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Thank you @Carnity for accepting me in to Team Carnity...looking forward to interesting times and to see how this pans out ....Been around with the club for couple of years now, and thought of taking this new found hobby towards a higher commitment...albeit a bit late Thanks @DP1011, @Frederic @Davie Chase and @Looper ... see you soon as and when our sand paths cross!! 🙂

It will be an open-book exam, this time.

Is there multiple choice questions? 😅

Dear Desertnauts. It couldn't be a more streight forward drive plan. The idea (streight, and in as little time as possible) may bring to mind the rules of one of the UAE's popular off-road challenges (The Rahal): going from start to finish covering the least possible ground and in the least time. Considering it's getting closer to our very own Carnity's Desert Trophy, it will not hurt to have objectives and driving requirements and strategies in mind, to practice a little.

BEST NEWS EVER THANK YOU!!!!! Thank you DP!!!! 👍🏼 Thanks Freddy I appreciate it! Thank you Davie I'm stoked! Looper thank you!!!!! Thank you Ben I appreciate it mate!!

Congratulations @Imran Asghar for joining the Support Team with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you grow further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. SUPPORT TEAM Pre-requisite 1) Minimum 10 any level "Carnity" drives are required after your Intermediate promotion to become eligible for the Support Team. Once you decide to join Team Carnity to excel further with your off-roading, people, and commanding skills, you will be extensively trained by the whole Team Carnity from Expert - Marshal - Crew at various stages by supporting different levels drives. Activities for Support Team Members Support different Marshals and Crew at Newbie level drives to demonstrate: Your ability and willingness to support new offroaders. Ability to gain control of commanding situations. And clear communication skills to help manage the convoy. Possible progress toward becoming an Advisor Once you have proved to be a regular Supporting Team member and have supported different trip leads on several Newbie and Fewbie drives, we will gather your periodic feedback. Based on this feedback and reviews you might receive an invitation to become a Carnity Advisor for further advancement within our community. You will also need to have completed a minimum of 10 Intermediate Level drives, and be a regular club member (minimum supporting 6 Newbie or Fewbie drives per quarter) to become eligible. Being invited to an Advisor role means we put our faith in you as a passionate club member who displays maturity and passion to carry your knowledge on to new off-roaders who are still progressing through the ranks.

Yalla, practice boys/gals. The exam is nearing.

Congrats @Imran Asghar! Welcome to the team!

Congratulations @Imran Asghar, welcome to Team Carnity!!

Congratulations @Sunil Mathew on your promotion, welcome to Team Carnity.

Congratulations @Sunil Mathew well deserved

Congratulations @Imran Asghar well deserved

Well done @Sunil Mathew!!

Well done @Imran Asghar!!

Congrats @Sunil Mathew! Well deserved , see u soon😎

Congrats @Imran Asghar ! well deserved!

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: Fewbie Plus and above When: 22 October 2023, Sunday Meeting time: 7:30 AM - Sharp (Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/GdiVHxTC2o31FBAW6 Action Plan: After risking an abrupt ending of my last "Rush Hour 4" in this very area, due to my engine suddenly dying, and after "resurrecting" it last minute (literally 1 hour before today's drives deadline) I would like to come back to the part of Faqa closer to the Solar Tower, to drive in a streight line (keeping within a narrow band of dunes running along the Solar Park fence), from Faqa to Little Sweihan, as fast as an arrow. Driving around in search of play areas will be minimal, as this whole sector of the Dubai desert will be our playground. If time permits we may keep on going fast and streight,.all the way to Ghantoot. Approximate finish time: 11:30 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. Recommended off-road gears: Walkie-talkie radio and off-road flag (MANDATORY), plus tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, compressor, walkie-talkie radio, off-road flag, shovel, first-aid kit and fire extinguisher. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday - 12 PM. 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 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 THE CALENDAR This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday - 1 PM. 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 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 THE CALENDAR

Please share your vehicle details - Make, Model, Color, and Year. Nissan patrol safari 2003 grey Do you have any prior off-road experience? If yes, pls share details. not formal experience - just some casual attempts Confirm your vehicle has front and rear tow hooks/eyelets. yes Advise if you don’t have a programableradio and safety flag. have both MUST WATCH: NEWBIE VIDEO BRIEFING done

Congratulations @Lalaji for reaching the Fewbie Plus Level with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. P.S. Trip lead might deny your participation if you don't have required off-road gear. FEWBIE PLUS Drives Attended (Indicative) Minimum 10 Fewbie drives are required within last 6 months for Fewbie Plus promotion. What you'll learn Advance dune and sand reading Advance recovery techniques Rocking and crawling to make path Learn to flatten/compact soft sand patch Self recovery from crest Advance side sloping and long hill climb Advance ridge riding and criss crossing Advance control over technical dunes Slightly faster pace desert driving FULLY control and avoid fishtailing Never fight or challenge gravity Skills required Enthusiastic and positive attitude Willingness to learn and help others Extremely attentive and focused while driving Car Worthiness Any 4x4 vehicle with low range gearing Suitable approach and departure angle Bash plate and skid plate protected Off-road gear required Safety flag, tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio (walkie-talkie), air compressor. Drive teamwork Manage second lead and sweep positions upon request Intuitive and proactive to support Trip Lead Observe recoveries and offer help, when needed Drive Joining Join Newbie, Fewbie and Fewbie Plus drives Forum participation Active participation on the forum Share drive experience + feedback Share drive pictures in the gallery Post trip report after the drive

@Imran Asghar congrats mate.... see you soon

Very well put through @Benjamin this gives a perfect visualization of a level up.

Congrats @Lalaji! Funnily enough leveling up is exactly like a video game! As you grow you learn some new mechanics. In this case you know all the moves now you just gotta combo them safely hope to drive with you soon!

Hi all! Looking forward to my first drive with Carnity! Please share your vehicle details - Toyota, Tundra, beige, and 2018 Do you have any prior off-road experience? - Minor nothing serious Confirm your vehicle has front and rear tow hooks/eyelets.- Yes Programable radio and safety flag. - Yes MUST WATCH: NEWBIE VIDEO BRIEFING - Done

@Davie Chase @Looper, thanks for your appreciation. Learnt much from you both and also @Hisham Masaad @Vanessa8580 @DP1011 Thanks a lot for the encouragement. Will continue to stand on the shoulders of giants. Cannot appreciate enough the @Carnity family.

Gratitudes and thanks for the acceptance @Gaurav Leveling up feels like a video game 🎮 Hope it gives additional skills too. 😂

Hi Imran @Imran Asghar, congratulations; now its official!

Congratulations @Sunil Mathew for joining the Support Team with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you grow further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. SUPPORT TEAM Pre-requisite 1) Minimum 10 any level "Carnity" drives are required after your Intermediate promotion to become eligible for the Support Team. Once you decide to join Team Carnity to excel further with your off-roading, people, and commanding skills, you will be extensively trained by the whole Team Carnity from Expert - Marshal - Crew at various stages by supporting different levels drives. Activities for Support Team Members Support different Marshals and Crew at Newbie level drives to demonstrate: Your ability and willingness to support new offroaders. Ability to gain control of commanding situations. And clear communication skills to help manage the convoy. Possible progress toward becoming an Advisor Once you have proved to be a regular Supporting Team member and have supported different trip leads on several Newbie and Fewbie drives, we will gather your periodic feedback. Based on this feedback and reviews you might receive an invitation to become a Carnity Advisor for further advancement within our community. You will also need to have completed a minimum of 10 Intermediate Level drives, and be a regular club member (minimum supporting 6 Newbie or Fewbie drives per quarter) to become eligible. Being invited to an Advisor role means we put our faith in you as a passionate club member who displays maturity and passion to carry your knowledge on to new off-roaders who are still progressing through the ranks.

Hi Sunil @Sunil Mathew, about time Congratulations!

I am planning to camp in the desert post the drive - anyone joining, let me know, we can coordinate for the best outcome...the first attempt to stay at the Razeen starting point few weeks back was not that great as it was warm and sultry - last week I had stayed for Assif bhais drive at Sweihan - it was awesome....pleasant in the beginning then getting cool over time...Happy driving and Happy camping!

Section 3: Data Acquisition for Telemetry Overlay Introduction to Telemetry Overlay Telemetry is the in-situ collection of measurement of various data points such as speed, elevation, G force, track etc. In our sport we use Global Positioning Satellite or GPS to collect this information. Most of us record the track in apps such as Gaia GPS. While driving we feel the adrenaline but by the time we look the same drive footage, it does not look that impressive. This is where in my opinion the Telemetry Data overlay plays an important role as it helps to highlight the rollercoaster ride that we experience. I like to overlay the Track, Speed, Speed Profile and Elevation profile along with the Compass to give an immersive experience of the drive. Integration with Insta 360 X3 We can record the GPS data embedded with the footage we record while driving. This can be achieved in two ways. In Insta360 X3 camera, if GPS remote is used to record video, it also records the GPS data by default. In case a phone is used as a remote, in that case the user can enable GPS data recording as well. However, in my experience the data collected using phone as a remote is quite unreliable and gives erroneous information. GoPro Max, however, records the GPS data by default in the device itself and it does not need external sources to get the data. Another way to overlay telemetry data is using external independent data sources such as Gaia GPS. However, it becomes cumbersome to sync data with the footage to overlay on the video data source. An issue with GPS data is, however, good the data source might be, it still sometimes looks different than the footage. Because the data is collected using satellites and there is always a time delay. This is more pronounced while looking at Speed data, while a vehicle would have come to a stop in the footage, but the data recording will show gradual decrease in the speed to zero. Another issue is if you are using maps to show the track, it might not correlate to the actual footage, due to the shifting dunes as well. In this video I recorded at Faya (see the previous post) I have overlayed a mini map showing the track, and speed and direction. You will see that the dunes on the map don't match all the time with the footage. In the following video I recorded at Badayer I have overlayed the speed provided as well as elevation profile. These two are normally an approximation rather than cent percent accurate data. PS: I plan to update and revise certain sections to enhance clarity, streamline information for brevity, and improve language and grammar.

Section 1: Gear Preparation Insta 360 X3 Setup Before you mount the device on your car, you must dial in the best settings for the use case. Make sure that you are shooting 5.7k 30 fps. For the morning or daytime drives also make sure that you have selected Active HDR shooting mode. In case of low light in the evening or night drives, you should use Normal Video mode. Remember that the last setting that you have dialed in will be retained if you switch off the camera and switch it on later. Always double check that you are in the correct mode before you start recording because it happened to me when I recorded the best part of a drive in Bullet Time mode completely ruining the entire video because I used it before that I had used Bullet Time mode and then switched off the device. Recently I have shot a video in Log mode. Log mode is a type of video recording that is used to preserve more of the image’s dynamic range and tonality by redistributing the digital exposure value representations over the entire value set using a preset logarithmic function. It is often associated with better image quality and is used in professional video production. This however takes extra steps to color the video since the video output looks low contrast. Next you must connect your device with a remote. You can use either the phone app or a GPS remote. In the case of phone app, it will ask you to join the action camera wifi and once it has secured the connection you can control the device with the phone such as start/stop remote, change modes, use it as a remote screen, as well as change settings. In case you are using GPS remote you are able to connect it and can only change the mode and start stop recording. The benefit of GPS remote is you get a much more compact and stable remote. Before you start shooting - Check and double check the settings. I can not tell you how many times I didn't do and lost what could have been a very good footage. Mounting Action Camera Next you want to mount the device on your vehicle at the most optimal place. You can either use suction cups which are temporary and needs to be fixed every drive or permanent mounting solution to mount the action camera on your vehicle. Suction Cups: At the beginning I used a popular Triple Suction Camera Mount available on Amazon.ae with the 120 cm selfie stick that I had got along with the X3. But I could not extend the stick all the way out because the ball mount wouldn’t handle the weight of the device that far away from the base and will slip down. While using it I would extend the selfie stick only 1 or 2 levels out. The benefit of suction cups it that you can mount it anywhere on the car as long as it is a smooth surface. Many prefer to mount on the front bonnet as well as on the roof tops. Permanent Solutions: For my Jeep JL with metal bumper at the front and Teraflex flag mount on the rear door, a local enterprising offroad enthusiast has come up with permanent mounting solutions. They consist of a base which is permanently fixed in place and a rod that has a screw at one side and is attached to the base. I have mounted one at the front on the metal bumper and one at the back on the teraflex flag mount. Front Mount Rear Mount Other vehicles have roof rails that provide alternative mounting options. Either at the sides or at the back of the car. Some users also fix mounting brackets directly on their vehicle either using glue or screw them into the place. PS: I plan to update and revise certain sections to enhance clarity, streamline information for brevity, and improve language and grammar.

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.

Thanks buddy @Looper, it was like dream to getting in such refusal and with of guys like you all ,self recovering is like attainment of quite a needed boost. @Gaurav Soni buddy I got a break in Looper's drive. 🤪🤪