Leaderboard

@GauravSoni @Davie Chase @Looper @Rizwanm2 @Zed @Asif Hussain @Icon Auto @Wissam Good morning guys. We wanted to provide a bit more clarification on the waypoint scoring itself. Please see below: 1. There will be no flags or visual items at the waypoints. 2. The aim is to have ALL your team members get as close as possible to each waypoint, so make sure to zoom in on your GPS systems to the maximum. After the event we will analyze all your tracks and see if all team members have reached within the allowed 15m range. Example below: * The black track has reached very closely to the waypoint: Score will be granted. * The red track stayed too far away from the waypoint: Score will not be granted. See you all tomorrow !

RADIO CHANNELS: @Wissamcan update tomorrow.

Dear Desert Wanderers @Emanuel @Rafey Hashmi @Mahesh_ @DanielN @essam ibrahim @Rob S @frederic demolder and @Mike M. as @Rob S has eloquently stated above fantastic mornings drive with even better company. I hope you all had as much fun as I did as we navigated the harder than usual sands of Lisalli. We had some nice free flowing dunes a little taste of some tighter technical dunes and quite a few Camel encounters The weather held up nicely for us as we encountered a few refusals and a couple of stucks. as you found out shoveling the harder wet sand is a tad more challenging, but equally satisfying when we see the heavy piece of metal slither from its tethers and resume its way down the dune. Excellent Second lead as always from @Emanuel until a couple of bolts holding his bash plate on decided to not play nice any longer and disappear into the sand leaving only the front two to hold it on. With the help of the ever-trusty air jack to hold the weight we were able to remove the two remaining securing points and slide the plate out safely and fairly effortlessly. We then had some fun trying to drop the rear seats but got there in the end and managed to tie down the plate in the rear and exit @Emanuel safely. Hope it is a quick and painless repair buddy and look forward to seeing you in my mirrors on the sand very soon. 2nd S/L was equally as good when we promoted @Rafey Hashmi as Emanuel exited. you drove very well my friend and followed my instructions implicitly. Well done and look forward to having you behind me in the very near future. Our Sweep of the day @Mike M. did a fantastic job keeping the back of the convoy in check and keeping me informed every step of the way. great job and thank you. @Rob S what can I say mate, great support in the CF role, you handled all of the issues we had with a calm nature and a professional attitude, could not have asked for better support today, thank you and see you in the sand again on one of my drives very soon. As i said earlier the rest of the convoy drove exceptionally well, thank you and enjoy the rest of your weekend, see you all again very soon

Great drive today, thanks @Davie Chase for leading us through the sands. @Emanuel and @Rafey Hashmi for Second lead duties and @Mike M. as sweep! The day started with a few spots of rain along the E44 and I was bit worried about what the weather may do! turned out to be an amazing morning, but as most of the convoy found out, driving on wet sand is little different! Most of us deflated to slightly higher PSI than usual (I went for 15 vs my normal 12!), briefing completed and we were off into the dunes. I had anticipated a pop out or two given the conditions, but seems the higher pressures plus great driving of the convoy, avoiding any fighting against gravity meant I was wrong (I think everyone understood the risk from the briefing ) Convoy progressed well, once Davie picked up the pace, we had a couple of breaks in the convoy, as i mentioned on the radio, as you get more experienced you will be able to evaluate the correct distance to the car in front, being far enough behind to stop safely incase of refusal, but close enough so you can watch the car in front navigate the obstacles. (you learn a lot from watching others). One or two refusals were quickly deal with and the drive proceeded well till our Second Lead @Emanuel's bash plate decided to loose a bolt or two and part detach from the car. After removal and safely secured in the back of the pajero, we made decision to exit Emanuel to avoid causing issues to the car, with the front now having zero protection and various mechanical bits exposed. For last hour @Rafey Hashmi did a great job to replace @Emanuel in second lead and we once again hit the dunes for the final hour. One or two more refusals dealt with, inflated and made it home in time for lunch. Thanks again all, see you again soon.

Thanks @Gertjan, @Sunil Mathew & @Pacific to join the drive. For what’s worth, we drove in a leisurely manner taking a lot of breaks but we drove fast. The initial section was fantastic in Sweihan Area… … even the approach to Nagra Hill was pretty good but the Nagra Hill itself is trash. So much trash around the area plus every square inch of the hill is double and triple crossed by tracks and it was quite a disappointment to drive on the hill. Having said that we drove a fantastic 72+ km in 2 and half hours including most tall dunes in the sweihan area. It was a fantastic practice for me for tomorrow’s #DCT23 See you all once again very soon.

Thanks @Davie Chase for todays drive, it had a unique touch compared to previous ones, courtesy of the current weather conditions.

Dear Desert Drivers, thank you for joining the drive today. Wet conditions always offer a lot of surprises, as the behaviour of our cars in the wet sand can be very different from normal conditions. We saw that from the very beginning when leaving the track my car was like sucked into a pocket of heavy sand. We made our way quietly in the initial medium size dunes, taking our chance from time to time to a higher ridge or crossing, and we realised rapidly that the conditions were challenging, and once a few cars have churned the track, it was becoming very slippery for the next cars. I was focused on choosing lines avoiding tight changes of direction, and you were concentrated keeping these lines leaving a suitable track for the next car. After some minor refusals, and a close encounter of @Rk ram with a bush behind a ridge, we reached an area of higher dunes and a large bowl. Our 2nd Lead @Zulfikhar Naiyarhad hesitated on a high crossing, and got crested, giving us a first opportunity of intense shovelling. The first loop around the bowl was superbly executed by each of you, with excellent control of your cars. The second loop to cross to the opposite side was more challenging, and @Zulfikhar Naiyar had the second difficult moment of the day ending up at a weird angle close to a bush half way in the slope. The situation was solved with a combination of careful shovelling and self recovery. We exited the bowl from the opposite side, and continued with a nice set of clean dunes and nice ridges, very well handled by every one, until @FERNANDO SYRIO became a bit too enthusiastic on a ridge and lost the control of his car to end up crested. This was the last shovelling effort of the day. Thanks again @Zulfikhar Naiyar for the 2nd Lead very well managed, with the required anticipation. @Deepak Eswar, @Rk ram @FERNANDO SYRIO @Frans M @Alphin Aloor, very well handled the challenges in the difficult conditions today, keeping control of your car in most situations. @Hugo @Bjoern, you face any difficulty with calm and smiles, you are a precious support in a convoy. Thank you all for the teamwork during recoveries. Enjoy the rest of the weekend !

Thanks @Looper! Wow that was a drive! @Sunil Mathew, @Pacific great to share the drive with you all. Still managed to get a few picktures. Clearly the hands were on the steering and not the snapper for this trip. All the best with the DCT2023!

Hi everyone, for those who have not driven in wet or damp sand, I suggest deflating to a higher PSI than normal. If you usually run 14psi, go for 16/17, if you usually run 12psi, go for 14/15. We can easily reduce a little during the drive but having that bit more air in the tyre will avoid any early pop-outs! See you all in the morning

Dear Desert Drivers, @Zulfikhar Naiyar @Deepak Eswar @Rk ram @FERNANDO SYRIO @Frans M @Tareq Al Turq @Hugo @Alphin Aloor @Bjoern Last update for tomorrow morning. (Expect chilly conditions at the start) Considering the sand will probably still be wet, you can deflate a bit less (1 PSI) than your normal set-up. (Meaning if you usually go to 11 PSI, you can start at 12 PSI). And we will adjust during the drive if needed. Meeting at 6:30 am at https://maps.app.goo.gl/ARUPrUFVMhhMWHPi7 Convoy order will be We will use Carnity Radio Channel 4 Enjoy the evening, take a good rest, and see you tomorrow morning !

Good afternoon everyone Due to the unstable weather condition and some personal reasons, i will have to cancel this drive for tomorrow morning. I am so sorry but i hope to see you all soon in the sand ! @Robk @Soufiane @Zeeshan Patel @Jeetu Sharma @ARS @Dan S @Dariush Eghtedari @Sandeep Nayar @Marek_was003 @DTG @SamBha and @Sunil Mathew Please confirm that you have received the message ...

Thanks @Rizwanm2 for raising the question to drive along blue line: Do not drive parallel to the blue border within 1 km buffer zone at any time. We have updated same on the announcement post, to stay away from blue line with a minimum gap of 1 km buffer, as many places have buried old fencing, debris or irregular farm fences that can damage cars severely. @Gaurav Soni@Looper@Davie Chase@Rizwanm2@Zed@Asif Hussain@Icon Auto@Wissam Please acknowledge, this new addendum to the announcement post by clicking on "Totally Agree" emoji.

@GauravSoni @Davie Chase @Looper @Rizwanm2 @Zed @Asif Hussain @Icon Auto @Wissam Please find the much-awaited Desert Champions Trophy 2023 area with all the waypoints and timetables. Do not cross the blue border, that will result in disqualifying the whole team. Do not cross the no-go area, that will result in disqualifying the whole team. Do not drive parallel to the blue border within 1 km buffer zone at any time. All waypoints will be counted once. Any team that returns to the starting point within 6 hours with maximum points (as per waypoint weightage) covered through their whole team GPS track will have the honor to lift the Trophy with the most distinguished title of The Desert Champions for the next full year. In case of a tie on points, the team with the least kilometer clocked will win. The average of whole team kilometers clocked per odometer reading will be used. US spec car miles will be converted to Kilometers. 1 mile = 1.609 km. Do not drive close to camel farms and spook animals. Be respectful of the vegetation and plantation farms. P.S. Please use this dct-track-to-starting-point.gpx for easy access to the starting point. DCT 2023 Timetable.pdf DCT 2023 Rules and Regulations.pdf DCT 2023 Waypoints Coordinates.xlsx razeen-dct-2023.geojson razeen-dct-2023.kml razeen-dct-2023.gpx

Thanks for understanding Davie and am absolutely gutted! And whoever takes my spot, enjoy winning 😜😜