paolo dassi

Grande! Complimenti, looking forward to meeting you soon on the sand... AC Fiorentina flag for everyone in your drives from now on to celebrate 😂😂!!!

Nice drive around Fossil Rock yesterday, great fun and every drive has something to teach. The drive progressed smoothly thanks to @Gaurav and @J J as second lead, with very interesting straight ups straigh downs on pretty steep dunes. Sand in the beginning was not too soft and actually felt firmer than I expected. Convoy with @Veedooshee, @Leo Francis, @Carlos Fernandez proceeded smoothly to the base of Fossil Rock, where I got stuck while climbing up. I am not sure why, car did not get the power even at full throttle, same happened to me once at Pink Rock with revs going down despite me accelerating full throttle. Also in that case heat gauge was slightly higher than normal, not in the critical area, but some 25% above usual "Sheikh Zayed road reading": could the engine cut a bit of power if temperature increases beyond a given limit? What do experts think? Anyway, I managed to come out from the refusal myself, following the suggestions @Rahimdad gave me on my very first drive, steer left and right, a bit of throttle, low gear and very important "sometimes is easier to get unstuck going backwards"... you never think about this as you naturally "look forward", but sometimes a step back is more helpful than trying to move ahead with no results! Out of that, though, I got into a pretty nasty spot slightly off the track, with very soft sand and a little dune just behind me. Car overheated seriously, so @Gaurav suggested to stop for some minutes and helped me cooling it down with water. When temperature went down to normal, I managed to get out from the situation and climb up Fossil Rock successfully. The final part of the drive was quite interesting, taking us to the end following the suggestions of @J J and @Gaurav guiding us down the slope. Overall a very enjoyable drive, always something to learn out in the desert, this time a very basic lesson for me... 3 liters of water might not be enough, especially if you need some to cool down an overheated engine! Next time, a part from drinking water, I will make sure to take some for "engine use"! Thanks to the above mentioned drivers and to @Gaurav for having led the troop! Good luck to @Shamil to get his car fixed soon. Pictures as usual in the drive gallery.

@Gaurav just to let you know I will not be released from work before 15:30, so unless things change I won't be able to reach meeting point in time☹️. Sorry, but unfortunately out of my control!

My Pajero is SWB and black. See you tomorrow!

Sorry, I step back, did not note this is a fewbie drive, not a newbie one. Enjoy and see you next time!

If anyone opts out, I would gladly join!

Very good point, it will kill it and likely injure you! Opening the tap releases the high pressure of the circuit, coolant might come out (either in liquid or vapour form) being extremely hot and burn your hand / arm... not very pleasant!

Just to put down some numbers (sorry I am an engineer 🙄) I deflated yesterday morning to 13psi @ about 7am, while I read 15psi for aft tyres and up to 15.5 in the front ones at 10:30 when we got to Al Qudra last exit... Definitely something to bear in mind! Other point, yesterday I found quite a bit of sand stuck on the radiator: this decreases substantially its capacity of dissipating heat. Even if you do not wash your car often (I don't!) some parts might need your attention in hot environment.

Yet another thrilling drive this morning in al Qudra area! Thanks @Srikumar for leading the convoy and @Ale Vallecchi and @sertac for looking after us newcomers and providing useful suggestions and tips. Tip of the day - already stressed multiple times in almost every drive - never fight gravity. After a couple of mistakes of mine, the clear explanations of @Srikumar made it is easy to me to understand when is the moment to turn down rather than start fighting a battle that will eventually be lost! The dunes we approached made a perfect scenario to improve this essential skill. Up and down from reasonable sized dunes and crest crossing proved to be exciting and requiring a good amount of attention and concentration. Thanks to all the drivers and passengers involved in this morning drive. You find some pictures in the gallery, fewer than usual from my side as my photo team (the ladies) was at home this morning.

Ouch... https://gulfnews.com/uae/coronavirus-abu-dhabi-prevents-movement-to-and-from-the-emirate-for-one-week-from-june-2-1.71786671?fbclid=IwAR2lEgg5v6_NWEE7uHB9Jq5KcEww9o5zOlClZm3y2wjCVgfTM3etkYQvrd4 Might need to switch to another destination?!?

Great and enjoyable drive yesterday! We were back to almost the same spot of the week before, amazing to see how the sand got harder due to the mid week heavy rain. I still have loads to learn, but it is good to see that drive after drive you sort of "anticipate" how the car will react in some passages... a part from when you misjudge and get stuck! This happened to us in the beginning of the drive, when I approached a steep up and down dune a bit too fast and being overcautious I hit the brakes in the wrong moment in time and way too hard, resulting in a stuck with the car sitting on the dune crest with no way to move it other than waiting for the help of @Xafwho pulled us out in no time. A bit of a shame only having to wait in the car without being able to get our hands dirty and help him to help us due to Covid restrictions. From my side - experts please feel free to jump in and elaborate - lessons learnt are: 1. very important to look at what car in front is doing, otherwise I would have not known how steep the descent was. 2. Try not to approach the up hill slope too fast (ok, not even too slow though!), if you recognise you are too fast approaching the top, 3. do not hit breaks at the very top and do not do so too hard. Doing so would cause exactly what happened to me, the car "broke" the dune crest, pushed sand forward rather than slowing down gently and got stuck! The drive moved ahead proving to be exciting and in an amazing scenary, see pictures here. We climbed up Pink Rock, this time we went uphill with no issues at all to end up at the Cafeteria to inflate tires and sort ourselves for the trip back home. Thanks @Gaurav for safely leading the convoy and to all the participants for the time spent together (but distant) yesterday afternoon... see you next week!