Leaderboard

It's no understatement to say we braved the heat yesterday afternoon in Al Qudra. Even the vehicles sitting under the shade of the few trees could not be protected from the oppressive heat at 4pm. As we all started to deflate and flag up, however, the prospects of a good long drive awaited so everyone was in great spirits. I think I will call this report, "The One with the Touareg". @amro elshafey arrived as newbie to try out the Touareg in the desert and after a very detailed check and careful additonal briefing from @Gaurav we lined up in convoy order to move. It's a particular bugbear of mine that if you're coming in a drive you get there on time. It's simply not fair on the people who do get themselves there when we have to wait to get moving - particularly when the ambient temperature is 40+C and you drive a Jeep (yes, there is always the worry of overheating). Despite @Gaurav stretching the briefing to see if the final convoy member would arrive, after 25 minutes we had to get moving. And move we did. @Matti Brockman did a fantastic job in second lead, paying attention to distance and all of the instructions on where to rereoute and what to do, and to be honest it was a surprise to find that the first refusals were not from the Touareg, but other supposedly more capable vehicles. These were none to serious and nothing a quick tug or moment of thought could not sort out. @syed salman raza @Yousef Alimadadi and @Mehmet Volga represented the Pajero club on this drive with our lead, as pretty much everyone else was in a jeep and it's always interesting to watch the different way these makes of vehicles perform in the sand. With @Ale Vallecchi as Centre forward, the stucks that there were, and we did have a few people bogged in soft sand or cresting their cars, we managed so that the drive was fast paced and we could take advantage of the sweeping dunes in Al Qudra and keep the vehicles moving. After an hour or so, and as agreed before we set off our @amro elshafey exited onto the road, quite honestly having impressed the heck out of the rest of us by handling the challenge so well. We have no idea what the next plan is, but we really apprecaited your company and hope to see you back. On from here we went to the first play are of the day, back through some technical dunes and had the chance to do some side sloping and testing of nerve and vehicle. Wrangler drivers @siddharth maheshwari @E.C. TAN and @bunty_and_pops all showed how they are developing as drivers and controlling their vehicles. From the previliged position as sweep, myself and @Jeepie can see how you have started to take your own lines through the dunes if it looks like a challenge and how you get through the more difficult areas normally with ease. Nothwithstanding the wonderful sweeping dunes we did hit a problem area with two symultaneous stucks. @Yousef Alimadadi was sorted by @Ale Vallecchi while myself and @Jeepie eventually decided that it was too hot to dig and pulled @siddharth maheshwari off the crest where he had landed himself. It was all good fun and we continued to sweep our way through the dunes in search of a new play area. Having decided it was time to play, @Gaurav went for a trial run for a sidey. It was abruptly stopped when the sidey ran out of side and we were able to watch a master at work as Gaurav self recovered and we continued along the way. (Pictures in previous posts after Gaurav got free!) As evening fell, the plan had been to take a few minutes for a night drive so we made our way to the technical dunes where we were planing for this to happen, but as so often is the case in the desert, other events intervene and @Gaurav had to leave us to support a recovery from another drive. We were not far from the road so I rerouted and led the convoy back to the last exit to reinflate and make our way home. It was a great drive. Full of omvement, good lessons learned, good discipline from everyone and a great attitude. One small request, echoing what @E.C. TAN said. Communication on drives is key. If you are dropping out, please, please tell us. We don't know if it's because you have a problem, you want a bio break or you just want to go home. Unless you announce it. As you saw by Gaurav leaving to help out another crew, the Carnity approach is never leave anyone behind. So if you go missing, we will be worried aobut you and go looking. See you soon in the sand.

As off-road driving slowly resumes, we find ourselves facing conditions which are increasingly challenging. You all must have noticed refusals and stucks, in places where you would not have had any problems driving through before the lockdown. We all know the culprit: the HEAT!! While in its grasp, the heat is making us rethink how we should drive. What tips should we follow, and what changes should we make to our driving style, during the summer months (especially now, when the curfew is still on, and night-time drives are out of the question)? Hints: tyre pressure speed and momentum angles of approach gauge reading what NOT to do Throw in your opinions, share your experiences, give your tips to more junior drivers.

I will also put a report from me. That was a crazy morning for me i woke up at 6.41 am. My alarm didint ring or i didint hear i dont know. I was outside my door 3 min after i woke up. Luckily my home is not far from the area. I reached with minimal delay. Again i am sorry from everyone i was the latest comer of the day. I guess for the first time i had guests with me in the car. It is a different feeling you are having another responsibility. As being sweep of the team i try to kept my eye on everyone on the convoy i can proudly say everyone did great job, this club getting expended with great talents day by day. We had only 1 stuck and few refusals thats part of the game and part of the fun. Special thanks for @Srikumar and @Ale Vallecchi amazing drivers and amazing leaders. Even my guests said these 2 guys are dedicated people they are there for everyone who need even small help. At the end of the day tempature reached around 42C and i saw my heat gauge getting slowly slowly up. When i got chance i throw some water on my radiator and it became to normal level. Than 5 min later while we were not moving gauge start going up again and O/D off light came on. I knew the next step going to be transmission over heat so i stopped and asked help. Sri and @Jun Zamora came with their water sprays and we spray as much as water we can to the radiator. After that heat came down again and once we start moving faster everything became alright and all of us exited safely.

Very good topic @Ale Vallecchi I have a digital readout engine temp gauge which allows me to constantly monitor my engine temperature. During driving, my temperatures remain acceptable, but during idling, especially with the AC on, the gauge slowly creeps up to about 105°C. From that moment onwards i generally reduce or switch off the AC for a while, and increase my idling speed a bit by pressing the pedal. This makes the fan run a bit faster, and i keep doing this until i am back at around 92°C. Driving in the desert at this heat requires slightly different approach, you need to use the momentum that the dune gives you to make it over the next one, drive higher on the top of the dunes so your car can breathe better, and never take the car beyond its limits. Deflating further down to 11-12 psi definitely helps too, and verifiying after 1.5-2 hours of driving because the pressure will have built up again due to the heat.

Fantastic route @Emmanuel ! And usual great support from @Rahimdad and @Shamil. Everybody did great and of course the girl power crew @Vanessa8580 @Desert Dweller with some great driving skills . Unfortunate Shamil got stuck in a tight spot nevertheless , was a fun technical drive ! Posted some pics in the Album and here is a video from my side! Enjoy InShot_20200607_175546917_768x432.mp4

Thank you Everybody for the fantastic drive. Today, it was a challenge for me since it was my first time being second lead and I was a bit nervous at the beginning...thank you @Frederic for the amazing leadership, guidance and for giving me the opportunity to experience the second lead and doing the side slope as well... And it was my second trip with @Wrangeld and I always get to learn something from you.... Thank you so much @Wrangeld@Brette for the support...

Thanks @Frederic for your tips. As far as over-heating, I guess a lot depends on the car. I understand Jeeps, and perhaps Pajeros may suffer the heat more than other cars. As far as deflating, I believe one may deflate even lower than 12 or 11, depending on the tyres she/he's mounting. Mine are quite high rimmed, and I usually like deflating down to 10, or even 9 PSI. In which case, one must be even more careful with pop-outs. I surely like to drive higher on the dunes, especially for crossing over. I believe that's especially true for long-wheel based cars, which tend to be dragged down by their own weight, when approaching the crest from too far down, and at a sharper angle.

It was a great drive yesterday - a lot more side sloping that I hadnt done before. Also getting stuck while crossing the crest was a bit scary but luckily I wasnt too fast. Thanks @Srikumar and @Ale Vallecchi for the support and guidance. See you next week !

Good morning everyone, first of all thank you so much @Gaurav for organizing such a fantastic off road event yesterday and special thanks to @Ale Vallecchi, @Wrangeld and @Gaurav To help me when I stocked in the sand. Thank you @Wrangeld to bringing up this important topic here. as you mentioned the communication is the important element in team work but I thought the event was finished when everyone said thanks and I saw Ale was standing Beside the convoy and i got confused. I do really apologize form everyone. over all it was not my day yesterday...

Thanks @Wrangeld for the report. You always find a way to render a perfect description of the drives, while at the same time giving useful tips and reminders to be considered for future drives. I was happy to see that your Jeep did very well in the heat. See you very soon, out there.

COVID19 and the current economic conditions has brought enormous challenges. Carnity has always been about building a community of people, sharing knowledge, and helping each-other in times of need. If you are personally affected by the unstable economic condition, and are providing services or items that might be interesting for other Carnity members, please share them in this topic. We will not use it as a promoting tool for businesses, but more as a communication portal so you can tell us which business you are in, how you are affected, and how your services might be of use for other Carnity members. We will moderate the content and remove posts which are not in line with above vision. Example: You own a shop that makes curtains and were heavily affected: Post a small message to introduce us to your shop, location, and what you can offer. Carnity members that might have been driving in the same convoy probably even never knew that you had a curtain shop and might start making inquiries to help and support each other. Lets just share our expertise and services and try to help each other, even more in these extraordinary times!

Nice video JJ.. it was a fun and techinical ride with u guys.. Also @Emmanuel it was really a great lead from the past 2 drive with u..

Edited !

It's not the heat of the engine that is giving you this issue. It's the dryness of the sand. As the weather gets hotter that sand dries out losing most of it's moisture content, making it more soft, powdery and fluid. Even in summer. On a humid foggy morning you'll be able to drive better but as the day progresses, water evaporates it'll start to get more difficult. A heat soaked motor will lose some top end power but not that much that it effects it performance so notably. But that's true if any dune bashing drive in any weather

Just to put down some numbers (sorry I am an engineer 🙄) I deflated yesterday morning to 13psi @ about 7am, while I read 15psi for aft tyres and up to 15.5 in the front ones at 10:30 when we got to Al Qudra last exit... Definitely something to bear in mind! Other point, yesterday I found quite a bit of sand stuck on the radiator: this decreases substantially its capacity of dissipating heat. Even if you do not wash your car often (I don't!) some parts might need your attention in hot environment.

Maybe I missed something, but did this genius mechanic ever take live data on the actual coolant and/or cylinder head temperatures during the test drives? For all you know, you may just have a bad temp gauge.

Thank you @Gaurav from my behalf as well for the great drive!! And everyone else as well for participating! It is always so great time on these drives! And especially now to see the sunset in the dunes, absolutely amazing!! Looking forward to the next drive!

Many thanks to @Gaurav for excited routing and excellent guiding. It was full of fun today, thanks to all participants for such a smooth drive. Two photos attached...

@siddharth maheshwari thanks bro, it was great seeing you too 😊

@amro elshafey great seeing you today and amazed to see your Toureg performance.

Although I couldn’t talk in person with each one of you but it was great driving with you all. i enjoyed a lot the desert and the dunes. big thanks @Gaurav for arranging the route to accommodate me in the first half, for leading the convoy successfully And for your sincere advices. @E.C. TAN It was very good to try it’s off road capability, may be if lifted up with 2 inches will give more confidence on the dunes but in general it took them smoothly.

Thank you @Gaurav for the amazing drive. Even in this hot weather i forgot the heat and really enjoyed all the dunes , side slopes. Great lead and look forward to join my next fewbie drive. @Ale Vallecchi always great to see you. Special thanks to @Wrangeld for all the efforts to get me out today. My first experience of getting stuck. 👍

Very well managed by @Srikumar in today's morning drive. It feels like a fewbie drive. with lots of side sloping and crest crossings. I learned a lot in this drive. Thanks to @Ale Vallecchi for being very cool and supportive. Congrats to t he rest of our convoys today. @Nikhil Saju Paul ,@asifk, @sertac,@Chaitanya D,@Kalahari, @Shiju Manuel @Tero Vallas and @paolo dassi , we all did great ! See you on our next adventures !

Quite a "fewbie"ish newbie drive at Qudra today morning. Well directed by @Srikumar super supported by @Ale Vallecchi and @sertac. Nice learning doing a few Crest crossing and the difficulty gradually increasing was getting more fun with very few refusals and tugs. It is indeed getting very hot in the desert once it gets over 9am, as we are getting into the peak summer months. Pictures uploaded in gallery

Causes of overheating when driving are Faulty water pump Thermostat stuck closed Blocked radiator Weak or incorrect coolant Pressure loss, ie bad radiator cap, loose pipe or a hole in a pipe Also just to reiterate a point made by @desertdude don’t trust the factory dashboard gauge. It’s designed to always read normal through a wide range of temperatures. Otherwise the mechanics would have their day ruined by people panicking thinking all their cars are going to blow up. I assume you were taking the temperature from OBD? Anyway, and this is for all you off-road guys, you should have a separate aftermarket temperature gauge installed if you’re going to be working your engine hard. They aren’t expensive and they’re easy to install the sensor using an adapter kit where you splice a hose and put the adapter in the join. I use aftermarket gauges to supplement the factory gauges in almost all of my cars. At bare minimum, temperature, oil pressure and voltage. These are important tings to monitor and as you watch them over time, you will learn what is normal operating range for your engine. There are some sexy mounting pods available too. Also, there is a difference in running hot and overheating. An engine running hot is no problem, it’s designed for it. Overheating is when the engine gets so hot it blows steam from the radiator cap. I don’t know why your mechanic is suggesting to change the AC pressure switch. My guess is that he doesn’t know what’s going on and is more than happy to spend your money trying parts to satisfy his experiments.

@Wrangeld - Many thanks @E.C. TAN - Thanks for pics - attaching yours but there was sun behind it @Gaurav and the team thank you for another fun drive PLUS your recovery when stuck was v instructive.

With regards to power increase and fuel consumption, the only person who can give you an accurate answer is the tuner but as a general rule of thumb, more power is more power. If you are currently having problems with throttle response this is something that should addressed first before you even think about tuning. 1700 is a good price if includes a custom tune on a rolling road. There are people who will load a generic map onto your car for 500 or less but it will never perform as well as a map tailored to your individual car.

A small correction as I was the other female driver whereas @Foxtrot Oscar was my copilot, who did the morning drive though. 😁

As far as I've been informed there is no leak anymore (Head gasket issue is still a question mark). Anyway I took the car from that workshop after a huge negotiation and a significant discount. The car is in @Barry's experienced hands now.

Thanks @sertac. We had not seen each other in a while, and it was good to drive with you again. Your calm transmitted a feeling of security to the whole group, even when Sri upped the challenges to a Newbie + level. Good job, and hope to see you soon again.

Awesome drive today guys. Thanks again to @Gaurav for leading us to a newbie drive with a fewbie feel. Thanks to @Ale Vallecchiand @Wrangeldtoo. I am impressed with the VW Touareg @amro elshafey Just to share an observation. Communication is very important during the drives. I believe that is determines the safety of everyone. It is therefore important that if anyone is in any difficulty please communicate. This also includes, if you decide to pull over or pull out from the convoy. Thanks guys again for the great afternoon.

Thanks to @Srikumar for the well managed routing, being on the second lead was quit fun with the proper instruction and rerouting by Sri. Also big thanks to @Ale Vallecchi and @sertac to manage the convey at the back. Over all its a good place to learn side slopping and crisscross. Thanks to all the member joined today. See you all next week.😊 Photos uploaded in the gallery.

TRIP REPORT Al Qudra is an area that offers something to every level of offroaders. Seeing the sign up for this drive, which was mainly a Fewbie convoy except for a couple of Newbies I felt that if the convoy drives well, this is a perfect convoy to scale the level along the drive. Everyone reached with a max 5 mins delay, which is really appreciated, as time is extremely precious in the month of June. Newly promoted @Shiju Manuel was my second lead and he did a very good job of following instructions and rerouting the convoy as required. @Tero Vallas and @paolo dassi were the Newbies in the convoy, but they showed confidence in approaching the dune, good steering control and following exactly the car in front. Seeing that the convoy was managing well and with no major refusals or stucks, it gave the confidence that we can up the level. So we started side slopping closer to the ridge and wherever the opportunity provided to crisscross over to the other side. Mistakes were made by trying to fight gravity, but once it was explained to everyone individually they knew what was required and from the next dune onwards, one could see the vast improvement. And this is what makes a good offroader, to learn from the past mistakes and keep improving. Well done to all the Fewbies on the convoy, @Chaitanya D @Kalahari (in his new Red toy), @Jun Zamora, @Nikhil Saju Paul @asifk Big thanks to @Ale Vallecchi and @sertac for supporting the drive and helping with recoveries.

Yet another thrilling drive this morning in al Qudra area! Thanks @Srikumar for leading the convoy and @Ale Vallecchi and @sertac for looking after us newcomers and providing useful suggestions and tips. Tip of the day - already stressed multiple times in almost every drive - never fight gravity. After a couple of mistakes of mine, the clear explanations of @Srikumar made it is easy to me to understand when is the moment to turn down rather than start fighting a battle that will eventually be lost! The dunes we approached made a perfect scenario to improve this essential skill. Up and down from reasonable sized dunes and crest crossing proved to be exciting and requiring a good amount of attention and concentration. Thanks to all the drivers and passengers involved in this morning drive. You find some pictures in the gallery, fewer than usual from my side as my photo team (the ladies) was at home this morning.

Driving to Mahafiz while spotting a friendly TJ on my wings is an assurance that the day will be good... 😀 Having arrived at the meeting point at 6:45, our trusty companion @Pickey Singh was already deflating his Discovery, and the white Carnity flag was proudly blowing in the wind. @Incognitoes arrived around the same time, and brought her lovely dog Chewbacca. Having everyone arriving on time and even deflated by 7 has the great advantage that we can head out early which is a blessing during these hot days. A big thanks to all for that ! Having appointed @Anish S as my second lead, i knew that he has the skills to slightly reroute where needed, and he did so good. After about the first 20 mins, in an attempt to get out of the basic track, i went over a tiny dune where i already felt that it was a bit of a "crester" and before i realized, my second lead experienced how crest-prone it was. A gentle pull of the rope was enough to bring him over and we circled back to meet our friends on the other side to reroute. We headed out to the play area where all could practice some side-sloping. As mentioned, it was a good opportunity to test the technicalities and differences of driving in D vs selecting tiptronic. @Nizam Deen got a bit carried away and kept trying to go higher and higher, and eventualy hit a nasty bump at the higher point of the dune. In these situations, things can quickly take a turn for the worse, so i keep stressing to all that's it OK to be enthusiastic, but never to try to go beyond the limits, or it will come back and bite very hard. Having said that, all did well and had good control over their vehicles. We moved out and navigated towards Fossil Rock and made it up easily. For a change i did not want to descend from the regular point, but drove around it. To my surprise the track that used to be there that would easily take us around was not to be found. Another reminder on how much dunes and formations keep changing. I slightly rerouted to descend further down and while going over a very small dune with a small bump, @Pickey Singh his bottom bumper decided to wedge itself nicely inbetween the dune and the bump. A few minutes of shoveling got him out. but unfortunately the lip itself looked a bit bent. We only encountered some small refusals in this drives, some in which @Incognitoes recovered herself nicely, it was indeed quite clear you have driven before. Just be careful not too take quick decisions when trying to get out of the situation. Think calmly, listen to the instructions of the senior behind you, and then follow them as accurate as possible. You have driven very well today ! I was brilliantly supported by @Jeepie, @Wrangeld, and @Brette, but also got the help of other fewbies like @Mels Wolf, @Foxtrot Oscar, and @Nacho who keep coming every week and growing fast. So nice to see this. Eagerly looking forward to the next drive !

Enjoy this star-studded drive!!

Thanks @Srikumar for leading a very enjoyable drive today. Thanks @Ale Vallecchi and @sertac for the support. We had quite a few smallish slideslopes and I think all had a great time.

Let me be the first to take advantage presented by @Carnity, thank you so very much for this opportunity. My company has seen the repatriation flights to India and they are way too expensive. Plus there are a lot of hassles that are involved to set your self up for these repatriations flights. We have done a study and decided to charter aircraft to India starting from 15 - 20 June. I have listed below the benefits of booking through us along with my email address. Those interested can email me your details so that I can revert back with a quote and documentation required. Our chartered flights are cheaper than the repatriation flights started by scheduled carriers. We offer the full package which includes your flights, accommodation for 3, 4 & 5 Star hotels in India approved by Indian government for quarantine for 7, 14 or 21 nights as required by the specific state, all the documentation except for the negative Covid19 results, and transfer from the airport to the hotel. the hotel will include all your meals Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. We are a reputed company and rest assured will provide you the best possible offers with the complete package. The destinations we have as of now are Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangaluru, Trichy, Lucknow, Trivandrum, Srinagar and Amritsar. Those interested please contact me through my email [email protected] and since this is a general mailbox please address it to me...Rahimdad. Thank you for taking time to go through the offer and I thank you for all your queries in advance.

The viscous fan will indeed regulate the fan speed: