Saturday 14

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Loca
Intermediate
Intermediate
Posts: 94
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 4:41 pm
Has thanked: 1 time

Dear Almosters

this drive was arranged just a few days ago by our Founder [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] with the apparent innocent purpose of testing the small and cute McLoud .. in a matter of minutes it became the reload of "Friday 13th" drive with all the legends on World Record loss ratio associated to that wtfsmilie

Too late: I had already put my name in the list and I could not take the shame of walking away OSMILEY

The meeting point was in a shabka about 7kms inside the desert which I wanted to drive alone in order to enjoy the landscape and the feeling of being such a small entity in the vastity of Mother Nature in love

I reached the meeting point 30 mins ahead of schedule and I found [mention]Adrian[/mention] and [mention]Mahmoodyasin[/mention] already there, chit chatting pacman

Time for the other drivers to arrive (but a few less than those who enrolled) and our Leader reached us. We found out McLoud had overheating problems during the transfer so [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] leveraged the remaining minutes before scheduled start to cool down the little monster.

Quick briefing and it was time to start .. I got appointed 2nd lead and @Mohammad Abubaker as the sweeper. Small convoy with approx 10 cars .. supposed to be fast O_O

We just crossed the first dune from the shabka and the landscape was terrifying .. a mess of short dunes packed one near to the other with no space to maneuver and no trace of flat spots O_O O_O

We did no more than 50 meters inside this pack and ... McLoud overheated and started to cut power. [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] very sadly decided to abort and drive McLoud back to the shabka. When we drove the 50 meters back and we turned we realized that a few cars were still inside and stuck OSMILEY

This was just the beginning of the "stuck festival" yaeh am not durnk

[mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] parked McLoud and laid his plaid on the sand. We spent about 20mins sitting and waiting for the first victims to get free from the hug of the sand grin

During this time I could see mixed feelings going in the heads of the drivers .. some of them started to relax feeling safe from the aborted massacre when all of a sudden [mention]SINGH[/mention] offered [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] to drive his car ... this move put all of the drivers back in the terror mood XD

When the drive re-started I moved to 3rd car as the 2nd lead was kindly offered to the special guest of this drive: Mr. I_never_get_stuck_[mention]Marcouss[/mention] thumbsup

This was the most technical drive I ever experienced. I can't remember a drive where I had and I heard that many 2nd tries. The number of stuck was also above average whu

We just did 21Kms in 3 hrs wtfsmilie

After the first 2hrs [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] took us back to the meeting point where Newbies parked their cars and joined the passenger seat for the last hour of drive cooked for the Intermediates Psmiley

The last hour was definitely tougher as number of 2nd tries and stuck increased .. the area selected for the Intermediates was packed the same but with taller dunes

Then 2 events saved our asses ... 1. [mention]Marcouss[/mention] finally got stuck and 2. @Rada's car had some issue with the MAF sensor and could not rev above 2500rpm

We headed back to the meeting point tired but super excited for having survived to such a challenge thumbsup

In today's drive I felt at the university of the drive and I feel I learned a lot: maneuvering in short spaces, keeping the distance in between short dunes, not breaking the car although the hundreds of sharp crests. I also experimented for the first time driving my Pajero in 4L and it was a discovery .. 4L gave me the torque and push that I needed in order to climb steep from little/no speed

Thanks to [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] for the great experience. Sorry for McLoud'd fever but I think nobody realized you were driving an FJ as keeping your tail today was a "mission impossible" thumbsup

Thanks to all the Almosters friends who attended this drive and shared the pain. You're brave hearts in love

Looking forward to meeting you soon
ciao
Gianluca (aka Loca)
Black/White FJ (aka La Ciccina)
Mobile 0561776322
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