Almost4x4

Hi Everyone,

Believe it or not, this was my first ever night drive with the club and second overall in my off-roading “career”

The plan was to have a relaxed drive from Badayer Shops to Al Madam Ghost Town and chill there afterwards.

Our leading Marshall @giorgio did an amazing job navigating between the multitude of other convoys in the area and take us to play in the bigger dunes in the area safely.

We had a very small convoy of 3 cars with @alshamsi_m sweeping and @rapailo floating, which made the drive more enjoyable and faster paced (less is more)

Driving at night I observed that judging the height of a climb can be misleading and adjusting your power is crucial. I did overdo it a bit in certain areas and almost took off but managed to accustom myself with the conditions eventually. On the other hand, big dunes don’t seem so big since you can’t see all the way down

I still need to learn more about driving the FJ and the momentum especially as @alshamsi_m who was driving behind me, said “You’re not driving a Jeep anymore! Go faster!”

After playing around Iftar & Super Bowl for a bit we headed to the sitting area and reached there at midnight as planned.

We enjoyed some hot drinks in the amazingly weather and some food while chatting & sharing anecdotes.

A very very enjoyable experience driving at night and I hope we’ll continue the night or early morning drives in the summer.

Thank you to the organizer @giorgio , our founder @alshamsi_m , support @rapailo and my fellow drivers @Ehab & @Tomvanhouten

Hello everyone,

Night no. 2 was meant for us to enjoy night style driving in Badayer.

@giorgio Had advertised in the description as a relaxed drive. I must admit, at first I said; Don't believe that. But he delivered right on! It was super nice to drive this area at night, which required us to have distance but less then usual (at least my experience). I noticed that this was important to me to see what was happening in front and which track to choose as the darkness can work against you.

And off course there is moments, where you say to yourself; why am I so close to that Jeep again?! So, yeah, adjusting the style of driving was my learning point this night.

I absolutely enjoyed the drive and the chitchat afterwards, and ended up at home tired and satisfied.

Thank you all!

Bark at the moon

This intermediate night drive, was the last of the Ramadan night drives period. We were lucky to have an amazing night with no moon to bark to.

The convoy was very small with only 3 drivers and 2 support.
As I promised the drive was designed to be a relax slow pace drive which provided the opportunity to the drivers to realize and study the effects of driving in the night.
It is obvious that night drives technique is totally different than day drives. Having a slow pace drive gave the opportunity to the drivers to feel relaxed vs trying to survive the drive and use their experience to study what they have to adjust and apply.

The convoy overall did very well with minor delays, zero stacks that required assistance and zero cases of lost track. The flow was on the moderate to high side and the radio communication adequate.

The drive finished on time (3 min behind schedule) and we all had the chance to sit and enjoy warm drinks (thank you @Sorin & @alshamsi_m ) along with delicious pastries.

Closing my report I would like to thank my second lead @Ehab for his efforts to keep up and his quick reactions to divert the convoy when needed. @Tom for keeping a strong radio communication @Sorin for covering the tail and @rapailo along with @alshamsi_m for keeping us safe.

Until next time drive safe and looking forward to see you all on the upcoming drives.

Hi Almosters,
Its been 3 weeks since my last desert trip due to Ramadan. I missed sand a lot.
The trip started in the well known meeting point in Badayer and ended in the ghost town.
I was asked to be second lead, the track was very nice and challenging in some areas due to the limited visibility considering it was the darkest night in the month in addition to noticing that there is never enough lights for night desert trips.
It was also my second trip with the new tires, still the right pressure not identified, i think i need more time and more tries to find the best pressure.
I had few second tries to avoid nasty situations and make sure i am comfortable with the move i am making but ended up with some challenging solo night driving to rejoin the convoy which was a new learning for me (some clips are in the end of the video below).
While approaching the ghost town, we came across a small soft bowl with a deep track in the middle of it made by oil diggers. Myself and Giorgio had no chance to avoid it. Giorgio had to maneuver and adjust the car angle few times to go out from it safely, then it was my turn, i had to make a loop to straighten the car in the deep track and then floor it on 4low to go out of that nasty situation. This is where all technical 10+ newbie trips learnings get useful.
Another learning by observation was the self recoveries done by Giorgio, huge learnings no matter what the situation is, marshals know how to handle it safely.

Enjoy watching