellent drive, and handled the Pathfinder really well, well done. @Charbel Yazbeckyou definitely became more confident as the drive progressed after a sticky start and had a great self-recovery to boot, well done, keep it up. @Ishraque Ahammed, a few refusals but a good drive, you’ll get used to what your car can do in time. @Kassem Zaiter, you drove really well, and didn’t have any issues , aside from losing the track haha @Cale Hugill, flawless drive, well done, Likewise @Wade Pat2, the drive presented no issues for either of you and you both demonstrated lovely technique when completing the challenges I threw at you. Well done! To the more experienced members of this Newbie convoy, @Probir Mukherjee, @Senthil Kumar @Thomas Varghese@Lakshmi Narasimhan, you all said it was a chance to chill and enjoy. I’m glad you did and also that you adhered to protocols to ensure our newer members had a good driving experience. Thank you. A very special thanks to the team who supported me today. To @TT_Dubai who was immaculate in executing the 2nd Lead, Tim I know it is a relatively new experience for you , but you handled it with aplomb, well done. To @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ who was my CF and always on hand to help guide drivers with refusals, thank you . Finally the two at the back, @Craig Finlayson is alright , I guess he’s got a winch so kinda helpful 😉 , and @Desert Dweller who swept up everything at the back, continually offered advice and ensured we all kept moving. Finally, thank you to all of you for accompanying me on this wee adventure in the sand. Hope to see you all again soon . Until our next adventure

hi Angela, sorry I didnt know your name I hope to see you in the next trip

Angela AKA @Foxtrot Oscar will call you Oscar from now on 🤣

Apologies..Unable to join this drive. Please remove my name.

Thank you Marian @Jeepie

Thank you @Vanessa8580, @jodha singh shekhawat, @Brette and @varunmehndiratta, the seniors in the drive for your lead and support. Lovely morning drive with quite a blend of side slopes, climbs, drops, and some technical patches thrown in as topping, which resulted in some stucks, refusals and couple of re-routes. One more step forward as a learning experience for me and getting closer to being in sync with my car. Kudos to a fellow riders Looking forward to the next drive!!