Lorenzo Candelpergher

I totally agree with @Rahimdad's suggestion to experiment. When I started offroading with my Nissan Patrol Y62, I was initially deflating to 18psi, but would often get stuck. I then started deflating more, to 15psi, but I had a (record) number of pop-outs, mostly due to a) having low profile tires and b) being still inexperienced in controlling power and fishtailing. The real game changing moment for me happened when I started driving with much less power (and for a long time in D and watching actively my RPMs to learn how to use the power and what the car would do in the absence of my direct action) and, most importantly, when I shifted from 20" to 18" rims with high profile tires, a fundamental requirement to make it to Intermediate. With less risk (and less mental fear) of pop-outs, I started to deflate more and more as I got more experienced, finding out that 12psi works almost always quite well, with 10-11psi being optimal in very soft sand conditions.

Dear Desert Wanderers, There is nothing more inspiring than starting a desert drive at dawn heading east, straight into the sun rising from behind the scenic skyline of Fossil Rock: the long and gentle sunbeams paint the light orange stretch of sand between Mahafiz and the Rock with amazing colors in a mix of highlights and shadows between sharp crests and large ridges. We will enter this beautiful scenery quietly, almost on our toes, while gaining confidence with the terrain. As much as beautiful the view can be, in fact, equally challenging the drive may become, as we will be making our way through a glaring sunrise (clean you windscreen if you want to see through it!!). There will be a lot to experiment as we approach the Rock: steep ascents, sudden drops, smooth ridges, sharp crests, long sideslopes, soft patches, all dressed with a few bushes in between, but above all the Long Dune, whose name doesn't require anything more to be said. Conquering Fossil Rock will be exciting: even if our stereo will be off, most of us will end up with "The Ride of the Valkyries" as soundtrack in our head as we push it to the top. Depending on the sand cover, we may either attempt an adventurous dive down the steep East face of the Rock or a safer passage by the South-West side, from where we will hopefully make our way, if the time will allow, for a close ride around Camel Rock before heading south and exiting on the tarmac at Faya. @N@ved, @imranaasghar81, @Ashy, @Arda Yagcioglu, @Yusuf Esaf, @Matt.T, @Mikhail Lukichev, @Paul Zeitoun, @Shaaz Sha, @bassel el rafei, you are confirmed for this drive. I can't wait to meet you under the Mahafiz Trees in the morning twilight!

Hi @varunmehndiratta, you are waitlisted for this drive.

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 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. MUST WATCH: NEWBIE VIDEO BRIEFING Drive Details Level: Fewbie and Above (All Levels) When: 12 Feb 2021, Friday. Meeting time: 7:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: Mahafiz Tree Shade - https://goo.gl/maps/Tj9WXKFDYB43KpWZ9 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: 11:00 AM End Point: Faya 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

Dear all, It was indeed a memorable drive for me, actually the 1st one I could finally lead from start to end: 52km in 3.5h, of which a good 2.5h moving time. First of all my gratitude goes to @Wrangeld who gave me the opportunity to take the lead and, by doing so, to close the circle, being there with me from my first Absolute Newbie to my first Full Lead. We started with a mild pace on fairly easy dunes, maybe a bit too easy for most of the drivers. We then then increased both the pace and the technical level, with more challenging ridge riding and a few criss-crossings. The convoy responded incredibly well, with very few refusals and just a couple of stucks. @Nizam Deen handled the rope recoveries with great calm, even when pulling out @Yusuf Esaf's Y62, which he eventually managed to get happily crested, just after saying he wanted the ride to be more challenging.. 😂 We then moved to the area which I have decided to mark in my navigation app as the "Mighty Dunes", where we enjoyed the largest dunes in Lisaili area with spectacular climbs, steep descents, long side slopings and a couple of adventurous passages through tricky canyons. Boy, how fun was that? Just when we were lowering a bit our adrenaline levels and preparing for the last session of long range dunes towards Al Qudra, @Yasas Dharmadasa's gearbox got badly stuck in reverse. With little hopes to get the car moving, and considering also the need for a rapid exit for @Niki Patel's family emergency (hope all is well), we opted to let @Athula Dharmadada wait along with his cousin while we headed out to Al Qudra Love Lakes, ie to the closest and fastest way out, where we had to conclude our ride some 20 mins before the scheduled exit at 11am. Richard and I then went back to help bringing the incapacitated car, which was at least in neutral at that point, down to the sabkha and eventually to the pylon track from where it could be safely loaded on a tow truck. A great kudos goes to @Jack Thomas who was a great sweep, with very proactive and comforting updates from the back which made my life much easier. Congrats to everyone else not mentioned above: @RaYan E, @luwaimn, @Jon M, @Anvar Sadath Bekal@andy_macdxband @Niki Patel. Every time l looped back and had a chance to watch you driving by, I saw you all were doing great. Thanks for being the perfect convoy for my first full lead. And keep an eye on the next upcoming Carnity drives, as mine will be posted soon as well!!

I have a Nissan Patrol 2020 V8 5.6L. First and only SUV I drove in the desert. I learned off-roading with her from scratch, so no terms of comparison. Nissan Patrol is a very heavy car to handle, and is certainly not the most agile one on the sand. The most frequent and nasty stucks are on flat areas, where the car sits on her belly and, being very heavy, is hard to move, especially when the spare wheel gets to tuch the sand (i.e. when you dig in with your rear wheels). As it is a long wheel base, it also requires a bit of learning in order not to get crested. In my early times I had a lot of issues with fishtailing as well, as the back is quite heavy. Having said all this, once you learn how to handle it, you can have great fun and the car definitely is a very very capable one. Further comments on the V8 5.6L 2020 version: 1. Engine is great, very generous with 400HP and 560 Nm torque. Probably more power than needed in 95% of off-road driving conditions, to be honest. But, boy, when you floor the throttle, she sky rockets (or she digs herself down to hell, if you exaggerate!!). 2. For proper off-roading the front bumper needs to be: a) the stock "off-road" and not the "city" version b) protected with a proper, very solid and well designed skid plate c) cut when you reach a level where you attack slip-faces, with the bottom protected with a steel rod or replaced entirely with an off-roading bumper (which is crazy expensive if you want it light in aluminum or crazy heavy if you want it cheap in steel). 3. The back bumper is OK, but needs protection with a light skid plate to avoid having it ripped apart by scooping the sand when the dune entry/exit exceeds the departure angle. 4. Rear mudguards need to be removed or they will suicide soon by breaking just below the bumper connection, but with that they will very likely rip apart your bumper from the side, which is quite a painful experience. 5. You will also need 18" rims with all terrain high profile tires (I have the Kumho 275/75R18 AT51) and as you learn how to handle the beast you can deflate them down as low as to 10.5psi (but usually 12psi is enough). The learning curve, however, implies a good deal of pop-outs before you get there with confidence.. The good part of this is that you will master pop-out recoveries like no-one else.. 6. Don't trust the stock hooks in the trunk to hold down your off-roading gear. They will be soon gone and Nissan seems to have a thing against replenishing their stocks. Best solution is to order a good number of spare ones, so you can replace them by yourself when they will inevitably fail. 6. About electronics... After approx 65 drives I had an issue with the electric motor starter which had to be overhauled because of some sand infiltrations which made it fail. Approx at the same time I also had to replace the crankshaft position sensor, which turned out to have a manufacturing defect. In both cases repairs were done under warranty. I also had issues with the steering wheel button to engage the cruise control, as it was stuck due to some sand having gone deep inside. I had the steering wheel disassembled, air-blown and reassembled and learned to keep the windows up when I do side slopes or attempt self recoveries to avoid sand showering the whole car inside.. 7. The rear diff lock takes a bit to engage/disengage. In one occasion, which @Gaurav probably remembers, I was royally stuck during an Advisors' drive, and was unable to get it to work. Other than in that occasion, it always did what it was supposed to do. 8. No crawling mode on Nissan Patrol. But that will give you the pleasure to listen to @Gaurav teaching you the famous (or infamous.. it depends) "blip-blip" technique, which actually got me out of trouble numerous times and ultimately works with any non-Toyota cars.. Overall, I think the car is great on the sand if you are geared for riding a big whale on desert waves.

It was a fantastic and memorable drive. I had often driven around Lisaili but never had the chance to really enjoy the long range dunes there to the extent we did yesterday. I felt very privileged for having been given the opportunity to take the lead in this wonderful terrain and I am super grateful to @Vanessa8580 for her generous offer to let me take most of the fun she had planned for herself.. It must have been hard to hold back.. I am generally a very rational and calm person, but I must confess I was quite anxious during the initial hour of the drive, while following in 2nd Lead, in the anticipation of my very 1st partial lead. Quite on the opposite, from the minute I started leading, I felt surprisingly comfortable and I indeed had incredible fun. The terrain was amazing and the long dunes, most of which with totally virgin sand, were far beyond my expectations, especially in the final bit where "mighty" would be quite a fitting adjective to describe them. The convoy was superb. Just a couple of refusals, brilliantly managed by @Probir Mukherjee and @Melenany. As a leader in the making, I greatly appreciated their frequent updates, which gave me the comfort to push it a bit more here and there. No stucks (except my own on a super soft patch), not even a single shoveling.. I hope @Hisham Masaad's son will remember the drive for more than just his motion sickness.. I can only say I learned with my own daughter that the back seat is definitely not the best place when dune bashing. My eyes were mostly focused on the way ahead, but @Baskaran P.R's excellent debut as a newly promoted Fewbie didn't go unnoticed. I also admired @Melenany's skillful handling in a couple of situations where his super long F150 negotiated her way through sharp crests. Everyone else, @bassel el rafei(even if for a short time), @Ashy@Anvar Sadath Bekal, @Nacho, @Hisham Masaad, did great. I hope you all enjoyed as much as I did driving with you all. Thanks for being my first convoy!

Dear @Pranjal Varsani with my Nissan Patrol Y62 (2020 model) I went through the following learning curve: 1. I damaged both front and rear bumpers on my very first drives off-road (after just 2-3 drives, at Newbie Level), then: - Changed the front bumper from "City" to "Offroad" stock version (Nissan said it couldn't be done, but with some fighting I got it installed) - Installed a Front Skid Plate (8mm straight and stiffened with two double ribs) + 35mm steel rod behind bumper for protection for frontal impacts; - Installed a Rear Skid Plate (4mm, rounded) to protect rear bumper from being ripped apart by sand scooping in the central part. If you go for skid plates make sure there is adequate space between plate and bumper to allow for elastic deformations in case of impact, otherwise they serve little purpose (I asked for 20mm min). 2. After approx 30 drives (having reached Intermediate level) I damaged my front bumper again, despite the skid plate, due to an impact from the side while attacking a dune from the slip side, then: - had the front bumper replaced and cut by approx 13 cm and installed a 35mm steel rod below the cut line with welded lower metal plates closing the gap left by cutting the bumper at sides of the skid plate (to minimize sand intake) for protection for angled / lateral impacts 3. After approx 50 drives (having reached Advance level) I damaged again the rear bumper again despite the skid plate (bent it outward from the side during a forward tug due to sand accumulation between the rear wheels and the mudguards, which were stuck in the sand with heavily digged in wheels and held the bumper back while the car was being pulled from the front), then: - removed the rear mudguards I am yet to replace the back bumper (currently held in place with gorilla tape), as I am waiting to see if with no mudguards I still have issues and need to cut the rear bumper as well or not (which looks horrible as you end up seeing the whole exhaust pipe and the spare wheel). It must be said I'm a bit fixated with maintaining as much as possible the original aesthetics and doing always the less invasive and less visible changes, as the car is still meant to be driven on-road mos to fhte time.. I therefore hate the idea of installing proper aluminum or steel off road bumpers. They are bulky and squared, and I don't like the aesthetics (personal taste), so I prefer to keep stock bumpers and have them cut and modified in a smart and less evident way. All work done at Bahwan Motors, even if I suspect in the end the job may have been done by the usual guy in Sharjah. I must say I have put a lot of effort myself (and shown my most annoying attitude as an engineer by mindset and education) in the design and execution of all changes, otherwise aestethics would have been totally compromised and (skid place were redone 3 times each before the guy could get them right l).. I learned by my own mistakes and damaged and progressively understood what I needed. A bit annoying, but quite instructive. I have mentioned the number of drives above so you could realize you don't need to do everything at once.. I'll share some photos tomorrow.

Dear @Gaurav, thanks for today's Leaders Lead Drive. Taking the lead for the 1st time for real (and not just for 5 mins on a BBQ drive) was really a new and great experience. I always said I loved the freedom you feel while you drive in the desert, but nothing I had experienced until now compares to the sense of freedom while being in the lead. I really loved it. I also realized how different leading styles can be. It is something we always say, but when actually given the chance to lead and be led on the same terrain you really see the difference: I myself today was all about endless ridge riding and criss crossing, even if going very high, @Luca Palanca Falsini clearly loved the adventure to go for long and straight climbs up to the unknown on the other side, whereas @Janarthan was constantly exploring the unbeaten path across virgin dunes (and bushes, gaining the nickname "the bushbuster".. 😂😂). Looking forward to the next one...

@Ahab Shamaa, looking forward to the challenge! My kinetic rope has been almost completely resting after the heavy-duty use in Liwa, so it is time for a good stretch.. and the Speedex arsenal in my trunk is ready for deployment out of the armored tool box. Last but not least, my son Miki, who has recently shifted his interest from wishing/watching pop-outs repairs to being radio capitain in sweep, said for once he'll happily go back to the old passions and bring pop-corn to fully enjoy the pop-out 😂😂 So, as @Srikumar suggests.. "Bring it on"!. PS: drone footage is unfortunately saved on the hard drive of a laptop under repair since endless time. Hope to get it out sometime in January

Congratulations @Luca Palanca Falsini, well done, we are eventually there toghether.. I look forward to attending the next Leaders Lead cycle with you. It is going to be fun!