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Frederic

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Everything posted by Frederic

  1. @Benjaminmy biggest pleasure is to sit back and relax on the sideline and watch things happen in the club. There’s so much potential in all of you guys and we just brushed the surface of what’s possible.
  2. Welcome to the Off-Road Hall of Fame, a place where we celebrate the fearless, daring, and ingenious legends of the off-road world. This is the home of the trendsetters who have pushed the limits of off-road driving, supporting, and inspiring all types of adventurers. Off-road driving is not just a hobby, it's a way of life. It requires a rare combination of skill, bravery, and respect for the great outdoors. From conquering the tallest dune to racing through the sands, and wadis to traversing long distances, off-roading comes in various forms that demand unique skills, patience and above all - great teamwork. Only a few have gone above and beyond, leaving their mark on the off-road universe, and inspiring others to follow in their footsteps. These heroes have not just driven off-road but have really defined the true meaning of off-road community while taking the sport to new heights. Whether you are an experienced off-roader or just starting, we invite you to join us as we explore the stories and legacies of the off-road greats who have earned their rightful place in the Off-Road Hall of Fame. This is a place where we take pride in their achievements and honor their spirit of adventure. So, fasten your seatbelts, hold tight, and let's embark on a journey of exhilaration, inspiration, and honor in the Off-Road Hall of Fame. Period: April - June 2023 Drives in the spotlight Leading and successfully executing a high-level offroad drive is always a challenge. Finding that delicate balance of pushing our best off-roaders to the limit while still keeping things safe is very difficult and mentally tiring. When @Asif Hussainposted this drive, the expectations were high, knowing that the terrain had fantastic bowls and that the thrill seekers would be present. Asif laid out a buffet of monster bowls and kept the blistering pace throughout the drive, and the feedback after the drive was uniform: "It was unforgettable"... Keep up these fantastic drives @Asif Hussain !! Member in the spotlight Most of you have driven in Abu Dhabi, and if you did, chances were extremely high to come across @Zed who is always around and carries the biggest smile and positive attitude. You'll spot him either in his fully restored black LC100 or his Grand Cherokee 5.7 roaring monster. Always ready to help out and extremely knowledgeable about offroad vehicles, coding, and food (so we've heard )... Keep infecting us with that positive attitude @Zed !! Lead Champion Big congratulations to @M.Seidam for being our lead champion this quarter with a massive 10 drives ! Your dedication shines bright and your passion for off-roading is unmatched ! Support Champions Big congratulations to @Looper and @DP1011 for being our support champions this quarter with a whopping 17 and 16 supports this quarter ! Special Mention A special mention goes out to our marshal @GauravSoni who has kickstarted our sustainability campaign by showing the right example straight away! Let's all do our part in keeping the deserts clean ! Message to all our champions: Your dedication is an admirable quality that is truly valued and appreciated. Your unwavering passion for off-roading has not gone unnoticed, and it is an inspiration to those around you today. We thank you and look forward to seeing the many great things you will achieve in the future.
  3. In my case: * Oil change at 7500-8000km approx, alternating between regular oil change shop and my trusty mechanic. (only good quality fully synthetic oil, i use Castrol 5W40). * Other maintenance intervals followed strictly on all my cars (diff fluids, other stuff, etc..) * Air filter cleaning every 2-3 drives (depending on which level drive and terrain it was). * No wheel rotation. PS there is an app called SimplyAuto. I use it to keep track of maintenance schedules and servicing/repair costs.
  4. Quick tip on the climbing: You can either use the Jeremy Clarkson (SPEEEEED AND POWER) or the James May (SLOWLY DOES IT) approach: Let's try both option and see where we end up !
  5. DRIVE RSVP IS NOW CLOSED @Simon D@Thejas Uthran@Juan R@Mohit Gurnani@Glenn W@Richard Franks@Tom V@Anoop Nair@Sunil Mathew@Charbel@Vanessa8580@DP1011@Looper Thanks for signing up for another adventure! This one will be quite different from driving in the sand, but nevertheless we will be having fun As i mentioned prior on my drive post, please be aware of the following: This route will take you on super steep climbs and descents and is not for the faint of heart ! Make sure your 4x4 is in tip-top condition. You will need all its power and it will run hot. Be ready to regularly switch to 4LO during steep climbs / descents. All-Terrain types are highly recommended. You might struggle with HT tyres. Do not join if you have any fear of heights. Max 2 passengers per vehicle allowed. When you arrive at the meeting point: - Deflate to 25 PSI only. - NO need for offroad flag. We will be using Channel 2 - 446.031 Mhz See you all soon !
  6. You need the wheels as it widens the footprint. Once installed on a wooden board it won’t move.
  7. We’ll come to know about the bulls coming Saturday…. Unless you can guess 😝
  8. After spending some time at various tire workshops with my cars (both sedan and 4x4) and seeing the poor workmanship that goes on in most of these shops, i wanted to discuss the pros and cons of tire rotation on my cars. The advertised pros: Longer thread life Better handling Ensuring even distribution of tread wear Can prevent blowouts by being able to spot tire issues earlier. Ability to activate your spare tire as well and rotate it along. On the world wide web, you don't usually come across the cons, but i came up with the following ones that i have experienced personally. For these main reasons i have decided against tire rotation: Wrong torquing of the tires. 99% of all shops here use the impact gun and go nuts with endless "jugga-juggas" and ruin the tread of your studs. On my 2021 Patrol 3 out of the 6 studs were completely ruined in such a short period. Even worse when after doing this, they bring out the torque wrench and you see it clicks from the first time. This basically means it was over-torqued by the impact gun and now the torque wrench has no function anymore! Tire rotation will mean wheel alignment and sometimes balancing as well, and again the majority of the shops i have been to even manage to screw this up. Been to countless shops where they even have a laser alignment setup but still decide to use their eyes and ears only, resulting in making things even worse. Even balancing which anyone should be able to do seems to be difficult here as half of the time they are not paying attention. The guys that do actually use the laser system are 50/50, means 50% of the guys know what they are doing, and the other 50% just screw and unscrew bolts until they see something appearing in green. Upselling. While you are at the tire shop, often they will start moaning that "Sir, your tires are too worn" while they have no clue and just try to sell you stuff (their bosses push them into this). The so-called free alignment check when purchasing tires is just a scam because they mention "CHECKING alignment is free, but DOING the alignment is 150dhs". And i have experienced this recently in a very reputable shop. Often the car is worse after the alignment than when it came in. Time loss. I don't like spending afternoons or evenings in a tire shop. Let's have a look now at the advertised pros and see if we can punch a hole in them: Longer thread life: Quite obvious on a rear wheel driven car that those tires will wear out faster and can be moved to the front to have a bit longer life. That can be done in one go and not with a rotation every 10,000km. On a 4x4 this would also apply if you are driving in 2H on the road, but on a permanent 4x4 like a Prado perhaps the wear on the tires front vs back will be less obvious. Better handling. If you have tires that are in decent shape and properly inflated, i do not believe handling to have a big impact. Even distribution of tire wear. Correct. like i mentioned rear wheels vs front wheels. But if your tires are wearing out unevenly on the same axles you have alignment issues and should deal with those, rather than rotating the tires around. Ability to activate your spare tire. True. My spare tire is never in action but i actually prefer it like that and keep it covered at all times. If i replace that tire every 4-5 years i can personally live with that. Now, i could be totally going wrong with my statements here, hence i would love to see other members feedback of their experiences and why they choose or not choose to rotate their tires.
  9. @Zedhis next project. According to him he only needs to inflate the tyres and put some nightlights and its good to go !
  10. until
    DISCLAIMER: This route will take you on super steep climbs and descents and is not for the faint of heart ! - Make sure your 4x4 is in tip-top condition. You will need all its power..... - All-Terrain types are highly recommended. You might struggle with HT tyres. - Do not join if you have any fear of heights. - Max 2 passengers per vehicle allowed. DRIVE DETAILS Level: Fewbie and above When: 01 July 2023, Saturday Meeting time: 2 PM - Sharp (Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/DNZXkF3c4DKqU1PY6 Approximate finish time: 6-7PM Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Recommended off-road gears: Walkie-talkie radio and off-road flag (MANDATORY), plus tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, compressor, shovel, first-aid kit and fire extinguisher. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday - 12 PM. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you find you are unable to join, so your spot can be taken by others in the waitlist. If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, if an RSVP attendee removes themselves, you will be moved from the waitlist to the RSVP list as an attendee. A convoy list will be sent out the day prior to the drive. Latecomers will be returned back - Without any exceptions. Members without RSVP will be returned back - Without any exceptions. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month.
  11. DRIVE DESCRIPTION Starting from the gentle Wadi Shawka with its meandering boulder tracks, we will venture deeper and deeper into Fujairah, leaving no stone unturned. Get ready to get shaken and stirred. There will be some sweaty palms and a number of "edge of seat" moments involved ! Please take note of the following disclaimer: This route will take you on very steep climbs and descents and is not for the faint of heart ! Make sure your 4x4 is in tip-top condition. All-Terrain tyres are highly recommended. You might struggle with HT tyres. Do not join if you have any fear of heights. Max 2 passengers per vehicle allowed. MUST READ AND COMPLY Environmental Policy Offroad Flag Guideline Two Way Radio Guideline Off road Driving Etiquette's Emergency details for all off-roaders Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities DRIVE DETAILS Level: Fewbie and above When: 01 July 2023, Saturday Meeting time: 2 PM - Sharp (Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/DNZXkF3c4DKqU1PY6 Approximate finish time: 6-7PM Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Recommended off-road gears: Walkie-talkie radio and off-road flag (MANDATORY), plus tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, compressor, shovel, first-aid kit and fire extinguisher. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday - 12 PM. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you find you are unable to join, so your spot can be taken by others in the waitlist. If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, if an RSVP attendee removes themselves, you will be moved from the waitlist to the RSVP list as an attendee. A convoy list will be sent out the day prior to the drive. Latecomers will be returned back - Without any exceptions. Members without RSVP will be returned back - Without any exceptions. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month. RSVP ON THE CALENDAR EVENT
  12. I had a great time despite my numerous stucks but fantastic team work got us out and moving every single time. @M.Seidamit was fantastic meeting and driving with you again after such a long time. Your re-routing, recoveries, and overall presence last night showed how much you master this hobby. My initial plan and route involved quite a bit of technical terrain as I knew the convoy and its strengths, but the second part of the terrain chewed us and spit us out and we had to retreat back to the sabkha to shorten the route to the Bedford trucks. All in all all a great night out with a superb group of off-roaders / buddies who all helped out and I wanted to thank you all for that ! See you all soon in the sands again !!
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