paolo dassi

If anyone opts out, I would gladly join!

10 hours ago, Fuad said:

8.Never Open radiator cap and pour coolant immediately after engine heats up.(it will kill it).

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!

Thanks Srikumar and all the participants to this morning drive! It has been a challenging yet very enjoyable drive, heat put some additional strain to our cars, but we fully enjoyed it. Disappointing from my side the struggle to climb up pinck rock, while it was quite straightforward last time round... anyway, looking forward to the next drive!

Some pictures added to the gallery!

Well done @Pancho

Great second drive for us! Despite the COVID distance policy (which I would define in half a car lenght  ) the welcoming and helpful attitude of all was great. We started with some hard sand driving (hard due to the evening rain in the area?) to go for some more challenging passages. Hits of the day were a couple of refusals I was very happy to get out from almost by myself and the main lesson learned in the steep climb to pink rock. I started with not enough throttle and moreover in fully automatic gears... midway through the slope the car decided revs were to high compared to what it is used to when we go to buy grocery and shifted to second gear, leaving me with not enough torque to get to the top of the slope. Back to the bottom of the slope, I engaged D1 following @Wrangeld suggestion and started with a bit more confidence, getting to the top of rock with no issues. Thank you @Rahimdad and all of you for the time spent together yesterday, see you next time! 

Perfect, see u tomorrow then... Just did not want to wake up at 5 for nothing!!!

Drive confirmed? It looks like it is raining quite a bit in Sharjah at the moment...

Guys, is a licence required to use these radios in the UAE ? I was told this by the shop where I bought it, is that true?

Thanks and see you tomorrow!
 

Great drive and great fun! Thank you all for having welcomed us and for the tips! See you next time!

Homework done!

Paolo here, very newbie :-), Pajero SWB... see you tomorrow!