The Good The Bad and The Fast

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David
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Very challenging and complex conditions for a drive that was probably intended very differently when conceived.

First my passenger, very happy when Doru contacted saying he was visiting Dubai and asked if a passenger seat was available, great to catch up with him and hopefully we will have him back soon on the sand and behind the wheel.

Mabubaker leading with Shamsi and Optimus floating around for safety. Very grateful that Mabubaker game me the 2nd lead, he remembered another drive in the same location and as 2nd lead that I had to leave early due to some "jeep issue" so he gave me the opportunity for redemption. What I had not told him is that the weekend after that drive I had asked Sorin to go back there with me again as I was too annoyed for missing that drive ...

After the 1st dune it became clear that it was going to be a struggle, very very wet sand and extremely difficult to follow the car ahead of you since sand completely destroyed after just one car passing, I was lucky to be 2nd, I can only imagine how difficult those towards the back would have found it!!!. Immediately decided that "little variations" were needed from the start, the "game" was to cross where the leading car crossed (approximately) but using a slightly different clean line, I did enjoy the challenge.

Mabubaker did extremely well, adjusting level to the circumstances and trying to keep some flow despite of all the continuous interruptions. Only towards the end of the drive the sand started to improve slightly however a new problem came up, dry-wet patches that made visibility more complex, normally a different color means a ditch, an obstacle, ... now it was just wet or dry sand making life very complicated for the leading car.

We finished on time, bittersweet, happy as I made it home for lunch with my mother that is visiting and I had felt a bit guilty for going for a drive while she is here, sad as I think she would have been OK to wait for another 1h since the drive only started to flow towards the end and somehow the drive felt "very short" ...

Thank you to Giorgio for organizing the drive (and see you leading soon), Mabubaker for taking over and doing a fabulous job leading the convoy to safety in such difficult conditions, Shamsi and Optimus for looking after us.

See you on the sand soon.
orlantsev
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Hello all,

the trip description read terrifying :) Well done to participants who showed courage and registered.

Unfortunately, @giorgio could not lead the drive, and many thanks to @Mabubaker who stepped into the lead role and @alshamsi_m and @optimus for the support.

The meeting point was few more kilometers after the 'old sweihan' area. The plan was to drive towards Remah. As @Mabubaker explained usually this route is driven in the opposite direction. It did not rain as much in Abu Dhabi during the week, so I was surprised to see the sand was so wet in the area. The dry sand was probably 10 cm below the surface. So it is in these unusual conditions we were supposed to drive.

It was recommended to keep tire pressure few PSI above usual. Extra care was needed as we could not rely on 'soft landings' and it was generally a very bumpy drive. For me at the back after 10 cars have passed in front it was total madness :) At times it felt I was a train on tracks. On the positive there was no issues at all with climbing.

Surprisingly, there was no single classic pop-out. Some tire losing air, but well done to all for avoiding pop-outs.

All in all it was a good learning challenge.
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Sorin
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Very fun drive in the unusually wet sand, I needed a few second tries before I got accustomed to the hard surface.

Can’t wait to repeat the same track on summer soft sand grin

It was great seeing everyone and especially our guest from far away Doru.

Thank you to the organizer and everyone involved, see you soon!


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PedroLeal
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This drive was promising a lot from the moment it was posted 6 weeks back.
For this reason, I had to go back to the Jeep to be up for this one.
Unfortunately the organizer marshal @giorgio could not join the drive, so @Mabubaker took the lead of the convoy.
This drive was about to become "Sonic II - wet edition". (In September we had the "Sonic" drive in the same area, with @Mabubaker leading. You can read the reports here: viewtopic.php?t=5181)
This time it was not the summer heat giving us challenges. With the rain falling the entire week in UAE, the sand was wet and hard, which brings different challenges to the drivers.
I was placed in the 2nd half of the convoy, which was bringing additional struggle on some patches due to the mashed tracks created by the cars in front.
Nevertheless the drive was fun and fast, especially the last part of the drive. and that is why we all had this bitter sweet taste at the end. We all loved the drive but felt that we could continue all day driving!
Thank you @giorgio for organizing the drive, @Mabubaker for another amazing lead, @alshamsi_m and @optimus for watching us and keeping us safe, and @orlantsev for being there for advanced support.
Like @Sorin mentioned, can't wait to do this drive again with soft sand!

Pedro
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Hi everyone!

The selected playground was outstanding…for me, only a couple of times in this area before and driving on the other way round. Brief was done by @Mabubaker who took the lead (we missed you @giorgio ), fully supported by @optimus and @alshamsi_m . Wet sand, nice convoy, good support, amazing lead, what else could we ask for? thumbsup

Long time ago since my last drive on wet sand…maybe one year and as expected, I felt a bit rusty at the beginning whut . The first half of the drive was plenty of second tries, a few stucks and some issues with tires including myself with my left front tire loosing air in all rim’s “ring” pissed off ... probably hit too much one of the numerous ditches and got some sand between the rim & tire which forced us to replaced it. Thanks to my mates for the support and sorry for the loss of time.

The second half was different, the flow improved a lot and there were some seamless drive's sections were cars literally danced with the dunes cool . Very good feeling and nice to experienced the behavior of my car in such a challenging surface…drifting here and there.

I recorded only 1:40h moving time but it was glorious, so I hope for some more in the near future…a suggestion for our Marshals: What about organizing a full day interm drive? playingsmiley I don’t even recall when it was my last one TT TT .. Al Quaa, Long Scout… miss that a lot!

Thanks a lot to my mates, marshals and founder for this amazing drive. I learned a lot. thumbsup

See you soon.
Carlos
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alshamsi_m
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Hello Everyone
I washed my car the night before the drive and I was thinking that I'm going to have a clean drive Psmiley to my surprise I found a pond in front of the automatic gate which made me try for 15 min how to get in without going dirty brigade.baka-wolf.com @PedroLeal came through with stright forward and the gate opened Psmiley , First lesson, there are no short cuts in life. either you do it the right way OR there is no way TT TT

We all appreciated the warm sun with this cold morning dark mood. The drive was really nice and smooth and was up to the challenge of the drive's name cool

Thank you @Mabubaker for the lead, @optimus for the support and @giorgio for organizing the drive

Get ready for UAE EAST SIDE drives after Ramadan, till then stay safe and looking forward to see you in our upcoming CAMPS

Cheers
Shamsi
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Remah, a small but difficult area that very limited number of offroaders has the courage to drive in. 2nd time for me in the same area, first time i had my record of stucks and second tries but this time was a different challenge, extremely wet sand, more than 10 cm to reach the dry sand.
I was assigned as sweep and it was survival game where the tracks are extremely chewed up with very hard sides and very tricky to follow. I do remember my first intermediate trip which was in Nahil when we drove after heavy rain, climbs can be easily done but side crests are risky, but guess what, we learned from the best. So zero incidents and everyone went out safe with a lot of adrenaline.

Enjoy watching:
The Good The Bad and The Fast
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Tomvanhouten
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Hi everyone,

early wake up and off to the 'backside'!
On arrival, several members already were getting ready for the show, so a quick prep, a very good briefing (especially on what to expect) and there we go.
Nothing said too much in that briefing! the sand gave some trouble in the beginning controlling the car, finding the right amount of throttle for each crest, but after some time it was pure enjoyment!

That briefing was spot on! We (as our club), go out under all circumstances to learn different scenario's and situations everytime. And so it was! A new experience with this huge amount of wet sand under our tires and being able to drive like we do, just makes me feel thankful!

Thanks everyone!

See you next time

Tom
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Another amazing day with the brave intermediates.
The area itself got a lot of potential and opens the imagination of leading car to create a lot of twists to test the intermediates skills.
I believe everyone was up to the challenge and managed to play safe under such unusual conditions.

Thanks you @giorgio for organising the drive. Thanks @alshamsi_m and @optimus for support.

Thanks,
Mohammad
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