Christopher Assal

@Enrico Biscarothe canyon we used to drive in in Mushriff which is now most likely benches and cycling tracks up hills and picnic areas. The canyon and it’s various hills were awesome for driving up or climbing. Driving the boat in the creek was pretty cool too with hardly any building around it. I do love Dubai now for what is also though, you can still find old Dubai if you look hard enough. Funnily enough I found out old house derelict in the middle of Mirdiff still hanging on to the construction that happened around it 😂

Having been in an and out of Dubai since 1980 when I was born, (in the Uk they where giving away free passports then 👍🏾)and I have seen the place change. We where a Lebanese family living in Mirdiff and starting business here . Everywhere was quite in the 80’s in Dubai SZH road being two lanes and jebel Ali beach being in the desert 😂. Al Ghurair Centre wasthe first mall we visited with shops , visiting Sindebads as a child , we were frequenting there a lot. We lived on the edge of Mushriff park ……my playground then a complete desert being watered into what it is now, my father when I was 5 came home with my first desert toy. I remember the day clearly when my mother freaked out at him and he opened the doors of his red 84” Range Rover Classic and there was freedom. My first desert toy a 50cc Suzuki quad. Soon as it hit the ground I was on it, hit a corner on tarmac full pelt and realized straight away how to drive on two wheels on a 4x4 before crashing obviously in the first 5 mins. But that was the start of my desert love, gradually through the years the engines got bigger, the wheels got less. Driving the cars was a part of the learning curve, driving when I 6 years old for the first time in dads lap while he accelerated for me ! I never wanted to live here full time though. Was just here on holidays, 3x a year, job offer after job offer turned down when I was older. Till now and COVID trapped me here , lucky though I was here when the country locked up. The funny thing is before lock down I spent 8 years at sea, crossing the Atlantic multiple times, Indian Ocean , Red Sea everywhere traveling the world cooking as a chef for people with more money then sense and ridiculous toys! Till COVID and a lock down and a fiancé who put her foot down and said enough traveling the world and now I’m here again. Traded in my addiction of the sea back for the desert as a child but in an adult toy this time, my patrol, I always loved that car seeing the locals go anywhere and everywhere in it when was younger. Funny though as a child how I used to cross the desert alone no worries, not getting lost, water bottles of petrol tied to the back , granny’s food packages and friends in tow. We could draw you a map of the tracks we used in mushriff park and the canyon that was there! How different driving in the desert is now and what we consider safe rules to not go alone and what was the norm before. But here we are today spending every non working moment driving again with friends or with carnity when possible, making new friends and back to bringing the desert home to my living room too annoy a woman I love . First my mother now my future wife! 😂 Desert or ocean once you are deep in and at the mercy of Mother Nature there is something beautiful about it’s simplicity and I often find those who love being at sea for different and similar reasons love traveling in the desert too. See you in the sand all.

Hi . Very very sad to say that an event on Friday came up that I need to work for , so I have removed my name from the guest list much to my dismay. 😞🤦🏽‍♂️ . Regardless I hope you all have a safe and fun drive . I’m sure my spot will be filled in no time at all. If it hasn’t already 😂

Nicely done 😊👍🏾👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Hi all, thanks for this morning! Great drive, great self recoveries, smooth continuous driving, great company on the radios, learnt new things as with all the drives with carnity and lovely lines!!!!!! Can’t wait to see you all out there again! Enjoy the long weekend everyone.

Can’t wait! See you guys in the morning….. 🚙🏜

Amazing recovery, well done to all. Most importantly safely done and no one hurt. Although some tired people I imagine after being up all night. Quite remarkable how much and how quickly the desert changes. Noticed it a lot over the past week!

Awesome, nice one

Nice plate

@AnishS Hi I’m sorry but I’m going to have to not join the drive tomorrow apologies and my space is available for anyone who wants to join instead. Thank you

Love the honesty 👍🏾

Fantastic drive today , so thank you all. Was great and for the most part we didn’t exceed the limit. On couple of occasions due to the churned up sand and not picking a smoother less churned line to the edge of it I did exceed the limit, for fear of a refusal. Also a couple of the flats in the cycle track area I couldn’t help but push the gas a little to catch up with the convoy 😂. Always fun putting the foot down on flats . @Wrangeldyour drives are always a pleasure, appreciate them and the support from the experienced team members. @Janarthanthe shoveling master class was much appreciated and see the ease of doing it your way rather then my previous back breaking method . @Tarecki always keep my eye on those behind me and you drive well keeping safe distances and I wasn’t concerned in anyway and was a pleasure watching the patrol ploughing through the churned up sand. Also thanks to @varunmehndirattaits always great to get feed back from senior members on how we drive really appreciate it. I’m also glad I finally know what the Burj Khalifa is!! wondered what you guys were talking about 😂

Fantastic! Congrats 🎊🎉

When I did the masterclass I noted that we didn’t really go over 2500rpm, maybe due to the route taken . I keep my eye on the rpm because I don’t wish to cause unnecessary stress on the engine if it’s not needed and also due to the chance of overheating in this weather. So maybe unless we’re trying to fly up the tallest dunes we don’t and this was all a farce 😂😂😂. Can’t wait for the 4.30am surprise

Yes i tested too and was also heading into an area I’d rather not in terms of tickets. Maybe not where the raptor sits but close enough to abort mission certainly 😂😂

Honestly , loved reading this thread and all the thoughts. Been thinking non stop about the drive, how it’s going to be , how each member and their car will react to each situation. How my heavy LWB car will control at these revs and conditions compared to other member SWB with good power to weight ratio 4wd. My conclusion is over thinking it will not help and there is no real preparation for the situation unless you have done this sort of drive before , except careful, intuitive driving and being instinctive and listening to and feeling out your car and the sand beneath you. Don’t be tempted to floor it but moreover feel your way into and out of the tricky situation. I remember my father her as a kid driving his 83’ SWB Pajero in what was is now Mushriff park, never getting stuck and rarely in 4wd and that I guess that was pure control. His car certainly wasn’t as advanced as ours now. I never knew hippy off roaders existed till I just wrote this 😂

I have a spare set of dice from my backgammon set , I’ll bring them! 😂

At least 2500 is more then the. 1500 I experienced 😂👍🏾🎉🎉

Just want to say thanks for the drive last night to @Wrangeld and @Janarthan@Gaurav Soni@Anand Nataraj in support. Especially when my car went in to limp mode. Was fine on way home and seems perfectly normal today but obviously waiting to get it checked out before another drive! Thanks for the mini brainstorming to try get back to normal and the quick exit out 👍🏾

Very excited and can’t wait! Looking forward to driving with you all and maybe visiting spicy market as I had my eye on it a few times now and as a chef was very curious 😂👨🏽‍🍳 See your all in the sand , just curious are we meeting directly in front of the Fort @Wrangeld unless I made an error I didn’t see a pin location. Thanks

@Lakshmi Narasimhan my first experience of those types of dunes was in Qudra with @Wrangeld but I think I was not experienced enough to enjoy it as much as I should of. Next drive like that with with Richard I will definitely sign up for.

As a first Fewbie drive I won’t lie I did have a few nerves. After we first entered the desert and hit a few bigger dunes then I attacked before the nerves really kicked in. However watching @Anish S @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil and @Marwan Haddad drive with skill I pushed on and learnt as I drive. Compared to newbie this was fast paced , technical and sooooooo much fun and I learnt a lot about myself and my driving. @Anish Si believe you have shown me that I love technical driving , mid paced , tight turns , small difficult bowls and cris crossing mid size dunes. Really enjoyed even with a couple of refusals , however even there learning from other Marshall’s in the past we didn’t stop and kept momentum and came back round. All in all everyone drove so well!!!! The momentum was fantastic, unless I’m mistaken only two major refusals through such a tricky drive. Are all fewbie drives this technical and at that pace? With reference to a post I made Re kill switches , yes I will be getting them installed, traction control was not an issue however the ABS did kick in a couple of times on this drive when I’d rather it hadn’t , causing me to have to adjust my braking on the fly! I also had a big hit exiting a side slope early in Qudra where the first thing in my mind was “Airbags” ,car was fine thank god however the bash plate has officially been christened and is definitely not as straight as before 😂. @Lakshmi Narasimhan @RooRzOn fantastic support over the radio and keeping the team knowing what was happening in the kid and back of the convoy. In a way was a shame not see you rescuing more of us and advising the team as we got stuck and learning but I guess that’s a good thing you didn’t have too. Thank you all great mid week drive! Really amazing and learnt a lot again.

Hello team Carnity Another topic too help with the many thoughts running through my head for my vehicle . This one is Re improving lights or light bars / spots for evening drives! I have thought about purchasing and fitting a light bar or spots for the car for night drives. Had a couple of small missions in the evening and noticed my old 2014 lights are not as effective as I would like. What are the opinions of just improving the current fitted lights on the car too LED or HID headlights. I’m sure this would undoubtedly improve what is seen at night. OR is a light bar or spots much much more effective then that first solution? If so I would love to hear opinions on wether spot lights suffice , light bar would be much better and wether there is a preference in general too LED or HID. TIA and see you in the sand!

💥💥💥👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🎉🎉🎉 Congrats!

I would definitely think this as a great drive idea, the waking up in the morning is a struggle for me as much as love this hobby 😂