topgear

12 minutes ago, Lisa Pemberton said:

@Frederic thanks for a great drive. Loved every minute of it and really keen to get back to a play area now I've figured out tiptronic on the Pajero. You were right, it upshifts from 2nd once at an appropriate speed. I really appreciate the feedback you offer during drives and come away from each one having learned something new!I got a nice shot of you taking the FJ Cuiser for a walk below 😜.

Hope I answered all your questions about the MeanMother air compressor@topgear. I was struggling in the heat when you caught me so I'm not sure how coherent I was being 😅 .

Thanks @Ahmed Azmy for the awesome aerial shot of Fossil Rock in the gallery 👏 👏 and @Nivin for basically starring my Pajero in your home movie 🤩😎. 

Looking forward to next weekend already! 

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. 

1 hour ago, Sandyman85 said:

Thanks a lot Frederic.. I m just worried that the air dam which is too low (6 inches) from the ground from factory.. Will try out once anyways...

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 

13 hours ago, Frederic said:

Dear @Ashok chaturvedi @topgear you have signed up for two newbie drives for Friday morning. Kindly make a selection so we can use the open spot for other members.

@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 !

1 hour ago, Nivin said:

Congratulations @topgear!!

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

It will be even better if Mitsubishi can launch an offroad version of Montero Sport given that the Pajero is being discontinued. 

I feel painful looking at the X-Ray 🥴

I have seen a couple of (presumably) 4.0 Fortuner on the dunes and they seemed very handy and capable.

It is a shame that Mitsubishi could not develop something else that can succeed the Pajero. I used to have a SWB 3.0 Pajero and enjoyed my time driving it. Unfortunately, that was before I discovered the dunes and did not take it to the sand.

Personally, I also prefer some essential controls to be adjustable via knobs or buttons. Muscle memory will help a lot. Touch screen only for non-essential and elective controls, like radio, maps, phone connection etc. It is an overkill and disaster waiting to happen when something essential like wipers speed need to be adjusted via the touch screen.

I am still learning the ropes of offroading from the experts here.  I agree that many 4WD in stock form are more than sufficient for newbie trails. 

@Xaf thanks for sharing. It is good for me to learn from others' experience. I did toyed with the idea of upsizing the rims and tyres before.

@Xafwhat would you have done differently to your LC200?

I have not been to that many but from the few (Pink Rock, Fossil Rock and Solar Park), I prefer Pink Rock purely from the picture quality/outcome perspective. 

3 hours ago, Gaurav said:

I totally agree with @Veedooshee suggestion.

Don't take me wrong, with added weight duster might struggle more unless you deflate to 12 PSI (which I did for your FR climb), but then no sharp turn or your tire will pop out of the wheel.

Also duster feedback from my side, try to find out on how to keep it locked in 1st gear for long hill climb, as while doing FR climb it was shifting up and down from 1 and 2 every 10 seconds. When it stayed in 1st it was very responsive and climbing better, while upshift to 2 (same Pajero known error), it kills the momentum. But in duster case (better than Pajero) it also downshift again to 1st after 10 second, to give a second chance.

Question, for long hill climb, do you start at D and then put it on 1st gear when loosing momentum?

Yeah the tyres today could not take the stress/loads of the high speed corners. Hopefully it’ll be better next week or even better if the tyres are more fragile so the teams will have more pit strategy options. 
 

3 hours ago, Xaf said:

Not a team but personalities:

1 Max, 2 Lando, 3 Charles and lets see what Russell will do next seasons.

Max is definitely world champ in waiting and he’s still so young and so experienced. I feel sorry for all his past and present team mates. Albon is not doing well at the moment. 

Bottas and Carlos are the biggest loser today. They were in for a good haul of points till the last couple of laps.