Leaderboard

Thanks @Davie Chase for choosing Al Fayah for yesterdays drive and giving an opportunity to our newbie members to experience the wonderful terrain ... i am sure all of them have taken home loads of learning and pointers to implement or experiment with, in their next drives. We had some recoveries, but these are part of the learning and to an extent , fun too ... important thing is to stay calm, not to panic , not to feel bad , not to think that you are holding the convoy etc. Newbie drives are for getting stuck and learning about your cars, how they handle, and to get the balance between the 2 main inputs you are giving - steering and throttle Now, just penning down what i observed about our newbie friends driving within my field of view @Andrew John Melvill @Menon @Hani Howeedy- drove really well and learned along the way. You have heavy cars which call for a bit more of momentum on climbs , so that your front and rear both cross over together. If you let go of gas when your front crosses over, your rear is going to come down , ending up in what we call fishtailing. Whoever had refusals, got it right on your second attempts, which means that you know what to do, but instinctively it doesnt come to you on your first attempt. This is something which comes by practice. So keep driving and this will easily be second nature to you before you even know. @Jasim Bo Falah - as we discussed, your car is more than capable of conquering the desert. Dont be shy on the gas when it is required. To know "when" its required, we need practise, so keep driving and master the skills. Since you have 2 more cars - FJ, Tundra both being more powerful than the pathfinder, i suggest you stick to the pathfinder and get the hang of it , and once you confidently negotiate sideslopes, dune crossings etc , then only think of changing cars. @Shaun J - driving behind me did a wonderful job with clear radio comms whenever i was out of convoy order to attend to a situation and clarifying what he has to do, rather than assuming something. Appreciate your presence of mind and adherence to convoy discipline. @Prithvi Raj - on his maiden drive, did really well for a fresher. It was a relief to learn that your bumper was intact after that air time you had on the straight crossing. Also, appreciate you being calm during the long recovery involved with your car in the soft patch. Your car finally made when @Rob S was behind the wheels, so you must have realised now that its not the car , but the driver which is mission critical ! Hope you hade lot of learning from the episode, and see you soon , on your upward learning curve. @Nizar Shawwa @Damian @Abdul Hannan @Abdullah N @Vijay Cowlagiall driving behind me, and mostly in silence did a great job in keeping up with the convoy. @Soufiane - in 2nd lead, i couldnt get much of a glimpse, but looks like you did great , reading @Davie Chase 's report !! Finally @Rob S - thanks for joining last minute and relieving me of the pressure i felt when i saw a 12 car NB convoy with only me in support . Your "pajero" skills are amazing !!! and thanks for helping me out when i ran out of ideas Some photos uploaded in the drive gallery https://carnity.com/gallery/category/1928-newbie-al-fayah-abu-dhabi-13-jan-2024/ @Hani Howeedy and others not familiar with the website - we have photo galleries for each drive, and the link above will take you to the one for our drive yesterday. Please upload photos here, and lets hoard up all the good memories here !!!

Thanks @JeromeFJ - It was great to have your experience right behind me, and that helped me to keep up with the momentum . Indeed that hidden pocket recovery will be cherished for a long long time . My most challenging so far ! It was absolute pleasure to see everyone so punctual and we started our briefing sharp 7! I cant agree more with the way the convoy kept accepting the challenges with very minimal refusals, managed smoothly by the experienced members. Very well done all the FB guys - @Ahmed Farouk, @Aser @Robk @frederic demolder ! Did not hear anything from you guys @Pascal and @Naveen Raj - Which is an indication of how nicely you managed in soft patches churned up track Hope you guys too had fun ! Thanks for anchoring and supporting the convoy @Bjoern, @munkybizness ! and thanks for sweeping us @Amr Aydin ! Was absolute pleasure seeing you all and looking forward to another one soon ! Below some stats on our drive today ! See you soon all in sand !

Dear @Mahesh_, @Rafey Hashmi , @Gautam Banka, @essam ibrahim, @Julien Recan, @Abhilash Kottakkal, @Mike M., @Marek_was003, @Benjamin. Thank you for joining the Drive yesterday and i hope you have enjoyed it as much as i did. we have achieved our target of exiting from the big red side passing through pink rock .. we had a couple of refusals and stucks , but nothing serious that required us to get out the ropes or the shovels .💪 in between @Rafey Hashmi Jimny had a pop out , which i have to say was one of the easiest and fastest pop up fixes we ever had to deal with . I have to say everyone drove really well, 💪🎉 thanks @Benjamin for the great support and @Mike M. for sweeping the convoy . and of course special thanks to @Frederic for making this drive possible Looking forward to see you soon on the next drive below are the drive details

Great drive! The show was a complete success, thanks to Looper, especially for choosing an excellent track. Everyone performed exceptionally well, and there were no delays or wasted time.

Thanks @Looper for a fun and spicy 🌶️ drive. Shaken not stirred This morning. And what a group of people to drive with, thank you all for a great outing. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Thank you @Looper. As usual Amazing drive till start to end. Lot of convoys, still you managed to find some good lines and dunes. really enjoy the drive with all the experts. Very few refusals and one recovery. see you all in next drive.

@Patrick van der Loo, @Amir Amiri, @Tareq Al Turq, @Mahmoud Taha, @Joseph Raju, @Senthil Kumar, @Pacific & @Ranjan Das This is the convoy order & we will climb on Chanel 2

Indeed it was a nice decent drive , thank you all… see you on sand

@Simon D @Frederic @Benjamin thank you very much for the drive after almost 7 weeks break it was nice to hit the sands again... really enjoyed the drive and went home with a satisfying feeling... I was missing that feeling for sometime and was longing for that... thank you all who joined for the drive... looking forward for the next one...

Thank you Deepak @DP1011 for an excellent drive this morning ! Nice location and itinerary, good mix of technical and wider dunes, perfect pace, a few challenges here and there, excellent management of the convoy.. Beautiful selection of lines, keeping the level on the high side, but always within the convoy capabilities. It was a pleasure to drive under your lead ! (and I was about to forget an amazing self recovery from a deep pocket hidden on top of a dune!) Excellent drive from every participant, the sand was very soft, and Deepak kept throwing in more climbs, ridge riding and crossing! It was above Fewbie level on many occasions, and you managed very well, always under control. Well done @Ahmed Farouk, @Aser, @Robk, @frederic demolder. Thank you for the support and more experienced members @Pascal, @munkybizness, @Bjoern, @Naveen Raj @Amr Aydin for joining also, it was nice to see you after a long time! Enjoy the rest of the weekend and see you soon.

Thanks @Looperfor the drive. And well done everyone.

Hi @Looper, I am not feeling well, will not be able to join.

This is a Relive video of our path today and a few pics. Thanks @Gauravfor another fabulous drive. These FB+ drives are challenging and I can feel a sharpening of skills happening. @Pacific - thanks for the support out there on top of a couple of dunes where I was nicely perched. 🤣 Have a great weekend everyone.

Thanks Davie, Sunil and Rob. Fantastic drive, looking forward to the next one.

https://www.relive.cc/view/vYvrQ4P2MLq

Will be there, thanks @Gaurav