Leaderboard

The only comment I wish to make is 'WOW' what a night. Left home at 8.45 pm and returned at 6.00 am. I believe such a rescue can happen once in a decade. Every member of the club should feel jealous... 🤭 sorry joking. In addition to the experience had to shake down tons of sand. 🤯

Almost all sat nav maps - Gaia, Google maps, ESRI, motionX update frequency range from 6 months to 2 years. These recent changes must be done with confusing wind patterns, climate change, or cloud seeding (maybe). In the pocket where I was stuck, as soon I climbed that ridge, I saw the opposite side ridge (180 degrees) collapsed like water - I have never seen that before. It means these dips and craters were recently formed, like a day or two old. I have never seen so many craters on top of big red in the last 15 years of my off-roading. Usually Big red mostly have one or two smooth bumps or stairs on top where we slow down and gas up again to climb.

You are right, while Kashif was stuck 50 meters away from my car, he suggested the same lets call airlift for my car, lol. Winching out was 10% job and positioning the car and exiting was 90% task, due to tricky situation at the top that I have never seen so many craters on top of big red.

Well done to the entire team, such kind of challenging recoveries test you to the core and bring out the men from the boys. Keeping a calm mind and humorous atmosphere is very important. I really wish I was part of this action, but the report and videos did help me visualize the recovery.

Thank you for my first drive with you @Luca Palanca Falsini Thank you @Hisham Masaadfor your help especially for the two tugs. The last one was embarrassing 🤦 Having driven around the area before, I thought I knew what to expect. However, I was mistaken and amazed by the drive. Amazing climbs, bowls and ridges. It kept us on our toes. Looking forward to more drives! Always a pleasure driving with you all.

Found a few good deals while I'm on leave. Ready to be back in the desert. Parts replace and Upgrade list is always growing and I'm 8k miles from my car and desert. Side amber and rear clear wide lens lights with some covers for previously purchased fronts. Due for inspection as soon as I return home. Then maintenance, fix rear locker, and back to sand.

You should check out the super bowl!! In Today’s drive with @Islam Soliman we couldn’t believe how much the dunes changed in the last few week… the approach to Super Bowl from the right is virtually non existent… the winds were covering tracks made barely hours ago…. As if Mother Nature gave us a new course!!

Wonder how old are Gaia maps.. does not show deep pits on the peak.

Trip Report An amazing morning with lovely weather. Also, the presence of more than a few drivers that were driving in the sand for the first time made the challenge all the more exciting. Almost everyone reached the meeting point before time which is much appreciated as we have limited cool hours in the summer months. Just as we were about to leave one of the vehicles had a leaking valve stem and as there was one remaining car that had to deflate we decided to help change the tyre with the spare one. After a proper briefing we ventured on our offroad adventure. The advantage of driving in summer is that there are just a handful of offroad clubs that are active and hence we were greeted by absolute virgin sand. However, the high winds of the past couple of days had altered some of the dune formations in the area resulting in a more cautions approach on some of the dunes. While it seemed we had hard sand, once the top surface was disturbed it brought out the soft sand which resulted in more than a fair share of refusals, but nothing that couldn't be handled. The majority of refusals was because of one of the two reasons : 1. Stopping in the wrong place. Always stop on a flat surface or with the car pointing downwards 2. Donot fight gravity as you can never beat mother nature. My second lead was @munkybizness who was in his Super Safari and did quite a good job of listening to the instructions and more important acknowledging them regularly. There were places that you were a bit close to my car resulting in refusals, but that is all a part of the learning. For me, the highlight was your self recovery during the second half of the drive. Well done. @Damien Ranjit was honestly the car I was kinda worried about prior to the start of the drive, but you managed the entire drive extremely well with minimal refusals. Bravo @jerzen provided us with the scare moment of the drive, but even then you managed the situation in those split seconds extremely well to get out of that tricky spot. Also, if you plan to make this a weekend hobby I wouldn't bother worrying about a bit of sand inside your car. 😄 @ASHFAQ HUSSAIN . @eldose babyand @Alexanderrr demonstrated some very nice skills with minimum refusals. Nicely done guys. @Pieter Potgieter while struggled in the beginning with his wrangler, but once w e reduced the pressure a bit further he had a smooth sailing in the remainder of the drive. Just to show the importance of the right tyre pressure which can vary from vehicle to vehicle. @Ramandbx had a beautiful SWB Wrangler and drove it quite well. That is a fun ride to have in the sand, especially once you have mastered the right technique. So keep practicing. @AlexM was probably the guy with zero refusals through the drive while being at the end of the convoy. Your previous experience in snow did show and you did extremely well. Well done. Finally, a big shout out to @Nivin for supporting not only this AN drive, but so many of my earlier drives when you were just a Fewbie. It was great to drive with you after a long time and look forward to catching up soon once again. Moving forward you all will be joining the Newbie drives and not an Absolute Newbie drive. Drives are announced every Sunday at 11 am, and they go live on Sunday at 7:00 pm. Due to the high demand, these drives get full in about 10 minutes, so please be online at 7 pm to book your spot. If you miss a spot, put your name on the waitlist asap. Generally, by Thursday with dropouts everyone does get a spot if they have waitlisted. For the next drives, please bring along a deflator, pressure gauge, flag, compressor and radio as a minimum. Learn to deflate your tires and checking them precisely Learn to fix a flag on your car Learn to program and fully charge your radio Also like I mentioned during the debriefing, join the Carnity Whatsapp Drive Notification to get the latest updates on the drives, so that you can RSVP on time for the next weekend's drive. Please have a look at below topic which describes the tools needed for every level. There is a separate tutorial inside which explains which radio we recommend and how to program them: (Please do not buy the Baofeng 888S spare radio we gave you, as these cannot be programmed without a special cable and software). Please have a look at below grading structure that explains various off-road levels: See you guys soon on the sand. Take care.

Amazing recovery, well done to all. Most importantly safely done and no one hurt. Although some tired people I imagine after being up all night. Quite remarkable how much and how quickly the desert changes. Noticed it a lot over the past week!

A night drive under the crescent 🌙 This time it’s ain’t a 🌕 and could never be better than a dive under the full crescent moon 🌙. chapter one : the trip Every one was on time , except one with complete no show leaving a total of seven adventurers including our lead to dance our way from tawi Nazwa , across pink rock , till big red. climbing pink rock rock was a piece of cake even for the three newbies at their first or second drive after their AN , only one of the three had it from the third attempt. Beautiful to be on the other side now for a quick breath taking break after which we descended which became more fun gliding and sloping in a Newbie style fashion. some back tracks were necessary to cross the newbies safely till our lead found a way to the sand track all the way from north to south direction till big red. I had to say for the three newbie fellow drivers was impressive that only couple of refusals could be self managed nicely with guidance either from the trip lead or the support team as the situation dictated best , what a beautiful communication and synchrony was that 👍. Eventually we reached big red ( eastern side) and our trip lead climbed first to scout the top as usual. However the top was not as we all knew before after almost 70 percent of climb and @Gaurav found him self in a nasty situation which entails our help. Now it was almost 01:45 am and decision was taken to exit the convoy safely and it was. Chapter two : extreme recovery In no time I returned back to big red to join @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQand @Ashok chaturvedi while @Gaurav was up at top cooking the up coming plan 😅 we have a situation here! Basically up there were 4 pits in decreasing order of size where the largest was south and the tightest , where Gaurav car , north separated by razor sharp ridges and slip sides of varying angles and steepness. being the proposed plan set and communicated clearly among us we started our “ rock and roll “ dance leaving the tune of it to Mother Nature and the moves were on us. the idea was to bring Kashif’s winch enabled wrangler to the best position which was not an easy task in the dark. Before finding that spot kashif got crested in the second pit with nose pointed east . At this point me and Ashok ( being my passenger ) climbed to help breaking the crest . Done and upon the third attempt and with precise communication from Gaurav finally found the best spot and winching started. We knew that the recovery car will end in the second pit eventually and that was planned and we had no choice. Recovering one car after the other from the tightest to the largest pits. Before I reposition my vehicle on the best spot ( third pit ridge or best solid area ) I had to examine it on foot. Leaving the three standing with sufficient distance their flash light 💡 made a runway end point were I can maneuver the third pit . Descending down all the way and climb again towards the lights and it was only one chance and thankfully i ended in the spot where I could tug Kashif’s car where after that gave him the space to maneuver the second pit . unfortunately his right front wheel popped out . Luckily the sand track which was placed under the left front and back wheels worked and sensed the traction . Fixed and eventually kashif got out looping around my standing car which is now slightly side sloped in the third bigger pit . Kashif out. Now Gaurav had to bring his car to we’re kashif was swing it back and forth with 6 psi deflated tires to compact the sand and I was his eyes not to fall in the reverse side. Somehow he could manage to maneuver in the second pit ( advantage of SWB ) and experience of course so now the nose of the tiger ready to attack for one last time. He did and before getting crested between the second and third pit he steered down to the reverse side ( we examined it previously in case ) . “The beginning light of dawn gave us a bless to show us the way back home “ then Gaurav in no time was down . Insisting to come back for me leaving his car at 70% nose up and on foot he was my eyes 👀 to guide me from the third to 4th largest pits and I was out . Descending together like that 👇 I have to say hard time only uncover how brave men can stand and stick together fighting their way out , and every one was calm courageous and attentive , and in times in between still humorous with laughter and relaxing smile . Cheers 🙏👍👌 Mohamed

Mother Nature always has something in store for us. Glad to see the collective teamwork which will undoubtedly form a bond.

Amazing job well executed @Gaurav @M.Seidam @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ @Ashok chaturvedi.. glad all worked out and everyone got out safely without any complications. I guess that was too close to a call for 🚁 recovery 🤣

@Gaurav @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ @Ashok chaturvedi It’s indeed for me a never forgotten memorable super event of a literally super team work of an extreme recovery situation which was executed by all the collective effort and attentive mind of all team 👍👌

Thanks @Luca Palanca Falsini for this mornings drive, easily the best terrain I have driven on so far! Hope to return to that area very soon.. Thanks to everyone involved especially the support team. See you all soon 👍🏼

Let the updates keep coming on Project LC100. Enjoy reading them. On the rear lockers are you adding pneumatic or manual ones and which brand?

@Islam Soliman thanks for the wonderful drive. We were welcomed with the rainbow. Enjoyed the technical area, iftar bowl and super bowl a lot. Being a small convoy we were able to attempt multiple times and we were the first convoy today to enjoy the terrain. Very few refusals and couple of pop-outs fixed quickly. Unfortunately Shaaz belt had issue which took some time to fix as we had to get help from outside, luckily weather was on our side. Thanks to @Thomas Varghese for coming to recovery with the mechanic. Very good team effort, way to go. Looking for many more such drives. Thanks to everyone in the convoy. Few pics posted in gallery.

It is the another level of course after you complete the stipulated number of drives in each category. It is there in Carnity website and you can follow it. Version 3.0 for promotion from one level to another. Don't know if its proper to post the images taken during the recovery of @Shaaz Sha car from inside the desert. Couldn't resist posting.

@Looper I love the new name being such new tires may explain the pop out… watching you there were no harsh movement or turns or heavy sliding so was a surprise they popped out twice. Likely could be that the seal didn’t have enough time to set as you mentioned only a few days running them in. Get them run in this week as much as possible and enjoy the coming weeks ride even more. I completely forgot you are our data guru, webcam guru and now can add car fridge guru .. was nice to finally get to chat properly and genuinely appreciate all the advice you share as you take research to another level! @Kailas I am going to say this again… massive thanks and kudos for leading that drive without the ability to disable traction! @Arman hope all 100% well and no top up Tetanus shots needed!

Could not agree more. Waiting for the day..not too far in future when we see live Sat pictures. A technology does exit where we can fly an advance drone but cumbersome and hard to get it work and the hassels with the authorities. Also may kill the fun of drives. Finally salute your patience and skills. Loved the way you recovered Kashif jeep.. sadly I could not watch the last part must have been tough.

A massive thanks to @Kailas to persist with the drive in spite of his troubles with the car. Even though the traction control was not working you did not let it show in the drive at all. Except for a lone time I had to tow you out you just had only one other refusal that you self recovered. I was behind at the him at the 2nd position. This was my first drive with new shoes. The BFG Goodrige 285/70R17s KO2s I installed just a few days ago. Following the footsteps of our Lead I haven't yet got any lift on the car yet, but will have it very soon. I had a mild issue of tyre rubbing but hopefully my next drive will be with a lift and won't face these issues. A weird thing was, I had not one but 2 pop-outs on my rear passenger side tyre. I am used to driving the manner I drove and never had any issues before. Took the car to the place where I bought the tyres and they cleaned and wheel balanced the tyres free of cost. Apart from that I had 3 refusals of which 2 I could self recover and for one I needed a bit of digging. I had to take 3 loops today because I slipped out of the track I was supposed to take. Yes, as I had declared on the drive, I changed my username to @Looper. @Thomas Varghese was behind me. He had an interesting first hour or so. Had to dig him out a couple of times and self recovered himself a couple of more. Had his fun time taking pictures obviously. Rest of us carry water in our front seats, he carries a suitcase full of camera gear. Thanks for those pictures, intermediate drives give hardly any time to take pictures. @Arman was driving at 4, and had a flawless drive until he crested his car behind me. That place was quite sharp and we had back to back crested cars. I hope you are feeling well now. @Niki round up the drive as the Sweep for this drive. As I mentioned during the drive, the convoy was so small that he was at a sweep position at #5, but if it ware a normal strength drive one might get to see center-forward about #6 or #7 position. We have driven three more times before, but never had as much interaction, and it was nice to catch up a bit today. The area we drove today was mostly new for me, and had not been to these areas. The last bit was the most promising and playful and perhaps we should have been driving from the beginning, but alas we could not, and could only see it while exiting safely. We drove for 60km which is higher than usual around this area. The drive time was 2:45 hours of total 4:33 hours, which was about the usual ratio have seen driving here. You can see the Gaia GPS recording from my device here.

Dear @Mario Cornejo @Josh T. @Zed @Naveen Raj @Mus_hus78 Unfortunately the drive has been cancelled. Due to short notice, no other lead were available. @Mario Cornejo would have already gone through the pain of PCR requirement to get to Sweihan. Will make it up for this some time later.

Hi @Gaurav Sonii understand from Fred that you are driving a tuned Pajero, I am driving 2008 3.0LWB which has the transmission upshift issue. I am planning to do ecu remap from chipcentic, so prior to getting this done, thought of getting feedback from you on the engine performance and any other issues confronted post upgrade.

Now that we have more Fewbies in Abu Dhabi and even coming from outside, plus to help the R&D / Exploration Department of @Frederic, @Chaitanya D, @Kailas , I'll list here the tracks that were endorsed by DCTAD (Department of Culture and Tourism) and mentioned in VisitAbuDhabi page (just in case the page is offline in the future). I've only tried one-and-half of these tracks: Remah to Nagrah route and that's because it's marked "Easy". I didn't find it that "easy" since Remah is soft sand + technical up-down & criss-cross; maybe a good warm-up before reaching Nagrah and playing with power & speed. The other half is Al Fayah South to Khaznah, maybe we can do that for Al Fayah Part 2 Fewbie+ next time 😁 Anyways for the rest of the trails, I prefer someone more senior to guide me and hopefully these will be inspirational for future Abu Dhabi drives: 1. Remah to Sweihan (Easy according to DCTAD, but I would categorize it "Fewbie") One of the highlights of the Al Remah Route is an authentic Camel Racing Track. Close by, you will find the Telal Nature Reserve with the possibility of spotting some deer. Other highlights include beautiful desert trees near Tawi Naqara and an amazing selection of high dunes, beautiful Gaff trees. Remah Google Maps Track / KML file that can be imported to GPS app here 2. Wagan To White Sands (Easy according to DCTAD, but I haven't ventured here, maybe Fred will start this trip for Fewbie 😁 ) Regularly driven by Bedu (local farmers), there are often tracks to follow. Can be done in reverse, however in some areas it will be more difficult. Be mindful of water pits, as the groundwater table is very close to the surface. Look out for camels, including camels training for racing, usually later in the day and early morning. Wagan Google Maps Track / KML file that can be imported to GPS app here 3. Al Fayah to Al Khazna Route (Advanced according to DCTAD, cc @Frederic this is the "southern" side of Fayah that I was talking about in our Faya Exploration Fewbie+ trip) This advanced route takes three to four hours to complete, with steep climbs, sharp drops, deep bowls and highly technical dunes. Khazna Google Maps Track / KML file that can be imported to GPS app here 4. Umm al Oush (Intermediate/Advanced according to DCTAD, near the border of Oman) Advanced moves required, like side-sloping and side-cresting. Easier to tackle with a long wheel-based car that has a 2” lift. Can’t be done in reverse. Sights include enormous dunes, starfish dunes (cc @Frederic), and incredible scenery. Umm al Oush Google Maps Track / KML file that can be imported to GPS app here 5. Hameem Loop / Tropic of Cancer (Intermediate according to DCTAD, near the Saudi border, save this for Winter-time driving) Expect slipfaces and deep bowls. Can’t be done in reverse. Sights include plenty of gazelle, an abandoned Nissan Patrol and solar power bank, and camel and goat farms. Hameem Loop Google Maps Track / KML file that can be imported to GPS app here 6. Liwa Crossing (Advanced according to DCTAD, near the Saudi border, save this for Winter-time driving) This is an advanced route with huge dunes, some of the largest in the UAE. There are some very tricky crossings and this remote route may take 1.5-2 days to complete. Make sure you take everything you need with you - early exit from this route is not possible. Liwa Crossing Google Maps Track / KML file that can be imported to GPS app here Source: Visit Abu Dhabi page - Offroad Driving

Hey @Naveen Raj I did my car tuning using unichip… it gave me 5 engine maps to choose from based on the drive.. a much more economical than standard stock map to a high power output map… my major issue was the transmission not holding the gear 1 which is needed for long climbs… unichip solved that situation for me… now it holds gear one with 6000 rpm (duff duff sound )as long/as high momentum takes me! I am not so sure about chip centric as it’s a one time tune with no choices. but neither have I seen it personally.. so it’s your better judgement. Do let me know your experience.

Many thanks to @M.Seidam, @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ, and @Ashok chaturvedi for great teamwork, patience, and calm approach to managing such extreme recovery. Last night after the newbie drive, we ended up at Big red and in an attempt to make few climbs I went up to check the Big Red climb, and after 70% climb, that area has recently transformed with endless shallow dips, soft sand pockets, and unexpected slip face all around. After reaching a 70% climb, I continued upwards and was greeted with a dangerous dip in the soft pocket. I stopped my car on the ridge for few seconds before going in with LO gear and escape from the first hurdle. The next ridge greeted me with a similar and tighter soft sand pocket that I manage to dodge but the third one left no space inside the bowl to maneuver and we have to rest our case in front of mother nature. We spent more than 3 hours of impeccable coordination mobilizing help on top of big red by dodging all pockets. @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ was really brave and courageous to drive in a blind state (sandstorm) with just radio instructions to climb while dodging all pockets and slip faces. After a few attempts, refusals, and stuck he finally positioned his wrangler in right place to inaugurate his 12 ton WARN winch, which he installed last week. After my car was out we still struggled a lot to escape the second bowl as now we have two cars with little to no hard patch to drive out. I deflated to 6 PSI, to make that track as solid as we can and manage to reverse out at 6K rpm with precise guidance from @M.Seidam before I dive into another pocket behind the reverse climb. We even get to try out @M.Seidam sand track when @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ wrangler was dancing with 2 wheels in the air on a soft pocket. Surprisingly sand tracks worked for the first time in the dunes, as we have tried and failed on more than 10 instances in the past with sand track which works wonders on beach sand due to solid ground underneath. A real good memorable night with insane challenges and a big achievement to remember forever.

Most challenging and best drive so far. I have never driven this area before and it was really exciting. Thank you @Luca Palanca Falsini for this excellent drive. Also a big thank to @Ranjan Das @Dodi Syahdar @Hisham Masaad for the great support. @Rawad @Russ @Nathan Evans @Humayun Ghias Happy to join with you guys again 🤛. @Nihal17 @Danish Mohammad see you soon on sand again. Have a great long weekend guys.

Thank you @Luca Palanca Falsinifor the great day and the amazing area. What a scenery!! We were lucky to have such a nice weather specially for an all-climb mission that usually ends with so many cars overheating Great support from @Dodi Syahdar, @Hisham Masaadand his secret weapon (abode) 😁😁 Thank you @Ranjan Dasfor the 2nd lead, and congrats on your new toy😉 @Humayun Ghias, @Danish Mohammad, @Russ , @Chinthaka Ruwanalways pleasure driving with you guys @Nihal17, and @Nathan Evansnice drive mates👌👌 until we meet again 🤙🤙

Was awesome drive, thank you everybody for coming, and @Srikumar and @Nivin for help and organisation! Now need to get some sleep ))