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It's once in a year opportunity for all off-roaders in UAE to meet and sit in one place to enjoy Great Grand Iftar together. It's being held in coordination with all off-road clubs and approx 400-500 cars shows up every year in Iftar bowl near Rafadah in Area 53.

Whether you are fasting or not, it's a must drive to attend to watch the union of off-roaders and witness the love and respect that everyone share in this small world. I have never failed to attend a single Grand Iftar Drive in the past 10 years and always enjoyed meeting some of my old off-road friends and making new friends.

Plan is to start from Tawi Nizwa area and follow the fence toward end of the track and then head to Iftar bowl. Considering the fasting time, first 9-10 kms is simple plain desert track next to fence. And then last 2-3 kms is good playable area in rolling dunes just before we reach iftar bowl. After the Iftar we might go for a quick spin in that same or closer area depending on everyone's availability and exit.

Great Grand Iftar Drive.JPG

When: 25 May 2018, Friday
Meeting time: 3 PM, convoy will move sharp at 3:15 PM
Where: Jabal Arafat Supermarket

GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/wxKht3VLdZU2

Level of drive: All are welcome
Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance
Plan: Day drive from Tawi Nizwa to Iftar Bowl and enjoy Iftar together.
What to bring along: Evening snacks, food for Iftar - whatever you like with little extra to share, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn.

Approximate finish time: 9 PM, 25 May 2018, Friday

Those interested to join can RSVP the below calendar:

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

This was more challenging than most drives we have had recently. It was an amazing terrain choice but what kept it thrilling was the pace we acheived which kept the convoy on their toes.

As planned we met at the Tawi Nizwa shops, deflated and headed in to sands through the break in fence. We headed for about 4 kilometers with the fence, but @shadow79 set the tone of the drive by doing a steep climb followed by @skumar83 and @Gaurav. We headed in some nice rolling dunes playing to our hearts content with some side slopping, criss crossing and everything we could think of. We even reached a couple of top spots where the view was breathtaking. At one point I felt something wrong with my car so we stopped and upon inspection realized that the AC compressor belt had ripped into pieces. The other belt which goes around the dynamo was in half. So we headed back out near the fence closer to the Iftar Bowl. With about 3 kilometers to go we headed back in to experience some awesome technical dunes.

We were able to reach the Iftar Bowl with all our cars on top. However on the top it was sand blowing at speeds which was uncomfortable so we headed back down to find a spot to settle in. To our surprise the number of attendance has dwindled to half of last year. After breaking our fast and feasting on the treats everybody got we were treated to some fireworks.

Now the question was which way to head out. Although we decided to head back and come out from Badayer. But with the many challenges faced and a pop out for me after a long time I decided to get back to the fenced track and we exited without any more incidents.

Great drive, with great participants accounted for an amazing day out. Thanks to all who were part of this amazing time out.

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Yoi did all this with an almost tattered dyno belt, not very wise I must say of everyone involved. If the remaining belt completely let go you would be stuck in the dunes with a totally dead car in about 15 minutes after the battery drained, and then it would turn into another tow a dead car out or go to town get a replacement on a friday and change belt on site recovery operation. 

 

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It was my call to not deter the plan a dead alternator can survive from 6 to 3 and half hrs depending on the age of battery and the electrical load which is running and even if all odds were against us and that thread like belt also ripped then I always have few tricks up my sleeve to not spoil the fun we have 😂

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Twice Ive had alternator belt issues and the battery maximum on highway slow cruzing with all other electrical load, like headlights, AC, radio shutoff. Didn't last more than a hour. Please tell me what batteries you use than can power a car for 6 hrs  just on their own juice! :D

And even so an unnecessary risk IMO. 

 

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With all loads it should last atleast 3.5hrs also depends on how juice thirsty your car is.. I have people come in with interior lights flickering during night driving and yet they didn't know that their alternator is toast and they have been using the car for few days with the battery light on

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Just because the battery light is om doesnt always means the alternator is completely dead. 

And the cars I was talking about were, One was a 2000 LC Pickup totally plain jane and the other a 1991 Toyota Carina. 

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It was a collective call which worked out fine. We were close to the track by the Tawi Nizwa fence. Even if we reached Iftar Bowl there is a flat track after 2 dunes and we could have managed that's why the call was taken.

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the battery light only comes on when the armature is not producing magnet (not making juice) there are also various other reasons where the battery won't be charging like the stator being grounded and or the regulator burned in open circuit or the diode plate being bad...

well at the time it was day light so that delco powered car should have run fine and if god forbid it was the other way around it had failed i knew of 3 other batteries which could have been swapped and the car would have kept running while the battery would have been charged in other cars...

and trust me we have managed with many interesting things thrown at us because as a team have eachothers backs to support on :-D

 the goods were in our terms and the car finished the drive and came in next day to change the belts at the workshop...:-D

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