Thomas Varghese

Congrats @Ale Vallecchi for the incredible achievement. Always enjoyed your drives

1st of all I thank God to have made me participate in this drive so that I could meet some men and a woman who has nerves of steel. People who had looked so ordinary turned out to be super heroes. Thanks @Shaaz Sha the lead, @Ashok chaturvedi the SL, @Vaibhav, @Waqas Parvez, @topgear, @Aisha S, @Pacific the CF, @Gilbert Khalil, @Davie Chase, @MMansoor who all showed up on time for the drive so that we could start our drive on time. The start of the drive I was feeling excited as I have never driven in this area and didn't see any cross tracks which showed its not a very frequented area by off roaders. The start was exciting with some low level side sloping, ridge riding, and cross overs at a medium pace right from the meeting point. The drive proceeded with minimal refusals and few stucks which gave the opportunity to take out the shovel and the rope. I appreciate @Aisha S & @Davie Chase for fully understanding the club's instruction of staying put wherever you are when the car in front is having trouble negotiating the terrain. They stopped and patiently waited for the car in front to get out of the situation even risking themselves stuck in that awkward position and meanwhile helping out the driver with shovel and clear instructions and also everybody else for keeping the radio channel free for the lead and support team to use. As our marshals have always instructed us this is perfectly ok and less stressful for the lead and support team rather than worsening the situation by crashing into each other. Well done. The drive proceeded excitingly for the convoy and soon found @Mehmet Volga's & @Kailas's convoy on the way. It was nice to exchange greetings and pleasantries with them and we moved on to other parts of the desert to explore. Soon I found myself in a very precarious situation stuck at almost 50 to 60 degree angle on the side of a small slip face. I had to call the support of @Shaaz Sha & @Pacific to rescue me from this tricky situation. Meanwhile friends like @Davie Chase, @MMansoor, @Gilbert Khalil & finally the 2nd lead @Ashok chaturvedi chipped in with their shovels and tried to dislodge my car from the sand wall build up. @Davie Chase gave me the gentlest of pulls to yank me out but didn't help much and we were worried the car may roll down the slip face. Good job buddy and I can sincerely recommend you to tug me out anytime as it was a very professional pull you executed. Don't bother about not being successful. The crucial point is your pull didn't cause a roll over. Anything hard would have definitely triggered a disaster. Finally @Shaaz Sha's experience as a lead paid off by shovelling more at the right places and after a bit of left right, blip blip accelerator the sand slowly released its grip on my car and it slowly slid down and we all sighed with relief and proceeded again in our drive. The 2nd part of this drive is when I saw @Ashok chaturvedi stopped in a position which resembled a crest and somebody I think it was @Waqas Parvez or @Vaibhav shouting frantically into the radio don't follow Shaaz to Ashok. As there was no reply from Shaaz I immediately rerouted from my position along with @MMansoor to reach where Shaaz was, to check out on him. I found Shaaz alright sitting inside his car but the windscreen broken and some minor scratches on its sides. Shaaz pushed open his door and calmly walked out. The rest of the convoy followed the path I took and joined us. The X surely had a roll over and had a double pop out on its left side. Shaaz explained what had taken place. As he was coming down straight from the top of the dune his front driver side wheel dug into the super soft sand as it was a slip face and resulted in a pop out throwing out the momentum of the car into a disarray. Even while the car was rolling down he had the presence of mind to switch off the engine, crouch into the seat protecting the head from banging on the roof. Well God was also on our side and he came out unhurt. This was the time I saw a perfectly behaved convoy. Nobody crowded over the car, nobody tried to be a vocal hero, everybody pitched in with their physical efforts to recover the car. @Ashok chaturvedi slowly winched out the car from its position to flat ground. Then we saw the lady @Aisha S in action. She coordinated the efforts to fix the jack under the car and saw to it that the pop outs were fixed soon after. @Aisha S proud to have driven with you and I promise will drive with you anytime. The 3rd part of the drive was when the X proved what a car it is. It showed us why its called the mighty X. It sure is the mighty X. Right after fixing the pop out and getting rid of the cracked windscreen @Shaaz Sha simply drove out from the desert in the X as if nothing happened. Everyone followed him in the convoy order. The X maybe injured but not out and certainly will not limp. Proud to own this breed of car. It saved the driver from any injuries and after some care could drive itself out from this to exit. I want to stress something which I learned from this incident. All the drivers and club members should be aware of the risks the trip leads take to keep us entertained in the drive. The importance of a good 2nd lead. The lead is driving and driving through unknown terrain where there are no roads or sign boards to warn them of the dangers below. Desert is a very dangerous place. Shouldn't drive without paying absolute attention. Some people say this Marshal is exciting that marshal is ok or another marshal is boring. There is nothing like that. They drive and take the lead so that we can learn to drive offroading in the most safest way. We should be respectful of the risks they take. They too have a family waiting for them to reach home just like all of us. Shaaz plus point is he takes us through unchartered areas of the desert where few people venture into. This makes his drives exciting but remember all fun has its risks too. He took the risk so that we can enjoy the offroading experience. The other important lesson I learned from this is never drive in the desert or anywhere without wearing the seat belt. 100% it was the seat belt which protected him from flying around in the car when the roll over happened. Other than this everything went smoothly at the police station for the police report. Once the car was inspected by police they released the car and its right now reached its garage for repairs on a recovery truck. Thanks everybody for joining the drive. It was my honor to have driven with such level headed drivers in a convoy. See you soon in the sands. Pictures will be posted in the gallery as soon I can transfer them from the camera to my computer.

Absolutely agree with @Davie Chase. A very fast paced drive which made me think if @Hisham Masaad has already started training to see how fast he can take a convoy through semi technical areas to compete for next year Desert Champion contest. Enjoyed from start to finish. Despite the pace, the soft sands, cross tracks the convoy performed very well. The CF @Looper could enjoy his drive as everybody drove well with minimal refusals and ZERO stucks which shows the strength of the convoy in negotiating such terrain. Everybody from the 2nd lead @Joji varghese, @Junaid120120, @topgear, @Rsjiv Samuel, @Davie Chase, @Sunil Mathew, @Chris Wing, @Daniel Yang drove with finesse to the leads satisfaction. See you all soon in the sands. Some pictures posted in the gallery for all of you to enjoy.