Looper

Thank you all for joining the drive. 

I am currently travelling and WILL BE BACK tonight.

We will use ch 2 for the drive and leave at sharp 7:00 am if not early. Following will be the convoy order. 

Congratulations @Gary F. Welcome to the team!

Premiers at 5:00 pm on 8th April 2024

DRIVE PLAN

After a wonderful drive we did in February, let's go for one more round in and around Faqa'a. The drive plan is similar to what we did last time, but will last slightly longer time than we did previously. We will meet at a slightly distance place to start to drive, but we save ourselves the hardship of driving though all the bushes. From our favorite playground at Faqa'a we will go towards Little Swihan and end our Drive at Solar Park ~ 10:00 am or so.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

We request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette and responsibilities.

MUST READ AND COMPLY

• Environmental Policy
• Offroad Flag Guideline
• Two Way Radio Guideline
• Off road Driving Etiquettes
• Emergency details for all off roaders
• Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities

DRIVE DETAILS

Level:  Fewbie Plus and above
When: 13 April 2023, Saturdat
Meeting time:  6:45 AM - Sharp (we will start the drive at 7:00)
Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/c7csDnXfSSVzZzgz9
Approximate finish time: 10:00 AM
Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance.
What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn.

RECOMENDED OFF-ROAD GEAR:

• Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge
• Compressor (MANDATORY)
• Walkie-talkie radio (MANDATORY)
• Off-road flag (MANDATORY)
• Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles
• First-aid kit
• Fire extinguisher.

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE

• This drive is limited to 10 cars only.
• If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list.
• RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list.
• Latecomers will be returned - Without any exceptions.
• Members without RSVP will be returned - Without any exceptions.
• Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others.
• Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month.

PLEASE RSVP ON THE CALENDAR

More the merrier ! We will be on Ch 2 and it will be a quick drive with some very technical drive and visit some nice side sloping area, a break at Crescent Lake before we go back! See you all in the morning. 

6 hours ago, Ranjan Das said:

big dunes are like kids, see one, you have them all!
but do plan a drive on them... will surely join  

TBH it looks Nagra Hill to me. We will check it out tomorrow… 

@Sunil Mathew @Ranjan Das @Patrick van der Loo thanks all for joining the drive. We will certainly do the drive and for Sunil, some portions might seem familiar as we were in a similar contingent sometime back. Most of the drive would take us in a different route to explore other dunes in the Swihan area. 

I was out of station this week and returned today. I saw this mural on the wall of the aircraft and it seemed familiar- any guesses what it could be? 

DRIVE PLAN

It's part of the Ramadan Series and we will have a Quick 2-hour drive, and near to our homes (mine at least 😁). The objective of the drive is to avoid refusals. This area, being technical with uneven dunes, will give us a lot of situations where we find ourselves facing refusal or worse a stuck. We will also try to find some nice dunes and practice ridge riding and crisscrossing. After that, we will enjoy a drive that will take us back to where we started.

Request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette, and responsibilities.

MUST READ AND COMPLY

• Environmental Policy
• Offroad Flag Guideline
• Two Way Radio Guideline
• Off road Driving Etiquettes
• Emergency details for all off roaders
• Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities

DRIVE DETAILS

Level:  Fewbie and above
When: 07 April 2024, Sunday
Meeting time:  7:00 AM - Sharp (Without any exceptions)
Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/f782dd5PLRj9sRV36
Approximate finish time: 9:30 AM
Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance.
What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn.

MANDATORY OFF-ROAD GEAR:

• Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge
• Compressor
• Walkie-talkie radio
• Off-road flag
• Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles
• First-aid kit
• Fire extinguisher.

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE

• This drive is limited to 10 cars only.
• If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list.
• RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list.
• We will not wait for the latecomers, and they will be returned - Without any exceptions.
• Members without RSVP will be returned - Without any exceptions.
• Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others.
• Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month.

PLEASE RSVP ON BELOW CALENDAR

DRIVE PLAN

It's going to be almost a typical "Sweihan Drive", drive tall, drive fast, drive quick. I am trying to explore a new track and some new areas. Bring out your Go Pros and Insta 360s as it is one for the record.

Request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette, and responsibilities.

MUST READ AND COMPLY

• Environmental Policy
• Offroad Flag Guideline
• Two Way Radio Guideline
• Off road Driving Etiquettes
• Emergency details for all off roaders
• Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities

DRIVE DETAILS

• Level:  Intermediate and above
• When: 06 April 2024, Saturday
• Meeting time:  7:00 AM (we will leave at 7:00 am)
• Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/xY6aK4cDazQQ8Ufh6
• Approximate finish time: 10:00AM
• Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance.
• What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn.

MANDATORY OFF-ROAD GEAR:

• Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge
• Compressor
• Walkie-talkie radio
• Off-road flag
• Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles
• First-aid kit
• Fire extinguisher.

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE

• This drive is limited to 10 cars only.
• If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list.
• RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list.
• Will not wait for latecomers and they will be returned - without any exceptions.
• Members without RSVP will be returned - without any exceptions.
• Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others.
• Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month.

PLEASE RSVP ON BELOW CALENDAR

Workflow Examples:

In this video I had framed the video in Insta360 and added music in FCPX. (Jerome led FB Drive at Nahel)

One of my very first videos. I had exported different angles and then layered them to make this video. This one was a lot of work but fun as I was still learning FCPX (Varun led FB+ Faqa'a to little Sweihan)

But as I learnt more, I was able to use Angles feature in this video to cut it according to the music. For this video I had exported 8 different angles exported and then I cut them in FCPX. FCPX becomes slow for more than 4 angles. There were no Telemetry in this one. (Varun led FB+ at Badayer).

 For this video, I exported 4 angles with telemetry from Insta360 Studio and then cut them to the music. There is no panning and titling in this one due to fixed angles. (Looper Led IM Drive at Badayer)

For this video I reframed the 360 videos in FCPX. Overlaid external telemetry.  With Reframing in FXPC, I can change angles as well as tilt and pan with the music which is not possible otherwise. Added External Telemetry overlay (Looper led FB Drive at Qudra).

Telemetry Examples:

In this video I laid the telemetry directly in the Insta360 App, where I also did the reframing. Added music in FCPX. (Seidem's FB+ lead at Tawi Nazwa)

I applied telemetry from external App (Telemetry Overlay) I was the first drive after I got myself a GPS Remote. I have done few iterations of the Telemetry overlay graphics over time. (Looper's FB+ lead at Faya, AD)

PS: I plan to update and revise certain sections to enhance clarity, streamline information for brevity, and improve language and grammar.

@Luke K P, @Gaurav & @Ishak thanks for your inputs, it is much appreciated.

Also thanks to you, I could start to write on the workflow, which I wanted to write for some time now but wasn’t getting around doing.

I have been wanting to update this post for ever; but had been having a writer's block. Anyways I am just posting this for now and I will correct / update it later.

I have been experimenting with various visualizations and editing methods. I have done something different in every video I have produced. I think I need to settle down with one way of doing it, but still, I am leaning.

The main software I use: Insta 360 Studio, Final Cut Pro X (FCPX), Telemetry Overlay and sometimes CapCut for captions. FCPX and Telemetry Overlay are paid software. One can substitute FCPX with Da Vinci Resolve which is free. There’s ton of tutorials in YouTube for all the main editing software (including Adobe Premier)

The three most common workflows I use are:

1. Do the framing in Insta 360 Studio App, and just add titles, intro/outro etc. in Final Cut Pro. Sometimes I have directly uploaded the video output from Insta360 Studio app without any processing in FCPX.

2. Export 4 to 8 different views from Insta 360 studio and then mix them in FCPX using Angles. This allow me to edit to the tunes of the music I use plus gives the impression of having 4-8 cameras being used to record the action. 

3. Export 360 video and then Do the framing in FCPX. Da Vinci Resolve is a better software to reframe in the editing software than FCPX because, when one pan/tilts the angle FCPX only allows linear movement, but Da Vinci Resolve lets you control the speed (like in Insta 360 Studio).

In the first two cases one can overlay telemetry either in Insta360 Studio or produce overlay in external app and layer it in FCPX. I use Telemetry Overlay app for mac. When I reframe 360 videos in FCPX I use only telemetry overplay export.

How do I get telemetry data: Since, I use the GPS remote, the footage has the telemetry data baked into it and I export the *.gpx file while exporting framed or 360 video from Insta360 Studio app.

Why I use music: to hide the wind noise. When I mount the camera on the side of the car it produces a lot of wind noise, and crackling sounds. Therefore, to minimize the wind noise I use music. I have artlist.io subscription for music. In the beginning, I used to use free music provided by YouTube, which is quite good IMHO.

PS: I plan to update and revise certain sections to enhance clarity, streamline information for brevity, and improve language and grammar.

Congratulations @Emanuel on your promotion. Well done 👏 

Congratulations @Shiju Raju on your promotion 👏 well done 👍 

Congratulations @Hugo on your promotion! Well done. 

On 3/4/2024 at 4:06 PM, Looper said:

Last week we drove at Faqa'a and started from E14, at the Abu Dhabi Side. This video shows the first initial part of the drive.

The second part of the drive video - where we enter into so called Little Sweihan Area. 

They say practice makes perfect, and as we keep driving more or less same tracks, we keep doing it better and better.

The morning was an indication of coming of early summer this year. It was about 22 degrees. @JeromeFJ had his convoy near the track and I moved a bit ahead. @JeromeFJ came to greet me and we exchanged best wishes. It was his drive that I had ever come here for the first time. I even have a video of that drive on my YouTube channel.

By 7:07 in the morning we started to move. Short convoy so there we kind of ordered the cars based on their length and every one of them had a role to play. Within 15 min we were at Ghafteen Bowl. This was the most satisfactory entry and exit out of the bowl. Last two times we had come from the west into the bowl this time we came down the north / north-east side. and instead of exiting from the west as we did last two times, we exited to south climbing steep dunes directly. After traversing through the tall dunes overlooking the vast sabkha we went north once again to visit what was marked as one of the first two play areas in my map. We continued this zig-zag pattern of track till we reached the Old Lady Dune. There were some technical patches, some tall dunes and some mid-sized dunes. We cross them all and we did cross them fast. I was keeping up with the track as much as possible (the black line) but towards the end when I saw Old Lady dune, i moved there directly instead of going a bit south to catch up with the desert track that crosses from Nagra Hill to Old Lady Dune (i did that last time - see the pink track).

We had fresh clean desert all to ourselves to make our own tracks. and the drive was almost without any stoppages, and it was possible only because we had a superb team. @Cha, @Anoop Nair and @Stumpy are all excellent drivers and above par, so they made it look easy, a bit too easy if you ask me.

Thank you all once again for your participation, till we meet again very soon. 

@Anoop Nair, @Cha and @Stumpy

It is a short convoy, so we will figure out the order later. There is a Newbie drive at the same place - please don't get lost in that crowd!

On the last two days there has been a fog warning for the coastal areas. Let’s hope it doesn’t hinder the drive tomorrow. Let’s try to move by 7 if fog situation permits and try to end the drive by ~ 10:00 to 10:30 max.

I will post the convoy order later in the day.

Drive Report

When I was reaching to the starting point, I noticed the sun looked extra-large, behind the Al Faya mountains further there was no fog or clouds. Indeed, it was an exceptional drive we had, because of the favorable weather conditions and the track that was compact as a paved mud road we could do things that we will perhaps never be able to do.

My initial plan was to go to the left side from where we started and from there towards camel rock but when I saw the pristine tall dunes on the right, I was determined to make a dick move (you see 🫣 what I mean?) after that we came near the pink rock and climbed towards camel rock. That was not a track to climb up, that is for climbing down from the other side, but we could do it without any issues. I love that place for stopover and while we did only about 45 min drive by then I wanted to stop anyways for the views. The drive from Camel Rock towards Big red saw us navigating between play areas at 50-60 kmph and more if you believe others. At the play areas we climbed dunes that are unimaginable otherwise. we literally could climb Big Red standing still at its foothill. 

The terrain: The smaller tracks were all washed out and the dunes looked like tiramisu cake. The larger more churned up tracks however were quite bumpy and had to be navigated with caution.  We tried to avoid the cross tracks as much as possible and when we found tracks, we tried to drive along with them instead of crossing them.

The Loops: I like making loops of the same place again and again and we did plenty. Initially sometimes I had to stop to let the back of the convoy pass before I can move but gradually, I made them larger and larger. The best loop was made just before exit for our last hurrah when we were on a perfect loop with entire convoy driving on a large single-track segment and me driving behind Fabien for one round till, I came back to the place where I started to follow him and then I took a different track. There were large patches of radio silence whenever we were engrossed in the driving pleasure.

@Ranjan Das was at second lead behind me, not a usual place for him these days but he was superb. I was playing catch me if you can for most parts and glad to have you behind so that you could actually catch up with me, and also moderate the drive behind you when I was literally flying. @Fabien Monleau was as usual very supportive at the back. 

Thank you @Marek_was003 for your drive report. I did not realize it was your first FB+, we drove earlier so I was under the impression that you have done a few but you ended up with a FB++ drive, you did great though. It was first time driving with @Robk hope you enjoyed the drive. @Deepak Eswar, @Rk ram, @Zulfikhar Naiyar & @Mahmoud Taha there was complete radio silence from you for most parts that meant only one thing - you were engrossed in the drive. @Emanuel I saw your video few times already, a fantastic one and I see that the final cut version is also has been released by you. This video perfectly summarizes what we did that morning. Thanks a lot!

I see that you have not disabled the Kid-mode on the video please see following post on how to disable it.

DRIVE PLAN

Remember this drive we did few days ago (9th Sep), posted by @Frederic, where I took a bunch of Jeeps and went to Sweihan. I took a different track than that of Fred where I went to Ghafteen Bowl and from there to Nagra Hill and Sweihan. I redid that on 4th November 2023, where we instead of going to Sweihan went to Old Lady dune. Now I want to take the original track as Fred intended. 

Ensure the car is fully topped up with gas.

Request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette, and responsibilities.

MUST READ AND COMPLY

• Environmental Policy
• Offroad Flag Guideline
• Two Way Radio Guideline
• Off road Driving Etiquettes
• Emergency details for all off roaders
• Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities

DRIVE DETAILS

• Level:  Intermediate and above
• When: 16 Mar 2023, Saturday
• Meeting time:  7:00 AM
• Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/FVLixGinNMWgbiKy5
• Approximate finish time: 11 AM
• Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance.
• What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn.

MANDATORY OFF-ROAD GEAR:

• Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge
• Compressor
• Walkie-talkie radio
• Off-road flag
• Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles
• First-aid kit
• Fire extinguisher

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE

• This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday
• If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list.
• RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list.
• Latecomers will be returned - Without any exceptions.
• Members without RSVP will be returned - Without any exceptions.
• Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others.
• Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month.

PLEASE RSVP ON BELOW CALENDAR

@Rafey Hashmi, @Deepak Eswar, @Gautam Banka, @Mahmoud Taha, @Anoop Nair, @Rk ram, @Gary F, @Marek_was003, @Robk, @Zulfikhar Naiyar, @george charbel, @Emanuel, @Fabien Monleau, @Ranjan Das 

It is not as bad as I thought it would be, and for the time being seems like we dodged the bullet. It is always better be cautious than sorry. We will perhaps have a G Force "Light" tomorrow than "Max" version, so I have added all the enthusiasts that have joined the drive till now. Won't mind some last-minute dropouts in case something crops up for you.

We will see how we do it in the desert tomorrow and go about doing it accordingly. Not all needs to be planned, sometimes unplanned is better than planned. The tracks might seem stiff on the top but soft underneath, so please be extra cautious. Also please make sure that you have tied down everything and nothing is loose inside your car. If it permits us to do what I think we want to do, then please be wary of the motion sickness - just in case.

We will tackle G Force on Channel 2 (looper's constant) and in the following convoy order:

Heads up: the UAE met department forecasts heavy to very heavy rains for the weekend, and all roads leading to the valleys and mountains will remain closed and fines announced. We will monitor the situation and update on the drive by Saturday afternoon.

Last week we drove at Faqa'a and started from E14, at the Abu Dhabi Side. This video shows the first inital part of the drive.

I was travelling with back-to-back meetings throughout the week hence I was a bit cutoff on the communications, while I tried to accommodate as much as possible missed to inform on time for the remaining 3 WL members.

Drive Report:

The morning was chilly & after a quick briefing we started. The plan was to have a quick break at the jungle and then see the cliff faces. The area is mostly bushy, and there is no escape from vegetation if you want clean dunes. The next objective was to go to the far end of the Faya Dunes where we were supposed be riding on the cliff face but an incident with the @Mohammad Sayawoush Azad's patrol that went too near to a bush derailed it. While we went very near, we unfortunately missed those magnificent views. There's always a next time as I perfect this track. On the way back we once again had another incident when the patrol had a popout, but I am glad @Mohammad Sayawoush Azad is well prepared for every situation. The best was kept for the last. By now most of us were already warmed up and had a brief drive around a very very technical area at the start itself that I had deliberately avoided at the beginning of the drive. We finished the drive on time for an extra surprise post drive.

Thank you very much @Ale Vallecchi and @Joji varghese for all your support. I couldn't have done the drive without your help. @Cristian you were an excellent second lead. A lot of new faces for me as I am not doing FB drive a lot these days, but it was an excellent convoy. Thanks, you @Prithvi Raj, @Sandeep Nayar, @Shaun J, @Mahmut, @Mohammad Sayawoush Azad, @Julien Recan, @Haneef Thayyil, @Faraz94 for joining the drive, hope you enjoyed it.