Leaderboard

@Ale VallecchiExcellent drive. From start to end everyone was enjoying. thanks @JeromeFJand @Looperfor the support. @KAMALIOGood driving being your first fewbie plus drive. @Santoso Marjuki and @Naveen Rajgood to see you guys all the way from AUH. @Gregoryit was a pleasure drive behind you. hope to see everyone soon.

Another perfect drive. 99.98% accurate. Nonstop fun. First time ever I recorded a 0 second stoppage drive. Beat every target set by @Ale Vallecchi. Thanks to @JeromeFJ for the support and taking up the slack & @Sunil Mathew for an excellent second lead. The radio communication was at almost negligible and only thing we had to declare that the drive is going on smoothly. Thanks you all for this drive and looking forward to next one.

@Mark D I have them all on my raptor, the most effective are the rigid cubes in the foglights, albeit mine are now altogether in an aftermarket bumper, followed by the LP6 Baja's on the bumper 2 white and 2 amber. The ditch lights on the A pillar are XL80 ambers and are very bright, you don't need those if you go bumper mount, and are not good if you are following in a convoy as they blind the person in front, I don't have any experience with any other brands apart from Rigid and Baja and they are great, and easy to wire into the up fitter switches on the raptor

I am still happy to lead the drive with the 4 of us here.. actually it's more fun😈

I finally got time off work this weekend to join your drive @Shaaz Sha Looking forward to more challenges and lots of fun!

I'm in the process of an overlanding build, which will take another year as I do incremental upgrades to see what works and what doesn't. Personally, I prefer the one-at-a-time upgrade to see deficiencies before throwing the kitchen sink at it. For lighting, you can definitely go too far, and we have some members here who could initiate close encounters of the third kind with their arrays 👽 I would separate your lighting needs into two sections: Auxiliary Driving Lights and Camping Lights 1. Auxiliary Driving Lights are any additional lights that aid your visibility off-road to drive better. The three most common mounting points for these lights are the Bumper, A-Pillar and Roofline. a) Bumper The bumper is one of the best places to increase forward visibility because that’s where the headlights are, and are in your direct field of actionable vision. Fog Lights are a great first step to swap out. The housings are already designed so there is limited amount of cutting involved. Mounted low to the ground, and angled outwards, these will give you great spread directly in front of your car for up to 50m. Warm temperature fog-lights such as amber or yellows are a good choice as they don’t reflect off the sand being kicked up as much. LED light bars mounted on the top of the bumper trim or within the grilles are a great location to get a great forward flood spread. LED/Halogen Spotlights can be mounted using bashplates that have integrated bars to mount them. You’ll see many drivers here with F150s mounting Baja LP6/LP9s in this way. b) A-Pillar Smaller (4 to 6 inch) auxiliary lights are commonly mounted on the A-pillar either using the pillar frame or the side mirrors, or through brackets emerging out of the hood. Commonly called side-shooters or ditch lights, this location raises your lights higher up and is a great place to mount lights pointing off to either side. Here, you have to think about terrain. There is a reason why so many drivers in the desert have ditch-lights, and that is because we’re seldom driving on a trail. Since we’re carving out our own path, riding up and down ridges; lateral visibility greatly improves how you react to the surroundings. c) Roof-line Lights mounted on the roofline usually either as a bracket from the A-pillar or on a roof-rack provide the highest point for mounting your additional lights. Usually done using light bars (preferably curved), they will throw the light far and wide. However, lights pointed this high up will bounce off your hood as well as severely impact wind noise on the road. If your car is a daily driver, I would advise against this option. 2. Camping Lights There are two flavours to camping lights – fixed and portable. a) Fixed Camping Lights are traditionally mounted on roof-racks. Additionally, some drivers are also now using LED light strips under the side rooflines. Since your car is not a full wagon, this option will not work so well. b) Portable Camping Lights are what you should rely on primarily. Through telescoping stands, you can connect them to portable lithium ion batteries. Beyond all of this, amperage management is something you have to take into account too. Asking your car battery to supply the power for all of these lights for long periods of time or overnight while you camp is a recipe for disaster. If you don’t have a secondary car, and your battery goes dead, there will be nobody to jumpstart it. Hence, whatever lights you add on, please keep a tab on your voltage and amperage draws as well.

I am currently in a similar boat that i want to obtain some information and experiences. In the past i have used different cheap Chinese LED beams from Tobys, Auxbeam, etc... which were a great bang for the buck so far, but came to realize the wattages and lumens they advertise are completely off. An example: I recently measured the amps that my Chinese 320W LED bar was drawing with engine running. The LED bar was only drawing 10.5 Amps which would mean ( 13.5 Volts x 10.5 Amps = 140 Watts). Although the LED bar itself works great, we need to stop staring too much at the advertised values and look more at real life reviews from other users (or Youtube ). Baja, Diode, and Rigid are all top brands which would mean they will last for years, be fully waterproof, and the lenses should not fade too soon (which is a concern on the chinese cheap ones). As LED technology was still constantly changing the last couple of years, i found peace in the fact that i was willing to upgrade them every couple of years. I still have 2 LED bars lying around which are 3 years old and don't perform at all like the newer ones. location wise it does indeed depend on what you are aiming to do: - Leading drives (a good flood light with side shooters aka ditch lights might be good). - Camping (good overall lights, less focus on wattage and strength). On a Raptor there is lots of space and lots of options. Dragon Mart has Toby's or other brands, and recently found a shop in DM (S&D Autoparts) who are selling a brand called "Apca" which in fact are chinese as well, but look much better built and the finish looks almost like Baja Designs. I am also keen on giving them a try. Noticed them on @Mahmoud Taha his ride last weekend as well. The Baja Designs Squadron are small fog lights but very powerful. You can probably even get them installed inside the bumper, or use them on the A pillars as ditch-lights. @Karthik Raptor i think has a great light setup as well from what i can remember. And @Alex Raptor can probably also give good advice on that.

Great mid week stress buster drive @Ale Vallecchi…more than 60 km in 2 hours, non stop without any breaks, all targets achieved as per drive plan !!! The drive put each one of us on our toes , at the summit of concentration, more so with me as the 2nd lead, as I couldn’t afford to even blink, for the fear of losing sight of Ale…. Such was the pace 😊… and thanks to the not so soft sand and our pace, I did the first hour of the drive unknowingly in 2WD , all the while thinking “ why is my car acting funny, why is my rear swaying around , why am I struggling on short climbs” it was only when we got a 10 sec break , I noticed my dashboard was missing the all important light 4WD!!! @Naveen Rajprobably had to deal with a little bit of sand churning by me during this time 😀 good to drive with you all again @Santoso Marjuki@Naveen Raj @KAMALIO @Looper @Gregory @Vaibhav @Fabien Monleau @JeromeFJ Until next time…

Hi all. I’m at the stage now where I would like to upgrade the lighting on the truck. I don’t anticipate a huge amount of night drives, but do go camping often so need some guidance pls on type and brand. I realise the front fogs on a raptor look great, but do they give a good spread? Are the integrated light bars worth it, or are Spot lights and A pillars better? There is such a variety for the truck whether the DM lights, to mid range F150LEDs and Diodes, to top end Baja. Something mid range would suit ideally. Any advise would be appreciated. Cheers.

@munkybizness check out claymore lights for the camping lights, they have a magnetic mount or a 1/4 20 tripod mount so you can move them where you need them, I'm using those now on my chase rack they have all sorts of levels and colour warmth and are USB c charging and can act as a powerbank, I also put the rigid camp lights that throw out light at 45 degrees from the side pods,

im using Tobys few months ago, and happy with them right now.

Absolutely yes, as far as she is healthy and can stay in the car for an hour of a mild newbie level off-road. Btw, it will be an EPIC drive to have such a senior of 80 years of age and youngest as 6 months old (Varun's kid) in one drive.

The Crony has less interference issues. The Baofeng models are great too but some of them need some finetuning to get rid of the interference and static.

He is totally right about the 1 week or 1 year. We have a big single piston Camel Compressor that's been going strong for 3+ years and just refuses to die. Best 180AED spent ever I later bought another one (exact same) and that one overheats after 2 tyres and makes a lot of noise. When manufacturing a compressor, it's all about the exact clearance between the cylinder and cylinderhead. If there is too much clearance it will not build up pressure, if there is not enough clearance it will run too hot. That is the main reason why you just need to be lucky with these compressors because their quality control and variances are horrible. 115AED for the MT777 is a good price.

Hi @Charbel. Thanks for wait listing. I will let you know by tomorrow at 11AM if anybody drops out (if so, you should automatically move into the drive).

Hi @JeromeFJ. Welcome to the drive. I'll have you share duties with Varun and Looper in the management of the convoy. See you tomorrow.

Choosing the Right Air Compressor for Desert Off-Roading in the UAE Off-roading in the UAE desert requires lowering your tire pressure to improve traction on soft sand. While some exits conveniently lead to nearby petrol stations where you can reinflate your tires, this is not always the case. For that reason, carrying a reliable air compressor is an essential part of any off-road recovery kit. It is one piece of equipment you do not want failing when it is time to head back onto the tarmac. Depending on your tire size and the type of compressor being used, reinflating tires can take anywhere from 2–4 minutes per tire to more than 25 minutes for a full set. Under the UAE’s intense desert heat, minimizing inflation time becomes more than just a convenience — it is an important factor for both comfort and equipment longevity. In this article, we will look at some of the key technical considerations when using an air compressor and explain what to look for when purchasing one. Heat Management: The Biggest Challenge The primary challenge with air compressors is heat generation. Compressing air creates friction between air molecules, and this process naturally produces significant amounts of heat. The temperature increase is most noticeable around the piston head, but the air hose itself can also become extremely hot during operation. This is why most quality compressors are equipped with cooling fins and a short metal outlet pipe designed to dissipate heat before it reaches the rubber hose. Even so, compressors should always be handled carefully after use, as certain components may become hot enough to cause burns. It is completely normal for a compressor to heat up during operation, especially when running continuously or operating in high ambient temperatures such as those experienced in the UAE desert. To reduce overheating and extend the lifespan of your compressor, it is recommended to: Keep the compressor in the shade whenever possible Avoid running it continuously for extended periods Respect the manufacturer’s specified duty cycle Allow the unit to cool down between inflation sessions when necessary Understanding Compressor Performance One important factor often overlooked is that inflating a single tire at a time can limit most compressors to an effective airflow of approximately 70 liters per minute (LPM). Even if a compressor is rated for higher output, airflow resistance from a single tire valve can restrict performance, forcing the compressor to work harder and generate additional heat. For high-performance compressors with greater airflow capacity, using a dual-hose or four-hose inflation system can significantly improve efficiency. Inflating multiple tires simultaneously reduces overall runtime, lowers operating temperatures, and makes much better use of the compressor’s available airflow. This setup is especially beneficial for vehicles equipped with larger off-road tires, where inflation times can otherwise become lengthy and demanding on the compressor. What to Look for When Buying an Air Compressor Choosing the right air compressor for desert off-roading is about more than simply buying the most powerful model available. Reliability, durability, and real-world performance are far more important when you are regularly inflating tires in harsh desert conditions. Below are some of the key factors to consider before making a purchase. 1. Warranty and Brand Reputation A quality compressor is an investment, and a reputable manufacturer should stand behind its product with a solid warranty. Premium brands typically offer warranties ranging from 4 to 5 years, which helps justify the higher purchase price and provides peace of mind for frequent off-roaders. Unfortunately, long warranty periods have become less common in recent years, making brand reputation and after-sales support more important than ever. 2. Airflow Output (LPM / CFM) Compressor performance is usually measured in either: LPM (Liters Per Minute) CFM (Cubic Feet Per Minute) As a reference: 2.3 CFM ≈ 65 LPM In general, higher airflow means faster tire inflation. For most off-road applications, compressors delivering 50 LPM or more will perform adequately, while larger tires and multi-tire inflation systems benefit from significantly higher output. However, comparing compressor specifications is not always straightforward. Manufacturers do not always use the same testing standards: Some advertise airflow at 0 PSI (free air delivery) Others provide ratings at 40 PSI, which places a much greater load on the compressor This means that published numbers can sometimes be misleading, and real-world performance may differ significantly from what is printed on the box. 3. Duty Cycle Air compressors generate substantial heat during operation, which means most units cannot run continuously without periodic cooling. The allowable runtime before cooling is required is known as the duty cycle. Manufacturers may express this in different ways: Time-based rating: Example: “20 minutes per hour” Percentage-based rating: Example: “33% duty cycle” In both cases, the meaning is essentially the same: the compressor can operate for approximately 20 minutes within a one-hour period before it should be allowed to cool down. This becomes particularly important for drivers who go off-roading frequently or who need to inflate larger tires. Exceeding the duty cycle repeatedly can quickly lead to overheating, reduced lifespan, or permanent compressor damage. 4. Hose and Accessory Quality The quality of the included accessories is often overlooked but has a major impact on usability and durability. Pay close attention to the quality of: The coiled air hose The pressure gauge The clip-on air chuck Poor-quality fittings and hoses are common failure points and can become frustrating during repeated desert use, especially under high temperatures. 5. Automatic Pressure Shut-Off A useful premium feature is an automatic pressure shut-off system. This function allows the compressor to stop automatically when the inflation trigger is not engaged, reducing unnecessary strain on the motor and limiting heat buildup. It also makes operation more convenient and efficient during multi-tire inflation. 6. Electrical Protection Features Quality compressors should include built-in protection systems such as: Inline fuse protection Thermal overload protection These safety features help protect both the compressor and your vehicle’s electrical system in the event of overheating, excessive current draw, or electrical faults. While these protections are generally standard on premium models, cheaper compressors may omit them entirely. Below a typical specs example of a Bushranger Black Max: Duty cycle is 30 minutes @40psi at 24°C ambient temperature. Obviously the ambient temperature will be much higher for us here in the UAE, so you will need to take that into account. Keep the compressor in the shade while using (or even on the inside of the car if possible) and keep your engine running. These compressors are rated to work most efficiently at 13.8 Volts, so your alternator should be running. Below i will be going through most of the brands we have encountered in the club, and how we can rate them: Premium Brands (****) Brands like ARB, Bushranger, TJM, Dobinsons, and Mean Mother, are the most famous premium brands that will be providing a quality unit that should last years. ARB and Bushranger/Viair have the advantage that you will find spare parts for them, so if you are interested and savvy, you can rebuild your compressor later on. Price range of these compressor is from 750 AED upwards up to 2500+AED. The main reason why they cost more is due to the quality of materials used, higher duty cycle of their compressor, and of course marketing as well. ARB ARB has the single cylinder unit for about 1000AED, while its big brother will be around 2,700AED. They have by far the best quality of hoses and gauges, and these units should last many years if being well taken care of. MeanMother The Mean Mother Adventurer is the only brand/model we know of in the UAE that offers 5year warranty, hence this model has become very popular in our off-roading community. You will find the Adventurer III model for around 750AED (150lpm), but now there is also the Adventurer IV which is having slightly better performance (180lpm) and costs about 999AED. We have heard about a few models failing but were replaced within warranty. Bushranger / Viair Bushranger/Viair has a range of different models with output ratings from 52lpm up to 72lpm. (Black Max for 800AED and Max Air III for 1120AED). The Max Air III has an automatic pressure shut-off. Their compressors are extremely reliable, but i have never been impressed with their yellow plastic coiled hoses and clip-on, except for the black hoses they use on the old SuperMax and the newer Max Air III model. Their smallest model (RV Air for 599AED) is the minimum in terms of output flow (52lpm) and will take quite some time to inflate your tires, but should work fine. Dobinsons Dobinsons have the Zenith model (170 lpm) that is being sold for 999AED. Quality looks top notch with good set of accessories and backed by a premium quality brand. Midrange Brands (***) Golden Camel The "Golden Camel" brand with its red compressors, sold in single cylinder and double cylinder models are fantastic performers for the price (200 AED for the single big cylinder 160lpm, and 280AED for the double cylinder compressor (300 lpm). Yes the hoses break, the electrics fail sometimes, and it won't be the most reliable compressor, but for that price it's worth a try if you want it. You will find the hoses also separarely in DM, and if you are a bit handy with a soldering gun you might make an attempt to replace the switches or solder a wire back on. They now even have a mighty big 4-cylinder unit, which pumps out an impressive 300lpm. The problem nowadays is that you have even "fake" Golden Camel compressors, who look 100% identical, but their quality is even more of a question mark. I recently bought one and it started overheating and shutting off after only two tyres. The vibration coming from the compressor makes me wonder about the tolerances used in the manufacturing process. On the other hand i also have a single cylinder Golden Camel that has been going strong for 3 years now and never failed. Vitaly Vitaly is a brand that basically re-labels these Chinese compressors and sells them at a higher price in hardware stores like ACE and Speedex. Again they are a bit of a gamble and the only advantage you will have is you will get at least 1year warranty through these stores. T-Max These compressors are looking very similar to the DM Single big cylinder compressors and the Mean Mother Adventurer. There is a smaller 72lpm unit and a big 150lpm unit. Prices are similar to Vitaly, and T-Max seems to be a reputable Australian brand, so perhaps the build quality will be a slight notch above the DM compressors. Volcano I recently stumbled upon this brand via a shop in Ajman. They are manufactured in Taiwan and manufacture compressors for high end brands as well. Their biggest compressor model is the B850 which is being sold for about 650AED. Have seen them on sale in DM as well. They come in a sturdy box, with decent hose (like the Bushranger top model) and have a pressure gauge with automatic cut-off. Flow rate is 98lpm. Brands/ Models to avoid: -The smaller "Golden Camel" Compressor. Absolutely worthless. Also sold under the "X-Cessories" brand name. -Mini compressors to connect to the cigarette lighter: Will last only a few drives. Not made to inflate weekly from 15 to 35psi, unless you want to wait for 25mins or longer. Will overheat easily because of this. These are made for sedans and bicycles. The Black and Decker and Michelin models seem to work better, but it will take you upwards of 25 minutes to inflate your tires. If you happen to have one of those, i strongly recommend to only inflate to about 25psi you can then drive to the nearest petrol station and use their compressor. If you are in the market of buying a new compressor, i hope this article can shed some light and useful information that will guide you in the right direction. As you can clearly see, inflating tyres on a 4x4 in the summer heat requires a big powerful compressor that can quickly inflate your tyres before overheating or shutting down.

@Frederic I've just gotten my Alhosn turn green, so I'm going to make the most of this small window, to join Islam's FB+ in AD instead. Seeing as there are a few drivers with not a single drive this weekend, this should help one of you out. Nobody routes through Mahafiz like Frederic does - you're all in for a treat!

My Tundra has Rigid lights on the front and Baja Designs on the rear, have 2 Rigid radiance bars (20”), Rigid fog lights which came stock with the car, and the D-SS Pro floodlights on the A pillars. The rear has the Baja Designs S1 spotlights which are activated only when the car is engaged in reverse as the stock reverse lights provide no where near enough light to reverse in complete darkness. I will say that Rigid is my absolute favorite company when it comes to off-road lighting, they have quick and helpful support teams and the build quality is just out of this world, up close you can see what I mean, they are just beautiful. I would say at-least get the A pillar lights first as they do make quite a difference when it comes to lighting a large area, then go ahead with light bars mounted on the bumper, these will completely change the game and will light up everything, especially in foggy or dusty conditions, they are just great. I am not planning to mount roof bars as they wind noise is crazy as I’ve heard from others on the forum and I wont be buying them now, maybe sometime later on. These will illuminate more than low mounted light bars, simply put, the whole area will be almost as bright as day. Theres not much to talk about for the rears as they just provide lights for reversing but they are small and do the job well. Basically, even though companies like Rigid are expensive and your looking for something mid range, they are definitely one if the best if not the best Off-road lighting company in my opinion, they are built very very tough. If you can, buy nothing but Rigid, KC or Baja Designs, these are popular for again, the quality and reliability of many years. Trust me, you will be much happier with brands like these. You can look into KC for roof mounted lights mainly. And Baja Designs make decent, small sized spotlights. But be careful with battery draw as MunkeyBizness mentioned, my Tundra runs on the stock battery but when ignitions on and engines off, power drains rather quickly, not as much as a damaged battery, but it definitely takes a toll on the battery’s life span. I will change the battery soon and will update if its any better.

Sorry, please check Version 3.0

Thanks @Zixuan Huang - Charlie for the insight. actually i am not going to sell LC100, gonna keep it, but got an R51 in hand so wanna give a go with that too. Just want to know what to expect, coz maintenance is on me.🙄

Great!! Thanks

Hi @Luiz Nóbrega Have a look at below post: You will need to complete at least 5 Newbie Level drives before requesting your promotion to Fewbie level. See you soon in the sand !

@Mark D as you already know mate, I have the Toby's mounted on custom pipe bumper and also a couple just about the hood. They are perfect for me 😎 and I must say the lights on the A-pillar makes a huge difference wrt side view (although they look bit weird) I hardly use these lights maybe 10 times max in a year, so I went for the cheaper option.

Roger!

Hi, just have a question. I've already did a Newbie Drive. Can I repeat this drive of it is mandatory to go for a Fewbie Drive? Thanks

bubba ropes and shackles have not let me down and are available locally and on amazon

@Gaurav..would it be safe to bring along an 80 year old lady (mother)? Would love to if the drive is not very tricky.

BTW the Baofeng (with screen) is available for 95 aed but the shop guy said the crony is better than the baofeng in terms of signal distance so i went with the crony even though the baofeng looked really cool about the compressor, I just pray that the quality guys were in a good mood while manufacturing my compressor.

Hey Guys, Went to DM last eve and bought the Golden camel double cylinder (the red one) for 265 aed. Tried 10 different shops. no one wanted to budge from 280 aed. Some of them had no hoses, no carry bags etc. Finally found a bangladeshi guy who let it go for 265 aed and gave me a new box. It comes with the compressor, long hose with a pressure monitor and a carry bag. Bag seems cheap and would tear apart in 2 weeks. No warranty offered whatsoever, but i got it checked with a small battery at the shop. Fingers crossed. Shop guy bluntly said it will work for 1 week or 1 year or 10 years depending on my luck. He even muttered a small prayer for the compressor to work Also bought Crony MT777 for 115 aed and a flag mount with suction cup for 85 aed. Can share the shop names and details if required.

Confirmed

It seems AD guys are tired after the 2 week successive full day drives, hope someone will join at the last minute.

Confirmed from my side.

@ Islam Soliman, thanks for the update. Happy to join the drive with you

in order to give fair chance for everyone to have at least one drive during the weekend, the WL is split based on members with no confirmed drives on the weekend (WE) so they get preference to jump WL (WL1) over others who already have another confirmed drive on that weekend (WL2) and so on. Hope this clarifies

WL#1 (1st WE drive): 1. Suresh K 2. Krishna R 3. Udit S 4. Farook Veettil WL#2 (2nd WE drive): 5. iremmeri 6. Vasja Zupan

some nice pic from my friend..

Dear Desertnauts a few more info about the Rush Hours drive of tomorrow. As mentioned in the original post, we'll be driving with a double, alternative, objective: cover 60 km, and/or drive for maximum 2 hours (whichever comes first). With these goals in mind, this would normally be graded more as an Intermediate drive: nonetheless, the idea has been to offer a stimulating, challenging, itinerary, to members who are looking forward to reaching the next rank. Hence, concentration will have to be the utmost, driving skills practiced as close to perfection as possible, while, of course, the route will have to take into consideration that it is NOT an IM drive, but it should still provide the upgraded challenges that will allow us to reach our goals, in a speedy and safe manner. Please reach the meeting point so that all preparatory operations are completed just before 4PM, which will be the exact starting time of the drive. We will decide the radio channel just before departing. The convoy order will be the following: @Sunil Mathew as Second Lead @Naveen Raj at #3 @Santoso Marjuki as #4 @KAMALIO will take spot #5 @Looper will be at the Center @Gregory is going to be #7 @Vaibhav will be #8 @Fabien Monleau #9, and @varunmehndiratta will Sweep. See you tomorrow, punctual for a timely departure. Have a great night.

Hi @Bhaskar Sure. Our end point will be here : https://goo.gl/maps/kDvDT95qyAxAoYcW6

Good afternoon and thanks for signing up ! @munkybizness @Bruno Finel @Rasif ABDUL RAHIM @Harshal @Ahmed Wagdy @hugo@Bhaskar @Goh KP @Tom V @Amr Aydin @Vasja Zupan @Danish Mohammad And our waitlisted guys: @Azam the Adventurous @AlexM@FARAZ MOHAMMED @Antony Abraham @Adnan Halepota Let me start with providing a bit of information about this drive and what you can expect. This drive will basically consist out of 3 parts: 1) A Newbie Level Desert Drive in Mahafiz Area. (7:00 till about 11:00) 2) A 1 hour break nearby the Mleiha Archeological Centre. ( incl tyre inflation to +/- 25psi) https://goo.gl/maps/bEkkNkCjWNdbBHcy8 We will park a bit further but you can use this Archeological Centre its restrooms and perhaps hop inside for a quick coffee. 3) A Nice and Easy Wadi Drive in the nearby mountains. (approx 12:30 till 16:00) Some notes from my side: * Offroad Flag is mandatory for the Mahafiz Desert Driving Part. Once inflated at the Mleiha Archeological Centre, please remove it for the second part of the drive. * Bring your lunch and snacks and plenty of water. * We will be taking regular breaks for photoshoot and to take some rest. Driving in the wadi can be bumpy and tiring. * Never litter inside the desert or mountains. As this is a scenic drive, it is more suited to enjoying nature and making the best of the cooler season. So relax and let's take it easy. Hope to see you all coming weekend !

Thanks Anjeline and Jerome . It's was great event .

Hey all, It was an amazing drive on Sunday. I learnt a lot about driving in the desert, it being my first time and all. @Foxtrot Oscarwas the best first marshal i could get. She took us step by step, from the sabkha to the technical dunes and the side sweeps, waiting patiently for us to understand our cars and how they perform offroad. Thank you @Foxtrot Oscarfor being patient when I couldn't climb over some dunes and also for your on-point instructions for self recovery. I was able to overcome most of my fears during the first drive itself but I believe its a long way to go A big shout out to @JeromeFJfor taking care of us from the end of the convoy. your commitment to come to every stuck/ refusal and help out is commendable. From guiding us at the deflation point to deflate, check our radios, resolve any queries we have, till the end of the drive to ensure everyone is safe and ready to go back on road, your support is highly appreciated. Looking forward to many drives with you being the sweeper The best part of the drive for me was the side sweeps and going over the tall dunes. Looking forward for the next newbie drive. They are full already 😕

Dear @Beide Workusince we have waitlisted names,,, will have to remove your RSVP to add the WL name with first drive. @imranaasghar81 you are added to the drive, please confirm

Just to give an alert to everyone while driving during the foggy condition, we tend to reduce the speed based on the visibility. BUT If you are driving in Abu Dhabi and receive a text SMS on mobile saying - Speed limit 80 kmh. It's not a request for you to exercise caution, but radars are re-adjusted at 140 km/h road to issue fines at 80 km/h. We (a few of Quaa drivers, last week) thought it was a caution message and kept driving from 60-100 km/h speed during foggy patches and received a fine of 300 Dhs, with a 35% discount to 195 Dhs each.

Yes it was a typo, changed. Thanks

An excellent early morning drive on a weekend by @Ale Vallecchi. Had all the hallmarks of an Ale drive. From Point A to Point B with a convoy who doesn't shy of the route or challenges. Of course its an IM level drive and this is what is expected. The radio was silent 99% of the time except Ale transmitting about the unexpected bumps in between or about the encounters with camels and oryx's. All the drivers showed up on time and we started the drive with Ale giving the convoy order just before the drive as expected of a Mystery Drive. I was expecting to be the 2nd lead as I had been his 2nd lead in number of drives now and yes he recruited me to be his 2nd lead. Thank you Ale for the confidence in me. Hope I had fulfilled your expectations. @Dodi Syahdar got his only chance for pulling out a car today when @Anoop Nair got his Jeep crested. The rest of the time he could just enjoy his drive while sweeping the convoy. I believe this speaks about the expertise of all the drivers who participated in the drive. Some pictures are posted in the gallery. Thank you all for joining the drive and see you soon again in the sands.

Hi @Ale Vallecchi seems won't be able to make it in time for drive. Have a fun and safe drive. Cheers