Thomas Varghese

Its a beast. Nimble and fast. That's why I compared the X to a galloping stallion. And maintenance is affordable. Parts are available new or used. Its neatly balanced also. In fact you will not feel terror when you ridge ride and cross over. The width of the car is good to stay on the ridge. I just started to love the X after the desert drives. Diff lockers are not there in my model but this is only a hobby for me. Buying a 2nd hand X is not expensive.

Please add me to WL. 1st drive

congrats @Anvar Sadath Bekal for the new status. Look forward to drive with you soon.

@Danish Mohammad just imagine one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding the walkie talkie. Moreover as I was alone I had to speak to someone so I felt the best way is to keep talking to the Marshal. All the time he kept thanking me which encouraged me more as it was suiting my boredom. Well if I'm the sweep in future drives u can hear All well at the tail - Convoy is moving.

To dream and talk about it anybody can do. To dream and implement it only few people with determination and will can do. Thank God you didn't listen to my advice about it and made it. Same is with everything else we do. You believed in your idea and believed in yourself and made it happen. A big Cheers.

@imranaasghar81 thanks for your kind words of appreciation. To be honest I'm not a pro photographer or pro off roader. Just because I have the tools I experiment. My equipment is only an entry level camera and kit lenses. My car is a base model without any serious mods. I just try to unleash the power of whatever I have in hand. The pictures I shoot in RAW mode and post process in Adobe Lightroom. Its an easy to understand and use photo editing software. I use a flatter picture profile like Canon C _ Log as the picture profile so that it will capture most of the dynamic range of the scene and post process them in Lightroom. BTW your contraption on your FJ to mount the 360 Go Pro is an engineering marvel. Seriously its a wonder the whole thing holds the camera in the midst of all the bumps and jumps against the drag it creates. Hopefully you will make more contraptions and test them out so that all of us can benefit. Kudos @imranaasghar81. You are an engineering genius.

I actually didn't want to do the climb as I was apprehensive if he can really make it up and there were 3 bouncers on the way up. I could see the other cars bouncing off those nasty bumps on the way up. Then the car spoke to me in my mind. He asked me why are you even driving me if you don't know what I can do. Be brave, you just unleash me and I will show you what I can do. The words of @Rahimdad rang in my mind - He once told me you don't realize the power of your car unless you unleash it. Well both of them made me do what I thought was impossible. I decided to give in and make the car happy. Ohhhh how happy he was. You all can see how he is galloping from the bottom to the top. See his reactions on the bouncers. Just rammed through them as if he was taking a stroll in the park. The Xterra only had the stock Bilstein shock absorbers to absorb the bouncers and they did well. Once past the bouncers he just raced up like a bullet. Nearing the top I was little afraid that he may even try to fly into the horizon with so much excitement so I had to slow him down and bring him back to his senses. He was not very happy but obeyed my command to come back to the base and join others. Same thing he repeated again at the big Al Faya dune. I didn't know he was racing up because his friend @Rahimdad was waiting up with his newbies. In fact I didn't want him to get spoiled by mingling with others. I asked him to come down and he obeyed dutifully and joined back the convoy at the base. Only when @Rahimdad came down the dunes with his convoy I understood why he was keeping on climbing up and up. He just wanted to say hello to his friend. Sorry @Rahimdad next time he will come to you.

Video courtesy @N@ved. The Morning fewbie drive @ Big Red. Driver @Thomas Varghese. Car XTERRA 2008 basic. Stock condition except for skid plates. WhatsApp_Video_2021-02-05_at_12_15.30_PM.mp4

Sorry for the overheating issue @Foxtrot Oscar. The old stallion was a bit tired after being driven so hard over the sands from morning without a rest. Moreover he climbed two huge dunes upto the top during the morning drive with @sertac and many more with you without any complaints. Fortunately for both the convoys there was not much relaxing times in between for him to cool down a bit as everybody was driving to their best and few refusals or stucks. The Xterra was managing all this beautifully without any complaints. In fact I believe he was galloping with injured hoofs as I noticed the flat out tire on the front passenger side once our drive came to a close. I think I had a pop out somewhere in between during our drive but nothing was there to be felt during the drive. The tire had marks on being dragged through the sands but popped back right in when air was pumped in and till now the air pressure is holding. What more should I ask him to perform? Xterra is an extinct breed killed by its own parents. They were made to go to places where there are no roads and they still do it with a little care and love given to them. Not at all expensive to maintain and they do the job as good as any other off roading car. Thanks for your compliments about my driving but I think the credit is all the car's. As @Rahimdad once told me Thomas you don't know what your car can do and you will learn to master him once you do regular drives of offroading. I'm only starting to experience it and I like him more and more now. The drive you led was very exciting and the best till date for me. You were driving over those dunes like possessed. I could see you know exactly what your car could do and it seemed like man and machine were in perfect tandem. Like dancing on the sands with beautiful & graceful moves. Wanted to shoot more pictures of the landscape but there was no interval. The sunset while ridge riding and crisscrossing was again beautiful even though I couldn't capture them as there was no way we were stopping. Our primary aim is to drive not to take pictures. ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL DRIVE @Foxtrot Oscar & MY FELLOW DRIVERS. I WOULD GO OUT FOR A DRIVE ANYDAY WITH YOU ALL.

The route

One for all and all for one. No one is stranded when the @Carnity team will not give up on a difficult situation.