Leaderboard

Thank you Luca for organising the drive and ushering Shaaz’s debut as lead. The leader in you was for everyone of us to see and learn from on numerous occasions climbing the bowls and herding us in crossing safely. well done Shaaz, you were splendid! The chosen route and the re-routes were amazing and challenging. Drive for me was demanding which I enjoyed thoroughly. Thank you. Russ, you were great as sweep, keeping the communication active with your short reports and encouragement. Thanks Abu and Thomas - hope your lovely rides get fixed quickly and that there’s no serious issue. All the best! It was nice meeting you all today and hope to see you soon. @Luca Palanca Falsini, @Shaaz Sha, @Javier Lucero, @Thomas Varghese, @JeromeFJ, @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @Abu Muhammad, @Amir Amiri, @Russ@Chinthaka Ruwan, @Rawad

Thank you all for joining this amazing Recovery Champion session, my personal favorite among all types of drives and LL. Simply because it has varied challenges and how we going to overcome those tricky situations will be interesting and entertaining for all. @Lawrence_Chehimi @Niki @GauravSoni @Rizwanm2 @Alex Raptor @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ @Melenany @Russ @Wrangeld Please charge your radio FULL, carry spare if you have one. Take plenty of rest, as a lot of exercises are physically intensive. Carry a shovel, tow rope, and shackles. Carry a hat, sunglasses, and plenty of water. Keep an extra 1-2 hour buffer, in case we get delayed (most likely). After seeing such amazing names in the calendar, Im planning something totally different and EPIC, to give each one of you a chance to DIY (Dig it yourself). I am really looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow. Convoy Numbering - Channel 1 Gaurav Niki Lawrence_Chehimi Melenany MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ Alex Raptor GauravSoni Russ Rizwanm2 Richard Please confirm if you all are fine to start a little early by 3 PM instead of 4 PM, so we have a bit more daylight to work with?

Thank you @Luca Palanca Falsini & @Shaaz Sha for a wonderful drive. There is not even 1 bowl in Badayer we have not visited today. Even though it was @Shaaz Sha's 1st drive as a lead it was wonderful. No doubts at all for him where he was going. He was driving as if he knew the place thoroughly. It was action packed from the word go. The drive started with @Chinthaka Ruwan's XTERRA sensing it was about to be subjected to extreme torture, gave up and refused to start up. He hopped on to the adventure with @Russ in his F 150. Good for @Chinthaka Ruwan as at least he could witness all the adventure. My X also couldn't cope up with the extreme climbs sometimes and had to be really persuaded with a hard whip to gallop away. @Shaaz Sha guided us safely through extreme traffic in the dunes amid some crazy drivers coming our way with help from @Russ who was sweeping. Everybody drove very well through the entire drive as was expected from an IM convoy. Almost 3/4th into the drive @Abu Muhammad's car got tired of climbing and climbing and became hot with anger and refused to go further. @Abu Muhammad finally gave in to his car's wishes and sadly took him home with the help of @Luca Palanca Falsini & @JeromeFJ guiding him. Abu tried his best to persuade his car to stay but the car wished otherwise. See you soon Abu. After Abu's exit it was my X which refused to go further. After one of the endless high speed crisscrosses my X just stopped running. Looks like something went wrong with the throttle body assembly and is now under repair thanks to the extreme pulls by @Russ to take him to the exit where a recovery was waiting for us to cart him to his garage. Russ is the man and F 150 is the car. What power that car has to pull my almost dead car all the way to the exit. Wish I could buy 1 of that car soon. @Abu Muhammad as the CF and @Russ as the sweep did an extremely well support role right from we started the drive. As I mentioned before everybody performed almost well to what @Shaaz Sha had in his plans to take us to every dune in Badayer. @Javier Lucero, @JeromeFJ, @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @Amir Amiri , @Ranjan Das & @Rawad see you all soon to drive another day. It was my honor and pleasure to be in the company of such exemplary drivers and their capable machines.

Thank you @Luca Palanca Falsini and @Shaaz Sha for organizing today's drive. Its one of the best areas to truly test a driver's car power as well as his/her ability to stay in focus mode from the entry moment until the exit @Shaaz Shayour first lead wasnt an easy task as our drive was a tough one with 3 cars down, and many kamikaze convoys cutting our ways in all dangerous ways possible. You sir handled it all as a pro. For many more to come 👍👍 It was a shame that @Chinthaka Ruwan had trouble starting his car at the entry point, but i guess it was better than facing it in the middle of the trip just like what happened with @Thomas Varghese . Wish you both speedy and non-expensive recoveries Its worth mentioning how amazing the support team was today with @Abu Muhammad as a CF before his car faced some trouble towards the end of the drive, and then @Ranjan Dassmoothly filling his shoes . And a big congrats for @Russ who joined the support team a couple of days back. You acted as if you've been sweeping since day one bro. Bravo 👏👏👏👏 @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @JeromeFJ, @Javier Lucero, @Amir Amiri, and @Thomas Varghese always a pleasure riding with you folks Until we meet again 🤙🤙

I wish I had kept quiet earlier 🤦🏽‍♂️ …. My big mouth often makes my life harder!

2 mini Pajeros, 2 long Pajeros (1 UniChipped), 2 stock XTerras (both offroad trim), 1 naked Jeep with no roof, 1 stock Y62… let’s draw the straw and pick our position Squid-game style 😂

We are already doing our stretching excercises.

Wow, the heavy weights of Carnity are on this drive @Gaurav @Frederic@Asif Hussain along with a lot of experience in @GauravSoni @Ruan van den Heever @Mus_hus78 @Zed and @Xavier Treasurer Fingers crossed for a smooth drive. I am going to be announcing the convoy number at the meeting point for a change. See you boys at 8:00 PM

My Car starting mortor failed and I put it in the garage. Tomorrow it will be fixed and I'll be able to join with you guys next week. Luckily it happened before entering to the desert. I really tankful for everyone for the support. I really wanted to participate this drive so I decided to go with @Russ and it was a great experience for me. Just relax and enjoy the drive. Thanks @Russ for the wonderful ride. @Shaaz Sha it was a tough day in a difficult terrain with lot of other vehicles but you managed to make the drive enjoyable and take everyone back safely. Hope @Abu Muhammad and @Thomas Varghese your cars will be fixed soon and back on sand again. Thanks @Luca Palanca Falsini and all friends. See you all soon.

@Jeepie thanks for a great drive today, as always learned loads, appreciate the great leadership and patience. @Wrangeldthanks for the advise and help getting me unstuck always a learning experience driving with you guys. will ditch the external mic for the next drive. see you all in about a months time. t Thanks to the rest of the team was great to meet you all had a blast thanks again for a great Friday afternoons entertainment

@Gaurav yes I can be there earlier @3pm. Lol about the DIY challenge. Just for clarity @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ - it’s unfair to bring your son this time! … we all have seen how you have him operate as your shovel-walla on drives in the past!

I have thought of few more steps ahead, don't worry. They can have all the gizmos they want. At least they will learn what works and what DEF doesn't.

I am yet to a see a pic of Niki shovelling... Also @Gaurav if I may add, no gizmos such as A Track should be allowed during self recoveries... This is to keep a level playing field... 😅

@imranaasghar81 @munkybizness @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil @Wrangeld @Enrico Biscaro thanks for your superb songs and contributions to our list ! To start the Winter season, i will now clear the list and invite you, and the other Carnity members, to add a few of your favorite winter songs, with the intention of having the Carnity Playlist to be the ultimate companion on the camping evenings. Looking forward to your contributions !

I know from where this drive will start, but GOD only knows where and when it will end

The only issue is while passing that the testing center might ask you to cover it. The cops dont catch cars with uncovered light bars.

I have always left it uncovered in Dubai. Not sure about other Emirates but was never stopped because of it. For RTA passing they will need to be covered (masking tape is fine).

DRIVE REPORT Dear Desert Wanderers, I was a bit skeptical this morning after so many dropouts from the RSVP.. It felt like this drive was not meant to happen, after all! I was so wrong!! In fact it was a beautiful drive, with a great convoy, across a wonderful landscape. After a quick briefing in the early afternoon warm sun, we started our drive by 2:35pm. The short convoy ultimately had only 6 cars, of which two Newbies, @Omar ElGamal and @Patrick van der Loo, driving their first Newbie Drive after an Absolute Newbie and a Masterclass drive respectively, one Fewbie, @Larry Cadden, and more senior members. A shorter and stronger convoy usually means less stucks and refusals, more fun, more distance, more driving time. We actually ticked all the boxes, as we had only one stuck with @Omar ElGamal at the very beginning and very few refusals later on again with Omar and with @Patrick van der Loo. @Melenany managed well the only recovery of the day, towing@Omar ElGamal out of a soft patch he had unfortunately ended in after correctly steering down on a slide slope where he had lost momentum. After this single episode our ropes (and shovels) never left our trunks until Moon Lake, when @Melenany lended his rope to help some sports car get unstuck nearby. As we headed west and then progressively south into the desert along a zig-zag route, we started practicing first some small slideslopes, then progressively bigger ones, alternated with smaller and bigger half circles, which allowed our Newbie friends to get the feeling of what it takes to climb up the windside of those long dunes and stay up there, sidelsloping for longer and longer distances, keeping the car afloat on the sand thanks to the right combination of speed (ie momentum), full or gentle throttle, and smooth and round steering up and down. Sidelsloping was indeed the leitmotiv of the day. What in the first 30 minutes seemed almost impossible to achieve, became progressively more doable as a result of extended practice: going just outside the comfort zone, in a safe and controlled way, eventually leads to realize how quickly the comfort zone gets bigger! It should be said that, while honing our driving skills we went through beautiful dunes and amazing views. We crossed multiple rocky formations which were so stunning to deserve a photo stop: We then made it to the famous Richie's bar, a must-photograph location in Al Qudra for any offroader.. .. especially @Melenany: We then continued across amazing long range dunes, where, besides sidelsloping, we could practice straight up - straight down dune crossing. We first started with some small ones .. .. but we quickly built up the confidence of our newbies to do way more challenging attempts: We got to see oryxes and gazelles, some running just a few meters away, too fast to be captured in a photograph, but we also got to see amazing views in the "golden hour" before the sunset, when the light of the sun becomes warmer and more inclined, painting the sand with amazing colors and shades: It was at this point that @Omar ElGamal's Pajero started having some apparent overheating problems. Weird case, though, as the temperature gauge showed normal values, the fluid in the tank was well within normal levels and the car was driving perfectly fine. Possibly an electronic malfunction, a faulty sensor or an issue on the radiator fan. As nothing indicated a real problem it was decided to allow Omar to complete the drive while keeping a close eye on the temperature gauge. As the sunset time was about to be reached, we made our move towards our last stop, Al Qudra's Moon Lake, where we enjoyed a well deserved, refreshing chill-out: In the twilight after the sunset, we quickly made our way out through the sabkha, reaching the dirt track to Bab Al Shams and eventually the tarmac by 5:50pm. Overall we drove the amazing distance of 55.2km over a total time of 3h 13' from start to end, of which 2h 29' spent in motion and 44' stopped, mostly for photos and a quick break as we certainly didn't lose much time on stucks and refusals. Great kudos to @Omar ElGamal (let us know how your cooling problems got sorted) and @Patrick van der Loo for an excellent performance today, especially considering that, in a couple of places we surely reached good technical levels for a Newbie drive. For both of you the key takeaway today is keep up the momentum and never fight gravity (I must have repeated it a hundred times!). Great thanks to @Larry Cadden, an impeccable 2nd lead today, to @Melenany for an excellent support during stucks and refusals and to @Looper for a quiet but yet reassuring sweeping at the back. It was a pleasure being with you all, thanks for your company and see you soon again on the sand!

i recently did RTA testing fo renewal, and totally forgot to cover offroad lights. no questions asked car was passed. only a remark in passing paper to use extra light for off road use only.. look below for my offroad lights and i did passing in tasjeel al qusais

Thank you @Chinthaka Ruwan. My car is ready now. It seems the throttle body motor went haywire with all the hard acceleration. After getting it reprogrammed the car is okay now. Good that it stopped before I created an accident as the whole brake fluid container was filled up with sand after the cap flew away mysteriously. Cleaned the master cylinder, all the brake lines, and the calipers, flushed it and refilled it with brake fluid. You should be able to get a 2nd hand starter motor for less than 200 AED from Sharjah BMW road. I replaced mine last week along with an alternator and the driver side power assisted window motor - all for 500 AED. If any assistance required call me on 0552690503. The starter motor doesn't die a sudden death. The symptoms would have been there since some time. Hope the recovery I arranged for you didn't take long to reach you.

@JeepieIt was a challenging drive. Loved every single bit of it. @WrangeldAmazing support and guiding the stuck ones

Was waiting for such a drive since I joined Carnity, looking forward for tomorrow. See you all om sand.

@Gaurav I'll do my best to be there by 3:00.

@Gauravit will be tight but I will do my very best to be there for 15:00..

no problem with 3pm for me

Thats exactly what I had in mind...

Most welcome @Russ

Correct meeting point here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/uSP6NNtqggKT4DgL7 Thanks for noticing. @Larry Cadden, @Omar ElGamal, @Patrick van der Loo, @Shyam Menon, @Melenany, @Shantanu Joshi, @Rouaj, @GratefulKRD, @Gerrit Bus, @hasan hamadeh, @Looper, pls notice the correct meeting point above. All references to the meeting point have been amended.

I see our missing lead @Asif Hussainjoined this drive too 😍….. we’ll call it little liwa drive

Ruan don’t give us negative thoughts 🤪 we need to have positive thoughts as it took ZED almost a week plucking flower petals to join the drive . Hope miracle garden has more flower left for our next night drive 🤓. Wow …ZED might need sunglasses 🕶 to drive at night if those flood lights hit him from behind 😁

@Zixuan Huang - Charlie @S Jacob @Charbel @Anoop Nair @Nihal17 @Chris Wing @Pacific @Sunil Mathew Hello Everybody, I hope you are doing well. Thank you for joining this Fewbie Plus drive. The plan for tomorrow is go through technical dunes for the first half of the drives and second half of long range dunes. Please find the convoy list attached and we will be using Channel Number 3 (446056).

Hello @Tbone/ Gents, Nice private session 👌 by the looks of it. Should be nice and fast, looking forward to it. Regards, Mohamad

Lolz, don't Jinx it bro... I've taken the Y62 slowly from Newbie with Sri, Newbie-but-felt-Fewbie with Angela and latest FewbiePlus with Mehmet... this is why I'm a bit confident joining Friday night's drive... so far so good 😁