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Where can I start- what a night! super duper! lets start right at the beginning. we deflated and moved to the start of the track and fixed our flags. Right after the start I had a refusal! Mmmm I thought... not such a great beginning. we then stopped at a great point overlooking the iftat bowl and could see many more clubs all around. gaurav bhai, rahimbhai ,Emmanuel, shamil all tried their hand successfully to climb thee bowl. The sheer number of suvs climbing the bowl at the same time was incredible. the site where we had camped-so to speak- was a hot bed of sand dunes and up and downs and the number of suvs going around here was unbelievable. At one point it looked like the Dubai Sharjah highway peak hour- seriously. it really was a wonder that there were no accidents. we broke the fast and as usually the food spread was just super- chick peas Sunday, biriyani varieties, aloo & chicken sandwich, chicken bites, meat, and emmanuel’s sweets and many more. I thought I ate very little but 1/2 hour later I was so full I wanted to just lie down and take a nap. then the drama started as we were getting ready to leave. shamil had a pop out at the foothills of the iftarbowl. Not to be outdone my left front was flat and I could not inflate it. thankfully asif bhai, Emmanuel and Aaquil helped me ( meaning they did all the work- as I had no clue of what to do- finding the leak from inside rim, jacking up the car and inflating. Thankfully it worked. so after some folks left for the exit gaurav bhai as lead and asif bhai followed by Mirza and yours truly with rahimbhai as sweep we started the drive. man o man o man- was it exciting. I was driving near blind and having the lights on low beam did not help- must have been dreaming when gaurav bhai told us on the radio to switch to high beam- anyway what is a drive without getting stuck. I did that so many times. Gaurav bhai,asif bhai and rahimbhai bhai were patient and helped me self extricate with constant tips and a shed load of shovelling sand by them/ thanks a lot. the left right twisting the wheel just doubled my biceps in that drive. it was awesome to drive at night and pretty scary- had atleast 3 hard lands after creating and a hard hit of smaller dune I did not see as I came down off one. my fjc earned its money last night. close to the end a shovel in rahimbhai’S suv got loose - probably the number of time he took it out to help me- and smacked his daughter’s head. Thankfully no major injury. we exited the desert but not without one final hard drop after a crest right near the exit. aaquil had joined me as passenger and must still be having nightmares of why he joined me. But boy, that man knows his cars. He was telling me so much about my fjc that I had no idea. Thanks a lot buddy. i am the type of guy who gets into the car starts it and point to where I go and then get lost in my thoughts. My wife says that red lights for me is just a suggestion to consider if I want to stop as apparently I sometimes ignore them. these drives with this group is teaching me so much I wish I could join on the drives each anyway, super night. I reached home by 2 am. i look forward to the next drive- probably July for me. thanks again everybody for such a memorable night

Great write up Dr @srini62 you do have an excellent flavour of writhing which cannot be matched. It's always a challenge heading to the deflation point with the family and packing up the car with equipment and food. This Friday was no different. As a result I got a bit delayed reaching the meeting point. I received a call from @Gaurav bhai that he has 8 cars and a few more people running late, so not to miss a good spot he will head in with the 8 cars and block a space for us. As I reached I saw @Asif Hussain drive in with his white Pathy for the first time, @Praveenmp was next in with @Shamil to be the last to join. As we deflated we were joined by @Gaurav bhai who lead us to the spot. @Gaurav bhai strategy had worked out wonders as we got a great spot and soon we were trying to arrange our cars to block the idiots throwing sand in that area as well as make space for us to lay our spread. The conditions were not the best though as the sands kept shifting which was later evident by the amount of sand gathered on the mats. As everyone started to put their offerings on the mat it was full of goodies which made us watch every second go by to break our fast and sink our teeth into the goodies. The variety was amazing and although we did not discuss over the forum what each one of us will be bringing but there was no duplication. As it was time for Azaan and we broke pur fast, one great treat after another awaited to wet our appetite for more. We took a break from eating to offer our Maghrib prayers behind Imam @Asif Hussain. We slowly continued to munch and drink to fill ourselves. @Shamil at this point discussed his bucket list which included a climb on the Iftaar bowl. I suggested I have a go first before he tries to give him an idea which he agreed to. This was later approved with a smile from @Gaurav bhai who was walking our way to suggest the same. For the initial drive to the base of the bowl I just was trying to get a feel for the Xterra. With the way clearing out I made a dash for the approach and soon we were riding the ridge on the left side. The Xterra with a never say die attitude kept climbing the dune like it would treat a highway. Soon we had reached the tip and I made our way back to the bottom. @Shamil was feeling confident that he knew what was to be done. However being fairly new to off roading his timing to accelerate and approach angle were a bit off due to which he had a few failed attempts. I tried to show him once again what he has to do and once again it climbed all the way without breaking a sweat. Coming down at an angle where I could build the kind of angle and momentum to approach the right side. Successfully but slightly more difficulty the Xterra made it to the top from the right side as well. At this point @Shamil knew he had it and tried once again, thinking about it now I feel the lack of light might be a reason for him not to get his timing and angle right. One last time up from the left side and we headed back to the convoy. I heard a slight wobble and stopped to notice the rear right tire deflated. It was not a pop out so we tried refilling the air but to no avail. By this time @Gaurav bhai had made it to the scene, we decided to Jack it up as the load on the tire might be creating a gap for the air to escape. Next it was the valve to be removed but after several attempts we decided to remove the tire to try and remove any sand sticking between the rim and the tire sidewall. Upon closer inspection we discovered that the rubber inside the rim had torn away not allowing the air to stay in the tire. At tis point we had to use the spare and due to its condition we had no choice but to exit him. @Emmanuel also announced on the radio that @srini62 was facing a similar issue and by the time we headed back that situation was also under control. Some of the cars had decided to head back led by @Emmanuel. As @Gaurav, @Asif Hussain, @yogic72, @srini62 and myself decided to have a quick drive. It was a challenging drive with some refusals and stucks, but we kept marching on. As soon as we made our way out we headed to the pump. Here we inflated our tires and after some heartfelt hugs headed back home. This is one of the best Grand Iftaar we had in a long time all thanks to the people who made it for the drive.

Very well written trip report @srini62 you are giving some serious competition to @Rahimdad.

Trip report- It's always a challenge heading to the deflation point with the family and packing up the car with equipment and food. This Friday was no different. As a result I got a bit delayed reaching the meeting point. I received a call from @Gaurav bhai that he has 8 cars and a few more people running late, so not to miss a good spot he will head in with the 8 cars and block a space for us. As I reached I saw @Asif Hussain drive in with his white Pathy for the first time, @Praveenmp was next in with @Shamil to be the last to join. As we deflated we were joined by @Gaurav bhai who lead us to the spot. @Gaurav bhai strategy had worked out wonders as we got a great spot and soon we were trying to arrange our cars to block the idiots throwing sand in that area as well as make space for us to lay our spread. The conditions were not the best though as the sands kept shifting which was later evident by the amount of sand gathered on the mats. As everyone started to put their offerings on the mat it was full of goodies which made us watch every second go by to break our fast and sink our teeth into the goodies. The variety was amazing and although we did not discuss over the forum what each one of us will be bringing but there was no duplication. As it was time for Azaan and we broke pur fast, one great treat after another awaited to wet our appetite for more. We took a break from eating to offer our Maghrib prayers behind Imam @Asif Hussain. We slowly continued to munch and drink to fill ourselves. @Shamil at this point discussed his bucket list which included a climb on the Iftaar bowl. I suggested I have a go first before he tries to give him an idea which he agreed to. This was later approved with a smile from @Gaurav bhai who was walking our way to suggest the same. For the initial drive to the base of the bowl I just was trying to get a feel for the Xterra. With the way clearing out I made a dash for the approach and soon we were riding the ridge on the left side. The Xterra with a never say die attitude kept climbing the dune like it would treat a highway. Soon we had reached the tip and I made our way back to the bottom. @Shamil was feeling confident that he knew what was to be done. However being fairly new to off roading his timing to accelerate and approach angle were a bit off due to which he had a few failed attempts. I tried to show him once again what he has to do and once again it climbed all the way without breaking a sweat. Coming down at an angle where I could build the kind of angle and momentum to approach the right side. Successfully but slightly more difficulty the Xterra made it to the top from the right side as well. At this point @Shamil knew he had it and tried once again, thinking about it now I feel the lack of light might be a reason for him not to get his timing and angle right. One last time up from the left side and we headed back to the convoy. I heard a slight wobble and stopped to notice the rear right tire deflated. It was not a pop out so we tried refilling the air but to no avail. By this time @Gaurav bhai had made it to the scene, we decided to Jack it up as the load on the tire might be creating a gap for the air to escape. Next it was the valve to be removed but after several attempts we decided to remove the tire to try and remove any sand sticking between the rim and the tire sidewall. Upon closer inspection we discovered that the rubber inside the rim had torn away not allowing the air to stay in the tire. At tis point we had to use the spare and due to its condition we had no choice but to exit him. @Emmanuel also announced on the radio that @srini62 was facing a similar issue and by the time we headed back that situation was also under control. Some of the cars had decided to head back led by @Emmanuel. As @Gaurav, @Asif Hussain, @yogic72, @srini62 and myself decided to have a quick drive. It was a challenging drive with some refusals and stucks, but we kept marching on. As soon as we made our way out we headed to the pump. Here we inflated our tires and after some heartfelt hugs headed back home. This is one of the best Grand Iftaar we had in a long time all thanks to the people who made it for the drive.

Great write up @srini62 and @Rahimdad. 👏 👏

We are getting some excellent trip reports from various perspectives. Good fun to read it. @Shamil I completely agree that the right side climb of Iftar bowl is one of the most exhilarating climb. With little more experience I m pretty sure you would be climbing the iftar bowl from all sides with your Xterra.

This drive was indeed a special one as is most drives with this group because there’s always a unique take away from each drive. I reached late but I realized there was a “late latheefs” convoy which I happily joined with a little less guilt. @GauravBhai led us to the spot which he had already picked prior to us reaching there and although this was a short drive, I enjoyed every bit of it because I realized how much I had missed driving during daytime. We reached the spot, broke our fast, prayed and relaxed for a bit after which I was tempted to attempt the much talked about - iftar bowl climb. This was the height of dune bashing(pun intended) in my point of view and I knew although I may not be that experienced, I should give it a try nonetheless. I told @Rahimdad Bhai and @Gaurav Bhai that I would like to attempt but I’ll need a little hand holding. @Rahimdad Bhai came along with me and showed me a couple of times the right technique to do this climb. When I however attempted, despite trying to do everything that @RahimdadBhai showed me, I was not successful. Whilst he was teaching me, we climbed the dune from the right side which was the steep side and that was probably one of the most exhilarating experiences ever. After this, when we descended and decided to proceed with the convoy drive is when we realized that one of my tires tore from the inside. @RahimdadBhai and @Gaurav Bhai rightfully assessed the situation and helped in replacing the tire like superheroes whilst I stood there scratching my head. It was then decided, that it would be in my best interest if I exited as the condition of my spare tire was compromised. @Emmanuel very kindly guided me to exit and that pretty much concluded an unforgettable drive with this amazing group.

Forgot to mention- sri we missed you on the drive. hope you get better soon. best wishes srini

hi guys ... I have a mini and the doors just seem to have stopped opening lol What I mean to say is that they seem locked .. MOST of the times they dont open so i have to roll down the windows and open them from the outside. If they please, they do open for me once in a while but thats very rare hence I am getting concerned. Did not expect something like that from a mini! help needed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJkfrY2owb0

Hiya kevin, Although I don't have a mini but to be sure try spraying WD40 on the door gaps - this will lubricate the area and make door that the problem is not the doors being jammed ... rest you can also have your door latches checked, they might not be working properly.

Thank you Dr. Srini. Will be back from the next drive onwards.

For me I am using it. From the day bought it at least 4-5 time in a week I open the top. Even yesterday night I was driving top down. I think only between June to end of September I won't use it. I am thinking opposite this is the best country to have one. If day time too hot I am using at night time. If nights too cold at winter I am using it day time.

I have the same issue with my mini and it’s cause the lock mechanism is at an angle from inside the door. It’s funny the way I found the issue and found the solution for it. Plus in a way I know the trick and it clearly makes my mini only under my control. No1else would take it....🤓

P.S : Don't get me wrong I think convertibles are great fun but just not practical for this country. My buddy had a soft top modified mustang and he never drove it and since we hung out everyday I was always the one driving it, Think I drove it more than him. In the cooler months it was great fun and we never rode it with the top up. But even then you couldn't drive it for any length if time in the day time unless it was cloudy and cool. Even at peak winter time being out in the sun for an hour or so isn't too great. But as soon as the weather turned even slightly it started to get uncomfortable. Just waiting at the lights you could feel the heat just coming off from all around you from the cars next to you. Another drawback you really can't have any sort of decent conversation at a speed above 60-80. I think that's why hard tops are more preferable but regardless after sometime if the roof mechanism goes. It will burn big holes in your pocket

Or simply dont but convertibles. What's the point of having a convertible in this country when 10 months out of 12 you can use them. I see convertibles all the time but can count on my fingers the amount of times I seen them with the top down in any given year. OR do what my friends boss does, never open it. He won a Merc CL 500 at the Dubai duty free amd for the 12-13 years he had it never once opened the top and strictly instructed everyone in his family and all his drivers to never touch the roof.!!!!

That's what I thought after tye Uterus. But apparently Italian designers skills at designing ugly SUVs is bottomless.

Guys, Please be on time, as we need to reach early to find a good spot at Iftar Bowl - VERY IMPORTANT

...and they managed to set the bar very high in the process; it will now be extremely difficult for any manufacturer the beat the sheer ugliness of this monstrosity.

@RahimdadIt's 32PSI. Do I need to increase?

Sorry not able to join today

BTW @syedyaseer hope you have changed your tires to summer air.

After the Lambo uterus didn't think SUVs could get any uglier, but Ferrari seems to have accepted and won that challenge.

Hi, I am having great difficulty with these new point system to keep membership alive. although I understand this is to get people posting etc this should not be forced. it has taken me over 15 minutes to get this post written as I keep getting the message to upgrade to active membership and when I try to do this I get message that I do not have enough points. deeply frustrating. it just might be me as others seem to be comfortable. it sure is not working for me. regards srini

Thanks to all seniors same case of mine as well like @srini62 will try to keep updates and active in group see you on 17th May

Thanks gaurav and Emmanuel, lets hope I do not have to keep getting my points donation begging bowl out each month. look forward to seeing you all on 17 th may regards srini

Will not recommend the hack. In the desert it's not always about the up but torque as well, and if the gear does not hold in first and shifts to second you loose that torque and continuous power. That break in shifting causes momentum loss. So it's not about how much to you can use, but how it's supplied and how well you can use it. Hope this clears your confusion.

Hello Aaqil Sheikh, Congratulations, for being a proud member of, "UAE's Largest Car Community" Gear up and rev your engines for an exciting ride ahead! We talk cars, We trade cars and We make car friends here! Tell us more about yourself, your rides and what shifts your gears!

I like the maxi idea to be honest as company can have two option named very conveniently based as per the sizes: Mini and Maxi, how cool will it sound. Although it sounds bit funny, but they are unique as no other car brand has same naming convention.

I'm in two minds about this particular Mini version- on the one hand it looks like something Uncle Fred can use as live bait on his next fishing trip, and on the other hand it reminds me of a cross between a Z4 and a lawn mower. I do agree with you though; whatever it is, it is not a Mini.

BMW are considering making a saloon version of the Mini. When they started building their new version of the classic Austin/Rover/BL Mini, a lot of Mini purists weren't happy because of the sheer size of it, claiming it lost the spirit of what a Mini was supposed to be, a Mini. I wonder if they will rename it the Maxi in a nod to the old Austin Maxi? What are your opinions on the new design?