Islam Soliman

Dear @JeromeFJ @Darren Brooke @Lakshmi Narasimhan @Ranjan Das @RooRzOn @Niki @Matt.T @Rizwanm2 @Danish Mohammad @Mario Cornejo @Mehmet Volga @Hisham Masaad It's time we wrap up our plan for tomorrow morning adventure with basic details. 1- weather is getting hot and we want to have an early start hoping to cover majority of the track by 8:30am before heading to the exit to inflat by 9:00am before we get roasted. 2- This requires prompt presence at the meeting point by 4:30am and be ready to move max by 4:45am (deflated, flag erected, 4H on, radio on and set, airbags/traction/abs all set....) 3- Please ensure your radio is on, fully charged, and set to the right frequency: channel 3 (446,056.25) upon arrival to do a quick radio check 4. when you arrive, pls try to take your position (if possible) based on the below convoy order 5- briefing will be done on the radio as we start moving See you all on the sand 😎

Congrats @Werno

Congrats @Nithin Vaidir

@Zed, which car do you intend to bring to this drive?

Hi @Russ @Ranjan Das @Sunil Mathew @Zed @Adhir Saxena @JeromeFJ You are all added to the drive.. see you on Sat morning Hi @RooRzOn, we had 6 WL already on the drive (2nd drive) which made the full 10.. but having you is always a pleasure so will make it 11.. see you on Sat morning.

Someone need to quickly come up with a vaccine for this virus before it gets widely spread 🤣🤣

I agree with what @Frederic said. However I saw many cars flying of a ridge due to approaching with higher-than-needed-speed to avoid getting crested but resulting in flying off the crest and land hard with front almost hitting ground, depending on the sensitivity of the airbag impact sensors can deploy the airbags. what @Lawrence_Chehimi mentioned about ABS is 100% true too. However, personally, I don’t like kill switches as they add more potential failure points to sensitive systems and if they are not done professionally can lead to unpleasant incidents. So I go for the simple solution of unplugging the fuses from the fuse box while deflating and put them back while inflating. In my case, 4 fuses; takes 10 seconds. Of course I know this may not be an acceptable solution for our inconvenience-tolerant Lazyboy gang @Hisham Masaad @Ahab Shamaa @Watteau @Lorenzo Candelpergher @Niki🤣🤣🤣 switching gear @Christopher Assal, when do we get to try the cake?

I was recently sweeping a convoy and witnessed first hand the importance of keeping “enough” distance between the cars.. getting stuck or losing the track is the least of my concerns compared to what I witnessed getting my heart almost out of my chest. the convoy was smoothly moving through nice dunes and approaching a ridge that we had to ride and cross, slightly challenging but perfectly doable for F. Three cars on the backend of the convoy took part on this incident and I am thankful to the mercy of ALLAH that all walked out of it without any injuries or damage to their cars. the first car approached with a lower angel and less momentum than required so took the right decision to safely exist to reattempt. the next car was obviously too close and got distracted with the first car losing momentum and then existing, didn’t have enough time to react so slipped and got stuck close to the top of the ridge. third car followed without paying attention what happened to the 2 cars ahead and while midway to ride the ridge noticed the car infront of him stuck at the top so slowed down (too late) and car started to free slide stopping less than 1 meter from the stuck car almost bumping into it. While the 2nd and 3rd car were going through this the 1st car was already halfway accelerating going for another attempt which would for sure led to an unfortunate incident by then I arrived and had clear visibility and started shouting like crazy at the 1st car to stop! p.s. all 3 drivers are experienced drivers who I have seen in many drives drive extremely good. So in my opinion what went wrong: - situation awareness: all drivers should have full and undivided attention on what’s happening around them and respond; - radio comms: any car that has a refusal should or stuck should immediately announce to alert others are who may not be paying attention (all 3 cars failed to do so) - safety is everyone’s job: anyone on a drive (even if not a senior or support member) who observes a situation that can escalate to a problem should speak up and alert the convoy and not rely on seniors only to take action as sometimes those can be far from off or not having enough visibility of the situation - safe distance: occasionally missing the track is far accepted than being too close with the probability of a collision. Remember simple mistakes most times will not harm any one and can go unnoticed, but adding multiple small mishaps on top of each other can lead to large unfortunate incidents specially in extreme sports like offroading. Wish everyone safe, enjoyable, and full of fun drives

It’s no surprise that cyber crime is on the rise varying between different kinds of ransomware attacks on individuals as well as large behemoth corporation despite of spending billions on their cyber defence but still proved ineffective in some occasions. FBI just announced recovery of millions of cryptocurrency that was paid in ransom to prevent shutdown of a key US pipeline company. I hope @Lakshmi Narasimhan you are not paying the price for this and the attackers are now coming after you in revenge of FBI success! Digital transformation comes with its own set of challenges; elevating the game higher and to some extent requires compromises on privacy, SPI guardrails, and exchange of confidential data. Financial services fraud is equally on the rise leveraging combination of cyber security breaches due to weak security frameworks, social intelligence breaches, and unfortunately inside jobs. I wish there is an easy answer to have a good night sleep, but unfortunately it’s a risk that we have to accept as individuals or businesses and sometime a price some of us have to sadly pay for the gains to quality of life and economy growth we all gain by embracing digital transformation. Some advises hopefully can help: - carefully choose who you bank with and only transact (specially online) with merchants using the highest available encryption technologies to make sure your data is not vulnerable. - Continuous change of your passwords/pin codes (every month or 2 max) is advisable and of course don’t use easy passwords or same passwords/pin across multiple platforms/cards. - Lots of attackers are able to mimic exact replicas of very known websites/merchants that you can’t tell any difference to the original websites and they know already you know these websites, you deal with them, and your trust them.. so most people will fall for it. The trick is the URL address they send you is going to be different from the original one, if you are not paying full attention you can easily fall for it. - Ensure SMS notification is setup for the correct phone number you always monitor to be on top and take immediate action against any suspicious transactions. - Stay vigilant with communication (phone, WhatsApp, emails, F2F,.. etc) as it’s found that most of the attacks starts by very “basic” social engineered phishing techniques that will not get any one suspicious until very late, but the information gathered by these techniques enable these attackers to have enough to empty your wallet sometime without leaving a single fingerprint behind!

1st or 2nd drive @Jack Thomas?

Thx a lot @Niki.. will explore this option… P.S. Old is Gold 😂😂

Yes but I think they discontinued installing it for newer models 😢 2012

Thx @Frederic, so a filter can be added? Didn’t know that.. will check with my garage.. thx

Hello fellow Off-roaders, posting here hoping someone can help with an answer out of similar experience. The more I take my Yukon to the desert the more I notice that when I turn my A/C on and fan on high speed a blasting sand storm comes out of the a/c vents for a minute or two before it settles. I tried to look for the A/C filter to clean it but found out for 2012 models onward GMC discontinued the a/c filter they used to install behind the glove box. As this is a repeating thing, I am wondering if someone have any similar experience of a solution to prevent (long shot) or at least remove the sand by myself after each drive or even on weekly basis.. TIA

Current WL: 1. @Jack Thomas 2. @Danish Mohammad

2nd Drive WL: 1. @Russ 2. @Ranjan Das 3. @Sunil Mathew 4. @Zed 5. @Adhir Saxena 6. @JeromeFJ

2nd Drive WL: 1. @Russ 2. @Ranjan Das 3. @Sunil Mathew

Current WL: 1. @Yusuf Esaf 2. @Jack Thomas

@Nathan Evans thanks for the interest in joining the drive. However unfortunately and to ensure fairness to everyone we need to ensure required level is attained at time of RSVP. Hence, I will have to remove you from the drive for now. Once you have your F+ promotion you are welcome to RSVP again or if no slots add yourself to waitlist and I am hopeful we will be able to accommodate. As an alternative, I have another Fewbie drive on Sat morning which I will be happy to have you on; if the timing works for you pls RSVP.

@Yusuf Esaf, is this your first or second drive for the WE?

Congrats Rudolf @Rjducos

Congrats Chris

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. Drive Details Level: Fewbie and Above (No Newbies) When: 12 JUN 2021, Saturday. Meeting time: 4:30 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/TE4EqoPWwNFiTaRs6 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), face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 8.30 AM THIS IS A COMPRESSOR ONLY DRIVE. WE WILL ENDING THE DRIVE A POINT, WHICH IS NOT CLOSE TO AN AIR LINE. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A COMPRESSOR, PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS DRIVE. IF YOU ARRIVE AND HAVE NO COMPRESSOR YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO JOIN THE DRIVE. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Thursday - 3:00pm 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 Calendar below

UAE summer is tough not only because of the high temperature (50+ Degrees) but also because of thick air saturated with humidity not making it easy on our cars and our lungs too. Staying hydrated at all times is a must and falcon eyes on the engine temp gauge as well as transmission temperature are all equally important. my experience with my Yukon is, the car performance will start to degrade when it gets hot even without serious moves on the gauges.. A/C blowing thick less cooled air, partially losing power at high climbs, and strong engine vibrations all start to take place randomly and intermittently while gauges still look ok. Being cautions of these behaviors gives me early indications of situation to start taking corrective actions before things to escalate requiring stopping the convoy and disappointment of fellow drivers. first actions is of course kill the A/C and rolled down my windows while partially avoiding pushing the car on high climbs. This will for sure make things better .. if situations continues and temp goes above midpoint I switch off the A/C compressor and put the temp control and fan speed to max and start enjoying the by-product of a free sauna 😂 while continuing to drive at average speed (1500-2000 rpm) immediately brings things back to normal. I haven’t modified any thing in my car (yet) including cooling and have been able to manage so far..as stated by everyone there is little that can be done when driving during the UAE hot summer specially on daytime. Very early morning or late evening drives are for sure less stress for both driver and car and plenty of these options are available during weekends and midweek too so everyone can enjoy with their own preference. Opting for easier recovery options is always a good idea where possible specially during daytime. P.S. I liked and tried Angela’s@Foxtrot Oscar idea of latched hood yesterday and it for sure helped, as stated it’s very important to make sure your latch is solid and no chance of the hood taking off 🤪