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Dear Desertnauts as the time to confirm the revised format has expired, based on the confirmations received, I have decided the following updates to the drive's format: there will be only 1 convoy, for a total of 13 cars meeting time will be 2:30PM, to depart no later (100%) by 3:00PM the meeting point will be Qudra's Last Exit, at the waiting area just past the ADNOC's gas station exit the drive plan will have a first segment of 2 hours or 60 Km driven (whichever comes first), in the direction of Ghantoot, after which the second segment, of another 2 hours or another 60 Km driven, will be taking the convoy back to Qudra from Ghantoot (for this part I have planned a slightly different track than previous ones). exit is planned at 7PM (with 15 minutes to spare before it gets dark). The convoy order will be the following: @Zixuan Huang - Charlie in Second Lead @Alexanderrr at #3 @Vaibhav #4 @Prakash Anoop at #5 @Anoop Nair #6 @Rob S #7 @Ranjan Das at #8 @Daniel Rodas at #9 @Ashok chaturvedi #10 @topgear at #11 @munkybizness #12, and @varunmehndiratta in Sweep Please deflate considering the heat of the first couple of hours of the afternoon. We'll communicate through Carnity Channel #3 (446.056). Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow afternoon. Have a nice evening.

Somehow this drive went on on and on and on. But me as a support role loved it, yes for some may be it was exceeded the expectations, as you would have come with regarding time of exit. This drive exceeded the expectations of a newbie drive for me since @Islam Soliman pushed all of us to perform a notch above our capacity and beyond a standard newbie drive and gave us a taste of what’s in store as we progress, and believe me you are going to be better off with this experience than without. Overall the drive can be segmented into three. One to the Chimney, Second to the triangle also called little Sweihan, and finally exit. we had 3 drives in all. I have over 100 drives under my belt and let me confess that Chimney has always been an elusive drive, it is the second time I went there and that too in a newbie drive, (previous one was a refusal-less intermediate drive). You guys were extremely lucky to be in this amazing drive. All drove quite well and except for one strait up crossing where we had 4-5 refusal (mind you again it was not an easy dune to cross you saw me some what flying while crossing) all performed exceedingly well. At this time we had option to extend the drive or exit. Of course we extended. I have never seen a drive exit when given an option to extend so we did. The top notch performance by all, I think gave our lead to push the drive a level a up. Next we reached the triangle. This bit of drive was again a fantastic drive. All drive well we had some minor refusals which are expected while reaching the triangle. But the sand by this time was soft and unforgiving. Which resulted in a lot of immediate refusal as soon as we entered the triangle. Wisely we just exited at the entrance and moved towards exit. Final segment was the exit, yes we took some time to cross, but just remember that you guys performed exceptionally to overcome all the obstacles and finish the drive without any issues. Refusals are not issues, they’re practice for future higher level drives. I can easily recommend all of you to get a complementary promotion if that was a thing. Well done 👏 y’all for a fantastic drive. Yes it was long, yes it as tiring, but it was an Eidi (Eid gift) from @Islam Solimanto all of us and I thank him for this drive. A big thanks to @munkybizness and @Mario Cornejo at the end supporting the drives in their majestic Y61s and @Emanuel as the second lead. @Sam K & @fayaz did not have any issues and you drive quite well. @Jonny90 in the baby Y61 drive quite well and were good to follow instructions while you had some minor refusals. @Sunny84 & @Amr Paple you had the most refusal but then I think you had the most learning of today’s drive experience. @Ignacio Quindos, @pramod, @Mahmoud Taha, @takeshi sobue y’all had a great drive. See you all soon back in another drive.

Glad to see you all enjoyed the drive. Personally, it was really amazing drive, and happy to have you guys following me, going through all types of terrains, managing, and eventually pushing me for more challenges. As lead, when I see participants are going through challenges and enjoying, it will give me green light to ….. Yalla push…💪🏼 @Alexanderrr great SL. Being SL you are the first one to go through difficult spots, may be more than the lead, since the lead would have made it churned and softer. But for sure not at all intended 😅 @Simon Dawood @Joji varghese @ASAD. @Warren Flay @Mohamad Anwer @Mark D @Tom B glad to see you again, and well done every one. @Rob S as always, amazing support, leaving no effort, to assist and help wherever and whenever required, well done buddy. @Pacific thank you for watching our back. Look forward to see you all soon in sand. Nice holidays Hisham

Dear Desertnauts. I thank you all for the enthusiastic participation to Rush Hour 4. While looking at the waiting list I have had an idea that I would like to present to all drivers, the conformed signed up ones, and the waitlisted. If all, or most, agree, I will proceed as below: I will extend the drive to 10 cars, hence confirming the following CONVOY 1: @Zixuan Huang - Charlie, @Vaibhav, @Daniel Rodas, @varunmehndiratta, @Prakash Anoop, @topgear, @Rob S, @Alexanderrr PLUS @KAMALIO and @Chinthaka Ruwan I will open up the drive to the next 10 waitlisted drivers, hence creating a new CONVOY 2: @Naim Aoun, @Ashok chaturvedi, @munkybizness, @Simon Dawood, @Shaker, @ASAD., @Waqas Parvez, @Pacific, @Anoop Nair and @Ranjan Das Convoy 1 will: meet up at Qudra's Last Exit at 2:00 PM, and will "rush" to reach Ghantoot's exit point start the drive exactly at 2:30 PM plan to end the drive at 4:30 PM sharp in case the full distance between Qudra and Ghantoot has not been covered, there is a track on a sabkha available for a quick exit to Ghantoot Convoy 2 will: meet up at Ghantoot starting point at 4:30 PM, corresponding the Convoy 1's exit, and will "rush back" to Qudra's Last Exit start the drive exactly at 5:00 PM plan to end the drive at 7:00 PM also, if the drive will not have reached Qudra's Last Exit, we'll take the closest exit on Bab al Shams Road This will allow 2 convoys to drive within the "Rush Hour" format, on the Qudra to Ghantoot route and vice versa, with only me commuting back and forth. It will be a relay of sorts, with the goal of accommodating all drivers into this exciting format. I would like to ask each of you, both confirmed and waitlisted drivers, to please acknowledge the above idea, and confirm your presence in the allocated convoy. I will proceed to open up the drive to all those who agree with the above format, hence confirming the convoys above (or part of them, if not all agree). Thanks a lot for your prompt consideration and reply. Have a great Sunday.

Thank you, @Ale Vallecchi, for leading us through such beautiful virgin terrains. It was a mix of technical and long-range crest crossing dunes, and it was always thrilling to follow your lead. @JeromeFJyou drove well, it was a difficult track with a lot of complex dunes and slip face dunes with a hard surface, but I was always confident following your lead, you truly demonstrated the degree of skill you bring to @Carnity We only had to shovel a couple of times and recover a few times through tugging,It's all part of learning and having fun,overall the convoy drove beautifully @Harshal @Pascal @DP1011 , Deepak wrangler @RiaanJH@Paolo Pellegrini @Ashutosh Garg @Davie Chase as usual thank you for the support it is always been pleasure driving with you @Vaibhav i saw you took beautiful lines throughout the drive and guided the ones behind you Since I was sweeping, I took advantage of the opportunity to take a few photos, which I have uploaded to the gallery. I wish you a very happy Eid and hope to see you in the desert soon.

@Warren Flaywhat an amazing picture taken by @Mark D of the SWB motors! 👌👍👏

Thank you @Vanessa8580 for coming to Abu Dhabi and giving us such a memorable and amazing Fewbie drive and thank you @varunmehndiratta for leading the convoy the last half an hour. Thank you @Srikumar , @Asif Hussain for the support and the rest of the team for the spirit and the teamwork, happy that i met and made new friends on this drive. The guests in my car had such a great time and they will be speaking about this experience for a long time

@Vanessa8580 @varunmehndiratta Thank you! Was such a wonderful experience today! No tugs, few self recoveries and most importantly, I also now know what getting stuck in pocket means😅, Thanks to @Asif Hussain @Srikumar See you soon again in your home town desert🤘🏽! and now My fav too! SWEIHAN!🙌🏼! @Santoso Marjuki @Rajiv Sam @Han @Naveen Raj @Fabien Monleau @Gurcharan Mehta Great connectting with you guys ! @Amr Aydin @Ashutosh Garg @Awais Zuberi @Andrew McCarthy As always! Great seeing you again ! Eid Mubarak and see you all soon in sand:)

@Ale Vallecchi Thanks and appreciate very much.. I am so sorry that you have to run back to back convoy for us. I am most certainly in.

This was a magnificent drive! Thank you @Fredericfor your lead and thank you @Anoop Nair, @Davie Chase and @topgear for your support! I did learn a lesson today- I need offroad lights was trying to stay as close to @Shama Zamora as possible not to lose track:-)

With a total drive time of 6 hours and 51mins, where we spent almost equal parts stopped as we were moving, we got plenty of exercise (and sand) in. I won't be visiting a gym until June comes around. But let's pause for a minute and reflect on the fact that you drove for 6 hours and 51 mins. I'm certain you drove at least 45mins to get there, and did the same going back. That's almost 8.5 hours of driving in a day. That's a test of your endurance. And you nailed it 🤩 It's been a few months since I've been a part of a Newbie convoy. And I'd forgotten just how much one gets to learn by being in one. I'm sure some of you will be very pleased with the way you drove today, some of you will be self-critiquing like harsh taskmasters, and some still will just be too exhausted at this point to think either way. If you're being overtly critical with yourself, please don't be. You all did extremely well. Getting stuck is inevitable, and for those doing recoveries, it's a great learning process. I learned how to execute a tethered pull on @Sunny84 and a sustained pull on @Mahmoud Tahaincluding how and where to position my car to do these. In refusals, were the opportunities for me to improve my recovery knowledge. But for those who were fasting (i.e. @Islam Soliman and I'm sure others) deserve this recognition even more. He was out of his car in the heat, with the sun glaring down upon us, and troubleshooting every single refusal, continuing to be patient, and leading us safely out through to the exit. Islam, I am in complete awe of your resilience and the calm demeanour with which you carried us through this experience. I have learned so much today from you 🙇‍♂️ 🙏 After missing my alarm for @Ale Vallecchi's drive yesterday, I woke up at 3.00am today so I could be there on time. And even then @Looper had beaten me to the punch. As the support on the drive, he was there, a beacon of light, waiting in the darkness. And it too speaks about a role you play so well. Your support on every refusal and keeping the middle section tethered was of utmost importance. I also stood atop the crest today when you took off which is a sight I will not be forgetting for years to come. Last night, when I saw the drive roster, I was a bit surprised to see @Mario Cornejo ahead of me. With as many intermediate drives as I have Newbie & Fewbie, his experience shows in the way he drives - with care, sensibility and yet still exciting. In him, I found the perfect "third lead", who gave me a fresh new perspective at the back with the churn. And because you were trying to figure out the LWB, I saw you instinctively do the things I usually do so it was a nice peg to follow along to. Your support in the refusals are truly appreciated. Your banter made it all the more enjoyable. To everybody else in the convoy, I'm going to try and not make this post as long as the drive itself. So I'll try and keep this limited to three things that you should all experiment with, in your upcoming drives. Throttle Management: Everyone today had cars with enough power. Even 3.5l Pajeros. But driving offroad is about using "just enough" power. That's the skill we're all trying to develop. If you overpower, you'll get over every dune, with scrapes, without a bumper, and in time you'll churn up so much sand, you'll make the drive for those behind you in the convoy unbearable. If you under-power, you'll get crested or stuck in a side slope lock. Every single driver, regardless of skill or experience or number of drives is constantly working to improve their throttle management. So if you were going quite fast today, try to do the next drive a little slower. Watch how many RPMs you need to "just make it". If you were getting crested, learn when to "let go of the accelerator" and not brake. Our heavy beasts can slow down pretty rapidly climbing by just lifting the foot off than pressing the brake. Putting your foot down is easy. The real fun comes from feathering it just enough. Follow the track, but don't drive in it: Following the track is very important. It keeps us safe. But when you think "track", don't think like a train even though we're a convoy. You don't need to be on it precisely. Instead, it is a path. If 4 cars of different weights, and throttle responses drove on the track precisely, it would get churned up. Instead, go a little left or a little right and flatten that little mound that was made by the driver before you, by putting your wheels on it. Adapt to the elasticity of the convoy: A convoy will stretch and shorten basis the size of dunes and gradients of bowls in between. If the dunes have steep bowls, it will begin to stretch out as everybody needs more distance to accurately climb and still be safe. If the gradients are smoother, it will compress because we can maintain a healthy visual rhythm. So adapting to the elasticity of the convoy will help you be in the right place to see exactly how the car in front of you has negotiated a dune. If you are too far out, you will not see when they braked, if they took a bump on the other side, or if they struggled climbing up a soft patch. If you're too close, any of these situations will make you shifty and you'll let go of the throttle causing yourself to lose momentum and get stuck. Thank you all for a gruelling educational day in the sun. It was an absolute pleasure to meet new faces and see the endurance of you (and your passengers) in full force. See you soon on the sands, and Eid mubarak to all celebrating 🌙 [ 🐵 ]

At the outset, a thank you to @Islam Soliman for hosting today's drive and a pleasure to meet all there. Appreciation goes too to @Emanuel as SL, @Looper in CF and @munkybizness in SW for keeping the convoy moving safely. These drives are of good learning for all and an important take away, in my opinion, is learning to drive with finesse in technical areas, where terrain confabulates against horsepower or any mods you have in your car. This is when nothing beats your skills to read the sand and control your car. Equally important is to attain recovery skills and this drive gave us all the opportunity to practice "the art of shoveling", "full left-full right" and very important when in a stuck/refusal situation: "easy on the gas". This drive gave me the opportunity to test a new 4x4 platform, the LWB Y61! For over a year I've been driving the smaller version, Y61 short wheel base, which is perfect for technical terrains and is much lighter. Today's drive was of learning for me too, controlling the car on sides slopes, testing tire pressure, crossing crests, etc. It was a fun drive overall. Keep the "momentum" and drive safely! I wish you all a great week ahead!

Great summary @Looper, as usual thanks for all your guidance. @Islam Soliman, thanks for a great challenge today, a long day but great to get the hours under the belt. Thanks also @munkybizness. Great to see to see everyone else, look forward to driving with you all again soon. Jonny

Confirmed @Ale Vallecchi

@Ale Vallecchi - count me in, for either convoy.

What a drive. Much fun. Thanks @Islam Soliman @Looper @munkybizness for the support and everyone else who helped dug me out of that nasty cresting... glad i was a able to return the support to some of on there too. 👌 Some stats from our short drive together today

I'm in, convoy 1, thanks Ale for the solution

@Ale Vallecchi Agreed and I want to be on Convoy 1. Many thanks for your stellar efforts.

Confirmed @Anoop Nair Confirmed @Ranjan Das

I'm good, thanks!

@Ale Vallecchi I want to be a part of both convey

Thank @Looper and the team for supporting us. See you soon.

Hi @Vaibhav. Just checking if it would be OK for you to be accommodated in Convoy 2, the one meeting at 4:30 pm in Ghantoot, and driving to Qudra. Thanks

Thanks @varunmehndiratta. You were already confirmed in convoy 1.

I am fine with this @Ale Vallecchi

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi for providing the option. I’m in.

Good morning Team ! Thanks for signing up for this drive, some of you have done this terrain already before, while for other it will be the first time. What to expect ? This is not your typical dunebashing and sidesloping terrain, as it varies from lushy green terrain into farmtracks, and includes some nice technical terrain to test all your skills. We will exit in Falaj Al Mualla, which has the famous watch towers, and is officially in Umm al Quwain, so in fact we will be driving in 2 Emirates Bring your camera and try to enjoy the terrain, as we expect to see goats, donkeys, camels, and lots of vegetation. Consider this more to be a kind of overlanding exploration. I am sure we will have fun and i particularly like the area because there are no other offroaders in sight. As for the convoy list: @Anoop Nair will be on his 51st drive, which i can only applaud as he has come very far and i know i can rely on him 100% to be my second lead. In the center, we will have @Davie Chase who has been recently promoted to support team, and will be eager to demonstrate his magnificent shoveling skills 😁 Towards the back we have really experienced members, and it's great to see @Probir Mukherjee back with us in Carnity. @topgear, and most-probably his super-co-pilot that will be with him will be sweeping our convoy. We will be using Channel 1: 446.00625 Mhz. I hope to see you all tomorrow at 4PM sharp, there will be a small part of the drive in dark, which changes the whole perspective on driving in the sand. There is no need for extra night lights on your 4x4, but if you have them be ready to test them

This drive is organized in full compliance with the COVID19 guidelines. We expect every member that joins this drive to go through below information and strictly follow these guidelines. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Fewbie Plus and above Meeting time: 2:30 PM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: Dropped pin https://maps.app.goo.gl/Fcb5A5FkxFUGS95Y8 Action Plan: NEW PLAN: The Rush Hour saga continues, this time doubling up the track, going first from Qudra to Ghantoot, then retracing the way from Ghantoot back to Qudra Station. This second episode may, at times, be more challenging, as we could have to cross from the slip-faces. As all other editions, the drive plan is to cover at least 60 Km in 2 hours IN EACH SEGMENT. Departure is scheduled exactly at 3:00 PM (meeting time will be from 2:30 PM onward, so that we'll be all ready to start precisely at 3PM). The drive will end, wherever we'll be (with exit points planned nearby our route), at exactly 7:00 PM, or upon covering 60+60 Km, whichever comes first. The goal is to drive at a minimum average moving speed of 30Km/h. Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 7:00 PM (including the possibility of a 30 minute extension to reach the exit) P.S. Only join if you have a compressor to inflate your tires after the drive. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 8 cars maximum. RSVP will close on Monday - 12 PM. If the RSVP is full and you wish to join, please mention your name on the drive thread to add on the waiting list Latecomers will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Members without RSVP will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Members that do not confirm the terms of the COVID requirements will be removed from the RSVP list. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month. PLEASE RSVP ON THE CALENDAR

General Info This drive is organized in full compliance with the COVID19 guidelines. We expect every member that joins this drive to go through below information and and strictly follow these guidelines in order not to jeopardize someone's health, and to ensure we can keep organizing these drives safely. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive details Level: Newbie and Above When: 1st of May 2022, Sunday Meeting time: 4 PM SHARP Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/WYMWCc7JmWVz3gm39 Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 8 PM THIS IS A COMPRESSOR ONLY DRIVE. WE WILL ENDING THE DRIVE A POINT, WHICH IS NOT CLOSE TO AN AIR LINE. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A COMPRESSOR, PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS DRIVE. IF YOU ARRIVE AND HAVE NO COMPRESSOR YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO JOIN THE DRIVE. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 12 cars only. RSVP will close 24hrs prior. If the RSVP is full and you wish to join, please mention your name on the drive thread to add on the waiting list. Latecomers will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Members without RSVP will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month. Please RSVP on below Calendar

@Ale VallecchiSorry But i would want Convoy 1.

Dear @Ale Vallecchi with great disappointment i will have to withdraw my name from the drive for tomorrow, due to some family engagements . i wish you all a great ,fun and safe drive . i hope i will make it next time . thanks,

Sorry, I won't be able to make it this time. Thanks for accommodating anyway.

@PacificI'll do my best.

Cant have enough words or any courage to rephrase the event...mindboggling. Surreal experience....everyone did the best, though few refusal, bound to happen due to the softness of sand. Everyone has made mark on one or other dune of badayer(hisham) 😜 @Mohamad Anwer. Thank you @Hisham Masaad it was, is and will be great fun to be on your drive. Good to see new folks @Alexanderrr n @Joji varghese. Rest all @Mohamad Anwer @Warren Flay mighty @Mark D, curious learner @Tom B you all were immaculate Proudy prados @ASAD. and @Rob S great. The terrain, lead and spirit of the desert wanderers made this one special. Thank you. Have a great day. Eid in advance. Stress coz he is trying to keep everyone happy in fair way.

Hi @Ale Vallecchi wished to drive with you but not on may second , I hope there will be rush hour 5 😄

Ciao @Paolo Pellegrini. Thanks for signing up. They drive is a Fewbie Plus one: have you just been promoted? Please let me know so I may confirm your presence. Thanks