Little Bit Technical V

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alpied
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Hey everyone!

Another great drive with the club yesterday.

I was on my way to the drive, driving real slow as I was really in advance as I had to drop my wife and kid at the beach before that. Stopped at Mc Donald's, had a little break to digest and arrive at the meeting point to realize that was not the meeting point, no idea how that happened. "Oh no!" put the right coordinates and this time I was a bit more in a hurry - good I was in advance, meaning I didn't arrive late 😅

We all gathered at the meeting point for a quick debrief and got split into 2 groups. I joined the group led by @Daggerfall, where @Barish asked me to position myself in the middle towards the back.

The drive was a bit more technical with some very interesting paths. The sand was fairly soft and many of us had to deflate the tires during the trip in order to make it past the dunes.

We had a bunch of second tries and recoveries as well as what we thought at first was a pop out which turned out to be the tire that lost all its air.

Overall, this was a fun drive and I enjoyed the path @Daggerfall chose for us, it was my first time following him, and I look forward to more 😊

Thank you for the drive!
Alex (alpied)
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galindakis
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Hi Almosters.
As always it was a superb drive.
The path took by @Daggerfall was amazing with a mix of technical slow areas, super soft sand and then a couple of arches which personally I enjoyed so much!
Thanks @S.ALSHAMSI for your advice regarding lift and suspension updgrades, I’m looking forward to the result in the fj.
Thanks a lot @Barish for helping me dealing with my tires with superb advises.
As said I really enjoy chitchatting with this family.
Now I will head to Europe but I will come back to prepare Salah!!!!

See you in the sand Almosters.
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brett
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Dear Almosters

The title of the drive "Little Bit Technical"" and -5 / 5+ convoys seemed like it would be an interesting one
I foolishly expected it to be a bit of a ""walk in the park"" having completed the number of drives i have done previously

We all gathered at the meeting point @Daggerfall called attendance and split the group to 2 convoy's i was assigned in the 5+ convoy to be lead by @Daggerfall with the general @Barish as floating marshal. was nice to see @James driving again he was entrusted with the roll of sweeper.
I was given the responsibility of 2nd Lead - my first behind the legendary @Daggerfall.

I felt my car was a bit sluggish and a delay in responding ?? so on one of the first small "humps"" I applied too much throttle resulting in front wheels coming off the sand ! message on the radio from @Daggerfall -"that was a lot of air"" that same further back we had our first victims of of the technical challenges with a number of 2nd attempts and stucks - amazing to watch @Barish using his jeep to extract a stuck FJ from a crest.

Climbing an arch I felt I had a reasonable pace, but the car suddenly came to a stop - I had sunk into a very soft patch and tried all the buttons, Atrak, crawl, diff lock, 4L etc etc but the car would not budge ! I was soon extracted by @James under the direction of The General.

A bit latter I again struggled with power doing a climb and running out of puff before the crest - so I backed down for a second attempt. Of course this time I floored it, then I made the mistake of not throttling back enough as I crossed the crest, yep I flew ! over the crest. fortunately the landing was ok and only thing damaged was my pride !! but I know I was extremely lucky.

The drive cam to an end without further incidents (for me). although my compressor has decided it doesn't want to work so had to use the slow built in one to inflate.

My take aways from my eventful afternoon
- no matter how many newbie drives every drive will still present challenges and learning opportunities.
- concentrate on sticking to the basics, don't be blasé
Until the next Adventure

Brett
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alshamsi_m
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Hello everyone

Since the organiser gave us the meeting point as a link , Google maps was telling me: you are going to endup in someone's 🐫 🐪 farm :yaeh_am_not_durnk: Thanks God, Google was wrong and we were standing in a very nice flat area.

The day was hot 🔥 with some wind blowing the sand which was perfect for the training day you're kidding, right

I was sweeping for @optimus and @Rashidjass was floating marshal. The drive had great chance of straight crest to give the practice.

Before we know it , the sunset 🌇 and we had to drive back out !!!!

I kept chitchating around the inflating point and the last to leave. I decided to fill up air at the petrol station ⛽️ so I was driving slowly with open windows with sun lights fading away. What such a view.

Drove quietly till reached home and looking forward the upcoming weekend!!

Till next time, Stay Safe and keep the sand flying.

Cheers
Shamsi
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Daggerfall
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Hi Almosters,

As the title of the drive says... it was a "little bit technical" drive have a nice day . We tried to choose a track and obstacles that normally you wouldn't prefer or avoid to practice the situations you might not have any other choice..

The pace was slow as expected and the sand was soft and everybody did well in general. My only comment is that we need to improve our communication. It should become a habit to report your situation immediately which you will have only 1-2 seconds to do and be vital at high level fast speed drives.

We drove through the sunset and finish the drive on time. Luckily the weather was surprisingly good and the desert was beautiful.

Special thanks to @alshamsi_m , @Barish @optimus @Ehab , @brett and @James for the support and all members joined the drive

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

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drvillo
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I had been telling my brother in law to come check out some desert driving and this time he took me on the offer so new passenger and soundtrack this time for me.

It was hot at the meeting point - to the extent my watch was burning during the briefing TT TT

@Optimus led a fluid drive, alternating slower sections and straight cresting with faster sinuous sections. I have come to terms with the fact that gauging the right amount of speed needed to make it to the other side "in style" is a matter of repetition repetition and more repetition and the fact I hadn't been doing it for a while showed.

In one of my attempts at finding the mimimum speed required to overcome a dune I got stuck and the always patient @alshamsi_m had to give me a pull.

Towards the end of the drive my front-right tyre started dropping in pressure. Made a judgment call to ride it out and ended up with 5 PSI at the inflation point ouch...it hurts. Note to self: next time stop and re-inflate.

All in all super happy to have made it to 5+ drives and keen to seeing you all next time!
Arjun_M
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A little bit Technical - Its an apt name for this drive. It was a great track by @Daggerfall . I have driven quite a number of times in the desert which resulted in all these super newbie drives being sort of a breeze. However, this was not. It was a different type of drive. It was fun, there were different challenges here. It wasnt the usual "floor it" type of drive. I think the focus on throttle control was pretty important here since there were a lot of tiny dunes and sharp turns. Seeing as how the convoy was moving and the amount of second tries, i think this is where the 2 door jeep shows its calibre. Yes yes, you FJ boys really struggled here.

I was following @brett, in some instances, i think i may have gotten a little too close i'd say. Later learnt he was having some issues with the throttle response in his car. But gave me the opportunity to watch and learn what his car was doing in front of me and adjust my power accordingly. Saw his wheels in the air quite a few times :D

The convoy was pretty slow at first seeing as a lot of second tries and stuck situations needed assistance from @Barish . But as the drive continued, i think the convoy got a little more used to what the drive was all about and eventually started getting better and better. I suppose that is what happens with each drive. People get better and better.

Looking forward to a lot more drives through-out the summer.

Until next time !!
Ehab
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Hi almosters
I was delighted to join the afternoon newbie drive and get assigned as support to the convoy led by Optimus.
The newbies were also delighted to get self recovery hands-on training by the founder. It reminded me with rescue the marshal training which all 10+ newbies attend prior their upgrade.

Enjoy watching
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