Looper

I filled my car at ADNOC Al Faya (891). From here the meeting point is 20km and 21 min.

Unless you are driving in the desert on your own or leading in the night - the stock lights are sufficient. You will know when you need to upgrade automatically. If you have to ask - you don’t need.

It’s going to be a 1 hour 40 min drive in the morning and including time for fuel top up one need to start at 4 am. Makes sense to go early and have a nap beforehand instead of rushing in the morning.

Thank you everyone for being patient with the troubles I was having - it was the first for me. It was a freak incident to be frank. Somehow the belt that runs the alternator came loose which stopped battery recharging as well as stopping giving power to all the electronics. In the dunes when we tried to jump start the car the car would start but the battery would keep discharging & there was not enough voltage in the battery to move the car, hence all the error messages as well. After the drive, assuming that it was a problem with the battery, we replaced it with a new battery. But it too did not recharge but at least it had enough juice to move the car, so we raced to come out of the dunes so that even if something were wrong, we could at least call the recovery truck. On the way back it lost voltage sometimes, other times it sustained the voltage and a few times it recharged itself for brief moments as well. Once we reached the road, we inflated my car and moved towards a mechanic in Sweihan, where we bought the battery. On the road the car once again kept losing voltage, but it also kept moving. Just 100 m to the repair shop the battery was at 7 Volts and I had to take a left turn but there was traffic, so I had to make a complete stop. At this moment, the car wouldn’t move as there were not enough volts in the car to engage anything. In an attempt to recharge the battery, I revved the car to almost 6k RMP and after just 10-15 seconds the battery suddenly recharged to 13.4 volts and held ever since. I gave the car for service today and expect to get it back tomorrow. I want to commend @Varun Mehndiratta for his wise decision to deal with the car troubles post-drive. This gave us time to think through our options and avoid unnecessary actions that could have caused further damage to the vehicle and caused a bigger drag on us and others who would have been involved in the recovery process. In the end, the car not only drove itself to the road but to the town as well, and we were lucky with the decisions we made. I would like to express my gratitude to @DP1011 , Deepak wrangler, @Gok Krish , @Zed and @Varun Mehndiratta for their support until I reached home safely. I am extremely grateful to the entire convoy, and it is a testament to why I love @Carnity so much. At Carnity, you can always count on the team to ensure that nothing is left behind, and we all work together to resolve any issues that arise.

/s not sure if they are joking

@Jona, Congratulations on your promotion. Well done! Enjoy your new level.

Congratulations @Sam K on your promotion. Well done! Enjoy your new level.

After a long unplanned break it was my comeback drive and it was everything one expects from a newbie drive. The terrain was fantastic with mild technical drives between wide open desert dunes where everyone had enough to hone their skills while being safe. A big Thanks to @Fabien Monleau, @Melenany and @Waqas Parvez for their committed and excellent support. And @Gaurav for not only leading the drive but never stopping to remind that there is always something to learn for all in every drive especially for members like us. And thank you @Jeetu Sharma for a commendable job in the 2nd lead. My thoughts for newbies is that - driving in the desert is a team sport and keep enjoying everything that you are going through. Each refusal is a learning experience on how not to get into refusal or what to do next time you face a refusal. Every break is a time to socialise and learn from other team members their experiences and identify what you can do to your car, to your driving style and overall how you can become a good driver.