topgear

@Frederic thanks for your help and guidance today. My mistake/lesson learnt, esp as second lead, is to stop in a safe place and wait, the moment someone in the convoy is stuck to avoid a similar situation. The sand in that area was so soft and it made recovery very challenging. Massive apologies to the rest of the convoy for holding up the progress. Thankfully the rest of the drive was smooth... @Nivin this time, when I got to the top of Fossil Rock, I made sure I stopped on the harder sand and pointing down. thanks for the tip. @Lisa Pembertonthanks for the explanation today on the MM compressor. I have passed on the information to my friend. He will probably go for the MM instead of Bushranger due the price point and 5 years warranty.

This is a good photo of the situation. My son was like how long do you intend to keep me in this lopsided position 😅 This is the view from the car.

Should be fine for newbie drives provided you follow the trails laid out by the convoy.

Before this, I had no idea that stickers like the big star or additional stripes etc actually requires approval from the Police or RTA. This is good info.

@Tamas Hoffmann if I recall correctly, this is the location BAI-05 to buy the Baofeng UV5R Walkie

I will get a full sized shovel as the risk of me getting stuck is quite high😅 It is a blasphemy though that foldable spoon is for sale all over the place. When I googled spade/shovel offroad on Amazon, I get quite a few foldables.

Luckily I asked, otherwise, I would have gone for a foldable for ease of storage. 😆

Thanks! I am not too hear to DIP but at AED15, it is worth making a trip.

A spade, is a spade 😁 but I am sure there are lots of variables in terms foldable/non-foldable, weight, material, size etc For off-roading use only, what should I get and where can I get one? I guess, it should not be too heavy since it will only be used on loose sand and not wet and compact soil. What is the price range? Suggestions to buy them?

@Probir MukherjeeI just bought the Baofeng UV5R at AED70 from Dragon Mart about 2 weeks ago. I have used it for 2 drives, so far so good. The only comment is to make sure that you press the talk button for 1-2s before you start to speak. Very good value for money for AED70

@Frederic I have left the Pink Rock event and I am staying on this. I am looking forward to my first drive with you.

I am looking forward to the race this evening, 5pm UAE time. Nico Hulkenberg who is driving Racing Point qualified 3rd and it is a stellar achievement. I hope he gets his first podium today. Bottas put his car on pole after last week's retirement due to the spectacular tire blowout. Daniei Ricciado is starting 4th.

Thank you to all the experts who are all very generous with sharing their knowledge and skills and special shoutout to the marshals who have led the drives @Srikumar @Gaurav @Rahimdadand all the seniors who have driven with me. Appreciate all the support. Thank you ! Thanks for the tips !

Congrats @Sreejith Sreenivasan

Very enjoyable drive and valuable lessons today. As I was following @Srikumar his driving, steering input was so smooth and effortless. At times I had to ‘wrestle’ with the steering and throttle to replicate similar lines😅

Bottas has just renewed for 2021. Looks like Merc wants stability over young blood from their junior program, the likes of George Russell or Estaben Ocon. I can understand why they do it especially since it is the year before the new rules but I prefer that they go for a younger drive in case Lewis retires. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.analysis-6-key-questions-about-bottas-new-mercedes-deal-answered.5uqiWFwogVNNBICB1mXKs7.html