Jump to content
  •  
Advertise here

Recommended Posts

9 minutes ago, Asif Hussain said:

@Gaurav bhai... image is making me feel like we are going to explore mars tomorrow..

Hahahah, don't worry it's a very versatile area for newbie - fewbie that offers plenty of different terrain for practice.

Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today was my dream come true moment, as I always wish to have / conduct proper desert driving training. I have been in UAE off-road circuit for over 10 years and never seen any group / club delivering this and I always felt a big gap to fill this in.

Many thanks to @Rahimdad for supporting and helping develop this idea, content and experience from grass root level in designing the structure to deliver the content with practical knowledge and research. Thanks for sharing the same vision.

I was so glad, when in end every one of you walked up to me saying that you have learned something new today and appreciated all the efforts. This willingness to learn is something very much required in off-road driving and one should never feel or think that they know it all.

We had total of 11 cars from 2.0 liter Rav4 to 4.8 liter Patrol and Ford Explorer, very good mix of different vehicles. We started the session almost on time and kick-off with the theory lesson at briefing point to touch the essential topics and explain the reasoning behind. Almost all topics has some valid question from the members, which shows the willingness to learn and knowledge sharing. From deflation point until way point 2 for 4-5 kms we all drove in 2WD, just to break the myth that one should always engage 4WD while in off-road. This toggling from 2WD - 4WD extends the vehicle life as we drive in high stress climate, so this periodic switching help relaxing the car engine and transmission load.

Second session involve the driving on side slope through connecting / rolling dunes and mastering the perfect throttle control to not to get stuck or dig in. With very few stuck and refusal everyone did great and soon they graduated to learn another trick of climbing the step-dunes with mix of fast and slow throttle response. Third session after the breakfast was shoveling a fully crested car on sharp blade and recover without towing, the amount of exercise this task offered, I think everyone must have lost good amount calories to justify their Friday gym break. After the tiring part, everyone enjoyed the 2WD fun doing donuts and drifting in a very organized and controlled manner. I was surprise to see even the AWD driver (Jason - Grand cherokee and Saleem -Rav4) could manage to splash some good amount of sand.

Fourth session added some real adrenaline pumping, when we start doing tall dunes ridge riding and steep falls. Everyone did very well and all my experiments kept increasing the notch little by little. At end of this session everyone had a big smile and conquering expression (priceless). As per the amount of content of this training, I think it's better to split this in two drives, as we missed out on some crucial session (practical and theory) that we will continue in next training drive. Thanks everyone for bringing awesome selection of breakfast, drinks, stories and smiles.

Last but not least, thanks everyone for waking up so early on Friday morning and also for coming from Abu Dhabi (Asif). I really love to hear an individual feedback on this training (good / bad), so that we can optimize and keep it engaging.

  • Like (+1) 3

Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

we had very good time and great learning experience from gaurav bhai and rahim bhai and learned few tricks from my brother that applied to this car had few moments where our hearts skip a few beats like that xterra guys climb and the drop of pathfinder from mountain but my hats are off for you to get it down safely...all in all it was made possible because we all gave in and fitted nicely like that bearing which has been hammered but still turns smoothly....hahaha

  • Like (+1) 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Firstly a big thank you and much love to my brother @DiamondDallas for letting me drive his car. It was my first time driving in the desert and I got stuck twice in the first 10 minutes in the 2wd section but I got myself out with a bit of clutch control. I soon learned and didn't get stuck again. Thank you to @Gaurav for his excellent teaching. I learned a lot from him as a passenger on a previous drive and I picked up a few useful tricks yesterday such as digging underneath the car and how to read the sand which came in useful when I exited the desert without an escort. Getting stuck when alone would be no fun at all. The whole experience has motivated me even more to buy a 4x4 and has swayed my interest from track driving to off roading. 

  • Like (+1) 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Barry very well done for a first time effort and your situation cannot be termed as stucks because no one pulled you out. You managed to self recover from both situations so they were refusals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

and rahim bhai (sorry for using this language) you have balls of steel to sit with a novice level driver and novie level driver i have new respect for you you have raised the bars for few of us here at carnity.....

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now for my side of the story that unveiled itself yesterday. Sey an alarm for 3 and 3:30 am but was wakened up by a call from @Gaurav Bhai at 4 am. Quickly got ready and on the way not allowing me time to cook the Aloo Parathas I promised. Cursing myself I reached the meeting point on time. As we started to move from the meeting point to deflation point I realized I had forgotten my off-road bag. Now I had 2 reasons to curse myself until @Asif Hussain Bhai offered his radio for sweeping the convoy.

After the lecture session and on with the first section on 2 wheels I still was a bit worried about falling short on breakfast. We than went to 4x4 mode and continued through our plans As designed and implemented by @Gaurav Bhai. As the breakfast was laid and filled the table, I got more relaxed, special thanks to all who contributed.

As @Gaurav @Kavin to get him created on a sharp blade for our next session the rest of us attacked the slip face and had interesting results. Most impressive was Saleem Bhai with his Rav4 climbing and succeeding, the huge jump, or should I call it leap of faith from Dipak and the self recovery from Stella with her orange FJ.

As we headed to Kavin and his crested Pajero, I learned some thing new and was able to learn from Gaurav Bhai a very important lesson. We than headed down for some donuts after the heavy work load of digging. These replenished our calories count to complete the rest of the trip.

As we headed to the base of Fossil Rock and everybody managed to climb it well, it was time to head down which was part 2 of the challenge. We now engaged into 4 low with our trusted first gear. Once again all managed well and with almost 12 noon on the clock we head out to the closest petrol station. As Gaurav Bhai explained the few points left and debriefed everyone during inflation I quickly escaped to the mosque and offered my Friday prayers. In return some good byes and we were off to our safe haven, our homes.

Special thanks to @Gaurav Bhai for sharing his vision, arranging a very comprehensive session and teaching us so much in just a short span of time. Thanks to all for the great response and supporting the drive in good numbers. Thanks to all for the absolutely finger licking breakfast. Thanks to Asif Bhai for lending his radio to me. Thanks to @skumar for being an excellent second sweep and saving me on an occasion. Seems like you are really enjoying this position. A lovely day out with awesome people and memories that will stay embeded in my mind for ever.

  • Like (+1) 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of use