Looper

Congratulations @J-P L in your promotion, certainly a deserving level upgrade.

Congratulations @nithish468 on this penultimate lever of driving. You will certainly enjoy this level.

Congratulations @Ben Lee on your promotion to Fewbie Plus. Enjoy your new level.

Agree to the wet sand issue on Saturday’s drive. While I was running, or rather flying through the dunes. I can understand the issues faced by back of the convoy. When sand is dry, even if the track is churned it allows for the sand to move a bit and make it easier to drive. But wet sand makes hard tracks that don’t budge and make it more challenging to drive. On Sunday it was fairly dried up.

As much as it looks nice to blast sand around, you should not be doing it. In the best-case scenario, you have a pop-out, but it is also the leading cause for rollovers, as sand creates a wall underneath the tires and flips the vehicle. You should be very careful with fish tailing and under no circumstances fight gravity. The true skill of desert driver is in driving with the least amount of disturbance on the top layer of sand. I would advise on caution in what you do because you travel with guests including children.

Drive Report While in most respects both the drives were similar, there are some key differences. First section was done in an overall narrower area on Saturday, but it was a tad bit more fluid. On Sunday I was trying to do it different and wandered around a more. We covered more distance on Sunday in first section than on Saturday, but it was also ever so slightly rough on the edges compared to Saturday; May be because finally I was feeling the bumps of the track we left behind on the previous day. Second section was done on a more challenging track on Saturday, resulting in more refusals and consumed more time. I toned it down on Sunday to reach the next section earlier, and also because we had to take a detour to the pillion track and back. I like the way we did it on Saturday obviously it was more of an adrenaline rush. The third section was the best area to play. We spent a short duration there on Saturday and moved on because we were already late, and we suffered refusal that took the time allotted to play in that area. On Suday we had a flawless drive in this part of the desert. As a seasoned off-roader, who has seen more greenery in the desert than sand lately, I cannot even try to describe how happy I felt here. I could have spent the whole 3 hours here and not do anything else. Even the exit was smoother where we exited. I think it was done better on Sunday. We just about entered the Fourth section on Saturday but it was late already so we did a bumpy exit to the pillion track. I hope you all enjoyed the drive. I would like to thank @Frederic and @M.Seidam to be in the drive, you guys always there to help out on the refusals and it was confidence boosting to have spare leads in the drive (due to recent issues with my car though it is good now). Also big thanks to @Anoop Nair and @Bjoern for being excellent second leads. Till next time... PS: A note on speed: While the average speed of the Sunday drive is much more 19.1 kph compared to 12.9 kph on Saturday, we can see that the difference in moving speed was lot narrower. It was 20.6 kph on Saturday and 21.9 kph on Sunday. A point to note that we had more pillion track to cover on Sunday compared to Saturday that would have favorably affected the Sunday. We were also doing a bit more difficult areas in Section 2 on Saturday. So, on Saturday, we moved less but when we did, we moved with as much vigor as we did on Sunday.

Apologies, didn’t see this message. Unfortunately it was quite late as the convoy had already started to leave.

I am back & doubly so. 💪

Yellow Truck Season is upon us. It's an annual ritual held mostly during the winter months. I invite you to the 2024-25 edition of the famed Yellow Truck Drive. My trip to the location last year: -------------------------------------------- Yellow Truck, what is it - or should I say what was it?: Buried deep inside the Bu Hasa Desert near Madinat Zayed City, there was an abandoned water tanker truck, which due to its remote location, had become a pilgrimage for many off-roaders all over the UAE. It’s not there anymore, in 2023 soon after our drive it was taken away. Before that in 2021 someone painted the truck in national flag colours. Coming forward to early 2024 someone put another truck, yellow in colour in the same location. It is not the same truck, and frankly I don't feel connected to the new one as much as I did for the last one, because it doesn’t have the same heritage and history. But there is one and would like to go and check it out. May be my feelings towards it will change. How did it get there? Nobody knows. Only Speculations. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. We can go there and get our own ideas. What's the location? https://goo.gl/maps/9aiJC29bUyRFHmvJ9 Those who wish to join this drive from Dubai it's a 3+ hours to the meeting point, so ideally well rested body will enjoy this entire day drive without much fatigue, so reaching a night before and camping or sleeping in the car at meeting point would be ideal, but completely optional for everyone. Some say the pre and post drive parties are as famous as the drive itself. ------------------------------------------- SIGNUP CHECKLIST MAKE SURE THAT YOU CAR IS IN GOOD RUNNING CONDITION. Your car should have been serviced recently and all the lubes and fluids are topped up. Repairs inside the desert are going to be a difficult endeavor and are despised. A full fuel tank at the meeting point and extra fuel of 20l in jerry can would be needed. The spare tire should be in good working condition. If not been used recently, ensure that you take it out and check the condition properly. Please ensure that your car has the right tool to remove the tires (if needed). Air compressor, proper shovel, flag, fire extinguisher, first aid kit will be mandatory. Fully charged radio (tuned to all Carnity Frequencies) with spare battery / radio. If you have a car charger for your radio, please bring it along. Car charger / battery pack for your mobile. The drive will start at in the morning time to be announced. Make sure that you reach and are ready to leave on time. The drive will last approximately 6 hours and of will be for upwards of 120 km in the desert. Get lots and lots of rest the previous day. Liwa will not only challenge your vehicle but your mind as well. For those who prefer camping the previous night, you can do so at the starting point as it's a nice spaced-out area. Bring some firewood incase if you wish to have a bonfire to keep you warm. Cleaning up after the bonfire is mandatory. Plenty of water, approx. 5 liters per person per day. Bring along your breakfast, lunch, snacks, etc. in easy to eat packaging. We shall be having breaks during the drive. Dry food, energy bar, cookies, nuts, crisp to munch while driving Bring garbage bags along to carry your trash. Littering in the desert is strictly prohibited. Please take this event seriously and understand that this terrain, due to its remoteness and size of the dunes will challenge everyone on this drive. If you decide to bring passengers, please make sure they have spent a full day already in a vehicle in the desert and are used to it. There are hardly any nearby exit tracks and rerouting might take hours, so once we are in this terrain the aim is to complete the entire drive and visit the Yellow Truck

This video took some creative approach while editing as I have applied some effects that needed machine learning for better optical flow of the video files and though the video is just 11 min long the cache took more than 2 TB of fast SSD space - that I did not have. Please like and subscribe on YouTube.

I have revised the convoy order as follows. We will be driving on Ch 2. JAN 5, SUNDAY

The drive RSVP is now closed. After the rain this morning - seems like we are going to have a totally different track than anticipated. While I am not sure of what I am going to see, I am anticipating a lot of green and/or fresh dunes without any tracks and white sand (in my dreams at least). It will be super technical in some parts. There are some moderately big dunes as well. Let's find out. PS: my topless car would have got wet this morning. It is in the garage so still need to pick up and see. We will be navigating the "scenic route" on Ch 2 (Looper Constant). Nearest Fuel Station is ADNOCAl Faya Shahinat - 2 (763), I am doubtful if they sell 98 octane. Come on E611 then go towards E311, fill up and take a U turn at Seih Al Sedeirah Roundabout - approx. 15 min detour but nearest to fill in. CHECK THE DAY / DATE OF YOUR DRIVE CAREFULLY JAN 4, SATURDAY

@Michael asir this is a fewbie plus drive, i am going to remove you.

@khlief since you have joined the Saturday drive I have removed you from Sunday drive. I don't think you are mad like me to do drive the same track twice.

@Mahesh_ please exit from Sunday drive if you are good to go on Saturday..