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Dear Desertnauts. Last instructions for tomorrow's looooooong full day drive. The meeting point has been set (see drive's published post) just beyond Qudra's Last Exit ADNOC station, in order to avoid the tricky entry from the private villa mentioned in my previous message. As soon as you reach Qudra, please refill to the brim, and proceed to the meeting point, on the track just past the gas station. Kindly deflate, and get ready to start the drive by way of the sand/dirt track running parallel to the tarmac road, in the direction of said villa, from where we'll enter the dunes. We'll be using Carnity Radio Channel #2 (446.031). The convoy order will see, as done in the past, each Fewbie Plus member following a more senior driver, to receive an informal higher level training during the drive: @Mus_hus78 will be in Second Lead @varunmehndiratta in place #3 @Anoop Nair #4 @Looper will drive at #5 @munkybizness will take #6 @GauravSoni will take care of the Center @Zed will be #8 @Mario Cornejo will occupy place #9 @PaoloMaraziti will be #10, and @Jeepie will Sweep the group. Please, check my previous post for all matters concerning the itinerary, the resting place, food and drinks, fuel supply, etc. BONUS SOUND TRACK One more thing: being this a Caravan, I have thought of accompanying it with its own dedicated music. I have prepared a Spotify compilation, which you'll find below. Throughout this collection you'll find mostly lounge music, with rhythms that remind of the steady and relaxed pace of a caravan, plus a sprinkle of a few tunes that relate to my personal experiences: country for my growing up in California, disco for the most care-free period in my life (70's and 80's), a few Italian songs to celebrate my birthplace. Load it up on your player, if you wish (downloading the songs while at home), activate the random play mode as soon as we start the drive, and move on to the next song if some of the music doesn't appeal to you. It'll be another way to connect us through the drive. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vUxwvcIVQ487uGwcyp49c?si=QuFvzkBHRwGAEiKHjjIUsw&utm_source=native-share-menu Enjoy !!

Hi off road enthusiasts. Hope every one is back to ur base safe. Thank you guys for showing up on time. All of us were at the meeting point at around 6.45 , after the briefing and a radio check started to set out, after @Matt.T got us all lined up for the drive.We were all cruising smooth and had plenty of side slopes and nice bowls to play. Despite the traffic and cross tracks we all managed it well to make it enjoyable. You people were all amazing and did extremely well. Being a strong convoy, We had very few refusals and stuck and we made it to the faya area with ease. Thanks to @Wrangeld for organizing this event and @sertacfor making it possible for me. @sertac, thank you for guidances and advices and for your help in recoveries and refusals. @Warren Flay, you did a magnificent job in your first fewbie plus drive. Your Pajero SWB could make it through without much troubles. well done. @S Jacobhad some refusals and a couple o stuck, which is an inevitable part of this sport.You did keep a positive attitude and kept up the spirit to make faya climb possible. well done. @Charbeldid a wonderful job with your X. I don't think you had any issues and hardly heard you on the radio. keep it up bro. @Gilbert KhalilThe only FJ in the convoy and was an easy peasy for you. Did great al the bowls. keep it up buddy. @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, did a wonderful job as CF buddy. Thank you soo much for your updates from the center and for all your help in recoveries and tugs. great work man. @Tareckwith his ultimate off roader.. the Y62 did amazing.. You did really good to make it through some slopes and pockets where we had a very limited room for a big car to maneuver. Good job. @Pacific and @Werno..guys i believe you had a good day on the dunes.. you guys were excellent at the back and were a treat for the eyes. did great guys. @Matt.T, Did a great job at the sweep buddy. Thank you for all the detailed updates on convoy from behind and did a great job in recoveries. Thanks you guys and see you soon on the sands. Some images in the gallery.

Dear @Russ @Ranjan Das @Chinthaka Ruwan@Alain Canivet-Abikhalil @JeromeFJ @Danish Mohammad @Jorge Stepniak Felippe @Sunil Mathew @Humayun Ghias @Rawad Pre-drive details below: 1- Please be on time and bring all your passion for off-roading and pull as much as you can of yourself out of bed.. trust me you will need all of it. 2- Be at the meeting point by 7:00am (or before) and be ready to move max by 7:15am (deflated, flag erected, 4H on, radio on and set, airbags/traction/abs all set....) 3- Please ensure your programable radio is on, fully charged and set to Channel 2 (446,031) 4- Briefing will be done on on the sand before we start moving 5- Please be prepared for a demanding drive which you will require your undivided attention. Bringing passengers is ok provided they will not be a cause for distraction and don't have known motion sickness or fear of heights. 6- Please ensure everything in the car is tied down and no moving objects 7- Please check all oils, tow hooks, and ensure no hanging parts below the chassis. 8- please ensure you come with a full tank (as much as possible) in addition to all necessary gear for this drive level specially your safety flag (NO FLAG or RADIO = NO DRIVE) 9- Meeting Point: 24°49'19.0"N 55°46'31.7"E https://goo.gl/maps/4iohh9HL4kJX5shV7 10- Convoy order see you all on the sand 🤩 Hi @Russ sorry for this confusion .. it’s 7:00am

Post Drive Report I will admit to have been approaching today's drive with a little trepidation. In common with all Marshals and leads, I like to plan my drives so that I have an idea of where we are going, what to expect and I like to understand if there is some special element I can add to the drive to make it especially engaging. Stepping in for another Marshal is a responsibility to not only match the expectations of the drivers that chose that drive/marshal combination but also to drive confidently when the terrain is not well known. My fears and concerns all melted away as soon as I saw the beautiful landscapes before me. Yes, it was soft (very soft) in places but the swooping dunes and bowls and ridges with amazing slip faces waiting for our descent more than compensated. Add to that incredible support from @JeromeFJ, @Niki and @Dodi Syahdar we had a great morning. Three absolute newbies, got into the sort of trouble we would expect from them. @Ali Shah @eric abordo and @Imran Kashif you did well. You might have felt that you were the only people getting delayed - well, what do you expect. Two hours before, you'd never been out in the sand. Our other drivers - @Gertjan thanks for helping with the rope work, @Mohseen Suliman was great to see you again. Niki saw to all your recoveries, @Adnan Halepota I think your drive was pretty flawless Looking forward to seeing you all in the sand soon

Visited these places recently. The Wadi Sal drive is still breathtaking and compared to last year, I would say there are more difficult sections, and more garbage on the top. Filmed this drive: Also visited the mountain trail from the southern part of this mountain - Yanis mountain - easy drive, camping spot with amazing views but toilet building was abandoned (so no facilities). Despite there being a barrier at the beginning of the road, there was a sign saying "visitors and hikers are welcome" From this campsite it is easy to see another scary road based on the UAE off-road book, it must be the road to Bakal village.Has anyone tried it? Doable? Happy to go there together Here is the overall map of the area:

@Ale Vallecchi Wonderful Spotify List ! Have a great drive tomorrow !

Happy Diwali to all @Carnity family. May the million lamps illuminate your life with endless joy, prosperity, wealth and good health forever… Wishing you and your family a very Happy Diwali.

I visited Wadi Sal December last year and It was amazing. Most challenging Wadi Drive so far. When I see your video it seems like the track is more difficult now maybe because of rainfall this year. My biggest concern in this drive was amount of tire damage I had. The track is full with sharp stones and it will cut your tires like a knife. Yanas drive is much easier with amazing views. Regarding Bakal village track I tried and it was impossible to do with my Xterra. I couldn't go even 100m.

@Shaaz Shait was really nice drive ,pretty nice mix of initial bout of technical and then long dunes with amazing convoy, idrive was so smooth and hassle free almost silent on radio....enjoyed a lot. Sorry need to exit early. Shaaz you took convoy like pro....kudos to @sertac. Have great evening.

Thanks @Alex Raptor @takeshi sobue @Belal Aldaour @Imteeaz Goolamhossen @Ferl Brown@Felix Obst @Joseph Sebastian@Manoj Soman @Shahid Mehmood for making it to the drive today and being a great team through out the morning. It’s was great for me to return to Faqaa after long time and it’s one of me favorite off-road places in Dubai. The beautiful sunrise and the balloons filling up the sky on the way to the meeting point were a great start of the day, weather was amazing with cool breeze all the time until we existed and we enjoyed the Oryx group and the Gazelles on the way too.. what more can I ask for. Gliding along the long range dunes spread across the whole area, we almost touched all what came through our way and you guys did great managing your tails on slow speeds. straight crossing from very short baby to high dunes at the end was something that I also believe you almost mastered after doing them over and over and learning from the mistakes.. bravo 👏 👏 thanks to all of you and looking forward for driving with you soon.. specially thanks to @Alex Raptor for the outstanding support and @Ferl Brown for the flawless 2nd lead and @Felix Obst for sweeping the convoy. as stated in the debrief pls ensure you have your cars checked thoroughly specially gear and transfer case as we had many issues today due to this in multiple cars. Also having an appropriate setup for your flag to hold it up for the whole drive is mandatory. @Manoj Soman and @Shahid Mehmood pls observe the drive announcements every Sunday 7:00pm and avoid waiting till after RSVP closes on Thu 3:00pm. @takeshi sobue sorry man for sending you back as having radio for every driver is a must and also it would haven’t been safe to let you drive with your baby in the back seat without adult support which can cause distraction leading to safety concerns for you and other fellow drivers. Finally, @qaiser ijaz please consider others points of views on the matter. Working as a team doesn’t mean waiting for late comers specially when it’s 20mins and everyone have been already deflated and set to go and briefing was halfway. Fairness must be for everyone and it’s not fair for others to wait! If the convoy waited for you then we should also wait for someone who comes 25mins or 30mins late! To be fair to everyone we have rules and all these rules are clearly mentioned and stressed over and over in the drive announcement and in the drive brief that is issued on the night before the drive. I have been late before and I know how frustrating it’s to see the convoy leaving without me, but it only becomes fair when the same rules are applied to everyone.

@sertacand @Shaaz Sha was a great drive today thanks. Plenty of variation to keep us on our toes and practice the skills. Cheers

Hope this helps: Option 1: 70 Mail / Garmin or other Advantages: Records in 2.7k Video that one can crop without loss for 1080p videos Has Decent Night Mode Decent Wide Angle Video as well Its your normal Dash Cam that you are re-purposing it for action cam - always present in your car and always recording. Latest Gen 70mail records GPX data as well so if you want to overlay that in your video you can do it as well Heat resistant - I have never seen my camera stop because of heat (a. because of the smaller sensor, b. no battery c. the way they are made). Cheaper than other video cameras (bar repurposed phones) No need to remember to record anything - no planning needed Disadvantages You wont get 4k Video and not too good optics. fixed place to mount - only one on the dash Single purpose use. Mine does not capture gpx data so I use Gaia data to overlay on my videos (if I ever do it that is) Dash cams don't show the action as well as an action cam can, somehow I feel they show the video slower than they are. Option 2: GopPro/Sony/DJI Action Cams Advantages Higher Resolution up to 4k Better Optics & image stabilization plus upto 240 fps or timelapse recording GPX data recoding and easy to overlay on videos Can be mounted on many different locations and they are generally waterproof using cases. You can use it for other than drives as well. Possibility to live telecast on social media with some devices (gopro does it). Disadvantages More expensive compared to a dash cam also you end-up buying into the whole ecosystem. Gets hot quickly and in summer it might stop working You have to remember to record and have to plan according to your drive. Option 3: Repurposed Phones (Jugad) Advantages You already have it - no cost you can use your current phone as well. Decent quality of video and if the phone is not too old it will do 4k, Slowmo and Timelapse as well You can live broadcast on to social media for your drive. Disadvantage If it is your daily driver you may get some unexpected calls which will stop recording (no issue if it is unused) You need to securely mount it inside the car (same as dashcam) plus it will be more obstructive for the view than dashcam It has batteries and they get hot soon. In summer my iPhone gets hot and stops working if it is mounted on the windscreen. You have to remember to record as well. I have all of the above and I use all of them. My first preference still be Dash Cam for value for money and convenience point of view. They wont be the best but they are there when you need it. The logical way to go is to use your phone first then get a dash cam and finally an action cam. In DashCams I prefer 70mail they are not too expensive and work well and in the newer models they record front and back. In Action Cams - I will recommend the latest GoPro it gets refreshed every year with new features being added. DJI has come up with a new lineup you want to check. Sony - they had good action cams but have seen a refresh in the near past. You might be able to grab a 2nd hand one if you can for all of the above as well.

Now comes with seven seaters and sophisticated tech

Like the old times when no one cared about sound pollution... The world is becoming too boring

Nice! The problem is, my SWB Gadgy is a little tinfoil box with low cost sound deadening so it’s like sitting in a tin drum😂

On this darkest of nights, let the brightness of our lights (and there's lot of them across our convoys ) shine bright into our lives! Team @Carnity - here's wishing you, your loved ones and our community of caring members with a year full of joy, luck, virgin sands, cavernous bowls, glorious sunrises, soulful sunsets, and shimmering night drives Last evening I attended a beautiful twilight drive led by @Chaitanya D & @M.Seidam, and my passenger commented on just how polite and respectful the radio comms and convoy was. She was in awe of the civility with which this group moved, and the safety we put as paramount. @Ashok chaturvedi then brought out some delicious mithai (sweets) to add a beautiful punctuation to the moment. What stood out to me - and my passenger - was the wide beaming smiles everywhere. And that's the making of each and every one of you. Individually, we are just drivers and enthusiasts. Together, we're a force On this beautiful day, I wish nothing but to see you all out on the sands again soon. And for those in the forums, may we continue to cross paths so I get to hear of your experiences and your wisdom. Collectively, it enriches Carnity to be what it is. HAPPY DIWALI!

I think Borla hush muffler is quiet stealthy!!!! @Gaurav has this one.. Check this page… there is a link for sound clip https://www.fastwrx.com/products/borla-hush-cat-back-exhaust-2002-07-wrx-and-sti I went to an exhaust specialist in Ajman and he was talking about an electronic switch to reduce the sound… I was later warned to not use such system as the cops literally get underneath the car and if found ….. game over!!!

Thanks @Wrangeld, @Dodi Syahdar, @Niki , @JeromeFJ and the full convoy for a great day out in Al Fayah. A few pictures to remember the day!

This Valvetronic CCP muffler is what I just got, all else the same. Takes the drive to another level. Really cool sound. And goes really well with the Iron Maiden and Metallica desert sound track

Hey @Tbone, @Nizam Deen, @Daniel Yangand team, thanks for the fantastic drive today! Every drive I learn something new... today was no different . I learnt that I need more discipline on my checklist and make sure I'm really ready to hit the sand... on the other hand I also learnt I could hold up to 1h drive in 2WD. If wasn't for a loss of momentum followed by a refusal, perhaps I woudn't have used 4WD today The drive went so well that I felt just like I needed to check the pressure on the next opportunity... Cheers folks! Have a great weekend, see you on the next drive.

@Lorenzo Candelpergher thank you for the wonderful driving experience,it was a amazing feeling to drive at the night,felt always confident following your lead,looking forward for more drives with you in future.

Happy Diwali to all! 🌟

Happy Divali to the @Carnity family... Wish that the lights enlighten our path into the desert more and more...😊

Hahaha - That's a brilliant line @Nikifantastic photo.

I find mine drones a bit at highway speed but from outside it is fine. I may put a ‘resonator’ on the backend to tone it down just a little… we’ll see😆

Hi @Lorenzo Candelpergher First of all thank you so much for trusting on me and giving this opportunity to be at SW and make sure that convoy should be together all the time and everyone shall enjoy safely. (Hope i had filled your expectation not disappointed you) This drive was really nice in crescent moon and you made it more special by giving us a break at the top along with bonfire, music and sharing stories. We enjoyed a lot and got relax in midweek with some new friends. I am sure that everyone was enjoying the movement while sitting in such a lovely weather. Thank you so much @Thomas Varghese appreciate the way you did by being our SL ,it was really not easy to catch our 'super marshal' specially at night BUT you made it very well ... thanks for keeping an eagle eye on the track so that all convoy can move smoothly. Thanks to all of you for joining this Convoy and making it possible. Everyone did excellent 👍 as a part of learning with fun some refusals, stuck and including my pop-out was taken care very properly by our Marshal. Stay safe... See you in next drive...

Excellent drive today. Teally learned alot Thank you

Check this

@GauravSoni @Warren Flay has a Golden Pajero (Gojero) SWB with no cats and he’s loving it. All the Land Cruiser 100 GCC-spec apparently have no cats too, cc @Hasan Wahlan @Wade Pat2 @ShereenMK and they pass RTA just fine. In short: yeah drive without catalytic converters and feel that your engine is pushing those toxic gases faster from the engine manifolds out to the muffler 😁🔥

It was a great drive. While I dont remember everyone’s name I remember everyones car and faces. We were a great team. I enjoyed great conversations with some of you. Thank you @Tboneand @Daniel Yangand everyone that made it a good experience.

Wonderful post @munkybizness ! I totally agree with you. I joined the club about three years back, and came across the most humble and polite people i have ever met. Their genuine friendship and support made me come back every week and looking forward to meeting new community members. Perhaps we are not the fastest or craziest performance offroad club, but we can proudly say that with 45+ nationalities we are a part of a tightknit family where everyone looks out for each other, and a place where people from all walks of life and enjoy their weekly desert trips together with us. When we look at potential new supporting members, advisors, and new leaders, we look at their attitude, humbleness, teamplayer attitude, and genuine interpersonal skillset, and these things together form what we call the Carnity DNA. Happy Diwali to all my friends and desertnauts !

@Lorenzo Candelpergher Thank you for the beautiful drive last night, it was a good refresher in the weekday. Especially the bonfire and the conversations we all had. Got to interact with all the off roaders. The second part of the drive was extremely exciting. It was a little fast, had some crossing and climbed few dunes. @Thomas Varghese Thanks for your second lead and support and @Danish Mohammadthanks for your support as sweep and helping me out during my stuck situation 🙂. @Lorenzo Candelpergher finally got me stuck after the bonfire 😝🤣 thanks for winching me out 🙂 Hope to see you all soon

DRIVE REPORT Dear Desert Wanderers, The first drive of the season where my windows were down from start to end! What a beautiful feeling.. We started a bit later than planned at 6:22pm, because of the late arrivals of @Thomas Varghese and @MMansoor due to heavy traffic. To my surprise, my main off-roading headlights were not working properly (a loose contact somewhere), which casted some doubts on how relaxed the drive was going to be, as limited visibility implied more focus.. My doubts were wrong, as it all went smoothly and beautifully. We roamed around on the West side of Pink Rock for a little while to warm up the convoy and get everyone accustomed to the night driving experience, which always takes a bit of time and was, for some, really the 1st time. As usual the initial stint is also a test drive to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the convoy, so after the 1st quiet 20 mins I pushed a bit here and there to see who may get in trouble. We had a few refusals and reattempts, but nothing major, all nicely self-recovered with the occasional guidance of @Danish Mohammad. As we were approaching 7pm, we made our way back to Pink Rock, which we climbed to the top. The ascent to the pass is always an epic experience, no matter how often it is done. Yesterday, however, was definitely the most difficult night climb I happened to lead so far, as it was a pitch black evening with no moon light, so I had to climb relying entirely on my GPS track and then guide the convoy to the top by holding my torch light on so that drivers could have a target to aim at in the distance while climbing up in the dark. Quite an experience! As we were planning a proper stop pretty soon, we didn't indulge much at the top, so we made our way down on the east side of Pink Rock, and quickly climbed to its south edge, then stopped where the sharp rocky edge offers a 360° panoramic view of the surroundings. As planned, we reached our camping point approx 1h after our departure, and set up our bonfire. There was a nice breeze blowing, a beautiful view of the rock and of the surrounding landscape, with the horizon outlined by the lights of the roads outside the desert, a reminder of the civilized world far away, in stark contrast with the untamed nature of the place we stood at. Having a break around the bonfire, with some quiet music in the background (it was a piano concert by Ludovico Einaudi, for those who are curious), chatting about past off-roading adventures, was a really nice relaxing moment.. Exactly what I was hoping for the evening. After approx 1h, at 8:15pm, we put off the fire, wrapped up the remains, and made our move south, aiming at Big Red. What followed was a beautiful, uninterrupted, very fluid stint, during which we were blessed with a convoluted, but yet gentle ride, flowing around the fat ridges and the large bowls that the terrain south of Pink Rock offered. With minimal refusals and reattempts, we covered a significant distance and progressively approached our final destination. As we reached Big Red with a few minutes still left to spend, we tried an attempt to climb to the top: we didn't quite reach it, but didn't get far from it. On the way down, however, we had our only stuck of the day, with @MMansoor crested at a tricky criss-crossing: I had promised him, around the fire, that I'd get him stuck somewhere soon.. And I kept my word.. 😂😂 As I didn't want to delay our exit, the recovery was performed by winching the Y62 down from the crest, the fastest solution to the stuck. Five minutes later, by 9:58pm, we were out on the tarmac on E44 at Badayer. Everyone in the convoy did well yesterday night: @Thomas Varghese was a reliable 2nd lead, careful and responsive at all times, ready to reroute when required. A great entertainer as well around the fire! @Waqas Parvezat his 1st Fewbie drive with Carnity, followed without much hesitation. His past off-roading experience was very clearly visible. @Vaibhav handled is Jeep Wrangler very well, overcoming very quickly and very fast the initial hesitation in driving at night time at Fewbie level. His 2nd part of the drive, after being energized around the bonfire, was excellent. @MMansoor was roaring around with his beast very well. A couple of refusals that required a bit of help rerouting, especially in the beginning, otherwise a great drive! @Tareck at the back, with the 2nd Y62, did well everywhere. I couldn't see much, but I don't remember his name being mentioned on the radio for any problem. @Danish Mohammad had a lot to do last night, giving precious instructions to those who were having refusals and having some trouble himself from time to time (including a flat tire due to a probable minor pop-out, where the tyre went back in place after deflating): the sand was already churned up for me at the front, it must have been sand soup for him at the back. Well done! Overall we covered 38.7km in net 1h 55' moving time, which makes a brilliant 17.3km/h moving speed for a night drive. Except for our 1h bonfire break, we were on hold for only 19', which tells quite a good story about how the convoy performed last night. Congrats to all and thanks to @Thomas Varghese and @Danish Mohammad for their support. See.you soon again in the sand.

You can go with Borla and/or Magnaflow (esp hushflow) lower decibel but free flow product. I'm using these both brand and happy from last 5 years or so. Beware that with loud noise Sharjah police can and will stop you to hand over 2,000 dhs fine. I recently got one last year when one of my flange gasket was leaking and making tiny bit extra noise, though well within 80 DB (allowed by RTA). So I fixed those gasket and went to Maliha police station to dance on cops tune to waive 2K fine. Apparently I also installed a flexi joint in between as main culprit of broken gasket was high speed dune attack and on harder bumps it stretched my exhaust setup and cracked that gasket. So while at it, consider flexi joint too.

@Warren Flay sound of your Pajero was amazing today. I enjoyed listening that 3.8 screaming.

Couple more boring additions I wanted to add. Had a chance to replace stock exhaust with new OEM. It was the only thing with rust on the car but it's nice and shiny now. New prop shafts, new engine and transmount. Few bushing here and there. The worst job was roof supports. Found some rattles and decided to remove headliner. All 3 cross supports seam sealer had hardened and broken up. Leaving roof and supports metal to metal. Decided to finally go to the rental shop and do that part myself. Turned out well but not fun. Up next will be timing belt kit ,water pump and radiator flush before the SC goes on in January. It seems I just got back to Dubai and I'm leaving again for Christmas holiday.