Ashy

Thanks @Brette for exciting drive, this is the first time I drove through a lot of technical dunes which gave good workout for my shoulders 😂... first time the convoy was lead by not 1 but 3 JGC😉

As @Frederic mention it was a perfect mix and awestruck seeing his Pajero pulling the mighty Patrol out😱 

Thank you @Srikumar, I confirm for the drive.

Congratulations @Brette

Please add me to waitlist 

Please add me to waitlist 

Please add me to waitlist 

Please add me to waitlist 

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi for the exciting drive. Excellent briefing with clear explanations on approaching & passing of dunes and ridges. Looking forward for the next drive 

Congratulations @Senthil Kumar

Congratulations @Alexander Alcala

Congratulations @Anand Nataraj

Congratulations @Franco Swart

@Rahimdad, I am excited too... sure we will have plenty😄

Congratulations @Nivin

Congratulations @Sinol

Thanks @Frederic for yet another fantastic drive. It is always a better experience driving with you in the lead. @Brette, pleasure meeting you...have known you by name and finally met today... thanks a lot for the tips on JGC... had to face few challenges at the end of the trip with the tyre pressure increased. As suggested, I will be keeping the pressure at 12PSI for the future drives... thanks again guys 👏👏👏

9 minutes ago, Frederic said:

DRIVE REPORT

Another lovely day in the Al Qudra sands....

I was glad to see so many new faces, all ready to hit the sand and learn the essentials during this drive. Most arrived well before 05:00 so me and @Wrangeld could help them with deflating. We always try to leave as early as possible to have the maximum drive time in the sand, so please try to arrive before 5:00 so you have ample time to deflate and receive the convoy instructions or ask to help for the radio and other details.

@SureshVNair you either forgot to set your alarm, or went to the wrong meeting point, as we did not see you nor you informed us that you could not make it. Shame as this spot could have been taken by someone else.

@Ashok chaturvedi was my second lead and drove very well, steering the Pajero LWB perfectly on the right track, and keeping a watchful eye on @mathewjo behind him, who drove well but will need to overcome the fear of pushing the car a little bit more, and that initial fear of the other side when crossing a dune is totally normal and will take a few drives before that settles.

@Ashy with the JGC managed well, this is not the easiest car to learn and i suspect there is lots of electronics holding the car back.

@Arun Mathew with the Green Jeep Wrangler struggled a bit initially, but after lowering the tyre pressure a bit you improved a lot. I hope the overheating alarm did not came back.

@muzamil hussain @Andrei @Kailas it will take me a little while to distinguish the Jeep Wrangler colours from each other (who drove which Wrangler), so my apologies. You guys managed very well, and also have seen the use of deflating further down to have better flotation.

@Ajiesh George Kannankara that Patrol of yours was sliding through the dunes without much effort. Very well done !!

@Jinesh Thomas your FJ cruiser has all the bells and whistles and looks great, you drove very well !

@Sajit Modiyil The Nissan Xterra is a fantastic offroad vehicle. Get yourself familiarized in switching off the traction aids and getting the right tyre pressure. Overall you drove very good !

@Erwin van Helden, what can i say about Erwin, except for the fact we could not miss to see that black H2 monster, that you drove great through the dunes by the way !

At the end of the drive, nearby the exit track, @Wrangeld had the honour of pulling the Hummer of the dune with the little TJ, and did this amazingly well. Unfortunately the Hummer was feeling a bit stubborn after the recovery and did not want to start anymore. Erwin noticed that the lever was in P, but the dashboard was showing R. A quick look on Youtube told us that in that case the transmission shifting lever underneath the vehicle has come off. And luckily we were able to clip it back in place and resume the drive towards the exit.

I hope all you guys had a good drive and initiation to desert driving. There is lots more fun to follow on the next drives. My main recommendation to all you guys is to practice deflation, test the accuracy of your pressure gauges by comparing with the gas station pump, to make sure 15psi is really 15psi and not 19psi. (BIG difference). Unfortunately many gauges are not very accurate, and it does not hurt sometimes to bring a second (different brand, type) gauge to double check. IF you have offroad tyres, you can deflate further down to 10-12 psi and will feel the positive result of that immediately.

The sand was quite soft and lots of the tracks were quite churned up today, looks like many other clubs or drivers had their fill on the long weekend. 

Quite a few had a flag and radio already, thanks for that. To the other drivers, please arrange these for your next drive. As you have seen the flag is very useful to spot the vehicle going over the dune. 

My apologies i was not able to do the debriefing after the drive, as i instructed Richard to take the convoy out to the Hamari well while dealing with the Hummer issue. I hope you guys enjoyed and please type your feedback on this topic !

Welcome to the club guys and i hope to see you all back soon !

 

Big Thanks to both @Frederic and @Wrangeld... appreciate the patience! Looking forward to the next drive

Hi @Frederic, thanks! 
I am driving Jeep GC Upland 2019. I confirm availability of front and rear tow points. Also, the ground clearance is above the minimum requirement (attaching pic for me reference). This will be my first ever off road drive.

Hello @Frederic, I couldn’t make it last week so this will be first time. I wish to start from the beginning, hope that’s ok. 

Hi Srikumar,

Please check the pics of my car and advise if it is within the minimum ground clearance requirement.