Imteeaz

@Simon D congrats mate - looking forward to our next drive under your lead.

keep it up mate

@JeromeFJ big congratulations mate - you simply do not stop amazing me with your drives.
You took me (and the gang) to the YT in 2022 - what an experience.
Keep it up mate.

Cheers

@DP1011 yeahhhh time to celebrate mate - congratulations on your milestones mate - well and truly deserved.
I am looking forward to be on your drives mate.

Cheers

3 hours ago, GauravSoni said:

@Zed @Imteeaz @munkybizness I will add you guys to the drive… let me know if you. Are up for it!!! Please confirm

AYE AYE Captain

@Davie Chase hello Davie - any luck in joining the gang for this drive?

1 hour ago, Looper said:

It was controlled chaos from the start and especially at the end, just before the exit. As I planned it was a 2-hour drive, with half an hour's break. What I loved most about this drive was we conquered all the Big Dunes & Bowls that came in our way. Iftar Bowl ✅, Super Bowl ✅, all big dunes ✅.

The sand was wet as if it rained the previous night, but I guess it is going to be like that in the foreseeable future due to the dew during the winter. The upside of the wet sand is it makes climbing dunes a tad bit easier, the downside is all the vibration while driving on the churned-up tracks, there is no escape from that hell.

Thank you @Jona, @Tareq Al Turq, @Amir Amiri, @Joseph Raju, @Cha, @Imteeaz, @Pacific and @Sunil Mathew for your participation in the drive. I hope you enjoyed the drive. 

Gaia Track

@Looper thank you for leading such an amazing drive - enjoyed every second of it!

we had very good drivers and barely any refusals.

well done to everyone and looking forward to the next challenge

cheers

It has been couple of months since I last joined an IM drive, and I was not disappointed to have waited that long.  With the new scheme from Ale, we all pitched in to identify a waypoint that we wanted to explore.

@Ale Vallecchi thank you for giving us the opportunity to follow your lead, identify the waypoints, and also enjoy ourselves during this drive.  with such a beautiful (and cool) morning, it was tempting to stay in bed....

It was also a good opportunity for me to train for the upcoming DCT, with high paced drive in tricky terrain.

I hope that you will be able to get your 'power' restored to your car.

@Salim Akhtar @Tareq Al Turq @Jona @Beide Worku  thank you for making all of us enjoy this drive - barely 2 - 3 re-attempts, which is normal considering the terrain, including the break to help the 3 'locals', who BTW, followed us for more than 1 hour until they wanted to get out and find the nearest gas station.

Until we meet again, enjoy your week.

Cheers

56 minutes ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

Dear @Jona, @Beide Worku, @Imteeaz, @Tareq Al Turq, @Ranjan Das and @Salim Akhtar, welcome to the drive.

As announced on the post, please start looking at the area we'll visit, from Nahil across Nagra and beyond, to select the waypoint of your choice. You may refer to the screenshot of Google Maps that I have posted, searching within the area that I have highlighted in red. Begin exploring from the planned meeting point and study the area through any mapping application you are used to utilizing; I personally use My Trails, but most I am aware work with Gaia. Once you have found a point of interest that you wish to reach, please take the waypoint, and post it in this thread. I'll collect the chosen marks by Friday morning, so I may look at them together, and devise a suitable drive's plan. We'll share together, before setting off for the drive, my reasoning for the route that we'll plan to take. 

Thanks a lot, and keep me posted.

24.37207, 55.51787

@Ale Vallecchi i have provided the coordinates for now - at the foot of Nagrah Hill - lol 

@Mohit Gurnani well deserved mate - keep flying...

Thank you for all of you that managed to join us for this amazing drive, under the lead of the one & only Ale.

@Ale Vallecchi  you have got that something that makes your drives special; i enjoyed every minute of this adventure, which ended up a bit later than planned.

I also enjoyed the radio-silence when we were navigating the difficult patches in the desert; we all agreed that summer is still out there, and it only makes the sand even more soft and difficult to drive.

@Mohamad Anwer thank you for your 2nd lead - with your SWB, you showed us the way so as not to get stuck.  and it is great to re-connect after couple of months.

@Fabien Monleau you took control of the Center and was always the first one out of your vehicle to help others; i hope that you managed to get a warranty for your damaged tyre.

@Naim Aoun @Charbel @Bjoern  you were up to the challenge - couple of refusals that always make us enjoy the sand a bit more every weekend.

@Pacific thank you for sweeping us; i preferred to stay in front of you as i was still testing my new air-filter and did not want to take any chances.

and finally our dear Marshal @Islam Soliman  i hope that you have managed to get your car checked and fixed; fortunately your car started acting up 15 minutes before the exit (when we all quite exhausted from the heat).  

Enjoy your week chaps until next time

@Rk ram special mention to you too mate - aside 1-2 stucks, you were amazing during the drive

@Imran Asghar congrats mate.... see you soon

@Looper apologies mate.

finally managed to get an appointment with a doctor tomorrow.

will need to opt out of this drive.

thnks

18 hours ago, Looper said:

While leading drives fiddling with the phone became too cumbersome to use the action camera, hence I bit the bullet and bought the second generation GPS remote. This post acts to update my recommendation on the same.

I want to update my recommendation here to Buy for the GPS remote if you can afford it. I have seen it being sold at AED 318 on amazon. If you are buying new from Insta360 directly you can add to the shopping cart there to save on the shipping.

In the past I had recorded GPS data using my phone when I used to use it as the remote. The data was wrong and all over the place, so much so that I completely disabled recording GPS data.

One more benefit I see is, it stays connected to the camera all the time so you can start stop recording whenever you want. With the phone as the remote, if you have used the phone for anything else it would disconnect and sometimes it becomes difficult to connect again.

GPS remote connects with the camera in about 5-10 seconds and stays connected till the battery lasts. The remote needs to be near to the camera for the first connection and it stays in connection upto 20 m they say. This I learnt the hard way when in the Badayer drive I set it up on the mount and started to drive, hoping it will connect, but it did not. I had to go near the action camera when we stopped to some weird comments from the convoy as to what I was doing. 😆

The remote shows the battery status for both the camera and the remote. You can circle though the various shooting modes, but it does not go into Video HDR mode in the remote but if activated in the camera it will show and record in that mode. It also shows the time recorded. It comes with a couple of bands, one for wrist and other for a cycle handle bar. The battery for the GPS remote seem to last for 5-6 h ours more than enough for a drive.

I have asked the Insta360 guys and they have told me that upto 3 cameras can be connected and activated simultaneously with this remote. I will try to test it when I can and update here.

@Looper thanks for confirming the above. i ordered my GPS remote koz it is painful to try to drive, navigate, and activate the mobile/x3 from the mobile at the same time.

will test it (when i receive it) in coming weeks, when the weather is more user-friendly to my x3

@Looper wish you and your team all the best mate.

In the meantime, i have accepted the invite from Gaurav Soni.

We will catch up again mate.

Cheers

@Davie Chase thanks mate for extending the invite; while going through the various messages, i have accepted the invite from Gaurav Soni.

We will catch up on the sand.

Cheers mate

@GauravSoni  I am in mate - excited to be invited to join your team

@Looper thanks mate

@Looper Hi Looper, i am keen to support @Ranjan Das with the pop-outs and shovelling.

If not too late, could you please add me to the drive?

thanks

@Bashar Beasha congrats mate - well deserved - keep it up

@Joji varghese well done mate and welcome to the support team

@Abhilash Kottakkal congrats mate - take your sweet time to enjoy the new level

On 8/7/2023 at 4:54 PM, Frederic said:

Thank you all for joining 

@Deepak Eswar@Shiju Raju@Srilakshman Karthikeyan@Issam Atra@Vishnu Ramankutty@DP1011@Abhilash Kottakkal@Faraz94@Shiboo Kr@Haneef Thayyil@DTG@Ben Williams@Anish S @Imteeaz

and flying sweep @Hisham Masaad !

We had a great morning, and the weather was actually quite doable (better than expected). I focused a bit more on the technical driving this time as in my opinion this is crucial in becoming a good all-round off-roader. Apart from the few refusals and couple of stucks which are totally normal, we covered good ground and various terrain. 

We practiced lots of straight crests, tight corners, and some basic side sloping. You guys did great ! 

I was delighted with the great support of @Imteeaz, @DP1011, @Anish S,and @Hisham Masaadwhich makes these kinds of drives really enjoyable and whatever challenge we faced, was quickly sorted with a smile. 

My initial plan was to drive towards Murquab, but considering the timing and the various areas that were scattered with bushes, i decided against it and looped back towards the Love Lakes entry track, where we exited.

See you guys soon in the sand again !

@Frederic Thank you for organizing such a drive on a beautiful Sunday morning; i really enjoyed every second of the drive as we were surrounded by great drivers.

Couple of minor refusals + stucks : this is part of the deal when we all started off-roading and signed-up to Carnity.

To the rest of the gang - thank you for making our lives (as support team) easy.  I enjoy getting out of my car every now and then to enjoy the view.

Until next time, enjoy your week.

@Frederic hi fred. Any spot left for a last minute support?

@Gaurav I echo the statement from @Davie Chase such a smooth drive with the right amount of adrenaline rush everytime i get dirty on the sand. Thank you mate.

@Alphin Aloor @Arun Menon @Emanuel @Glenn W  it was a pleasure to see some new faces for this drive. You all drove well and were up to challenge.

until nxt time, enjoy ur week

@Gaurav hi gaurav, can i join this drive tomorrow?