Lorenzo Candelpergher

It will work. The TPMS sensor is removed from the stock valves and connected to the Apex ones.

@RooRzOn, my apologies. Rawad it is, in fact, my bad. I fixed the post 😁

CONVOY 2 - DRIVE REPORT Dear Desert Wanderers, first of all @Tamas Hoffmann should be thanked for posting this drive: until yesterday I didn't think it was doable on a short mid-week morning drive, because of the long distance implied, but he proved me wrong and this drive turned out to be a great one. Indeed, today's drive was a very pleasant surprise, as the decision to split the drive in two convoys was made with @Tamas Hoffmann and @Vanessa8580 at the very last minute last night. For this again I have to say thank you, as I was given, once more, the opportunity to lead. It all started with a bit of drama in the twilight, magnified by insufficient levels of caffeine (no morning coffee for me this morning!!), when we all realized the meeting points defined for the two convoys were both some 50-70m beyond the current barricades at the Abu Dhabi / Dubai border. Luckily Google Maps led all of us to the same cul-de-sac and we could easily reconvene, coordinate and get ready to go. Incredibly, despite the initial mayhem and a little delay by @GauravSoni, Convoy 2 happily moved into the sand by 5:21am through the access point promptly suggested by a super-energetic @Vanessa8580. We made our move into an area of small and technical dunes, quite tricky, I must say, where - however - everyone did very well, with just a couple of minor refusals. The visibility was still far from ideal, as in the absence of direct sunlight the sand looked flat and difficult to read. As we moved east, the first sunbeams lit the path in front of us and we started to enjoy the slightly bigger dunes and a few ridges, until we reached the 1st area of long range dunes, where the fun began. With an extended "spaghetti-style" track, we kept riding higher and higher ridges, with endless slide slopes inevitably ending into bumpy descents across unfriendly bushes, but - hey - the fun at the top was certainly worth the bumps at the bottom. Our little 8 cars convoy was doing incredibly well, so I decided to push the drive level up to Fewbie Plus, climbing higher dunes, including a few criss-crossings and increasing significantly the pace.. Even after this adjustment, the convoy was still flying around with great ease, with almost no refusals and no stucks at all... as, in fact, I was the one who got twice stuck and had to self-recover using all the magic buttons that come with the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.. The drive was incredibly smooth and almost uninterrupted today. We covered the impressive distance of 78.2km in just 2h 50', at an average moving speed of 30.8km/h. This figures, even if a bit doped by the couple of high speed stints across the sabkhas and by the final dirt track to Solar Park, are absolutely impressive for a Fewbie Drive. But what gave me more satisfaction was the fact that overall we stopped for only 18'... (and we had one stuck, one pop-out and one photo-break!!). @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil was taken a bit by surprise initially, as the pace (and the technical challenges) were probably a bit higher than what he was used to.. but when I looked in the mirror or through the window, his smile was only confirming he was having great fun. In fact, after a bit of hesitation during the first 45', Alain gained a remarkable confidence, managed to keep up with the pace and got through a couple of difficult passages brilliantly. The few refusals were absolutely physiological, given the challenges, and the single crested stuck of the day only happened in a moment of hesitation. A bit more practice will be probably needed on controlling fishtailing during long slide slopes, but overall his was a really impressive performance!! @Werno in 3rd position looked, as in all my past drives with him, very cool and easy. If he found the terrain challenging, it didn't show much, as everything appeared quite easy for him. If he had fun, that I can probably say yes, as both he and his passenger were smiling not less than Alain when I peeked inside their car. @AlexPol in 4th position certainly had the opportunity to push his capable Jeep Wrangler LWB (lots of jeeps today!!). I don't recall him having any significant refusals and had the opportunity to watch him ridge riding while looping back a couple of times. Generally in very good control and very close to the crests, he lost the edge in a few occasions, sliding down with a bit of fishtailing. As with Alain, practice will allow him to stick to the crest even longer than what I could see in his brilliant drive today. @RooRzOn had nothing less than a Y62 in his hands, which means a fantastic, powerful but heavy and fishtailing-prone beast, with the additional challenge of driving on 20" inches rims and low profile tires. When I was in his position, some months back with my beloved Nissan Patrol, pop-outs were my nightmare, but Rawan managed his black monster extremely well. Some fishtailing here and there, always well managed with timely choices about when to steer down and let gravity do its part of the job after momentum had been lost on long slide slopes. Very, very well done today. The guys at the back had a great deal of experience, all seasoned Intermediate drivers. It was with them in mind that I attempted to find the most favorable balance between fluidity, speed and complexity, so that while the front of the convoy could refine their skills and enjoy the adrenaline of driving just a bit beyond their comfort zone, the guys at the back could still enjoy the ride for real. In the end, I think the compromise we found was a pretty good one, as I gather @Goutam, @GauravSoni and @Dodi Syahdar had the fun they were looking for, even when fixing Gaurav's pop-out in record time 😂. As we exited Faqa area, we started heading north-west towards Little Sweihan, with a supercharged stint across mid-sized dunes among which we drove seamlessly at exhilarating pace. Just before crossing the last sabkha to Little Sweihan, @GauravSoniwas betrayed by a deceiving crest and had his pop-out, which stole us a few minutes from the final stint in Little Sweihan's bowls, where however we could enjoy approx 15' driving around some of the most famous bowls in the area. By 8:00am it was time to behave.. so we made it to the sabkha and quickly made our way north to Solar Park along the dirt track at the east end of Little Sweihan, making our exit at Solar Park tower exactly by 8:15am, like a Swiss watch. All covered in dust after 8km along the dirt track, but satisfied and energized for a fruitful Monday at work. Congratulations to all, I will remember this drive as one of the best I was blessed to lead. Thank you for your company (and thanks to @Dodi Syahdarfor being a perfect Sweep) and see you soon in the sand again!

Done!

Oooops. @RooRzOn you are right, my bad. You are in CONVOY 2 (ie with me), in 5th position after @AlexPoland before @Goutam. Everyone else behind is one position down the list. I'll fix the post later. Thanks for noticing.

Dear Desert Wanderers, given that we had a lot of requests for this drive and that both @Vanessa8580 and myself were supposed to support @Tamas Hoffmann, it was decided to admit all the waitlisted drivers to the RSVP and to arrange two convoys. Accordingly, please find below the new convoy arrangements. CONVOY 1 will be led by @Tamas Hoffmann and supported by @Vanessa8580: will be using Carnity Channel 1 ( 446.00625 Mhz). Meeting point for CONVOY 1 will remain unmodified (Al Faqa Mosque Parking) as follows: https://goo.gl/maps/mtkeiezKJQyDuf4W6  CONVOY 2 will be led by @Lorenzo Candelpergher: will be using Carnity Channel 2 (446.03125MHz) and will meet approx. 100m away from Convoy 1, a bit further into the sand as follows: https://goo.gl/maps/K39ee1zsy3LvRzi9A Please make sure you double check which is your convoy and that you pick the correct meeting point. @Tamas Hoffmann, @Hisham Masaad, @darren thompson, @PaoloMaraziti, @Chinthaka Ruwan, @Darren Brooke, @Vanessa8580, @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @Werno, @AlexPol, @Goutam, @GauravSoni, @Dodi Syahdar, see you tomorrow morning, ready to go (i.e. already caffeinated, deflated, flagged and briefed) by no later 5:15am (sharp), so make sure you make it to the meeting point at least by 5:00am.

Thanks for noticing. I had mistakenly left the old wording. Now it is updated.

Congratulations @Ahab Shamaa, @Francois Germishuys, @Ilya, @Christian Andras, @Craig Finlayson, @Jorge Stepniak Felippe, @Kalahari, @Shaaz Sha and @Tero Vallas! I look forward to having you in the next Exteme Technical Challenge in Al Bataeh! It will be a hard task to devise a drive up to your "extreme" expectations and capabilities!!

Dear @GauravSoni and @Goutam, pls refer to the below post by @Gaurav:

Drive Brief After last week's 1st @Carnity drive in Al Bataeh, it seems the interest for this new area remains high. This was meant to be an Extreme Drive, but due to the numerous requests, it has been downgraded to Intermediate level, in order to allow the widest participation. Every Carnity off-roader has driven multiple times around Mahafiz and Fossil Rock and is quite familiar with the area and the landscape. What almost no one knows is that just a few more kilometers north from that area is a wonderful stretch of terrain, quite technical and with a beautiful landscape, so little known that there are practically no tracks at all in this area even in the busiest off-roading days. A hidden gem, which however presents very, very technical, terraced dunes, with very unpredictable and very irregular layouts which seem to have been designed to challenge even the most experienced driver. Accordingly, this will be a carefully executed, slow paced, super focused, highly technical drive. We will start at 5:15am from the roundabout between Al Bataeh Road and E102 Sharjah - Kalba Road near Ibn Rashid village and head north-east, making our way through an area of very complex dunes and very soft sand, that will challenge to its limits the technical experience of an Intermediate Driver to overcome, especially considering that we will be making our way from the slip face: we will have to negotiate steep climbs, tight maneuvering spaces, sudden soft sand patches, daring passages that may lead to conquering the high grounds or force to surrender the low grounds sabkha. We and hopefully find a couple good spots for a photo stop and to enjoy beautiful views from elevated positions towards the sabkha on the north east side and the further dunes behind. If the convoy will be worthy enough, we will progressively make our way towards Khorfakkan Road, cross it via an underpass and continue our journey to eventually make our exit in Al Bataeh around 9:15am, completing this exciting drive in a completely new area. General Infos 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 MUST WATCH: NEWBIE VIDEO BRIEFING Drive Details Level: Intermediate and Above (All Levels) When: 4 June 2021, Friday. Meeting time: 5:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: Roundabout at the intersection of Al Bataeh Road with E102 Sharjah-Kalba Road - https://goo.gl/maps/jqJgB18J8xkuQg9t9 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: 9:15 AM End Point: Al Bataeh Road Limited Spots Available: Limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Thursday - 9 AM. 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 THE BELOW CALENDAR EVENT

Congratulations @Islam Soliman! Great achievement, absolutely deserved and conquered with great determination and enthusiasm. Even more so, considering the beast you go surfing the desert with.. Kudos and looking forward to our next drive toghether.

So, after some thinking, investigation with @Carnity members and reading through this thread, I got my Apex Valves and I must say they are incredibly fast. The engineer in me, however, never rests, so the first thing I did was a proper before / after time comparison with the aid of my professional stopwatch operator, my son Miki, to see how serious were the multiple claims I had read. Here it is.. Test on Apex Valves done on single BFGoodrich 255/75R17 A/T KM2 tire: Deflation time (from 35psi to 9psi including fine pressure tuning and cap removal / reinstatement) - normal valve: 90" - Apex valve: 30" Result: Apex 200% faster Inflation time (from 9 psi to 35psi including cap removal/reinstatement and pressure fine tuning) - normal valve: 95" - Apex valve: 70" Result: Apex 35% faster Conclusions: (i.e. how to justify my next mod to my wife): I will sleep 4 more minutes before every morning drive and get home 1'40" earlier after every drive. Considering I do approx. 100 drives per year, assuming a lifespan of these valves of at least 2 years, I'll be saving in total almost 10h/year, at a cost of 35 AED/h .. That is, of course, unless I get wider tires, which would increase the above benefits proportionally.. 😂😂😂

DRIVE REPORT Dear Desert Wanderers, I guess this was one of those drives that will be remembered by all those who attended it for some time. After many drives in known areas, today we had a chance to explore a new territory, an absolute novelty for @Carnity drives, and it was certainly a challenging but rewarding experience for us all. Al Bataeh area, believed for long time inaccessible due to the extensive fencing visible from the nearby roads, is - in fact - a hidden gem, offering a very challenging terrain with beautiful views on irregular an complex terraced dunes, with sudden passages from high grounds to low grounds gifting a great travel experience. We started quite on time, making our entry in the desert from the Ibn Rasheed roundabout at 5:25am. After crossing a rather flat area with small dunes and some occasional rock formations, we moved past the farms, drove along some long ridges and entered the first technical area of the drive. It was a amazing terrain, with some long east/west ridges mixed with some very irregular dune complexes, characterised by multiple terraced layers, with totally virgin sand, looking incredibly appealing for our a climbing attempts. The significant technical level of the drive became very soon evident as we started collecting refusals and stucks one after the other, especially at the back, where the big trucks had to fight through very churned sand: @Ale Vallecchi's drive, after just a few mins, was clearly going to be all about managing such situation, while I had the luxury, at the front, of a couple more breaks than usual allowing me to take a few nice photos. As we slowly made our way north, the convoy progressively came to terms with the terrain, which was however extremely technical with lots of complex passages and unpredictable soft patches. As @Ale Vallecchi commented, today's drive felt in many way an exploration adventure: we really had to find out way though a totally virgin and absolutely not obvious to read terrain, where we never met a single track of any other car. @Arman was a great second lead, always careful and responsive to my last second rerouting and careful at stopping early enough when I had a refusal (and I had quite a few today). @imranaasghar81 and @Abdul Rahman AK at their first intermediate drive, were both "tempered" by today's thrilling drive, demanded to get to the very best out of their driving capabilities, which they both brilliantly exhibited.. @Gok Krish, after the last mid-week prep session in Little Sweithan drive, again showed a brilliant performance, including his ever first tug recovery helping @Rizwan Waheed out of a crested situation. His flashing brand new green shackles and rope finally got some satisfaction. @Niki, based on a few chats exchanged during occasional breaks, greatly enjoyed the explorative nature of the drive, discovering the new landscape as it materialised after each tricky climbing passage. @Javier Lucero led his JK flawlessly, certainly appreciative of his car's great capabilities, especially in this beautiful but deceiving terrain. @Rizwan Waheed had a hard time today, driving constantly in churned sand, quite at the back of the convoy, worsened by an apparently leaking valve (best to have it checked). A few stucks and refusals, (including a tug from @Dodi Syahdar quite early in the drive) where to be expected and are only the demonstration that the ride was all but an easy one today. @Dodi Syahdar has frequently joined my drives recently, and I am quite sure he found today's drive among the most challenging ones, adding new experience and polishing his driving skills further. I often found myself wondering, while leading through some nasty passages, whether I was demanding too much from the poor guys driving those giant trucks at the back, but to my relief they all did well, including @Rob H and @Shehab Alawadhi who both made it across the worst patches of soft sand and the tightest maneuvering spots. @Ale Vallecchi was the hero of the day: with so many stucks and refusals he was all over the place, helping everyone out and fighting himself trhough soft and churned up sand. He certainly deserves a special mention today as he managed an endless number of situations. Once we reached sufficiently up north, we crossed the sabkha and started the 2nd stint of the drive, by far the most spectacular and emotional one for the day. Our route took us south again via the higher grounds on the west side of the sabkha, from where, bordering the edge of those high terraced dunes, the convoy could enjoy a spectacular view, with the sun already quite high. While driving so close to the edge from an elevated position and with such a view out of the window, I felt a great sense of achievement mixed with gratitude to have the chance to lead trhough such an amazing place. As a cherry on our cake, we even met two groups of camels: I took a quick photo, but it doesn't make justice to the beauty of the view from up there: Even when @Abdul Rahman AK got stuck in a treacherous pocket and was in need of being winched out, the whole setting, landscape, and light was spectacular and I guess was worth the waiting for the rest of the convoy. By 9:30am it was clear we were never going to make if for the 3rd and final stint of the drive, the one that was meant to tkae us north again all the way to E102 and then, eventually out in Al Bataeh. It was therefore decided that we would cut our drive short, so we hit the sabkha at the bottom of the high grounds we were driving through, and from the sabkha we quickly made our way out, eventually reaching the same roundabout where we had started our journey earlier in the day. Overall, we drove 40.4km in a total of 4h 40' of which 2h 40' moving and 1h 40' stopped, with a very low moving speed of just 15.1km/h: these data tell a lot about how technical the drive was. Everyone did very well today, and I hope you all enjoyed this drive as much as I did. As the 1st @Carnity drive in Al Bataeh, it will always have a special place in my memories and I'm glad I had you all with me today. After what I've seen today, I think an Extreme Drive in this area will be coming soon.. Stay tuned! Congratulations to all and see you soon on the sand again!

Dear Desert Wanderers, this RSVP is now closed. Please find below the convoy order for our drive: @Arman, @imranaasghar81, @Abdul Rahman AK, @Gok Krish, @Niki, @Javier Lucero, @Rizwan Waheed, @Dodi Syahdar, @Rob H, @Shehab Alawadhi, @Ale Vallecchi, this drive is going to be technically demanding, as the dunes in this area are quite irregular and can be tricky due to soft patches and nasty bushes. Also, due to the high temperatures of these days, you can expect this drive to take a toll on your car's cooling system, so make sure you check the levels of your fluids before tomorrow morning. This drive will require your full and undivided concentration at every step, so make sure you come well rested and hydrated and that you don’t have any reason for being distracted. Also, please consider carefully if you wish to bring passengers along with you. We will be using Carnity Channel 4 (446.08125Mhz). See you tomorrow morning, ready to go (i.e. already caffeinated, deflated, flagged and briefed) by no later 5:15am (sharp), so make sure you make it to the meeting point at least by 5:00am.

Dear @Abdul Rahman AK, it appears that @varunmehndiratta will attend the Extreme Drive in Shuwaib, therefore he has been removed from the RSVP of this drive. You are, accordingly, the next in line to join the convoy, unless you have secured already a spot in some other drive, in which case precedence will go to @Pacific. Kindly confirm.

Dear @Hisham Masaad, thanks for your generous gift. I hope I won't have to use it much... but it's good to know that the right board is in the trunk!

DRIVE REPORT Dear Desert Wanderers, I must say I am really starting to get addicted to these Wednesday mid-week morning drives.. Certainly a beautiful drive like the one we enjoyed this morning contributed badly to my addiction.. When you happen to meet @Gok Krish, @Hisham Masaad and @Dodi Syahdar at Last Exit Petrol Station at 4:50am getting the last shot of caffeine before the drive, it's a mixed feeling: on one side you realize you are totally mad, on the other side you realize you are not alone in such madness! We were all set to go by 5:23am, well before the sunrise. We quickly drove around the fence of Solar Park, then headed South towards Little Sweihan, where we reached exactly at sunrise time, only to realize it was so foggy in the distance that we were only going to see the sun much later. We then entered Little Sweihan Area and started testing the terrain and the convoy response, while the light (and visibility) where still quite poor, which - to my disappointment - caused my first pop-out as I completely missed to see a mini but nasty pocket at the bottom of a very innocent small dune. Luckily the pop-out was fixed in no time with the great help of the team and we moved again. With better light we started increasing the level and the pace. @Frederic had rightly warned me that "Little Sweihan can be deceiving" and he certaingly wasn't wrong. The sand is beautifully shaped by the wind in apparently gentle and round fashions and, given the absolute absence of any tracks, it is incredibly appealing, however the dunes layout in this area is very irregular, with frequent small and medium pockets, deep and steep bowls, sharp and curved crests.. in other words, the perfect ground to challenge a well motivated Intermediate convoy, a chance that - of course - we didn't miss!! As we moved slowly east, we had a very entertaining stint of rapid climbs, ambitious criss-crossings, evasive manouvers to get out of deep bowls, all combined in an amazingy fun "spaghetti drive", as can be seen from the below photo, taken real time from my navigator display (this is what I call "Spaghetti Little Sweihan Sauce", which has quickly gained one of the top ranks in my favourite mid-week breakfast menu): As we continued in our restless wandering, we experienced a 2nd pop-out by @Nivin, who was greatly supported by @Dodi Syahdar while the rest of the convoy enjoyed the fantastic morning views, some of which are here below: It was during this short break that we made radio contact with @Wrangeld who was leading a Master Class not too far away. As the 2nd pop-out was fixed, we continued satisfying our off-road appetite with more spaghetti, putting the whole convoy to a hard test. The terrain was indeed quite difficult today, with sudden patches of soft sand and very tight maneuvering spaces in many occasions, but everyone did very well: @Hisham Masaad was a great 2nd lead, following without hesitation my funambulist lines or holding back waiting for me to complete the full round of the next fun bowl. @Gok Krish, at his very first Intermediate Drive, showed a brilliant performance, handling most difficult situations very well and managing every time to get out of trouble by himself. @Ahab Shamaa found hopefully enough challenges for his experienced drive, while providing precious radio guidance to Gok in the occasion of a his very rare refusals. @Rob H managed his Tundra magnificently, considering the inherent difficulty of maneuvering in such tight spots and across many sharp crests. Exiting one of the big bowls he got crested in a moment of hesitation, but a quick winching got him out in no-time. @Watteau had "THIS IS FUN" written in capital letters on his face during the whole drive, exhibiting a 32 teeth smile every time his tinted window was down, as documented in a photo published in a previous post. I guess it must have felt great to handle the F150 across such a demanding terrain! @Dodi Syahdar was equally awesome at the back, managing the drive with very little hesitation, betrayed only by a small tricky step at the entrance of the last big bowl of the day, which costed him his first ever pop-out. As with @Christian Andras last weekend, experiencing the first pop-out after having made it all the way to Intermediate was a bit of a shock for Dodi, but his supercool temper prevailed in just a few seconds as he was already on top of the truck digging into his mega storage box for compressor and floor-jack. @Nivin at the back was as cool as a cucumber, diligently updating me about the status of the last cars in the convoy and super-helpful with Dodi's pop-out. With the 3rd pop-out fixed, we were all in the mood to continue for another couple of hours, but I had the unfair duty to be mindful about the time and to lead the convoy to the sabkha to reach the fence of the military area on the west side and then head north towards Solar Park long range dunes. We moved so fast on the dirt track that @Hisham Masaad raised his concerns about the possible presence of speed traps 😂..., then entered the dunes again starting to ride some very long and appealing crests. It was again a beautiful moment, but it lasted just a few mins as @Gok Krish's Wrangler had a few sudden power cuts due to overheating. After cooling down the car, it was decided to make our way out through the fastest and easiest route, i.e. along the existing dirt tracks, all the way to Bab Al Shams. It was the right thing to do, as we reached the exit point by 8:15am, our intended exit time. Overall we drove 58.2km (approx. 22 on dirt tracks) for a total time of 2h 55', of which 1h 55' moving and 1h 00' stopped, for and average moving speed of 30.3km/h (clearly doped by the long stints on dirt tracks, where we exceeded 90km/h). It was an energizing short morning drive, literally distilled fun in Little Sweihan, thanks to a wonderful and capable convoy. Too bad @GauravSonicouldn't make it today! Kudos to all, as the terrain was all but easy to drive through. And see you next time in the sand!!!!

Glad you enjoyed. I could see it from your smile this morning:

Dear @Pacific, you were waitlisted for this drive as you 2nd drive for the weekend, as you had already responded to the RSVP of the Fewbie Drive in Tawi Nazwa. However @Rob H had been waitlisted for his 1st drive, so he had a higher priority. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for someone more to drop off.

Dear @Abu Muhammad, thanks for clarifying. Fully understandable choice, I am sure you'll have fun with my good friend @Luca Palanca Falsini. It seems Shuwaib is really his personal playground! @Rob H, you are now admitted to the drive.

Dear @Abu Muhammad, I believe you had already responded to the RSVP of another drive on Friday morning (Al Bataeh Intermediate with me). Shall I remove you from that drive?

Dear Desert Wanderers, One of the things that becomes a bit annoying as we approach the hot season is deflation / inflation: the first for afternoon drives, the latter for morning ones, as outside temperatures are getting way above 45°C and even if these activities take just a few minutes, they last long enough for anyone to be soaked in sweat. For this reason, the quest to find the most time efficient and comfortable deflating / inflating strategies becomes a very popular one at this time of the year. When deflation is concerned, as almost every offroader, I have gone all the way from conventional deflator to E-Z deflator to valve stem remover, having eventually found that removing the valve stem is by far the faster and most effective solution. In recent times, however some high precision fast deflating valves (Apex, to name one brand) have been brought to my attention by the never-sleeping snoops at Google / Facebook / Amazon who kept on suggesting them so frequently that I decided to have a look. These valves incorporate a fast deflation mechanism which allows, once the cap is removed, to deflate as quickly as with a conventional valve stem remover but with the advantage of allowing easy toggling for precision adjustments and for an overall faster deflation as the time lost for removing and putting back the valve stem is eliminated, while retaining the TPMS functionality of the original stock valves, when equipped. I'd like to know more about actual user experience, beyond the enthousiastic one by @Ahab Shamaa, who, I'm sure will share his feedback in this thread. When inflation is concerned, on the opposite, I've looked at the combined option of a) having a compressor permanently mounted in the car so I don't have to spend time and energy taking it out, opening the bonnet, connecting the wires and undoing the whole thing after use and b) using a 4in1 simultaneous inflation / pressure equalisation system with the aim, once again, of minimizing effort and time (while all 4 wheels are inflating, which in any case takes slightly less than doing so one tire at a time, one has plenty of time to do other stuff: removing the flag, chatting around, resting inside the air-conditioned car, rehydrating a bit, checking navigation stats, etc.). I've seen many Carnity members adopting either or both options more and I'd like to hear their opinion, starting with @Luca Palanca Falsini, a known time-optimising freak 😂😂, who recently shifted to a 4in1 inflation kit and from @Hisham Masaad who, I believe, has an on-board mounted compressor. Looking forward to hearing about your feedback, experiences, mistakes, dos and don't, suggestions and warnings, Desert Wanderers!

Waitlist Status Update: Waitlisted for 1st Drive: @Rob H, @Abdul Rahman AK Waitlisted for 2nd drive: @Pacific At the moment nobody dropped out of the RSVP, so nothing has changed yet.

Dear Desert Wanderers, this RSVP is now closed. Please find below the convoy order for our drive: @Hisham Masaad, @Gok Krish, @Ahab Shamaa, @Rob H, @Watteau, @Dodi Syahdar, @GauravSoni, @Nivin, this drive is going to be technically demanding, more mentally for the drivers than mechanically for the cars. It will require your full and undivided concentration at every step, so make sure you come well rested and you don’t have any reason for being distracted. Also, please consider carefully if you wish to bring passengers along with you. We will be using Carnity Channel 2 (446.03125MHz). See you tomorrow morning, ready to go (i.e. already caffeinated, deflated, flagged and briefed) by no later 5:15am (sharp), so make sure you make it to the meeting point at least by 5:00am.