Wrangeld

That's pretty common after a pop out. We do advise getting your tyres cleaned out after every pop out for this reason. Post Drive Report A drive of two halves? I think it's fair to say that we had a great start to the drive with not too many stops, but after it got dark the challenges increased and we had to deal with every softening sand and some unreliable machinery. We ended much later than planned - but that happens (unfortunately) when things start to go wrong and concentration levels drop. Was this worse than any other drive? No way. It's just the case that when things start to go wrong the problems tend to multiply. Everyone did well for a mainly newbie drive. Support from @Jeepie and @Gaurav Soni was welcome and needed.

Very small convoy this afternoon. Here is the order I propose: Wrangeld (me) Clay Neddo @Clay Neddo Yogesh Kumar @Yogesh Kumar Gaurav Soni @Gaurav Soni rajeshkumar rathod @rajeshkumar rathod hasan hamadeh @hasan hamadeh Jeepie @Jeepie It's a very small group, but as I mentioned in earlier messages, this is a first newbie drive for quite a few of you, and it's a partial night drive. See you shortly in Lisali

Post Drive Report As I said at the end of the drive, I enjoyed it - which is usually a good sign. I am not sure how many stuck to the rev limit, but I think that I did except for the moment that I got the car into quicksand and tried to get out (thanks for all the help by the way). What did I learn from today? 2500RPM is adequate for just about everything you would like to do on a recreational drive. I did not feel like we missed out on too much by my choosing a line that was more sympathetic to the predicament that I placed us in! 2 wheel driving inflated is a complete wheeze and lots of fun but difficult to sustain for the whole drive if we have a long convoy. It's something I would like to try again, maybe with a smaller group, just to see how far we can get. I think it can improve our skills the more we do it. Sand conditions are so unpredictable it's probably not worth planning for anything! The sand was super super soft today. More than usual and that made for additional difficulty in the limited revs. On a cold slightly damp morning in the winter, this drive would have been a breeze. Everyone did really well, especially in the technical section that we passed through ironically with the least number of stops. Please pat yourselves on the back (either literally or metaphorically). This was a good Fewbie drive, about the right level for fewbies and where most did well was in starting to ridge ride and criss cross easily. As is often the case, once you start to cross cross you forget how to get over the crest of dune going straight. Special thanks for the help from @Watteau (impeccable as always), @Janarthan @varunmehndiratta @Anand Nataraj and @Gaurav Soni. I'm singling you out because your experience and helping on the drive is really helpful to me as a lead and I do not under estimate the contribution you made. See you soon in the sand.

Dear Desernauts, Clay Neddo @Clay Neddo Yogesh Kumar @Yogesh Kumar rajeshkumar rathod @rajeshkumar rathod Lakshmi Narasimhan @Lakshmi Narasimhan hasan hamadeh @hasan hamadeh GauravSoni @GauravSoni As, unfortunately @Chaitanya D cannot lead this drive tomorrow evening, I will lead instead. Apologies if you had been looking forward to his unique lead style in this wonderful drive area - I will do my utmost to be an adequate replacement for him. So far we have a relatively short convoy, blessed with a lot of experience to support what is a group of relatively inexperienced newbie drivers. Here's the plan. We will leave from the Lisaili post office and make our way carefully through the wide dunes and Sabkahs that take us in the direction of Margham. We will need to cross some areas of tighter, technical dunes along the way, which can be tricky for those who have not yet mastered all the drive skills needed for criss-cross or ridge riding. The sand will be very, very soft because it is so late in the day. We will need to take care navigating through here, because there is not always an easy route through the dunes. As night falls, we will stop and rebrief on the challenges of night driving, and then continue on our way making use of the night to experience a completely different style of drive. Looking forward to the drive and seeing you all on Friday evening.

Picking the effortless lines ... the absolute objective of every lead. When you get there, please let me know

I think that the only bit that may change is that we lower the RPM to make it relevant, but my guess is that in a fewbie in these dunes that 2500 limit might be OK. And ... my other challenge should impact everyone equally: No matter the torque or power ratio in the car.

What I find most interesting about this is that we do not normally look at the RPM so carefully either on or off road. Perhaps we never actually go above 2500 in the desert.

🤣😂🤣😂 Beware everyone, I have another trick up my sleeve for tomorrow morning that will be revealed as we start the drive. Please bring your blindfolds. R

Dear Desernauts Here is the planned convoy for tomorrow morning. @Gaurav Soni @PaoloMaraziti @Adhir Saxena @Watteau @Serafino @Nihal17 @Anand Nataraj @Christopher Assal @Tareck @varunmehndiratta @Janarthan We are lucky, as ever to have a high proportion of intermediates to guide the fewbies and assist with any stucks and recoveries along the way. As you will all see from the starting point, I want to get inside the dunes as quickly as possible so we will deflate as close to the entry point as we can. [Anyone concerned about or wanting to put a km count on the drive, feel free to start your navigation from the start of the sabkah] From here we are straight into some nice wide long range dunes which will lead us to a technical section and then some lovely rolling dunes where we will spaghetti our way back to the Solar Park complex and eventually find out direction to Last Exit. What do I think are the key risk areas for the drive? Pop outs - no doubt a few of you are already thinking that you would like to lower your PSI to accommodate for the lower power. Great idea, but that increases the risks of pop outs. Insufficient power to get out of stucks - maybe. Staying at 2500 reduces the adrenalin to a trickle - we will have to address that as it comes. Looking forward to seeing you all in the morning. See you soon in the sand. Radio Channel 3

Dear DesertnautsUAE, The wait is almost over, We are at Wednesday and it is looking increasingly like the convoy positions are fixed (in my mind at least) from which everyone will be able to start their thinking more strategically about how this drive is going to work out. A little homework if you will. It would be good to set one benchmark across the drivers, just so that we can all understand what 2500RPM looks like in our cars. For instance, at 2500RPM in top gear (2WD) I am travelling at around 106kph. I imagine that for @Watteau in the Raptor, 2500RPM in top gear would even scare the speed cameras in Abu Dhabi - but maybe I am wrong. If you have time, before now and the drive, please make a note of your metrics on this. The other measurement that it would be good to understand from everyone before we start is the PSI on which you have chosen to run for this drive. [I am assuming that you have a PSI that you normally choose and it may be this, but offering flexibility to you you make adjustments ... no stupidity please, we don't want more pop outs]. There are a massive number of variants that impact our abilities in the sand - most of which we cannot control (how soft it is, how the dunes shifted due to the winds the last days etc.) so I am not going to start any discussion here about what anyone might be planning in the hope of 'improving' their drive on Friday. I do feel, however, that knowing what your car offers at 2500RPM in the highest ratio and tyre PSI might have an interesting correlation. See you soon in the sand - convoy list to be published tomorrow morning.

Join us to explore Al Qudra Desert to find what's beyond Qudra lakes And learn the art of offroading in a versatile playground for your first off-road adventure. You will learn to self-drive your vehicle from experts having decades of off-roading experience in the UAE. This area offers a good mix of playable long set of dunes and broad ridges to practice your off-road skills slowly but surely. Drive is open for all 4x4/4WD/SUV/AWD vehicles having 8-10 inches of ground clearance and (MANDATORY) Front and rear tow hooks (MANDATORY) What you'll learn: Introduction to off-roading. Desert driving basics and etiquette. Desert driving tips, techniques, myth and best practices. Off-road and safety gear familiarization and recovery procedures. Vehicle orientation, risk analysis, deflation and outdoor safety advice. First time with Carnity Off-road Club: Please share your vehicle details - Make, Model, Year. Do you have any prior off-road experience? Confirm your vehicle has front and rear tow hooks / eyelets. Why should I join? We will teach you how to self-drive off-road safely and learn the best offroad driving and recovery techniques. If you have already driven in sand before then you can learn more from experts having decades of offroading experience in the UAE. This area offers a good mix of playable long set of dunes and broad ridge to test your off-road control. Can my vehicle do this ? This drive is open for all 4x4/4WD/SUV/AWD vehicle having 8-10 inches of ground clearance and front and rear tow hooks. If in doubt please first announce your questions on the drive thread so we can advise you further. Any stock 4x4/4WD are most welcome, you don't need any vehicle modifications. Can I bring passengers ? Yes of course, but if you are absolute new to offroading it is better to drive alone first to avoid any distractions. Learn More About: Carnity Off-road Club STRICTLY: For ABSOLUTE NEWBIE who are driving for the first time with Carnity. MUST READ AND CLICK TOTALLY AGREE ON THE BELOW COVID19 PRECAUTIONS TOPIC MUST WATCH: NEWBIE VIDEO BRIEFING Drive Details Level: Only for "ABSOLUTE NEWBIES" or first timer with Carnity Off-Road Club When: 2 July 2021, Friday. Meeting time: 05:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/DHk1oMFT6PPAwFej8 Type of Car: Any 4x4/4WD/SUV/AWD with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Tire deflator, pressure gauge and compressor, Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 9:000 AM LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 12 new members only. RSVP will close on Thursday - 5PM. If the RSVP is full and you wish to join, please mention your name on the drive thread to add on the waiting list Latecomers or members who are not on the RSVP will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Please cancel you RSVP if you cannot make it, so your spot can be taken by others. PLEASE RSVP ON BELOW EVENT IN THE EVENT CALENDAR

Absolutely - the objective is to get more in tune with your vehicle, not less: Less would for me be that you find the sweetspot in your vehicle where you can do everything but there's no stress around it. We can all drive fast and hard in the sand and push the car to it's limits in terms of throwing more and more power at it, but that's not really driver and vehicle in tandem or in tune that's seat of the pants, high adrenalin faster faster faster stuff. Of course there is a place for that, which is why we see all sorts of mods and lift kits that make that easier to achieve. Everyone will take away from this drive what they want, because we all drive differently, but the objective is see what you can achieve by driving differently, stressing your vehicle less, controlling the drive more, refining your style and finessing your skill.

Each car has different ratios and torque - so I think we might be looking more at whether low gear ratios assist or not than defining the specific gear for the area. Anyhow @varunmehndiratta, you will get the chance to test this as I am adding you to the drive.

@M.Seidam you're always welcome to post. I think we all accept the basic premise that different factors will influence each drive, dune, day etc. We are not necessarily aiming for consistency in this activity - repeatability is a science lab concept often far removed from the reality of the situation. The aim is to understand how much control and capability we can squeeze out of the self imposed limits we apply. While I have done recovery drives where we set (actually a) Lower limit on the RPM I have never consciously sought to self limit on the RPM and see what can still be achieved. I am convinced of 2 things. 1. We are going to learn something about our cars that we did not know before this. 2. We will learn a lot about our normal driving style - because by making this change we will find how this differs (or not) from how we drive normally

I really like this engineering approach @PaoloMaraziti and will try to incorporate a few of these theoretical how to ideas in these posts. The A/B testing idea is also fantastic as long as the convoy is OK with that stopping and starting (maybe better suited for a masterclass where we can take the time to experiment?) In essence, yes, this is about how to get your car to glide and run smoothly, but also how can you approach an obstacle in a different way (as you mention). Is there a way to build momentum to cross a high dune by circling round and building up momentum instead of powering up the dune? What approach angle do you take to criss-cross that might be different with different power at your disposal? Also you are of course correct. 2500RPM in a V8 Hemi is going to look quite different to 2500RPM in a Suzuki Jimny. If the drivers of the larger vehicles see no difference (which maybe they will not) they can always take the challenge and lower their RPM to experience that feeling. Once other addition to my earlier post. We will be looking into how to drive through technical dunes as well. If there is an area of expertise where finesse is more important than power, it's in getting through the technical dunes ...

Dear DesernautsUAE, I cannot believe it's Tuesday already. It seems truly, as if the weeks are folding one into the other in a blur. Before the drive Friday, I wanted to develop the thinking just a bit more behind the limited RPM. My aim is to find a way to have a truly exciting drive while maintaining a limited rev range. To achieve that we are all going to have to see if we can learn how to climb using different techniques, slide slope and criss-cross using drive skill alone. When we started driving in the sand, it's likely that the drive lead told you to put your foot to the floor - that was because most are shy to use the power to start with: and then it becomes a sort of addiction, because we can often power our way out of trouble. The more experience we get, the more we try to finesse our style so that it looks graceful and as if we are simply floating across the sand. I watch long distance runners who glide majestically along the tarmac, not seeming to breathe (where I would be gasping for breath after 10 meters), cyclists that power their cycles up mountains with barely a sway in their movement and the fastest laps on an F1 Grand Prix are always the ones that when you watch them the car does not really look like it's going that fast. That's how I want to feel when I am in the sand, so it looks effortless, like the car is gliding across the sand, as if the car simply floats above the ground. Will it work? I have no idea. This is a bit of an experiment. I've driven through the desert on very low revs to recover stricken cars where they cannot be pushed, but never lead with the express purpose of leading a convoy to achieve the same. I think it's going to be fun trying. And if it all turns out to be too much ... See you soon in the sand.

We open it up for 2nd drive Weds. So far you are the only WL and at the top of that list.

LL is next level ... We will go from 2500 to 1500 next time round. No problems. Enjoy.

Niki @Niki Tareck @Tareck Ehab @Ehab PaoloMaraziti @PaoloMaraziti Watteau @Watteau GauravSoni @Gaurav Soni Adhir Saxena @Adhir Saxena Serafino @Serafino Nihal17 @Nihal17 Christopher Assal @Christopher Assal You're all confirmed for Friday.

Let's test that theory in the sand ...

@Br. San thanks for signing up for this drive. Unfortunately, this is a fewbie drive and as far as know you are a Newbie. I am afraid you will be signed out.

Drive Idea The antithesis to pushing the vehicle to its limits, this drive is about pushing the driver to the absolute edge of the envelope in controlling the car and still having an incredible and exciting time. How? By seeing just how much 'performance' you can get from your driving skills while limiting the power you are allowed to use. This drive will truly test your 'drivership'. Can you get to the top of that dune without using raw power to get you there? How high can you get? Will you be able to navigate the smallest, softest technical dunes without being able to power your way through? Can you self recover with your available power limited to a measly 2500RPM? General Info This drive is organized in full compliance with the COVID19 guidelines. We expect every member that joins this drive to go through below information and and strictly follow these guidelines in order not to jeopardize someone's health, and to ensure we can keep organizing these drives safely. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions 2.0 MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: Ban Post TWO WAY RADIO GUIDELINES Every Off-roader brings his own radio, programmed to the frequencies described in below advice topic. We will not share spare radios or program your radio on the drive. If you need assistance in programming the radio, post a topic on the Carnity website with your questions and we will help you out. Make sure your radio is fully charged. It will be your only way of communication while driving. Before buying, please carefully read below advice so you are informed properly on which model / cost / shops... No radio = No drive. It is an essential tool and you should make sure you bring it on every drive and learn/practice how to use it. SUGGESTED READING: Carnity Two Way Radio Frequencies Drive Details Level: Fewbie and Above (All Levels) When: 25 June 2021, Friday. Meeting time: 4.30 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: Hamari Well Rd/Pylon Track intersection https://goo.gl/maps/saWH6yMHHiLoPGhJ6 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, face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm, willingness to learn and your own compressor for tire inflation. Approximate finish time: 8.30 AM LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Thursday - 9 AM. 1 Lead Marshal + 1-2 Senior Members + 12 Members. If the RSVP is full and you wish to join, please mention your name on the drive thread to add on the waiting list. Latecomers will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Members without RSVP will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month. PLEASE RSVP ON BELOW CALENDAR

Wow @Tero Vallas - that's a shame. I guess it's part of our expat life here in the UAE that we suffer these 'losses' more regularly than we would like. You will be missed by us all. All we can hope is that some day in the future we are buzzed by an aerobatic plane with you at the controls so we know that you are well and prospering.