Drive with smile
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ginger
- Intermediate
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:16 am
Drive with a smile was great fun. It was in the excellent desert between Al Lisaili and Al Faqa’a, starting near to the Egg Basket Challenge; and we were lucky to see a large herd of gazelle and very few tyre tracks.
What looked like a fairly ‘tame’ bit of desert was in reality (certainly for me) a highly-technical challenge, with Hamdan giving us a ‘master class’ in how to read the dunes, and gauge the different softness of the sand.
We practiced a lot of side slope driving, feeling the car slide and in one or two cases hitting harder sand lower down the dune. I couldn’t lose concentration for one moment, and that’s where the smile came in - due to a sense of achievement in passing safely across some pretty difficult dunes. The Advanced drivers were each given the chance to lead, and it’s fascinating to see their different styles and how that translated into the ‘line’ the convoy took.
Many thanks to the organisers for yet another successful drive.
What looked like a fairly ‘tame’ bit of desert was in reality (certainly for me) a highly-technical challenge, with Hamdan giving us a ‘master class’ in how to read the dunes, and gauge the different softness of the sand.
We practiced a lot of side slope driving, feeling the car slide and in one or two cases hitting harder sand lower down the dune. I couldn’t lose concentration for one moment, and that’s where the smile came in - due to a sense of achievement in passing safely across some pretty difficult dunes. The Advanced drivers were each given the chance to lead, and it’s fascinating to see their different styles and how that translated into the ‘line’ the convoy took.
Many thanks to the organisers for yet another successful drive.
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bombays
- Intermediate
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 12:05 am
As ginger mentioned it was indeed great fun. Saw club members just before meeting point. After meeting everyone started to roll and were soon enjoying the dunes of Al lisaili. Saw many gazelles. Area was quite technical. Dunes were small but needed lots of concentration. Sand was too soft in certain areas.After some time hamdan gave chance to advance drivers to lead the convoy. Hockey , paul , Armin and Fida. Thanks for wonderful lead and lots of excitement in the drive. Enjoyed every moment. Awaiting my next dose. Thanks Marshals , Founder members and Team almosters.
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Paul
- Advance
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 5:40 pm
- Location: Dubai
Hi Guys
It was great to meet up with "the guys" again.
The trip has already been described, so i won't give a blow by blow report...
The dunes were small and the sand varied from hard to soft very quickly which made it quite challenging.
They were reasonably spaced and we were driving at a slow'ish pace, so it gave time to pick a good, safe track.
We were also just playing in an area and not attempting to drive from point to point, so we had the freedom to be creative.
In general the one side of the dune was a reasonable slope, followed by a sharp edge and a steep soft drop off.
I enjoyed it and had a blast doing my bit as lead driver.
Thanks to Hamdan and Almost4x4 for another fun day.
Regards
Paul
It was great to meet up with "the guys" again.
The trip has already been described, so i won't give a blow by blow report...
The dunes were small and the sand varied from hard to soft very quickly which made it quite challenging.
They were reasonably spaced and we were driving at a slow'ish pace, so it gave time to pick a good, safe track.
We were also just playing in an area and not attempting to drive from point to point, so we had the freedom to be creative.
In general the one side of the dune was a reasonable slope, followed by a sharp edge and a steep soft drop off.
I enjoyed it and had a blast doing my bit as lead driver.
Thanks to Hamdan and Almost4x4 for another fun day.
Regards
Paul
