Leaderboard

@Gertjan @Mohit Gurnani @Ishak it was great to be back in Sweihan after such a long time for me, on such a beautifully new terrain. We kept excellent pace and I really enjoyed the drive which was only 2 hours this time... Second half of the drive was also quite precious for me as it proved how much important having good friends beside you during challenging times... I cannot express my feelings when you all were helping me around with your full hands and warm smiles. Millions thanks to each one of you guys... ... and of course @Frederic ; since there is no word to type here to explain how was you that day, I won't even try. The lucky part of that day was you my buddy; this is not only about off roading but more about having a friend like you. Again and again thank you very much my brother... It may take sometime for me and my pajero to be back on the sand again, ... but I feel it will happen ... So see you soon then...👋

I was in a no-worries zone with such a strong convoy and capable hand, I had a free mind to do anything I liked to do on such an exploration-level drive.

Nice observation and comments Fredy. Desert is indeed unforgiving sometimes. @Ishak another way to learn is by seeing other LWB Pajero on how they handle and how they improvise on lines (most imp), so you have faith that yes your Pajero can also do it, just with tiny adjustment and not with brute force and fishtailing. If you have a chance, try to join @Salim Akhtar and see how impeccably and safely he drives his LWB Pajero and still makes it to the top without any refusals/stuck.

Forgot to share this crowded petrol satation pic…

@Vanessa8580 @Hisham Masaad @DP1011 thank you very much for your support and it was very reliving to see my tyres didnt popout i was thinking if it pop out on this drive i will just stick on to wadi drives...but I learned something very good today. I don't have to push so much my vehicle or myself... I think we(my tyre me and my engine) reached a harmony today, which is the most important in this sport.. I will take one more relaxed drive to see the relation is strong and afterwards will just push myself... may be more than my vehicle I need to be relaxed...I was just thinking of completing the drives and get myself to the next stage....so stupid of me...it's not about climbing up there is no competition her be comfortable know your vehicle, what it can do and how much you can push and how...I am posting this so all absolute newbies don't make the mistake of thinking about the going up the ladder but instead concentrate on knowing your vehicle how much gas you need, knowing the sand under your tyres and please don't try to keep the line and get stuck...just go down....it's so easy...hope my stupid advises help....

Thank you @Gaurav @Frederic 🫡. Always happy to have a feedback for my safety.

Prologue: I crave at least two drives a week. This morning when I was driving to the meeting point just before the Last Exit fuel station, I had a thought that I could have slept this morning after a very long previous day. But I must confess that after the drive I felt like it was a worthy end to the week and all the fatigue that I had was lost. I met @Bjoern at the fuel station, and we started together. I saw @Haneef Thayyil overtake me and then @Rk ram and @Deepak Eswar overtake me and @Bjoern. On the way to the meeting point I felt the chill for the first time for the season. It was a cool 27 degrees when we reached the meeting point and I had my windows down and my hand outside, I experienced the wind hitting my face. I posted the same track a couple of weeks ago and 4 of us were driving again today as well. In the morning, just before the start I pondered on how the track was going to be today - easy? difficult? Lots of refusals or none? I threw all those out of the window and started to take a new track. At the briefing I took more time explaining the reasons for refusals and how to tackle them. Drive Report: I have now got a good understanding of the track. We drove mostly on the northern side of the area, which has taller, softer, and difficult to drive dunes. At every dune crossing I was like now we were going to have a refusal, but the convoy drove very well. Everyone behind me was super focused and I felt that the briefing had rubbed on all. After we completed the super technical part, it was time to rest a bit. We reversed back on a southern track from the previous and were a bit faster. This is when @Pacific put on some music and tried to relax, and promptly got stuck. @Bjoern was all ready for a tug offering the choices of pull or winch, meanwhile @Deepak Eswar and @Rk ram dug under the car to recover the fellow doctor. It all paid off when @Pacific was able to self-recover. Then we again drove east toward the larger dunes and did a few flying sidee laps on a few of those dunes. After that we took a break at Crescent Lake, and I must thank @Deepak Eswar for the croissants he offered as breakfast. After the break we moved towards Richie's bar. Just before reaching there, we saw a lone driver stuck in his TJ and gave a helping tug. Last time I was at Richie's bar I remember all the bushes were only a few millimeters tall but now they are tens of centimeters tall. Then we went west towards the exit. At the end to summarize it was a great drive. Good mix of technical and fast paced dunes. For a Sunday, a shorter amount of drive and great fun. Credits: @Mahmoud Taha you were an excellent second lead. I, however, noticed that you used to fall back a little more than you should. @Haneef Thayyil impressed by your driving today. There were parts that I would be scared to bring even a FB+ convoy but you managed all sections quite well - well done 👍. @Pacific thanks for joining the drive. In case we had refusals I knew I could trust you to recover the stuck cars and you kind of did that today by self-recovering yourself very nicely. @Deepak Eswar you did a great job today and hope you enjoyed the drive. @Rk ram You had a flawless drive, and it is always good to see your enthusiasm that you bring to the drives. @Bjoern back-to-back drives for you as well. Thank you very much for the support at the back and helping with both the refusals. See you all in the next installment of Looper's loops.

DRIVE PLAN Let's drive from Faqa this weekend. Our off-road adventure awaits in two exciting parts. The initial segment will take place in Faqa itself, where we will climb some tall dunes and ride some long ones. After we leave Faqa we will then navigate through Sabkha and a patch of technical dunes to reach Little Sweihan. Our primary focus lies on the long range dunes in this drive. Request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette, and responsibilities. MUST READ AND COMPLY Environmental Policy Offroad Flag Guideline Two Way Radio Guideline Off road Driving Etiquettes Emergency details for all off roaders Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities DRIVE DETAILS Level: Fewbie and above When: 30 September 2023, Saturday Meeting time: 6:00 AM - Sharp (Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/8ZrGgBmqMyuEgZT36 Approximate finish time: 10:00 AM 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, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn. RECOMENDED OFF-ROAD GEAR: Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge (MANDATORY) Compressor (MANDATORY) Walkie-talkie radio (MANDATORY) Off-road flag (MANDATORY) Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles First-aid kit Fire extinguisher LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list. RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list. Latecomers will be returned - Without any exceptions. Members without RSVP will be returned - 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

DRIVE PLAN PLEASE READ IT FULLY, BEFORE RSVP. After last week's amazing IM exploration through Razeen, I wish to explore this vast area from the other side, with Fewbie Plus. This will be an exploration drive through Razeen desert with an aim to find, mark and connect good, bad and wow areas for future drives. Being an exploration drive, it can be 6K RPM all the time, it can be technical, it can be scenic, it can be fast or dead slow - or mix of all. So be ready for anything, but be sure it's going to be very exciting. The bottom line, this is not going to be a regular off-road drive, so please join the drive with an open mind and flexible approach. MUST READ AND COMPLY Environmental Policy Offroad Flag Guideline Two Way Radio Guideline Off road Driving Etiquettes Emergency details for all off roaders Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities DRIVE DETAILS Level: Fewbie Plus and above When: 30 September 2023, Saturday Meeting time: 6:00 AM Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZjaAxqjNo5PrWRLW7 Approximate finish time: 10:00 AM 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, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn. MANDATORY OFF-ROAD GEAR: Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge Compressor Walkie-talkie radio Off-road flag Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles First-aid kit Fire extinguisher LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list. RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list. Latecomers will be returned - Without any exceptions. Members without RSVP will be returned - 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

Rear Fog lamp is not a mandatory requirement in UAE. And with regards to the parking sensors I believe it depends on how they are wired, in series or parallel

HI Gautam, Thank you for the comprehensive drive report. It's well-written and covers all the details. The drive was exciting! We all had an exhilarating time! Thank you, Gautam, Taha, Bjoern & Pacific, for the support and also other team members for making it such an enjoyable and memorable experience and looking forward to the next Looper's loops adventure!

Thank you very much @Gaurav for this wonderful start to the winter drives. When I got up at 6 am on Friday morning I somehow did not fantom that the day wouldn't end till this drive ended. While it might seem a long drive for kind of short drive, for me at the end of the day, it felt that the effort was totally worth it. It was a totally new area and those scenes of mighty dunes ahead of us took all the fatigue that I had and was eager for more. I was having so much fun, I could drive for the rest of the day instead of taking the track for the purpose of exploration. Everyone was super enthusiastic, and we had more fun whenever you got stuck (please see chart below 😉 ). All of the crew not only had a chance to bring out their shovels but also learn a thing or two about recoveries. @DP1011 was a fantastic second lead, there is nothing more one could have asked from that role he played. No Abu Dhabi drive is ever complete without @Zed marking his presence. He is a wise man who is always present to help in any situation. @Rajiv Sam and @Joji varghese always ready with the shovels and displayed excellent support whenever needed. @Amir Amiri showed us how to tackle the last "Pajero Bowl" of Razeen (nice moniker by the way @Zed). The silver surfers of @Gok Krish and @Bjoern did confuse us once or twice but it was fun to hear the roar of 392. @Salim Akhtar never fails to amaze with his Pajero and it was great to see @Stumpy Paj and @Naveen Raj in their SWB cars. Looking forward to many more drives in this area in the coming days and preferably full day drives so that all the extra fuel that we carried could be put to effective use as by the time we were exiting I was once again on a full tank.

Thank you, everyone, for joining this amazing exploration drive and making it super successful with such a strong convoy of level-headed and sensible yet capable drivers (most imp). Truly, Razeen exceeded my expectations in terms of beauty, vastness, challenges and landscape with it's deceiving dune formation and breathtaking view. At Razeen, we found a good mix of many different terrains of Abu Dhabi in one place: Big dunes and bowls of Al Qua and Wagan Tricky and unexpected dune formations like Bu-Tais Super soft sand and technical dunes like Liwa and TOC. As we have barely explored a quarter of the planned area, surely we need to explore more with good entry and exit points to avoid long gatch tracks and add new areas for our regular drives. @Looper big thanks for taking some amazing pictures of everyone with such an epic landscape, and for giving us a good memory to remember for a lifetime. I saved a few for a real portrait. Thanks, @DP1011 for SL duties, I was not looking at the rear view at all, because of your capable driving which let me explore like a 6 years old playing with new toys. I loved it, thoroughly. Thank you @Joji varghese and @Rajiv Sam for support duties and making sure everyone had your helping hand when they needed it the most. Special thanks and shout to @Zed @Stumpy Paj @Rajiv Sam and @DP1011 for making that insane slip-face climb to save me, when dune was adamant to hold me for breakfast. @Naveen Raj @Bjoern @Salim Akhtar @Amir Amiri and @Gok Krish was great to see you all after a long time and thanks for your wonderful drive capabilities with a lot of patience, teamwork and humor to make such exploration drive even more memorable.

First of all @Mehmet Volgaglad you and your friend made it safely- looking forward to seeing you in the desert soon! @Fredericthanks for the guidance on this, and I fully agree, I do carry that tendency - certainly will keep this in mind for coming drives to iron this out

As mentioned in the early morning briefing, terrain was going to be challenging and soon enough we were riding inside the massive bowls climbing to our hearts delight. We had a good run, but unfortunately had an incident along the way. The most important thing is you both were unharmed. The unfortunate incident showed the fantastic teamwork, and all of you worked very hard to get the Pajero back into a condition so we could drive it out of the desert. @Mehmet Volgayou are a true warrior and kept calm throughout the ordeal and surely we will be meeting again on the sands soon enough. My sincere thanks to the entire team for the efforts to get the car out. Purely from a technical driving perspective, i wanted to give some pointers and feedback on the drive itself on how i experienced it: @Gertjanyour communication was spot on, and the lines you took were very very smooth. Fantastic driving. @Mohit Gurnani I've seen you driving the last couple of weeks and I've been very impressed. The only minor thing i noticed is the speed you carry sometimes, which is in some places excessive and that also means that you need quick corrections to get the car under control. This is a minor remark and overall I've been super impressed with how far you came now. Just try to be mindful of the speed. The trick is to just create enough momentum and speed that's necessary without having to decelerate or brake. I am sure you'll master that very soon. @Ishakas we spoke on the drive, i was very worried about you yesterday, as i saw your Pajero fishtailing and fighting gravity in many areas. Hence i asked you to check in which gear you were driving (we have seen 4HLC can sometimes help in getting a better power ratio vs the regular 4H). I would not advise you to keep driving in 4L otherwise your transmission will be giving up very soon. The Pajero is a heavy car and you will need to learn to find clean lines with good momentum while now you were forcing your way onto most of the dunes and ridges, which not just looks scary, but you have seen yesterday how the desert can be unforgiving. I highly recommend you to join 5-10 Fewbie level drives and adjust your way of off-roading before doing higher level drives. I was seriously concerned about your safety yesterday and hope you understand.

A big thanks for @Frederic and team Carinity for taking us into these awsome dunes! I enjoyed the morning out with @Mehmet Volga, @Ishak and @Mohit Gurnani. It was indeed a lesson that the dunes need to be treated with the utmost respect. I trust that all will work out well. A few pics in the gallery to enjoy! See you all soon on the sand again!

Rest of us meanwhile: