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Drive report ( enjoyable eventful night drive ) Dear Friends I am so glad that no one has missed the little surprise 😄 eventually as @Ashutosh Garg exit came just past midnight ! By 21:30 🕤 I looked around and realised that the 13 cars including my self are ready so I took the lead after ensuring that every one is aware what is it like to drive in the night. Starting to move at 21:48 on the short dirt track passing Abdallah’s dune looping around it to encounter our first stuck as @Ashutosh Garg by a foot slipped in and awkward like position with the rear of his X wedged almost in the V like pocket. with proper shovelling by the team and coordinated instructions from both sides ( by @munkybizness and myself ) he managed to get through amazingly. Proceeding forward to side sloping and crisscrossing with a period of pause on the radio indicating every one was enjoying their time till we reached Richie’s bar where we had our official coffe break under the 3/4 “red moon “ now The next event of the night came when our friend @Ashutosh Garg had a nasty pop-out for his right front wheel while in oblique super soft incline upon descent along with it we realised that the rubber around the stem got torn which made a gap that couldn’t be sealed and we had no choice than to replace the tyre which turned not same size which meant an exit for obvious safety reason. Thanks to all team for engaging in sorting out that issue. It took us a while ! the nearest exit was to run along the track to bab shams entry/exit known point to us and there the time already passed 12 by 15 minutes. the moon now becoming more glowing through the mild misty surroundings with a rainbow hallo around it or how my 27 year old eyes could see it 🤣 . Thank you guys for your sincere wishes. 🙏 it’s too early to finish early and with agreement of every one we vanished once more in the desert in a relatively faster pace than ever enjoying what was remaining. The third event came when @Tareq Al Turq managed to get his prado stuck as he lost momentum after criss cross and the car was hanged belly Free in between the two dunes. The only way is to pull from front after clearing the sand from the front bumper. The best would be to winch it the little uphill and luckily our sweep saviour @Ranjan Das did that like a pro after we cleared the recovery zone. the 4th event had to be mine and no one else as usual “ the swimmer 🏊‍♀️ sunk in the shallow water “ as we say it 😅as we were approaching to exit. With little patience on the gas and fine steering and effective feedback communication from the outside team our ropes kept safe always 😄 The time pointed at 02:20 when we were on the new dirt track leading to our same point from where we started . I thanked every one for the lovely night for their tolerance patience and sincere wishes and forgive me for the time stretch in this report as well as the drive itself 🙏 @Gregory you never missed a step in the drive nor an acknowledgment on the radio you gave the warnings even before my hand could grasp the radio . I hope your wife enjoyed the drive and wasn’t late ending for her. Thank you my friend for being my second lead . @Dinesh Kumar A despite for being away for a while ( in carnity at least ) you managed your prado very well with good self recovery here and there. Nice meeting you for first time. @Tareq Al Turq you drove very good no doubt and you gave us the spice of winching you tonight . As you see the more easy on the gas with little patience will keep your vehicle easy on you too 😉 @Ashutosh Garg nice to meet you too for first time . You have got a powerful machine for the desert . The more you know about it and it’s spare parts the less trouble you will be in . Wish you best and please don’t forget to replace the damaged tyre. @Joseph Raju second time we meet . I don’t recall any issue maybe reattempt once or so . Hope you enjoyed the night drive and thanks for the hydraulic jack 🙏. @topgear thanks for the company along with the others. Didn’t hear you on the radio which explains enjoying the tranquility of the night drive. @Simon Dawood happy to see you bro . Driving no question. Thanks for the share and help. Do I really look like a 27 year old ? I thought younger 🤣 @Haitham Khattab pleasure meeting for first time . I wasn’t wrong when I kept you with the wrangler pack behind . I am sure you enjoyed it a lot . Flawless and thanks for your stepping forward whenever the situation arise for help🙏 @Amr Aydin I hope the distance you crossed from far was worth the night drive . Thanks a lot for actively helping in the pop out and unscrewing the bolts . You gave me the lever to lift up the convoy my dear 😅 @munkybizness your presence especially behind the first part of the convoy was crucial . You are the true playmaker in any drive and you have always been so . Thank you 🙏 @Zixuan Huang - Charlie I hope this drive could let you catch up from the last time in pink rock and for this one I am pretty sure you have got what you wished for 😉 thanks buddy for everything @Ranjan Das it has been for a while really since we drove together what a pleasure and peace of mind to know that you are at the rear of the convoy not letting any one to slip away in the dark .🙏 Till we meet next time in another night drive take care drive safe and be good cheers Seidam

Thank you @M.Seidam for the good drive, the amazing detailed de-brief and the extension that we were lucky to have, definitely deserve the drive from Abu Dhabi. Happy birthday, and hope you a blessed year full of love, happiness and success. Thank you for @Gregory for a perfect SL and happy to see you again 🙏🏼 @munkybizness for his great support and clear instructions for the rest of the convoy, great meeting you and good to finally put a face into a name. @Zixuan Huang - Charlie Amazing skills and great support for the middle of the convoy, good to see you again. @Ranjan Das great sweep and happy to meet you and drive with you. @all, amazing team with great driving skills. see you all soon.

Thank you @Sunil Mathew & @Tom B for your kind words. I joined this drive to support my friend @Rizwanm2 on his 1st drive as a lead. I was not disappointed and neither do I feel anybody else who joined would be. It is always a pleasure meeting new friends in the drive. @Sam K who drove behind me did exceptionally well. @Jonny90 behind him did too. The surprise was @Gurcharan Mehta who I am meeting for the 1st time and his LC. Drove exceptionally well. It was a beauty to watch him climb all the dunes with ease. The sunrise was beautiful but more beautiful was the grin on @Rizwanm2's face from ear to ear right from the beginning of the drive till the end. Well done buddy. Wish you all the best. You will also have much fanfare as a lead in coming days. Nothing to comment on @Hisham Masaad as he is always at his best behind the wheels. I don't wish to comment on a maestro and make him look ordinary.

@Rizwanm2 thank you for a great drive this morning and congratulations on completing your first drive as a lead. I chose this morning’s fewbie drive thinking it would provide plenty of opportunity for my daughter to get out and play with her sand board. Well we were both in for a surprise! The convoy flowed beautifully and we had minimal amount of stucks and refusals. @Rizwanm2 your choice of route was excellent, giving us a taste of ridge riding, criss crossing, side sloping and hills climbs. @Thomas Varghese provided solid support in 2L and @Hisham Masaad in CF position. Well done @Sam K @Jonny90@Gurcharan Mehta @Sunil Mathew

Brilliant drive @Rizwanm2.. I did not know that it was your first lead until your briefing..and the drive definitely did not feel like your first one, given that leading a drive through big red is not easy!! As we mentioned on the radio, you should be doing this more often. 👍👍 Good job as SL @Thomas Varghese..And sweep @Tom B Thanks for your watchful eyes @Hisham Masaad at the centre Pleasure to meet and drive with all of you @Sam K @Jonny90 and @Gurcharan Mehta See you guys soon for the next one!!

Let’s admit it, the drive this morning was a bit frustrating. It is very rare to have the fog for so long in the morning. And a fog so thick that it prevents driving. So here we were, this morning, after a short night, extending the briefing until we cleared the very last question, and repeated again not to fight gravity. Despite the thick fog we were in, I decided to start moving, and at least reach the moon lake (moon pond could be more appropriate, but much less evocative). GPS is a beautiful tool, and I had to brake just before diving in ! After another 15min around the lake, watching the birds, fog was still there, preventing to access the tall dunes close to the lake. thinking that the lakes maybe were holding more fog, I decided to leave the area to come closer to Ghantoot, our objective for the day. We reached the oryx farm just in time to see the oryxes just being fed, coming out of their fence, running into the dunes and vanishing in the fog. And still, despite a bit of blue sky above us, we had to wait another 20 min to have enough visibility. Finally we could enter the dunes, to find difficult conditions, where the soft sand of the area was soaked with humidity, and heavy below our wheels. We did not have a proper warmup, and arriving straight in this difficult environment was not easy. The dunes are narrow, the crests sharp, and deep pockets of sand are everywhere, even on the flat portions. We had some nice rolling parts, ending suddenly in a steep succession of narrow bowls. Each of you did very well, including for the recoveries during the inevitable stucks. All of them where resolved with a combination of shovelling, self recoveries, a few tugs, and a great team spirit, under the efficient guidance of @Looper and @Rob S. But with the heat building up, and the humidity still so high, each shovelling part was becoming a real physical effort. And we were already at the planned exit time ! I decided to shorten this Ghantoot portion to reach the pylon track and the sabkha and to cross in direction of the Bab Al Shams road. This last portion was hiding a few surprises, with these long cordon of dunes perpendicular to our way, of course slip faces against us! Navigating through the vegetation, and crossing one dune after the other, we reached the tarmac by 10 am. @Paolo Pellegrini thank you for the excellent 2nd lead, stopping in time when I was ending in a dead end, or when crossing a dune, I was facing rocks just below my wheels. @Emanuel, well done in this difficult terrain, you become more and more confident. @Suresh K I can see your progression drive after drive, you gained a lot of confidence, and it reflect on your driving. @Zulfikhar Naiyar well done also, you had a difficult stuck, the front and the back touching the edges of a bowl, and managed well to recover after shovelling and reducing the tire pressure. @FiNaR for your first Fewbie, it was not an easy one, and manoeuvring the F150 in the tight dunes was not easy. You did very well, using sometime of that power that is available. @Rob S great support as usual. Your own driving is totally under control in this environment, and you are always there to spot a car in difficulty and to actively support recoveries. Thank you. @takeshi sobue amazing progress since last time we drove together. The FJ is now under control, and I’m sure you enjoy the drives. It was a pleasure to have you with your family. @Gerrit Bus no issue at all, despite the churned tracks at the back of the convoy. Very good control of the Gladiator. @RiaanJH very well driven also, you are ready for your first FB + anytime! @Looper thank you for the sweep and the support on the recoveries. Having you at the back was very confortable for me ! enjoy the rest of the weekend, and definitely we have to go back to complete the full stretch of the Ghantoot dunes !

@Waqas Parvez thank you for making the drive fun, few days before the start. Adding more challenge to the drive, having strong masters joining, as well as one of giants of UAE off-roaders @Srikumar, giving such a name to the drive. Hoping will have good time. Below is the convoy order. We will be on Radio channel 4, and in any case you can reach me on 0506318834. @ASAD. @Simon Dawood @Fabien Monleau @Vaibhav @Waqas Parvez @Mohamad Anwer @Charbel @Daniel Yang @Chris Wing @Ashok chaturvedi @Amir Amiri @Ranjan Das Look forward to see you at 5 am.

Thank you Dr. @M.Seidam, it was a pleasure meeting you. You led the convoy very professionally and chose a very nice track for us to experience, from crisscross to side slopes & ending with technical dunes. Amazing Drive, i really enjoyed, specially after the 1 hour bonus👏🏻👏🏻. I wish a very Happy Birthday & thanks for the delicious dates😉. Thanks to all support team @Gregory, @munkybizness, @Zixuan Huang - Charlie, @Ranjan Das, Everyone played a great role in this drive. shout out to my convoy colleagues, great team work during pop out & stucks.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 see you again soon!

Happy Birthday @M.Seidam

Thank you dear friends for your wishes 🙏🙏🙏 Best guess what I have got 😂 It did long time back , it felt even younger 😄

@Rizwanm2 Congratulations for your very successful first lead. Pleasure to be in your drive, with a very nice capable team. Track was mix of every thing off-roader might look at to test and evaluate his car power, and his knowledge of how to handle these situations. I am sure few of the drivers left the drive and looking for another one, where he will again test what he has went through during the drive. @Sam K and @Jonny90 pleasure meeting you for the first time, and happy to see how did you managed to navigate and go through the tracks, amazing and well done. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼. @Gurcharan Mehta glad to see you again with your sun, who’s performing amazing copilot and secretary jobs 😅. @Sunil Mathew good to see you again. Thank you @Thomas Varghese for being SL, hope your daughter enjoyed and feeling better now. @Tom B as usual perfect SW, and happy to see your daughter enjoying and shoveling 💪🏼. Look forward to see you again in sand

Happy birthday @M.Seidam … what a great way to celebrate your 27th 😜

That was the best B’day party I attended - ever! Many happy returns of the day once again Doctor @M.Seidam. It’s always a pleasure driving under your fantastic lead and today’s was no different and with the midnight surprise plus the 3/4th moon glowing ever brighter by the hour, it was just amazing. It was wonderful to be amongst the fine riders - @Gregory, @munkybizness and @Zixuan Huang - Charlie thanks for the fantastic support. Wish you all a wonderful weekend ahead and hope to see and drive with you again

Thank you @GauravSonifor the fantastic drive It's well known that technical drives are not very enjoyable and arduous. But, contrary to expectations, the drive was so easy with a lot of fun. You changed the subject from TTT to be SSS Super, Soft, Smooth 😀 I really enjoyed the drive thank you again and thanks for everybody See you all again in the sand. I've added some pictures to the gallery hope you like it ❤️ Thanks man That's my pleasure driving with you ✌️

Thanks @Gaurav Soni for this game of 2000! As you rightly said, we got to knw more about our car today! Your detailed to the point briefing before we heading and clear radio instruction made the game easier for us! was good to see you again @Senthil Kumar Thanks @Tareck for being sweep and @Alexanderrr for SL! @Jose Thomas Way to have first FB+ drive! Was Good to know and connect with you guys too @Shaker & @Morshedi ( I enjoyed watching you riding ridges royally, just before that popout) Congratulations to us for this TTT 😎🤟🏽which was a great fun learning experience!

A dark indigo hue sets in across the night sky. Slicing through the middle, a string of white lights mark their way to the edge of a city known for its golden hues. Threading the needle of this dark night and this string of white pearls, thirteen wagons powered by thousands of horses, pull off the side. As night falls and a dewy moisture coats my skin, these thirteen metal boxes ditch the beaten path to tread into the wilderness. Unaided and only driven by the intrepid, these wagons form a new string of pearls. Glowing bright in the darkness, this string swirls and flows unlike the static path they’d left behind. Ahead of them only stretches the inky black night, above them a star studded spectacle, and behind them fly plumes of unsettled sand rising and falling quickly again. Such is the magnificence of a night drive. And once every revolution around the sun, the intrepid light leading this string has cause to not just celebrate the splendor of the night, but also a new revolution of life in years. As Offroaders, we’re so lost in the revolutions of our wheels, we often forget there is a cosmic revolution at play, and last night, we celebrated both - ours and that of Dr. @M.Seidam’s. Here’s wishing you an even more magical revolution around the Sun through the millions of revolutions for every distance you’ll take to get there. With the magic set aside, let me take this moment to recognize some of the shining beacons within this string. I feel a certain likeness every time I meet @Gregory. In his eyes sparkle the spirit of a good human being. And he carries that through with the care he extends across the entire chain. He exemplifies the lead in SL with much gusto. Elsewhere, at the end of this string, the childlike naughtiness of @Ranjan Das was pushing the chain forward like a child meandering his train through obstacles. In the middle, @Zixuan Huang - Charlie and his stoic demeanor keeps the string steady lest it fall apart in this darkness. These human contrasts are what make being a part of this string so rewarding. There are then the new pearls beginning to cast their glow and exemplifying their strength. @Joseph Raju, it was so refreshing to see another Y61 driving with care and good pace. As long as I saw those lights peek over the ridges in my rear view mirror, I knew I had nothing to worry about. Ahead of me, the inseparable young birds @Dinesh Kumar A & @Tareq Al Turq learning to take night flights (sorry, for stealing this metaphor @Ale Vallecchi), showed their exuberance. At times it caught them off guard, but they will come out of this with experience to boot. They say the roughest seas make the best sailors, and it is truly in this stead that we got to see the strength of this string of pearls. Key among them @Haitham Khattab, @topgear, @Amr Aydin& @Simon Dawood who not just put their brawn on display but also their ingenuity in the understanding of how levers work. Such is the magnificence of a night drive, that you see not just the magic of a strawberry hued Luna shining above, but also the immense ability that comes when so many lights shine together. Collectively, they solved challenges as big as the one @Ashutosh Garg had to face. In doing so, I left not just enriched by the experience but also the new knowledge of so many minds working together. Thank you all for a beautiful night. As we escaped back to golden hues of the city, these thoughts fogged up my mind, just like the ambiance I was now piercing through. See you all out on the sands soon [ 🐵 ]

Happy birthday @M.Seidam🎂🎂🎂🎂

Thanks so @M.Seidam for the lovely drive. I really like these night drives they kind of make us learn how to focus on all the human senses ( even the 6th sense at some points 🤣). happy birthday D.r . The few grey hairs are making you look a bit older than 25 ...😂. Thanks to all the great people who joind the drive and looking to see all of you again soon

Very happy birthday my friend @M.Seidam 🎉🎉🎉

When an off-roader starts celebrating their Birthday in the desert with extending family, means off-roading has reached the core of your DNA. Many Happy Returns of the day @M.Seidam, Happy Birthday 27 years young, shiny and always smiling Seidam.

Happy birthday @M.Seidam. God bless you 🎉

happy 27th [email protected]...😉

Happy birthday @M.Seidam !!

Happy Birthday @M.Seidam well deserved birthday celebration under the desert night 🌙 ✨️

@M.SeidamDoctor happy birthday. Seems like you really had a blast for the drive 😂

Hi @Islam Soliman, we are getting fog alert quite frequently now. Let see if we can have a delayed start by 30 mins and will drive till our car gets heated up

Dear @Amr Aydin @Santoso Marjuki @Karthikeyan Govindarajan @RiaanJH @DP1011 , Deepak wrangler @Joseph Raju I guess majority is "confused" so let me try to sort out that now 🤭 Pre-drive details below: Please be on time and bring all your passion for off-roading and pull as much as you can of yourself out of bed.. Be at the meeting point by 5:30am (or before) and start deflating your tires and erect your flag Please ensure your programable radio is on, fully charged and set to Channel 3 (446,056) Briefing will be done on on the sand before we start moving Please ensure everything in the car is tied down and there are no moving objects Please check all car fluids, tow hooks, and ensure no hanging parts below the chassis. please ensure you come with a full tank (as much as possible) in addition to all necessary gear for this drive level specially your tire deflator, pressure gauge and a compressor, safety flag and radio. (NO FLAG or RADIO = NO DRIVE) MeetingPoint: 24°19'10.1"N 55°24'58.4"E https://goo.gl/maps/6tENZGi7pt4nvf5G7 Convoy Order will be communicated during the briefing see u all shining tomorrow on the sand 🤩

Hej, i guess everyone is recover from the early wake up today morning:) it was worth to do it and i had a fantastic drive. It was amazing to follow you @Vanessa8580, again a lot of learnings. Thank you @Melenanyfor backing up us and your support during our troubles:) @Sunny84 please get better and see you soon again, it is always nice to talk with you, and your morning drive was spotless, i seen you in my mirror:) no worries @Javid_DXB, you did fantastically in the second half of the drive. I am pretty sure, you are progressing very fast. Even we were only a few of us, it was a perfect team work. Have a great weekend and you the next one early morning again:)

Thank you for the amazing drive guys !! Looking forward to the next drive.

here is the updated convoy list.

Dear @Shaaz Sha! I was really looking forward to this drive with you but something came up at work and looks like I have to drop out! Really hope to catch you another time! Have fun guys!!