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Sunil Mathew

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Posts posted by Sunil Mathew

  1. thanks for the midweek fun drive @M.Seidam... and good to meet you @Lala G - thanks to both of us , turning up as promised and enabling our doc to proceed with the drive with required minimum quorum :D ...congrats on being the only driver with no stucks 👍👍....please send me the recovery video on 055 94 98 749 ..thanks in advance

    its been a while since i did this technical area with the Fortuner at FB+ level, so..i had to get stuck somewhere to do justice to the area :-) ...Doc @M.Seidam took us through some areas which i have never visited..the drive was a combo of some intense moments requiring full focus, some relaxed and laid back driving, and some fast paced criss crossing and ridge rides .. i thought the heavy wind at 3PM when we started the drive was going to create some trouble, but thankfully it died down later into the drive, and the mini double crests created by the wind were skillfully avoided by the doc, making the drive safe and trouble free..

    the vegetation and its consequent bumps and ditches were a spoilsport at many places..but qudra , and surrounding parts are turning into grass jungles anyway,  offroading communities like us are coming to terms with this new normal, so cant really put any  blame on it

    Looking forward to such mid week "stress buster" drives 🤞🤞

    • Totally Agree (+2) 1
    • Well Done (+2) 1
  2. Thank you @Simon D for taking us through the Pink Rock to Big Red terrain, and living up to your promise of a roller coaster drive...I am sure our fewbie members got a good taste of the famous Big Red climbs, and also a taste of what awaits them at higher drive levels 

    Good to drive with all of you @Hugo @Abdullah N @Renier Venter @Mohammad Sayawoush Azad @Robk @Faraz94 and @Harshal....everyone drove really great, requiring only minimal support....hope you took home some new learnings....see you all in the next drive as and when our paths cross

    Just to put across a pointer, banking on yesterdays stuck with @Harshal which i forgot to convey to you Harshal during our post drive chit-chat,  - once we are stuck, please do not continue to self recover indefinitely.. its always good to wait for external support so that someone can see your car from outside and make a judgement. Basically , all of us need to know when to "STOP" self recovery...or else we will continue to dig in and end up with all 4 tyres in 4 deep pits :D (applicable for a typical flat and soft patch like yesterday)....once you are sunk so deep, the effort required to pull you out is exponentially higher which is why i tried to do some digging and make it smooth for my feather weight fortuner compared to your mighty Tundra.. Still ended up with some violent dance moves :D ..probably has something to do with the angle of pull as well ..Open to comments  - @Simon D and everyone

     

    • Totally Agree (+2) 2
    • Well Done (+2) 1
  3. For the other newbie convoy with @Gaurav, we had a nice and balanced drive , exposing our absolute newbies to a variety of terrain and driving techniques. I am sure all of us had a wonderful time getting to know our cars better, finding the right inputs for steering and throttle all through the drive. Our snack stop near the horse farm/stables was the icing on the cake where we could see some beautiful horses grazing , up close. 

    some photos in the gallery https://carnity.com/gallery/category/1945-newbie-murquab-dubai-27-jan-2024/

    whoever took some photos can upload at the above archive link 

    Here is the track we took, covering approx  25Km through the deserts of Murquab!!

    image.png.ca2e2ee4f56e88f47b948ecd2a9f11df.png

     

     

    It was nice driving with you all 

    @Salim Akhtar - great seeing you after some time , all the way from abu dhabi, to reinforce the 2L !!! 

    @Vipin M  @TIMMY and @Wilfredo Perez  had their first experience in sand and hope it was a very enriching one. You all did great for first timers and i'm sure you have taken home loads of learning and pointers to implement on your next drive. Some refusals, stucks , re-attempts etc you went through are the real experiences which will get etched in your mind, to be better prepared for your next sand outing.

    @monkeywrench -  nice to finally meet you, after the brief chats we had on our Fortuner owners'  group. Great mods on your car, and hope your re-entry to the sands after a break was enjoyable. Finally we were able to tame that run away diff lock of yours :D !!

     @Fabien Monleau at CF binding the 2 parts of the convoy at the centre, had a busy time with guiding our friends to self recover, sometimes with some shovel time also. Good to see you also after a gap

    @GS periwal @GabrielH  - driving at the tail end did a great job in conquering the terrain and slightly churned up track created by the front runners. Occasional refusals, re-attempts are part of the game and learning experiences as Gaurav mentioned during our briefing. Important thing is to keep learning something new and coming back with confidence to try out all the learning.

    @Nicolò - driving right in front of me, with no issues, which is testament of his prior experiences in sand. 

     

    See you all on the next adventure!!

     

     

    • Like (+1) 2
    • Totally Agree (+2) 1
  4. Thanks @Davie Chase for choosing Al Fayah for yesterdays  drive and giving an opportunity to our newbie members to experience the wonderful terrain ... i am sure all of them have taken home loads of learning and pointers to implement or experiment with, in their next drives. We had some recoveries, but these are part of the learning and to an extent , fun too :D ... important thing is to stay calm, not to panic , not to feel bad , not to think that you are holding the convoy etc. 

    Newbie drives are for getting stuck and learning about your cars, how they handle, and to get  the balance between the 2 main inputs you are giving  - steering and throttle

    Now, just penning down what i observed about our newbie friends driving within my field of view 

      @Andrew John Melvill  @Menon  @Hani Howeedy- drove really well and learned along the way. You have heavy cars which call for a bit more of momentum  on climbs , so that your front and rear both cross over together. If you let go of gas when your front crosses over, your rear is going to come down , ending up in what we call fishtailing. 

    Whoever had refusals, got it right on your second attempts, which means that you know what to do, but instinctively it doesnt come to you on your first attempt. This is something which comes by practice. So keep driving and this will easily be second nature to you before you even know.

    @Jasim Bo Falah - as we discussed, your car is more than capable of conquering the desert. Dont be shy on the gas when it is required. To know "when" its required, we need practise, so keep driving and master the skills. Since you have 2 more cars - FJ, Tundra both being more powerful than the pathfinder, i suggest you stick to the pathfinder and get the hang of it , and once you confidently negotiate sideslopes, dune crossings etc , then only think of changing cars.

    @Shaun J - driving behind me did a wonderful job with clear radio comms whenever i was out of convoy order to attend to a situation and clarifying what he has to do, rather than assuming something. Appreciate your presence of mind and adherence to convoy discipline.

    @Prithvi Raj - on his maiden drive, did really well for a fresher. It was a relief to learn that your bumper was intact after that air time you had on the straight crossing. Also, appreciate you being calm during the long recovery involved with your car in the soft patch. Your car finally made when @Rob S was behind the wheels, so you must have realised now that its not the car , but the driver which is mission critical ! Hope you hade lot of learning from the episode, and see you soon , on your upward learning curve.

    @Nizar Shawwa   @Damian @Abdul Hannan @Abdullah N  @Vijay Cowlagiall driving behind me, and mostly in silence did a great job in keeping up with the convoy. 

    @Soufiane - in 2nd lead, i couldnt get much of a glimpse, but looks like you did great , reading @Davie Chase 's report !!

    Finally @Rob S - thanks for joining last minute and relieving me of the pressure i felt when i saw a 12 car NB convoy with only me in support :D . Your "pajero" skills are amazing !!! and thanks for helping me out when i ran out of ideas :D 

    Some photos uploaded in the drive gallery 

    https://carnity.com/gallery/category/1928-newbie-al-fayah-abu-dhabi-13-jan-2024/

     @Hani Howeedy and others not familiar with the website -  we have photo galleries for each drive, and the link above will take you to the one for our drive yesterday. Please upload photos here, and lets hoard up all the good memories here !!!

     

    • Thanks (+1) 2
    • Well Done (+2) 4
  5. On 12/6/2023 at 6:28 PM, Looper said:

    change I have a convoy order as well this time 😜

    thats quite a change from the last 2 weeks of IM drives with you !! @Looper

    On 12/6/2023 at 5:14 PM, Looper said:

    PS l: welcome back @Christian Andras.

    @Christian Andras  - you are signed up for tomorrows newbie drive with @Ale Vallecchi as well in the manage tab 🙃....not too sure how the @Carnity algorithms let you do it , but would be a good idea to decide on one of these 2 drives  :D

    • Haha (+1) 1
  6. @Hisham Masaad....my 13yo son joins me in bidding you farewell and wishing you the best ..he is a big fan of you and that FJ ...i hope our sand paths will cross in badayer , aka your kingdom 😄

    Remembering you pulling me out in my yellow wrangler during my newbie/fewbie  days, on Marjan's  drive!! Your drives and selfless attitude will definitely be missed at Carnity!!

    • Like (+1) 3
    • Thanks (+1) 1
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