No Brakes

Post Reply
User avatar
Daggerfall
Marshal
Marshal
Posts: 341
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2014 11:23 am
Has thanked: 163 times
Been thanked: 142 times

Hi Almosters,

After we finished the morning drive at Sweihan and gave a nice Mandi break for lunch grin , we drove to Faqa for our afternoon drive.

Thanks to our fresh member's big interest to our trip and support from our founders, marshals and explorers, we managed to organize 3 convoys for the afternoon.

After a short nap while waiting for the meeting time, I see all the members started to show up for the drive one by one. Greetings with friends, preparing our cars and after blowing his new shiny whistle grin , our organizer [mention]Agalon[/mention] distributed the convoys and we were ready to go!

I was with the convoy led by [mention]Agalon[/mention] where [mention]Jasper[/mention] was second lead and [mention]Rooies[/mention] provide the support for the rescues.

The track planned by [mention]Agalon[/mention] was very interesting, consisting of fast paced open fields , driving on the walls, straight crests, technical areas (where the fun begins) and fast sabkhas where you put the pedal to the metal (No Brakes!) grin .....and of course the hypnotizing view of beautiful Qudra desert and the sunset on the horizon ....can not be described...

I believe this mixture was a great experience for our fresh members and they made one more step further in their journey to become a competent off-roader and gain experience to make them ready for upcoming adventures with Almost4x4 family.

Looking forward to hear your thoughts if you like to share with us and thanks to all organized, supported and participated.

See you next time.
" I feel the need, the need for Speed " cool

Drives Black FJ " VF-1 Valkyrie " , Mob: 050 725 09 31
User avatar
mpodroid
media
media
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2019 6:17 pm
Location: Dubai
Has thanked: 66 times
Been thanked: 123 times

Hi Almosters,

the first two planned convoys were already full, but thanks to the marshals, a third convoy has been added and I have been able to join it.

My convoy was led by [mention]presa[/mention] .
We had fun and also a parking lesson: being a kind leader, [mention]presa[/mention] taught us how to park on top of a crest.

I have to admit that it has been easier than I expected: I managed quite easily to also park my car Psmiley

[mention]Marcouss[/mention] immediately came to rescue me: thanks.

I enjoyed the trip.
Thanks to everybody.
If you don't care where you are, you ain't lost.
Rune's Rule
Murphy's Law
User avatar
Taco
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 57
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 10:55 am
Location: Dubai
Been thanked: 1 time

Hello Almosters!

My last drive was almost 2 months ago due to the technical issues and mystery sounds in my car so I was extremely excited to be in for this drive.

I arrived at the meeting point a bit earlier than the given meeting time to see a few people already there with most sleeping in their cars :) I took the time to get ready and wander around a bit.

When time came it was a massive group. We had 3 convoys with the last convoy opening thanks to our marshals and support teams, it was good to see so many new(er) members around being just about 3 weeks from the most recent CM drive.

I was in the convoy led by [mention]Agalon[/mention]. [mention]Jasper[/mention] was our 2nd lead with [mention]Rooies[/mention] in the middle of the convoy and [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] doing his own thing all around :)

We started off easy and simple, warm-up phase was just perfect to get everyone in the mood at the right pace. [mention]Agalon[/mention] had a fabulous track planned for us, we had a mix of pretty much everything that is doable at our level in varying difficulty levels. We had some nice arches, straight crests, tight twists and turns, high speed flats and a technical area.

I had 2 second tries at the earlier stages during the straight crests. I had to replace my upper control arms and engine mounts after my last drive so I was being extra cautious this time, perhaps too cautious. 2nd tries are always better than flying and/or getting hits, learnt this the hard way. The fact that my last drive was 2 months back also made me feel as if this was my first time on the sand :)) It took a short while but I caught my rythm after these.

[mention]Agalon[/mention] gave us the heads up on the radio when we were entering the technical area and I'm sure it was quite a surprise for everyone what was waiting for us in this part of the drive :) It was not easy but not too hard either but this is where we had people getting stuck hehe.

Radio communication was good. I was in 3rd position just after [mention]Jasper[/mention] so I had to be ready to react fast. We had a few "ditch!" announcement and 2 minimal track change instructions. I was able to follow [mention]Jasper[/mention] who changed the track as instructed by [mention]Agalon[/mention] in one occasion but couldn't on the other so had a few minor bumps then :) We had [mention]Rooies[/mention] pushing people to close the gaps over the radio quite often but we never had any serious breaks in the convoy.

It was a fantastic day out. It was wonderful meeting new very enthusiastic members and it was really easy to see that happiness on people's face at the end of the day.

I can easily say that this was the most fun I ever had since my CM drive, I cannot thank [mention]Agalon[/mention] enough, it really was a great track executed in the perfect pace for us. Many thanks once again to our support team too, [mention]Daggerfall[/mention], [mention]Rooies[/mention] and [mention]Jasper[/mention] for looking after us.

I'm travelling again this week so will be sadly missing the "All Stars - Limited Edition" drive but hoping there will be another drive for us the following week as I cannot wait to get back on the sand with our Almost4x4 family!!
Last edited by Taco on Mon Sep 30, 2019 10:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
Taceddin "Taco" | 0564806086
-----------------------------------------------------
What signature? I don't need one!
User avatar
Agalon
Marshal
Marshal
Posts: 110
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 1:58 pm
Location: UAE

First of all, it is very nice to see the demand from our fresh newbies. It is a sign that we do our thing in the right way.
Being thankful to the support by our team, we were able to accommodate 3 convoys. After distributing the convoys we set sail.
The variety in the area let us to practice as much. As mentioned above, from arches to running fast on flat. Overall pace was relatively high for the level. Our drivers did very well in all aspects and we finished the drive safe and sound.
Thanks [mention]Jasper[/mention] for 2nd lead, [mention]Rooies[/mention] for his usual support and [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] for taking care of the convoy and being our eyes on everywhere. Also thanks to all the team of intermediates, explorers, marshals and founders who joined us for this well spent afternoon.

See you all next time...
AGALON
/ Wrangler JK'18
optimus
Marshal
Marshal
Posts: 128
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 12:16 pm
Location: Dubai
Has thanked: 249 times
Been thanked: 284 times

Hi All,

After completing the mind blowing morning workout with intermediate drive.
It was time to refuel my body with some complex carbs, the famous sweihan mandi.
Then it was time to drive to the NO BRAKES meeting point. Myself, brother Rashid and bu Zayed drove together.

We saw a large no of members already present and exited to start the drive.
[mention]Agalon[/mention] took the attendance and divided the members into 3 convoys.
1 was lead by himself, 2nd was lead by [mention]presa[/mention] and 3rd by [mention]Barish[/mention]

I was nominated in the convoy lead by barish and was told to be the 2nd car behind the lead.
[mention]bu-zayed[/mention] was positioned in the centre & [mention]Gabor[/mention] was appointed as the sweeper whereas [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] bro, our guardian angel was keeping his hawk eyes on the convoy making sure about the convoy safety.

In the first half of the drive, the convoy performed smoothly until we had a quick drinks break.
While having the chit chat, one member said “no stucks so far hmm” it was a bit surprising to the lead.

In the 2nd half Barish took the members completely out of their comfort zone and made them realize that the first half was only the trailer, the movie has just begun. We saw stuck's on the flat ground, crested cars, back to back pop outs, multiple 2nd tries etc.

I am sure the members learned a lot from this drive, the importance of keeping the distance, the correct momentum, how to control the speed on the straight crests etc.

It was a perfect track chosen by barish for the convoy level, the perfect terrain and the challenges he threw on the members were well-directed for the level.

Thanks to everyone for coming.
Thanks to Barish for the perfect lead,
Bu Zayed & Gabor for the support
& ofcourse thanks to Rashid bro for bring around!


Until next time!
Optimus
Black FJ (The Godfather)
0509144194
User avatar
presa
Marshal
Marshal
Posts: 370
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2016 7:52 pm
Has thanked: 563 times
Been thanked: 256 times

Hi Almoster!

We had an amazing drive with 2 convoys 5- and 1 convoy 10-.

I was with one of the 5- convoys! We had fun on the medium size dunes in Al Faqa, then face some flat areas to reach a small dunes and soft sand, were different skills were necessary, followed by some more flat to finish near at the side of Al Maktoum Solar Farm.

With more experience, we can push the convoy harder and increase the fun level at the drives, while everyone performed great always keeping it safe.

Than you for all support, especially for [mention]Markouss[/mention] that was working hard on the middle of the convoy, [mention]Youssef.Abdelhady[/mention] for sweeping and [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] for keeping eyes around and assisting on the climbs and rescues!
User avatar
alshamsi_m
Founder
Founder
Posts: 837
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:29 am
Location: Al Hamriyah
Has thanked: 930 times
Been thanked: 960 times
Contact:

Hello everyone

It was obvious that our leader had one mission in mind "No Breaks " , after ONE hour of driving I asked for 10 min to have the chance of socializing with our new family members. brigade.baka-wolf.com

[mention]presa[/mention] gave the chance to practice how to deal with soft sand, straight climbs, baby safari arches and a little of speeding on the plains grin

All in all, you guys/girls did great and we are looking forward to see you in the sand.

Cheers
Shamsi
Adventurous League of Mountains, Oceans and Sand Thrills
User avatar
Markouss
Intermediate
Intermediate
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:55 pm
Location: Dubai

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for the late trip report :s have had a buys month with work so haven't had a chance to share my experience during the week.

Thank you all for the great drive - I was in the convoy led by [mention]presa[/mention] and was a nice work out being in the middle of the convoy as a support/rescue.

Thank you drivers for giving me a unique and rare chance to experience 3 consecutive recoveries with 3 different types of ropes! Kinetic vs Viking vs snatch rope? Not sure what the last one is called but it was a flat rope with less elasticity.

Thank you [mention]alshamsi[/mention] for the guidance on safe recovery and adjusting the recovery approach per type of rope being used.

I have to admit the Viking rope was the easiest and smoothest recovery! Then the kinetic rope with a small resistance and pull back during recovery, and lastly with the flat rope I had to give it two goes before recovering the crested car and my least favorite feeling for both myself and my car!

Aside from that we had good momentum and a smooth overall drive from start to finish!

Thanks all mentioned previously :)
Post Reply