Rahimdad

JGC running the GNFD entire course in Liwa is possible. Without any incidents is either luck or knowledge which we do not possess. When you buy a brand new Jeep they offer you a free course in Jeep academy. When I got my Jeep Commander 5.7 Hemi I had to follow up to get my free class. Ian and Gurmeet were the ones who showed me how to use it best.

@shadow79 you deserve this drive. No pressure. Just relax and do what you do best. We will start a bit easy and work a sweat as we move on to test you Rav4 to the max. If you can have 3 to 4 drives without any incidents than we can plan 1 specially for you in Area 53. Welcome on board buddy.

The last drive was an amazing one but full of challenges, and with Gaurav Bhai not being around I would be more comfortable with an area we have done a few time to be sure we face a little inconvenience as possible. Moreover, I would like to dedicate this drive to @shadow79 since he had to miss the last one out of respect to all and the toughness of the area. The plan would be to start easy and slowly work on the toughness bit to make sure the learning curve does not stop. When: 22 June 2017 Meeting time: 11 PM, convoy will move sharp at 11:15 PM Where: Adnoc Petrol Station Maleha Road GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/mzb26kxzte72 Level of drive: Absolute Newbie - Newbie - Fewbie - Expert - Advance - All are welcome Type of Car: Besides the Rav4 Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance Plan: Night drive from Muhafiz to Faya, Suhoor on top of Faya. What to bring along: Evening snacks, food for Suhoor, plenty of water - whatever you like with little extra to share, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 3:30 am

I would recommend John Auto balance workshop in Sharjah, you can see Abid there. He is almost 25 years in that place. He can be a bit cranky at times and might even charge on the higher side, but he does a brilliant job.

@Gaurav bhai, you my friend are a magician in the making. Not only have you out done yourself by releasing this video much earlier than its actual release date, but you have put together a piece of marvel which I can watch time and time again. Thank you once again for all your efforts.

So far as per my understanding the roll-cage was a means to prevent the roof from caving in in-case of a roll over. If you are thinking on the same lines, think again. After watching some interesting videos and doing some more research, I discovered that a roll-cage serves a lot more in case of modifications on the vehicles whether for off-roading or racing or any motor sports purpose. Most modifications on vehicles also includes removing certain things to lessen the weight of the vehicle keeping in mind the power to rate ratio concept. When these modifications are made the integrity of that vehicle structure can go for a toss. So as per my new learning the roll-cage does prevent the roof for caving in just incase there is a roll-over, but also helps keep the integrity of a vehicles structure which is ripped off certain parts to lighten the vehicle. Please feel free to discuss further or ask questions if you have more to add or you do not understand the concept so I can explain further. Thanks for reading.

Nice summary @Gaurav bhai and we missed you @shadow79 bhai. Here is my long and boring trip report to put everyone back to sleep, @Barry you might need a couple of Red Horse to take you this jibber jabber. Some mixed feelings of excitement and fear in this area as it is a very challenging terrain, and it did not disappoint us. We started of in the direction of the pyramids through a tall dune which didn't work out due to the soft nature of the sand in that area. Rightly @Gaurav bhai decided to take the track further down before entering the area which would gradually build up to what was supposed to be an awesome night out. We crossed some small dunes which were full of bushes which is a bit annoying for me, but what it led to were the most amazing medium to tall dunes on which you can play endlessly. Due to the challenging nature of the area the one thing you are bound to learn is the art of keeping your momentum which is very much different to revving the engine upto the point where you are trying to race through to the top. One learns that when you are on top it pays to slow down as in the desert the vehicle is bound to continue its path at a speed even if you are trying to turn. All it leads to is a pop-out or two and it that was the story of out night. We had a few pop-outs to contend with and we always had it in pairs. You got it right!!! We always got to fix 2 on every car, every time there was a pop-out. Which also reaffirms the importance of good tires for off-road. Due to the few stops to fix the pop-outs we were forced to stop just close to our target and lay the spread for the Suhoor. There were some lovely chicken sandwiches from Asif and family which were filling and tasty, some awesome potato rolls from Sreekumar and family, some packs of rice from Ahemed bhai and endless stuff from all which gave us a stomach full on a very well deserved Suhoor break. As dawn kicked in we started back on our way, dune by dune, to the top of Iftar Bowl. As @Gaurav and @baselsm83 made it to the top, I know what I had to do. I head on my normal way and completed 90% of the climb before I had to take the cheat route to reach the top, parked my car and headed down by foot. Sreekumar and his Pajero were my first target, after letting Sree take a couple of attempts I tried doing it myself and learned the challenge of the Pajero, the triptronic upshifts to 2nd and kills the power when you need it the most. But that did not discourage us to make one final try and with my little cheat route and a lot of perseverance we reached the top. Next was Asif Bhai's ride and I was headed down again by foot. Asif bhai's ride was much more behaved and I always appreciate the power of the beast when you floor it down. However the beast also made it with the cheat route and finally we were all up appreciating the nature when the sand started kicking up and the rise in mercury made us realize it was time to head home. \we all headed down and out and within no time we were at the Adnoc Petrol Station to fill up our next to empty tires with air for the road. All in all one of the most challenging drives, but the excitement of having flood lights on Gaurav Bhai's ride which stood tall and delivered through this very challenging terrain. Everyone managed fairly well and the smiles at the end are worth the million dollars you do not want to en-cash, just savor them and plan on the next outing which will give you some more smiles. My pics are also uploaded on to the Gallery. Enjoy!!!

@ayman_khateeb great to hear from you again. You have a wealth of off-road knowledge and its always a pleasure to hear from you.

I believe the Grand Cherokee limited is a very good off-road option, but has only 2 rows of seats that is 5 seats. The only thing that bothers me about the modern off-road vehicles is that they have too many safety features and computers on board that spoil the fun. Just recently we had a Jeep Grand Cherokee which had it seat belt tensioners exploding in the middle of the drive. Its not fun when for these small things you have to go to police for reports or agency for repairs. Why I agree with Toyota Prado as a good for both on-road family and off-road as well is because it does not have that many computers on board or technologies which restrict you from having fun. However if you want to go for luxury I think you should keep it for on-road only and check for a reliable second 4x4 for your off-road use. I personally have a Mitsubishi Pajero 3.8 V6 which is used on-road only and for my off-road I have a Nissan Pathfinder 2001 model.

This is something new to me @shadow79 as far as I know my friend also rented through Hertz but he was told it was not covered for off-road. He did some very little and easy patch with us just to get a feel and nothing happened so I can't verify this information. However, if Hertz is giving off-road cover they are a very good option. I have always recommended Off-Road Zone for Jeep rentals. They have these cool modified Jeeps Wranglers you can rent for the weekend and cover off-road. If you would like a little more comfort they also have some Jeep Grand Cherokee and similar to get you through the soft stuff. They are located somewhere in Al Quoz. Hope this helps.

I agree with @pankajrg, the Prado is an amazing vehicle for a family both on-road and off-road. I would recommend the V6 4.0 Liter in particular. The 4 cylinder 2.7 is too lethargic to survive the desert sands, specially if the terrain gets soft and tricky.

@shadow79 your ride is looking amazingly good. Just feel uncomfortable with the height, looks like the center of gravity is way off. I think Area 53 is extremely demanding area and the terrain and nature needs to be respected. @Gaurav bhai and me are just trying to be absolutely sure that nobody suffers any damages or the inconvenience involved in case of an incident. With my experience the likelihood of having an incident on this trip with the Rav4 is even greater now due to the ride height which can also be dangerous. I would still recommend that you join one of us this week and on my trip next week we will have the RAV4 special to test out your amazing mods. I will leave it to @Gaurav bhai to make the decision as he is the trip leader.

@BENNY THOMAS I would take @Asif Hussain advise. If you are going for Gulf News Fun Drive it is over 200 Kilometers divided in to 9 sections, the first 4 sections is to keep everybody interested and fairly easy. The real fun begins from section 5 onward and it gets only tougher and tougher as you go through. The new Explorer does have low overhangs and a lot of computers and I would never recommend these vehicles for a Gulf News Fun Drive, if you plan on retiring after the Section 4 of a Gulf News Fun drive and head by road for the rest of the way than it should be OK. Light off-roading should be OK as well, but the desert is an unknown terrain and things can get very ugly very soon. I would always recommend that you have one car for your family and a simple but proper 4x4 for your off-road use.

@shadow79 Unfortunately Saleem Bhai no matter how many mods you make to a cycle, it will not become a rocket. I truly appreciate your enthusiasm and love your presence, you bring smiles on everybody and you are very resourceful. @Gaurav bhai is advising you not to bring your ride for several reasons as per his experience, the area is full of tall to huge dunes with a lot of soft patches and he does not want you to harm your vehicle anymore. Maybe nobody says it, but the fact is, it is not very pleasant to be stopping and moving every time and if the plan is for a 2 - 3 hours drive, being stuck in one spot for over 6 - 8 hours due to some issue. We do not believe in leaving anybody behind due to our past experiences, but for that reason we cannot stretch the patience of so many people. I am planning on having a much easier drive next week in an area which will be much easier for all the rides, specially a Rav4 and its an area that you have already been to. I would appreciate if you could tag along with one of us this week and I will definitely have you in next week as part of my convoy. Thank you for your understanding.

@Gaurav your efforts are much appreciated and will be missed if you are away. Besides being the trip leader or in the sweep which are hard duties in itself, you also manage to click some nice pics and the amazing videos from your GoPro. Then there is the painstaking efforts to sit during the weekdays and put these awesome videos together with a very catchy piece of music. Well done bro and kudos to you.

I used the 0W20 from Elf for my Renault, It is available in the AWR spare parts and I think 4 liters cost me AED 80/-, I used to give one of the oil change shops AED 25 for the change. If it is recommended oil by Honda than Trading Enterprise spare parts shop should also have it or any shop in Sharjah should also stock the same.

Happy for you @Barry bhai. Congratulations for the new venture in your life and hope it brings you a lot of joy and even more Red Horse than before.

This area is challenging and I hope everybody is ready to level up.

So it was time for the Grand Iftar. It is such a treat to see so many off-road enthusiasts gathering in 1 spot to celebrate the opening of the fast. For me it's never been about the destination, but all about the journey, it's not about where I can reach, but about where we go as a team. Thanks to @Gaurav Bhai for a wonderful lead and congratulations to all who were able to follow. Upon arrival the love cooking station was soon setup and I would like to thanks my wife and her sister for keeping ready so much food and specially the tea. Thanks to everybody else for their contributions as we discovered we had to have a second serving. As we broke fast together and refreshed ourselves with the tea we were off to the top. Gaurav Bhai was the first one up, as I was on the climb I heard the Rav4 had made it to the top. I was glad to reach the top to be greeted by the aight of the Rav4 on top. This joy was short lived as the next thing we saw was Saleem walking towards us and we had the Rav4 with the radiator taking a hit in 2 places. Everything till then was as planned. Thanks to the extra food from all to be able to fill in again while the M-Seal did it's trick. Around mid night we headed out and inflated at the closest Adnoc pump. The prize was well deserved by both Ahmed and Basel, but Basel took the honors. Thank you all for every contribution which made this drive so memorable.

The idea is still a great one, just a matter of working out the other details around it, most vehicles nowadays have security which is on 24/7 and that does not drain out the car battery, so I am sure there would be some kind of mechanism to save power when car is switched off. BTW it is just introduced by 1 garage, once competition starts popping their ugly head the prices will come down eventually.

From the looks of things, I am going to bet that your are in @shadow79

Shukar Alhamdolillah, I get to see it this time. Awesome video. Looks even more amazing after missing the previous one.