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Scorpio
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Hello Everyone,

Thank you [mention]Solmaz[/mention] for organizing this drive and giving me the opportunity to lead one of the convoy.

Since there were many registered 10+ newbies therefore, we had two convoys in this drive. One convoy was led by [mention]Agalon[/mention] under supervision of [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] and [mention]Abu Jimmy[/mention]. My convoy was supported by [mention]Mabubaker[/mention] as the second lead, [mention]Johanna[/mention] as the sweeper and [mention]Bu Zayed[/mention] strengthened the convoy in the middle; and we drove under the supervision of Solmaz and [mention]Rashidjass[/mention]. Thank you [mention]SINGH[/mention] for being around as well in the form of Rashidjass passenger even though your ride had some mechanical issue at the start of the drive.

After the necessary briefing, we waited for the Agalon’s convoy to leave first and then we started moving. We had a good drive and basically consisted of 3 parts. First part was the warm-up and some nice straight steep climbs arr. ; second & the longest part was amongst some highly technical dunes killzonesmiley and third part had a mix of side sloping and fast runs ninja .

This type of drive provides a great opportunity to learn about your car and yourself. Technical drives enable you to master the control of your car throttle and to know its response time. We had a nice drive and I was happy to see you guys performing well. We had many second tries, stuck cars and a burst tire during the drive which added to the learning curve and experience of the entire convoy.

We passed beside the qudra lakes and ended the drive at the road. Soon the other convoy also joined us there. Hope you enjoyed your time as enjoyed the adrenaline effect thumbsup .

Having Bu Salem’s karak at the end of the drive was rejuvenating for me yuush and gave me the energy to go back to pick up Singh’s ride which we had parked at the starting point of the drive.

Hope to see you in the sand soon..

Cheers 8-)
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Tekton
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Hello everyone,

Upon arrival to the meeting point there was already lots of almosters but still we had to wait for some others as [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] said its not their fault we come 2 early :D...

When everyone arrived convoy was split on two and we had separate briefings [mention]Scorpio[/mention] gave us good tips how to behave during the drive since it was very technical area...

Convoy started nice and smooth till some point where people start loosing tracks, having 2nd try's at some point, recoveries as well...

[mention]Solmaz[/mention] stooped convoy in one stage and asked me to go as 3rd car I was wondering for what reason (there was 4 white FJs front and they didn't know who was who) :D...

We proceed with drive and not far away someone had pop-out and cut off tire entirely (feel sorry for the guy brand new BF G tire).

The dunes [mention]Scorpio[/mention] was taking us to were small, but dune after dune i felt like entire earth is shaking..., however almost till last end i had one 2nd try everything else was perfect, drive was good to enhance our skills definitely...

I thank to [mention]Solmaz[/mention] for organizing the drive, [mention]Scorpio[/mention] for leading us [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] , [mention]Bu Zayed[/mention] , [mention]Johanna[/mention] , [mention]SINGH[/mention] , [mention]Mabubaker[/mention] for doing all kind of supports and looking after our safety...
I also thank to other marshals [mention]Abu Jimmy[/mention] , [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] , [mention]Agalon[/mention] for hard efforts and making such amazing events...!!

Thanks once again,
Almost4x4 - Tekton
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giorgio
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Jump in the fire:

[mention]Scorpio[/mention] have already mentioned the composition of the convoys on his report so i dont see the reason to repeat it.

I was with [mention]Agalon[/mention] convoy and the track had a mix or everything from eggs basket to introduction to side cresting (light version).

The convoy over all did fairly well with two pop outs and few second tries.

Lessons learned for the drivers:

a) Momentum: This is a basic skill that you need to develop as early possible. By now (10+) you should be able to recognize the required speed needed to complete a climb, side slope or straight. Approaching with not enough momentum will result in to getting crested (straight climb) or slide ( side slope climb) which brings us to the next comment.

On side slope climbs if you don't have the required momentum as I mentioned earlier you will slide. So the scenarios are as follows:
i) you slide (mistake one, no momentum) . Driver will try to recover and make the climb by fighting gravity, he / she will keep steering uphill and accelerating. At this point the game is lost you will never recover, you are only put yourself in danger. The back of your car will keep sliding while your front it will keep pointing to wards the direction (upwards) that you have your wheels. Eventually you will come to a stop as your mistake ( mistake No 2 fighting gravity) has put you now in a very challenging situation.

ii) On the second scenario witch is what we teach when the driver feels that the car is loosing grounds and the tail is sliding he/she needs to abort the climb call on the radio for a second try pick up the appropriate momentum and do the run again.

Proper Distance: This is again a staple basic driving technique that all drivers at the 10+ level should have already mastered. Proper distance should be maintained by each driver as a default. During the drive the terrain will change from flat to technical ( small thick dense dunes) to safari etc. Adjusting your distance according to the terrain will provide:
i) Convoy follow with no pile ups
ii) Plenty space to acquire the necessary momentum
iii) avoid unnecessary stucks

Over all the convoy did well the interruptions were not too many and we all had a great afternoon on the sand.



Looking forward to see you all soon on the sand.
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Agalon
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We had another nice Friday afternoon...

As mentioned by [mention]giorgio[/mention] we started with a technical drive in the first half. Small dunes will let you have good understanding of your car, it’s responses and it’s a good practice on keeping the right distance. I should say we did well.
Second part we drove on the higher dunes, mixture of some safari style and side crest-ish moves.
Second tries and pop outs are part of the game which leads us to learn more and we had a bunch of them in our drive too.
I always love to drive this area. The scenery and the variety is fun.
Would like to thank [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] and [mention]Abu Jimmy[/mention] for their assist, having you around always gives strenght, [mention]giorgio[/mention] for his perfect support at all times, [mention]Rooies[/mention] for sweep and [mention]optimus[/mention] for being there as support. Unfortunately [mention]SINGH[/mention] had a last minute issue with his car and couldn’t join us but as i understand from [mention]Scorpio[/mention] ‘s report, he had his share of fun as a passenger in the other convoy.
Biggest thanks to all our drivers for joining us for another fun afternoon.

See you all next time...
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Akader.alshawi
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[quote=Proper Distance: This is again a staple basic driving technique that all drivers at the 10+ level should have already mastered. Proper distance should be maintained by each driver as a default. During the drive the terrain will change from flat to technical ( small thick dense dunes) to safari etc. Adjusting your distance according to the terrain will provide:
i) Convoy follow with no pile ups
ii) Plenty space to acquire the necessary momentum
iii) avoid unnecessary stucks

[/quote]


Thank you [mention]giorgio[/mention] for highlighting this point, it was my mistake, i was very close to the car in front of me in technical area and when he was in need for second try , he cannot reverse and i cannot reverse also as i was sloping from the close dune.

Thanks to [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] who guide us to self-recovery.
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panos
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Last time I stepped into the sand was the last night drive during Ramadan. I felt I was gonna get rusted! Psmiley I was on Waiting List, but lucky me, I got the invite from [mention]Solmaz[/mention].

I reached 3:45, however they have taken attendance. Once Solmaz saw me, she said that I barely got a black point!Haha...

I lined up in [mention]Agalon[/mention] 's convoy in third position. In front of me I saw my "little brother" ( [mention]Markouss[/mention] )! have a nice day Momentum was really good at the beginning. Nice technical area with a good speed tempo. Having [mention]alshamsi[/mention] going in and out in front of me, trying to confuse me! OSMILEY

We had a few second tries, so we reshuffled the order of a few cars in order all to be able to follow.

Overall a really nice drive thanks to [mention]Agalon[/mention] and our support team!

See you all next time!
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Markouss
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haha [mention]panos[/mention] my double XL! Was nice having you in my rear view mirror :D


My first 10+ drive and second lead and it was great fun! Good pace with nice technical dunes and the occasional pressures push from [mention]alshamsi[/mention] squeezing in third place pacman.

Thanks to all the members already mentioned in the previous posts :)

Every drive is an opportunity to meet new Almosters and get to know you guys/girls better!

Looking forward to many more nice moments.
optimus
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Hi All,

This was my 2nd drive in a day. The hangover from the early morning inter drive was still not over but somehow I made it to the meeting point, though I was the last one to arrive.
It looked like the briefing had already started and the convoys were divided and ready to leave.
I quickly deflated the tires. Thanks [mention]Scorpio[/mention] for lending me your pin remover, it was much faster than arb 😊 and thanks [mention]kriskian[/mention] for assisting me in fixing my flag bracket.

Once all this was set and done, I straight way went to Agalon and Co. He told me to be somewhere in the middle of the convoy.
The convoy was lead by Agalon, supported by [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] , [mention]Abu Jimmy[/mention] and [mention]giorgio[/mention] , [mention]Rooies[/mention] was sweeping.

The drive started with nice technical area. Gradually Agalon increased the intensity by putting the drivers through few side cresting type challenges and medium size arches.
We had a couple of pop outs, tire leak, few self recoveries, 2nd tries and at just one instance where we had to use a viking!
Also once the convoy order had to be revised which was due to not maintaining a proper distance (+/-20 meters in safari style and +/-30 meters in technical areas), mainly at the back the distance between the cars was way too much than normal.

In my opinion before the drive starts when we call for a radio check, instead just calling out for a “Radio Check” it would be better to do it like “Radio Check this is Optimus in a black FJ” . In this drive we had to call our fellow members by the colour of their cars like white FJ close the gap, Blue FJ turn down 😊 it could be confusing sometimes if there are more than 1 fj or jeep having the same color. :)

Thanks [mention]Solmaz[/mention] for organizing and [mention]Agalon[/mention] for the great lead.
It was a wonderful drive.


till next time!
Last edited by Phoenix on Mon Jul 15, 2019 12:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Optimus
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Christiaan
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It was wonderful being back with the Almost 4x4 team for yet another great drive. I did not k now what to expect when [mention]Scorpio[/mention] informed our convoy that we will drive all the way through to Al Quadra.

Along the drive we hit some technical area where [mention]Solmaz[/mention] informed us that this is like the Eggs in a basket game, but the game being 10x times more difficult and technical.

We had one flat tire that allot of hands quickly helped to get replaced. Main lessons learnt was following distance and momentum. Also radio communication.

Thanks everyone for the nice drive. It was a wonderful afternoon.
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SINGH
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Hi All,
Well, most of the key highlights are already written in the above posts. So, not having much to write here more.

it was not an ideal start of the drive for me this time. I was allocated to float around Agalon's convoy as a support. Things were all good till the convoy got lined up. The moment i engaged the 4 wheel gear, i heard a thud sound underneath ... O_O and felt that something is gone. Drove a bit and realised that some loose part is rubbing/clinching with other metal parts at the front. Looked down and found that the Left hand side Axle is hanging loose and the bolts got sheared off from the Hub side of the front differential.... sad ..... I communicated over the radio that the ride is grounded and I can't drive her.

So I jumped in as a passenger with @Rashid Jass, who was with the second convoy, led by @Scorpio.

The convoy started moving and we realised someone has just reached now at the MP. It was one of our newbie, who might have read or assumed incorrectly the meeting time. We immediately helped him in getting his ride ready and connected him with the convoy.

For the 10+ level, it was mixed area. The drivers were introduced to different challenges. Started with medium technical and then followed by super technical area (like eggs in basket) which for sure must have been a first time for few drivers and then to the nice smooth dune in the area next to Al Qudra lakes. So all kinds of recipes were served to the hungry bunch of newbies. As always, the drive was finished successfully, with few second tries, one or two recoveries and a one tire change.

Great lead by @Scorpio.. thumbsup ..... nicely supported by the intermediate lot.. :) and perfectly guarded by @Rashid & @Solmaz. ... have a nice day

Finally the day ended with recovering my ride from the starting point, thanks again to @Rashid and @Scorpio. And special thanks to @Shah, for coming and making the ride fit enough to drive her back.
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