Leaderboard

Welcome to the Off-Road Hall of Fame, a place where we celebrate the fearless, daring, and ingenious legends of the off-road world. This is the home of the trendsetters who have pushed the limits of off-road driving, supporting, and inspiring all types of adventurers. Off-road driving is not just a hobby, it's a way of life. It requires a rare combination of skill, bravery, and respect for the great outdoors. From conquering the tallest dune to racing through the sands, and wadis to traversing long distances, off-roading comes in various forms that demand unique skills, patience and above all - great teamwork. Only a few have gone above and beyond, leaving their mark on the off-road universe, and inspiring others to follow in their footsteps. These heroes have not just driven off-road but have really defined the true meaning of off-road community while taking the sport to new heights. Whether you are an experienced off-roader or just starting, we invite you to join us as we explore the stories and legacies of the off-road greats who have earned their rightful place in the Off-Road Hall of Fame. This is a place where we take pride in their achievements and honor their spirit of adventure. So, fasten your seatbelts, hold tight, and let's embark on a journey of exhilaration, inspiration, and honor in the Off-Road Hall of Fame. Period: Jul - Sept 2023 Drive in the spotlight "Catch Me If You Can" series of drives on Fewbie Plus and IM Level Congrats @M.Seidamfor being our winner in the "Drive in the spotlight" category! You have managed, together with your convoy, to completely take in "Big Red" from all possible directions and design a thrilling drive experience! Member in the spotlight While most of us are staying inside during this scorching summer, some people decide to crawl underneath the car and work on them. This hands-on approach has won @Stumpy Paj our "Car Guru Of The Quarter" award !! From dropping sub-frames, to replacing radiators, and spare wheel cover delete work, with the help of @Bravoechohe has turned his Pajero into a real Offroad Beast ! Well done Nathan ! Stucks of the Quarter Usually quite mindful of the terrain and its surroundings, @Fredericmanaged to park his Patrol in front of a big bush, and on top of that was seen smiling and waving, while @Naveen Rajwas actually solving the problem for him . Another noteworthy stuck was @Gauravon the Razeen exploration. Thanks to the great teamwork of @Zed@Rajiv Sam@DP1011and @Stumpy Paj they were able to clear the sand enough to get the car out of this scary angle. Lead Champion Congratulations to @Looperfor leading a whopping 11 drives this quarter! Your passion for off-roading is immense! Support Champion Congratulations @DP1011 for having supported 15 drives this quarter! Climbing multiple dunes on foot even made you part of the HATT, or "High-Altitude-Trek-Team"! Hats off to you ! Message to all our champions: Your dedication is an admirable quality that is truly valued and appreciated. Your unwavering passion for off-roading has not gone unnoticed, and it is an inspiration to those around you today. We thank you and look forward to seeing the many great things you will achieve in the future.

“If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.” ― Ayn Rand I am still trying to figure out how many drives are too many drives. Thank you very much to everyone associated with @Carnity - All the Club Members, Support Team, the Marshals and the Crew, every day is a pleasure in your company.

Thanks, Fredy for keeping track and identifying real heroes. Congratulations @M.Seidam @Stumpy Paj @Naveen Raj @Zed @Rajiv Sam @DP1011 @Looper for all the creativity, teamwork and camaraderie.

Congratulations Lads! @M.Seidam @Stumpy Paj @Naveen Raj @Zed @Rajiv Sam @DP1011 @Looper Thank you @Frederic for another fantastic hall of fame!

Thank you and it’s all for one and one for all . The passion teamwork and dedication is part of life indeed . Cheers Carnity.

Congratulations @M.Seidam @Stumpy Paj @Naveen Raj @Zed @Rajiv Sam @DP1011 @Looper all well deserved awards keep it up and keep smiling and loving what we do 😀😃

@Looper My sincere appreciation for leading us to a wonderful drive it was surely amongst one of the top ones for me. The climate was fantastic too overall. @Mohammad Sayawoush Azad, @Haneef Thayyilboth were amazing handling their huge heavy V8 behemoths on the later half of the drive. Amazingly nimble stuff. @Haneef Thayyil, bro, you were holding back abruptly or paused momentarily quite a few times, and surprisingly those places there were no obstacles or similar which could cause that. It just used to come out of nowhere for the minutest of periods but was enough to cause a sudden pace drop behind to us. Maybe some distraction. But it has happened on earlier drives also, so humble request to have a feel there. @Issam AtraBro you were resilient and never looked lacking. Only places where you had a refusal was due to me holding your position up. Super bro.

Congratulations!!!

As a Newbie driver we do advise you to just drive in 4H Auto (assuming it’s JL). In the 4H Auto the computer in the car manages where the power need to go and depending on the requirement it might just act like 2H or 4H when needed. TBH I and most of us JL drivers drove in 4H Auto even Intermediate drives and never ever felt any issues with the power delivery. I started to drive 4H part time only after I started to lead. And even now, sometimes I drive 4H Auto and I find very less differences. The reason for it is the computer is used to my desert driving and manages accordingly. 4H Part time is actually misleading. Because it is full time 4x4 and power is delivered to all 4 wheel at all times. It’s the traditional 4x4, hence better. Following is my personal opinion: You can do advance courses in different clubs including in Carnity, and it will definitely help you to learn finer details much more quickly and will be your prerogative to decide if you want to do those courses or not. While you will learn what to do, quickly; you will still need to practice and it will take as many drives, but at least it is not a learning experience anymore, but rather practice.

Hi @Josh S, it’s not surprising you were advised to use 4H-part-time this is because on the Jeep wranglers part-time is technically “full time” meaning the all 4 wheels will be spinning constantly. Unlike 4H auto which will use the onboard computer to control when you do or don’t need all 4 wheels spinning. Ideally in Newbie drives you generally don’t need part-time in fact I rarely use it myself all the way up at intermediate. However it does come in handy when you need power and all 4 wheels at an exact press of the pedal. it’s all based on preference. Follow what @Frederic mentioned about tiptronic manual. Highly recommend you take a good few drives to understand your car once you know the RPM threshold start experimenting. Personally I started driving tiptronic on late fewbie-intermediate drives.

Hi @Josh S The main reason we generally advise Newbie level drivers to use auto is because there’s already so much to focus on during these first couple of drives. Depending on your car and your own preferences you might indeed feel after 5-10 drives that you have a preference for shifting gears manually. I know many people who keep driving in D in all levels, and equally many people who prefer taking matters in own hands and choose to upshift or downshift on their own timing. There’s no real right or wrong on this topic. About the courses, Carnity was actually the trailblazer in this segment and the first one that started doing the 1:1 Masterclasses , and by now other clubs have noticed the success and started doing the same. You’ll find the links to the masterclasses here: https://carnity.com/desert-driving-course/ They are indeed worth it if you want to expand your experience and learn valuable off-roading skills in a personal 1:1 environment. Up to you where you get them 😉

Cheers @Frederic probably not my smartest move working under cars in our summer 😂, lots more to come 👍 congratulations everyone

Congrats @M.Seidam @Stumpy Paj @Naveen Raj @Zed @Rajiv Sam @DP1011 @Looper well done and keep rocking 🤝

Great drive everyone! Some drives feel like a meditation (in a good way) and the first part was just like that, smooth ridges, nice scenery, good company. the big red part was an adrenaline rush and a good way to end the drive. I had a major scare at the top of big red when i didn’t notice a big drop while pushing to climb, no damage to the car but a good reminder to always do an exploration run before tackling these big dunes at full speed!

Ridge Riding - My favourite part of offroading! I gave up a Sweihan drive to take part in ridge riding express by @Rizwanm2 and I did not regret my decision one bit. The entire convoy was ready even before the meet up time and I had to delay the start by 5 mins as my air filter was clogged up. Cleaned it to find about 10 Kgs of red sand and the the car started breathing better. The drive started at 6:05 am and we started attacking the small and medium sized dunes of tawi nazwa and @Rizwanm2's lines were simply superb. I guess he made it a point not to leave even one tiny ridge unflattened and we destroyed them all. The pace was really good and we reached pink rock in no time. A couple of climbs and then more ridges which were getting higher and higher. Then, the ridges started curving which increased the skill level. It was too good. Faced a couple of unfortunate popouts and @Deepak Eswar had to exit due to a personal emergency at 9:20 am. We still had 40 mins and raced to big red for 30 mins of adrenaline pumping climbs and ridge riding, 2 xterras and 3 Fjs. It is safe to say that we flattened big red from all angles and sides. It became small red by the time we were done with it. Exited sharp at 10 am and @Chris Wing hosted us with chilled beverages. Thanks buddy. Inflated quickly and went home to have a hearty lunch and a nice siesta with a smile on my face @Rizwanm2 My first time on your drive and it was excellent bro. Your lines were fantastic and I had so much fun without damaging my car @Chris Wing The most qualified SL for this drive and you performed brilliantly bro. Nice driving with you after a long time. @Ahmad Nerat You are killing it with your FJ man. Great driving with no refusals, no stucks. Climbed everything @Deepak Eswar It was an amazing drive from you that too being your first fb+ drive. popouts are a part of the learning curve and will never stop even if you become a marshall. Sad that you had to exit due to a personal emergency. Hope things will get better. @Jona Just the day before, you said we need to go on a drive with the two of us at the end of the convoy and your wish came true within a day. Please make another wish that your friend, Krishna should become a billionaire soon . about the drive, We were just chillin in the back man, I was following your lines in a laid back fashion and as always, impeccable driving from you. I did not even know you had a passenger until we almost finished big red man In the end, It was the perfect ending to the long weekend and I was energized for the work week ahead. Until next weekend guys, Stay calm and the enjoy the weather. ~Krishna

Nice video thank you very much. May I suggest that you use a gps remote instead of fiddling with the phone while driving. Alternatively few also use the watch app as well. I have in the past used to use the phone app but now use gps remote. This also helps record the gps telemetry (in my experience) with much more precisely than the phone app.

Drive Plan Since did not visit Al Faqa long time, this drive might be more of exploration than following a previous track. Hope will be experiencing nice dunes and bowls. We request every member that joins this drive to go through the below information and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquettes and responsibilities. MUST READ AND COMPLY Environmental Policy Offroad Flag Guideline Two Way Radio Guideline Off road Driving Etiquette's Emergency details for all off-roaders Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities Drive Details Level: Intermediate and above Meeting time: 6:00 am Saturday (deflated and ready to move) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Px3Zv4Lsxt3tS6Su5 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. Approximate finish time: 09:30 am P.S. Only join if you have a compressor to inflate your tires after the drive. 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 THE CALENDAR

So, I am several drives under my belt now and loving it... On my first Carnity drive I was advised to drive my JL in 4H Auto and keep the car in automatic. I did this for 3 drives. Over the weekend, I completed a drive with another large, leading offroad club in Dubai (sorry Carnity!) and the lead driver is an active instructor. He told me that I should be driving in 4H Part time + Manual which is the opposite of what I heard in Carnity. Could I please seek clarification? Finally, this particular club offers courses in addition to their weekly drives (Beginner, Intermediate and Night). Although I am now 4 drives in and feel confident, the lead instructor advised that anybody would progress significantly faster with a course or two under their belt - learning the exact techniques as opposed to just following. I had always planned on being self-taught, but if I can become a safer driver, and progress more quickly, it could be a winner. Has anyone here participated in a beginner or intermediate course, even after some experience.

Before that, you will damage the transfer case as LO gear in most 4X4 is meant for "Low" speeds under 40 kmph. It's an age-old scam or myth in the UAE off-road scene. Check your owner's manual for specific speed limits for LO gear before attempting again.

@Fredericjust for the record and to manage people’s expectations my role in helping @Stumpy Pajprimarily involved making sure he was hydrated in the summer heat, sometimes resorting to fluids of a amber colour 😁

Surely there are few: Cornering will not be as agile as the front and rear have the same power split. The car will be sluggish at high speeds above 40-50 kmph, as when you go above 40, Auto favors 70-80% power to the rear and 20% to the front to make driving effortless. Higher fuel consumption (slightly). Go to empty sandy terrain, try both, and see for yourself rather than getting confused.

4H Auto is capable of doing almost everything you want most of the time. To put in numbers you can practically drive your Wrangler in 4H Auto up to 90-95% of the time. You only need 4H Part-time (which means full-time, as Ben mentioned) in tricky terrain, where onboard computers fail (very rare) to do the required power split among the front and rear wheels, so you shift to part-time to have 50:50 power split to negotiate tricky terrains - like soft sand, a tricky slow and fast climb which require split-second change of power. We have many leads in Carnity driving and leading drives in 4H Auto, and only switch to part-time when needed. 4H Part time should be used as a trump card, similar to 4Lo so that you have something to fall back on when you need it. Most clubs even advise ppl to drive in LO gear for various reasons: Too lazy to get newbies stuck and recover and teach the right features, instead tell them to put on LO gear and let them blast all the way to glory. Backed by the garage, so the sooner you break the car in LO gear, the better it is for their business. In an ideal world of off-roading you and all other 4x4s should use a car based on the below order in sand: 4H Auto + D 4H Auto + tiptronic (manual selection of 1st or 2nd gear) 4H Part time + tiptronic (manual selection of 1st or 2nd gear) 4Lo + tiptronic (only for self-recovery and recovering others) This way you will learn your car and car will learn your driving style and also you have options to switch when you enter serious terrain or get stuck so you have room to shift to LO gear.

That's a lovely destination to drive. I missed it. Hoping to join soon on the next.

@Rizwanm2thx for leading this drive. It was amazing.. We got the chance to ride most of the ridges in the area. The last 30 minutes around the big red were just WOW👏👏 . @Chris Wing was doing great as SL we were following his steps in confidence. @Jona, @Krishna Rit was amazing to connect with u again.. Finally to my frd @Deepak Eswar u did well regardless of the pop outs u faced. It's just part of our learning curve Thx all see u soon on next drive!! 👌

@Cha guiding convoy. From Faqa'a to Solar Park on Sat Sep 30, 2023

Video of todays Drive https://youtu.be/4iD2A2k5Rts?si=LzmDlw7x3Sc8yzeq

@M.Seidam thx for organising the drive. What a amazing way to start a weekend. I really enjoyed every second of it. Additionally, having experienced drivers around, it gave me more confident to keep up with u guys.. We need more like this drive 👌.. Also I extend my thanks to @Looper I was following his lines blindly😁😁 and other drivers.. Thanks all See u soon on another drive 🤠

Okay, The below is my progression with offroad skills with respect to my driving style and gear preference. My car has 4H, 4L ONLY. NO 4H part time. In Carnity: Newbie & Fewbie - 4H - D. Had no performance issues. Car shifted as per requirement. Fewbie plus - Same gearing as above but learnt to control the power with my foot on the gas. Intermediate - This is where I felt the car was shifting the way i did not want it to. Tried manual in 4H and the car did what I wanted. After a few intermediate drives, I went back to 4H - D and learnt to push the car without it upshifting automatically. Other clubs - There were a few drives where everyone was driving in 4L and I obviously couldn't do some of the manoeuvres they did as I was driving in 4H. I was advised to try 4L which i did and was pleasantly surprised with the stability and torque. What I was doing at 5K rpm in 4H, I was doing it in 2K rpm in 4L, However, I did not continue in 4L so as to not wreck the car. The Xterra has a weak front diff. Based on my experience with other popular clubs, I can second to what @Gaurav has mentioned above. Most of them are backed by garages and after a few drives with them, you would be pressurized to add unnecessary mods ( i have seen newbie fj owners recommended extra transmission cooler, headers etc.) and also safety usually takes a back seat. As for specialized classes, I have friends that have taken the classes and benefitted. I, personally learnt by going on drives. Cant say I know much but I am happy with my learnings and the pace of it. It is highly subjective. I have no plans to enter the desert on my own anytime soon but I will eventually get there in an year, maybe 50 more drives.

Congrats to all 💪💪💪

I knew this pic would be posted here 😹

@Looper, no Hisham definitely announced on the radio his car would not start as we were just getting ready to pull away and start the drive, so we were all in our cars

A fantastic drive to start the long weekend. I didn't have any time to do anything else other than eat... sleep... drive... and repeat... Thank you @M.Seidam for scheduling this excellent and exhilarating drive. It was great to meet @Sunil Mathew, @Ahmad Nerat, @Senthil Kumar, @Pacific and @Cha. It was so fast and furious I had to actually wonder at what level we were supposed to be driving. Few pics in the gallery. Thank you all for the drive. See you soon.

What a wondeful drive it was. @Looper Thankyou very much.

This was a truly unique drive it is hard to find a place to start! So I'll use the age-old technique of chronological order. From the start-point everyone was getting ready for a classic 'yalla push' drive, after a safety brief everyone embarked in their respective 4x4 when @Hisham Masaad ran into some issues starting his FJ. (Hisham I hope the issue is resolved soon Badayer needs the king back soon!) this unfortunately meant that our marshal had to retire from the drive before the journey began. This left the rest of the convoy ready to turn back before our close-by advisor @Davie Chase (A.K,A Smooth Operator, soon to be EX popout champion 😆) came to the rescue like a knight in shining armor. Great job mate the drive went extremely well for your first intermediate lead hope to join on many to come in the future! Moving with haste we entered into a technical patch that was both challenging and fun, once we got to long range dunes the whole convoy was ready to open up their throttles to match the heights of the toughest dunes in this area. through the dunes we met multiple different clubs with large convoys which slowed down the back-end of our flowing convoy, once we got around the other clubs without hesitation we got back up to pace and enjoyed the rest of the lengthy dunes in the area everyone drove amazingly well @Mark B @Jona @Gary F @Ignacio Quindós @Bashar Beasha @Krishna R @Alexanderrr @Amir Amiri Till the next one everyone!

@Mohamad Anwer thank you very much brother. Yes I recently joined to the rolling stones club and as you said, even it was horrific while having it, we all know that this is happening and not rare. Fully agree with you that it is much better to look forward. Since my car went total loss now, I'll need a new desert toy. As soon as I have one, I'll be back on sand to drive with you again. Thank you for your wishes brother. See you soon 👋

@Kenneth Bollhardt, @Haneef Thayyil, @Ishak, @Lalaji, & @Sreenath G thank you all for signing up for the drive. I will be posting the convoy order later in the week. Request you not to be a No-Show and instead rest well and arrive before time so that we can start by dawn. In case you think there are going to be any issues withdraw from the drive. The track I am going to try to do this week is the same one I did a few weeks ago with a FB+ drive. There will be some tall dunes at the start and thereafter we will explore some long-range dunes. I intended to keep the drive slightly faster paced and be prepared for the same. Our objective will be to avoid technical patches on the way as much as possible and reach as quickly as possible to Little Sweihan. We will exit at the Innovation Center at or about 9:30. You may expect a slight delay. @Mohammad Sayawoush Azad you are still Newbie and request you to wait till you are promoted to FB to sign up for these drives. There will be an announcement on the forum by @Gaurav when you are promoted, and you will get to know as well as everyone else in the club. Consider joining Newbie Drives in the meanwhile as they are equally fun to drive. There is a Twilight drive on Friday. Further the morning drive at Faya is going to be a lot of fun. Suggest you check those out for this week and let's catch up next week.