Frederic

What a fantastic write-up, it says a lot about your passion for the desert and the life changing experiences that can be had when exploring these places. Definitely looking forward to more of this !

DRIVE REPORT With the weather cooling down in the morning, it's nice looking forward to being in the desert with a group of Carnitees to enjoy the scenery and explore the deserts together. I was in good companionship, and it was a pleasure meeting @Atif again after this long time. As was expected he still is the wonderful gentleman and even outside Carnity people were able to receive his help. More on that later. We took off from the farm, and with @Melenany in my second lead, @Anish S in center forward, and @Mukundan Nair and @Atif sweeping the convoy i was blessed with such a strong support and i genuinly want to thank them for joining Newbie drives with the intention to help teaching others, as this is where the real satisfaction is in this passion. We reached the base of Pink Rock quite fast, with only few hiccups on the way and @Chris Meir his Wrangler who suddenly refused to take it one step further. Made me think of my dogs at home Luckily i remembered having this issue once before where the 4x4 lever is loose because the linking rod jumped out of place on the transfercase. In a couple of minutes we were able to pop it back in place and could resume our fun. Climbing Pink Rock is for many newbies one of the first times they get to fully awaken their vehicles, and i was happy to see all made it up without much effort, from @Nathan Evans his little offroader to @Gavin Hill his big bus. Amazing to see the different vehicles we have and the encouragement giving to others when they make it to the top. With few vehicles left at the base of Pink Rock, we saw someone with a dune buggy doing some donuts and had a rollover, luckily on flat ground and unharmed. @Atif @Mukundan Nair and @AnishS to the rescue and went a gentle tug the dune buggy was back on its wheels. Since we still had some driving time we decided to climb the backside of Pink Rock and go around it through the big bowls. We excited after just 3 hours of driving time and i am really proud of what i have seen you guys doing today. @Melenany you were the perfect second lead and help throughout the drive to assist in rerouting, helping over the radio, and i hope the front bumper can be fixed without too much hassle. @Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader and @Danish Mohammad who are finding their way in the reliable Pajeros you both did great ! @frederic demolder @Federico De Chirico @Federico Galbieri all three had next to their names one thing in common: cars that FLEW up Pink Rock, and a wonderful attitude. Well done guys !! Buddies @Chris Meir and @Gavin Hill both driving great and enjoying the scenery, was good meeting up with guys again ! @Nathan Evans the silent but immaculate driver throughout the drive, never a foot wrong and using the momentum and fresh tracks to your advantage at any time when the Suzuki was close to coming to a halt. Splendid work !! @Kaile Barrameda and her friends bringing tons of positive energy to the drive as always, a joy to drive with you ! @Hisham Masaad you have that black beauty completely under control, amazing work at the back of the convoy where due to the churned tracks it can be a bit more difficult. Well done ! I often get asked why i am enjoying Newbie drives so much, and a drive like today is the perfect reason. We have fun together, get to know each other, explore amazing terrains, and burn some calories. And that all on a Friday morning As i mentioned in the briefing, for those of you who have done 5 drives so far and would like to step up their game to the next level safely, can apply by clicking the "Apply for Promotion" link in below post: See you guys soon in the sand !

Yes we shall be using Channel 1: 446,00625 Mhz

After you there will be no more dunes, so the real unfortunate ones are Mukundan and Atif bhai

Ooh yes ! Congrats with that one. You've seen what my other half is doing with that kind of car, so be ready

@Sreenath Giridharan @imranaasghar81 @syed salman raza There is one available spot in the Newbie Afternoon drive (Bab Al Shams).

RSVP IS NOW CLOSED Please find the convoy list here above. As mentioned in the drive topic a few days back, please make sure you have your offroad gears as per your drive level. (radio, flag, deflator/pressure gauge, shovel, for Newbie level). @AnishS will be our centre forward and will be assisting you where needed whenever a refusal happens in the middle of the convoy. At the back of the convoy we have @Atif as our sweep, who will be helping you out together with @Mukundan Nair and will keep the convoy moving smoothly as much as possible. For the remaining members on the waitlist, please keep an eye on the drive topic the coming hours. We have seen regular dropouts (1-2 on average) on Thursdays, so if you are lucky you still might get a spot. As soon as something comes available i will tag your name and add you accordingly. Pink Rock is a beautiful area but quite busy now with the winter season in full swing. We will try to find some clean tracks and do our best to avoid the crowds. The COVID rules still apply, so please make sure to always wear a mask when you exit the vehicle. I you cannot make it please let us know today, we still have waitlisted members. See you guys/gals tomorrow !

Correct, my data was from July onwards. You did two drives prior to that.

You’ve done 3 drives so far.

I am glad you realize 35inch tyres will rob you from a lot of power in desert driving, and in combination with the lift kit it might be a bit high for a hydraulic floor jack. But have you tried it already ? I have lifted quite some cars already with my floorjack and if the height becomes an issue i just add some extra wooden planks. Eventually its good enough for fixing a pop out. The Hi-Lift is an amazing tool if you know how to use it, but not so easy and can be extremely dangerous. Exhaust Jacks will probably not work, the biggest model i have soon (from Australia) was fine but this was a 1000+ AED jack, and the risk of burning the bag when you put it too close to your engine or exhaust is there.

Current Waitlist 1) Sreenath (1st drive) 2) Imranaas81 (1st drive) 3) Syed Salman (1st drive) 4) Varunmehndiratta (2nd drive

Hi @imranaasghar81 the reason i have put (1) next to your name is to indicate you are on the waitlist for your first drive of the weekend. This gives you preference over waitlisted members who have already secured another drive and are waitlisted for a second drive (2).

@Mukundan Nair i will add you to the manage tab as you are intermediate.

@Danish Mohammad you have been added to the drive. (we are now at max limit convoy size) Current Waitlist 1) Sreenath (1st drive) 2) Imranaas81 (1st drive) 3) Syed Salman (1st drive) 4) Varunmehndiratta (2nd drive) Preference will be given to members that have not yet secured a drive for this weekend. Tomorrow we will open the RSVP and see who is eligible to be added if any space becomes avaiable.

Thanks guys for the quick signup for Fridays drive in Pink Rock ! @Chris Meir @frederic demolder @Federico De Chirico @Gavin Hill @Melenany @Federico Galbieri @Nathan Evans @Kaile Barrameda @Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader @Hisham Masaad Please make sure you have below items with you when joining our drive, otherwise we won't be able to accept you. Fully charged and programmed radio (walkie talkie) Safety flag, safely mounted on the car Tire deflator and tire pressure gauge Compressor to inflate your tires. If you need any help in getting these stuff, search tons of information here or ask on the forum and many offroaders will be happy to guide you to buy these before the drive. See you guys on Friday !

Hi @Atif as you are intermediate, i will add you to the Manage tab. See you on Friday !

Try Sedana trading or have a walk around in Al quoz or Sharjah Industrial where they have the automotive tools shops.

Ooh yes Crutchfield is amazing, even after all these years !

Agree, EQ should be kept minimal and is only there to slightly alter your personal taste. In IASCA testing the scope tests should return flat level throughout the frequency spectrum. The 8" mids are a perfect option to give you some kickbass in the 80-350 Hz range. With regards to an underseat sub, i think that's not easy to achieve and/or install. What you could do is install a Subwoofer enclosure in the back of the car that has a quick-coupling to easily disconnect the wires when you need to remove the enclosure. I did this in the past where the boot of the car was taken by Subwoofers but occasionally needed the space to put the stroller

As a budget option it is perfectly doable to keep the rear speakers connected to your head-unit IF your headunit is of decent quality. The reason for this is that your front speakers matter the most in providing you a clear crisp detailed stereo image, so most of your budget should go to that. Rear speakers are meant as "infill" to compliment to the overall sound in your car. In sound level you should be aiming at a 70/30 rate in which 70% of the power is made by the front speakers, and 30% is the sound coming from the rear. A Subwoofer is ideally meant to compliment the lack of low frequencies your front and rear speakers can play. Everything below 80hz can be filtered and sent to the subwoofer if the amplifier has a Low Pass Filter (LPF) on board. The front and rear speakers are not made for that anyways. Unfortunately 95% of the sound systems i hear in cars is ALL BASS and nothing else. I stepped away from that whole audio scene long time back after i noticed some car manufacturers (especially German) really stepped up their game with decent speakers, and sometimes built-in subwoofers. They are far from perfect, but with a bit of EQ and some small improvements you will have very decent sound quality in a premium vehicle without the need to tear it all apart and replace.