Stars Track V - Normalizing Edition

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Sorin
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Hi Almosters,

Today’s drive had many firsts, some good and some not so good.

First time I drive in a convoy with my XJ bother @hamzahng

First time I’m second lead for @alshamsi_m

And first time my car overheats in the desert (hard to believe, I know) grin

I was part of Convoy #3 led by @alshamsi_m with myself as second lead followed by @BuMohammed , @mpodroid , @VTC4800 and @@hamzahng sweeping.

Most of the drive we played around the technical area where some other famous drives usually happen like Friday the 13th, Eggs in the Basket.

We had some nice arches and side crests mixed with straight cresting.

Although we had to stop a few times because of the overheating issues we experienced (I was not alone) and there were a couple of second tries, we still managed to have a fun drive and enjoy the sand.

As the sun started to set, our marshal took us on a fast rally style dash towards Al Qudra area and at one point I actually had to ask him to slow down as I had lost sight XD

We ended the “race” at MBR Solar Park and once again despite the heat and driving without AC, I wouldn’t rather do anything else other than enjoying the sand again with my friends.

Thank you @alshamsi_m and @hamzahng for your efforts and support and can’t wait to see you again in the sand soon (cooler weather would be nice too)
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Tomvanhouten
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Hello Everyone,

We also had this beautiful drive with @Barish and @Solmaz as our leaders. Our convoy was relatively small as was had one driver was having problems with his car. The convoy was with @Mehdi and @Nabeel, including myself.

Great time and great learning again. Starting to see that this area is really suitable for our level and the marshalls again did a nice job in estimating the level in the convoy.

I was on new (and different) tyres myself, which was felling a bit awkward in the beginning, but as the drive progressed got some feeling with them and all was ok.

As we were lucky enough to experience a pop-out, the learning didn't stop with driving alone, but also having to fix a car was one of them.

Solmaz/Barish, thanks for the great afternoon and hoping to see everyone soon again!
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Mehdi
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Hi Almosters, have a nice day

Being with you after a long break was a real pleasure ...

Glad to have participated to this initiative of @Barish , and having him as leader; it was my second time with him in the sand, and my fourth with the Club.
I take this opportunity to also thank @Solmaz, for his kindness, and her advice, as @Barish.
Both were able to put us in confidence very quickly, to fully enjoy this trip.
As mentioned by @Tomvanhouten, we also had the opportunity to learn a new chapter of the "ups and downs" of what we can expect when "playing" in the desert.
It is not enough to sit in and drive a car, you also need to know how to use your tools :
very interesting that this pot-out experience!

Great atmosphere, from start to finish! So what more could you ask for?
Once you taste it, you want more.
Pleasure to be with all of you, newbies, as supervisors, for new Almost4x4 adventures. pacman


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Last edited by Mehdi on Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
kind regards,
Mehdi (MZZ)
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VTC4800
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Hello hello Almosters,
Glad to see some of you in this afternoon drive. I was a bit late decided to refill the sub-tank quick and fast and catch up with the convoy in the meeting point, arrived to the last gas station before the meeting point for the refill and found a very well known Gray FJ in there. and yes it was @alshamsi_m , so I changed my mind, refilled all tanks and grabbed something to eat and drink. I paid for a cup of coffee and forgot it on the cashier table angry - no worries as long as it's just a Nestle coffee grin

When I arrived at the location I remembered the “Friday 13” drive

@alshamsi_m was leading , @sorin was second lead, @mpodriod , @bumohammed and I at the convoy. and @hamzahng was sweeping with his guest Omar who was filming the drive for his Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZyDUP ... IuQPK1wjkA

Abu Salem quickly briefed us about the drive before we melt under a 51 degrees. And drive started.

TEN MINUTES LATER: @alshamsi_m on the radio: Who has a towel? Any one has a towel please come… Yes ladies and gentlemen, his monster had an overheating issue.
And the curse transferred to @sorin and my car, we faced the same. We had to stop several time to cool down the cars.

We experienced some new techniques, I learned how to side crest for the first time in my life.

At the end we stopped near the walking tree “which walks around at night” and we had a short break, Abu Salem invited us to some delicious dates. The plan was to end the drive at Al Ain road, but as usual: Plans might change. So we experienced a rally style drive chasing the sunset to Qudra driving 100-120Km/h , passed near Soral Park. At some stages we lost Abu Salem as he was too exited driving too fast and we lost visibility.

PS: No recoveries, No stuck, no rescue the marshal / sweeper, no flat tires. And never believe malevolent if they say otherwise. Never believe your eyes if you see pictures of videos.
Why are you looking at me like that??!


I approached Abu Salem and Hamzah and apologize for recoveries and support, Abu Salem laughed and said: I’ve been doing this for the past 14 years and I’m enjoying it.

Thanks “The Real Family” Thanks Hamza.

See you soon,
Fouad


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Phoenix
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Nabeel
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WoW.... Almosters.... thumbsup what a wonderful Friday summer afternoon....! Yes feel so great to be part this drive lead by @Barish & @Solmaz and with @Tomvanhouten & @Mehdi ......!

My 1st drive as a newbie.... and guess what also got to use some of my tools as well for the 1st time..... cool

Started the drive thru smaller dunes with a lots of twists and turns.... frequent ups & downs.... learning quick and efficient decision making in the process..... sped thru the flat fast lanes.... Had a few second tries and easily recovered stuck situations..... and as we glided thru what I thought would be more or less a flawless drive....... OSMILEY ... there comes the radio from @Barish Stop there Nabeel.....!! Initially I thought it was something wrong that I made on the challenging climb that I just completed and stopped close to @Barish , when he popped out came to me and said we have a pop out..... Psmiley .....! caught me by surprise and I didn't even know..... are you for real ....

But hey cool.... what an opportunity to fix my pop out all by myself under the clear and resourceful instructions provided by both @Barish & by @Solmaz ..... And I was also able to share the story of my previous pop out....when I was totally inexperienced and knowing nothing about the desert and instead of fixing it this way went ahead and changed the tire with my spare one...... bouaaaaah .....

Fortunate enough this occurred towards the later part of the drive after 0600 PM.... and was more or less able to save the rest of the team from the scorching sun.... eyes on fire

We also had a constructive break time talking about various subjects.... from tires to traction controls to individual ambitions on the sand and in general about the club....

Had some some good desert scenes... with Gazelles racing amongst themselves..... on fire SWIFT.... they were quicker that our monsters.....!!! ;)

Thanks again @Barish & @Solmaz for the good experience.... shall definetly look forward for the rest of the adventures..... grin
hamzahng
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What an afternoon!

First of all I would like to say that I was very happy to see all the faces of the team I miss you guys wallah <3

I have joined this trip to sandblast my skills and remove some of the rust that has accumulated because of my time away from the desert. the trip was very nice and technical which is exactly what I needed to remember the desert.

Unfortunately the hulk was still MIA but however we still managed to have fun in my friend's Xterra. the drive was technical and I was sweeper/rescue so I had my share of action in pulling Fouad XD but then in one of the pulls I sank in a soft spot while pulling him which required me to request help from BuSalem who also got stuck in that area but with the FJs cheat buttons he managed to break himself.

to the end of the drive we were rally crossing al qudra at speeds of more than 100Km/h which was seriously seriously fun!

apologies to @alshamsi_m , @Sorin , @VTC4800 for overheating your cars X3 XD I guess this is my curse and I have to live with it.

my friend is a vlogger and he promised to release his vlog probably in the coming 2 3 days so whenever its released ill share the link as a seperate comment.

again thank you all for coming it was a pleasure meeting you guys and till next time,

Hamzah Ghanem.
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Despite the sweltering heat , it was an action packed afternoon at the meeting point with multiple convoys at multiple locations in the same area.
I was in the convoy led by @Agalon with @aalamood , @osman , @kriskian & @Jasper sweeping.
Briefing was kept short & sweet due to the heat. melt
We started off at a good pace to warm up in a technical area & were cautioned to keep the right distance.
We had a few 2nd tries & stucks as @Agalon kept it nimble.
A lil later we had a double pop out to deal with but with everyone’s support it was sorted in no time & we were back to driving.
@Agalon cut out an amazing track for us dancing from crest to crest in quick succession & also had a few of double hump climbs thrown in for good measure.
I thoroughly enjoyed the drive & It feels so good to be back on the sand XD
As always look forward to seeing you all very soon have a nice day
PS. I really missed the Desert Gazing drives this season.
TC
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osman
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Hi Almosters,

Due to the over excitement of the drives starting again, I arrived nearly one hour ahead of the meeting time in the last drive. So I told myself not to hurry, be "cool" and just take time and stay home. When I approached the meeting point, I saw one car from a distance and thought "there is an earlier bird before me". But as I approached, it was not waiting in our meeting coordinates and the yellow FJ did not look familiar and did not have the Almost sticker. So I kept driving further 500-600 m and arrived the convoy #2 meeting point yet again as the first person!

While chit chatting before the drive, I said please no rescue or pop out under such a heat to avoid a funeral due to unnecessary heart attack. And the answer was "hmm, if @Agalon leads, no one can be sure on that". Shortly after Agalon arrived then with a short brief, we lined up as @Agalon, @Lenny, @Alaa, @kriskian, myself and @Jasper to head towards Al Qudra.

We started with a technical drive, few small ups and downs, driving towards to eggs in the basket area. But this time, we made a tangent to the famous area instead of going through it, then started play around in Qudra area. This second part of the drive was fast, with nice side crests, and really enjoyable. I think we made the best of the available dunes in that area.

Overall, we drove 55Km, with the average speed of 24Km/Hr with two short breaks, one compulsory break for a double pop-out which was fixed very quickly. We also had few second tries and a cresting rescue. At the end, it was another satisfying drive despite the heat. Thanks to @Agalon for the lead and @baris for organising the drive. If the third convoy was not opened I would not make it...
Warning: Sand is addictive... and also the sea salt.
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Jasper
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Hello everyone!

It was so nice to drive again especially it came via a welcome surprise message from my “drive sponsor” – thanks @Phoenix! thumbsup

Our leader @Agalon gave our convoy much needed practice to get us back to shape. With just 6 cars the convoy moved easily through the challenges even with second tries and a stuck. I’d like to thank my convoy for not giving me a hard time in pulling a lot since it was very hot. thumbsup We had some technical and side cresting areas and I know this gave our newbies the thrill!

See you guys soon and stay safe!
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