Almost4x4

Up to Speed

This 10+ drive was kind of far out in Tilal Sweihan area but it worth every km and every AED to get there.

@Mabubaker had designed a beautiful track for our drivers (older and new comers).
Long rally style Sabha followed by big arches on a safari style. The convoy was longer than usual with its body stretching over a KM long.

 Common mistakes from the drivers were as follows:

Lack of distance: In such terrain (open flat with ample visibility, you need to maintain longer than the usual distance ( 20mts is the usual in such a case you can go 30+).

Maintain the track: It is important that you maintain the track as it has been drafted by the lead car. No bigger arches, no deviations (left to the track or right to the track). No following the designed track will and it did result in some if not most of you getting in trouble.

In this drive the lead car served a variety of pop outs, self recoveries, assisted recoveries, cut tires, lost track, technical engine issues (all were addressed on the spot and drivers continued the drive) and last but not least plenty of adrenaline.


Closing my report I would like to thank each and one of you for attending the drive. Many thanks to my fellow Marshall @Mabubaker and all the supporting team including our funder  @alshamsi_m

Until next time drive safe and looking forward to see you all soon  

What a drive!

The southern region never fails to impress me and leaves me hungry for more.

Started my way to the meeting point late enough that I was risking to miss it. ETA says 14:55, The way I took added to the drama as there were no gas stations on the way and I needed some water in this beatiful weather.

With some excitment on the gas pedal (Spotted by @mpodroid &@Giovanni ) I was able to reach the meeting point at 14:45pm but still with no water. I quickly deflated and put up my flag, and my buddy @PedroLeal was kind enough to share some of his water.(Thanks again)

As the weather was burning hot, @Mabubaker called for the briefing, where attendance and positioning were taken in one go. @brett was in 2nd lead, and then about 4 drivers below 10 drives and 1 interm driver @mpodroid followed by myself at the begining of the 10+ Newbies.

The Drive started with a gatch road on high speeds streched over 9KMs, and then we hit the dunes. I have driven parts of this route before on GNFD 2022, but this drive was nothing to be compared. I enjoyed the high arches and speeds, the route was magical to me. At the begining , we had multiple stops for water leaking, pop-outs, torn tires, and blown up airbags but they were all addressed safely and all continued to drive. The drive then picked up some pace and was smoothly running , with the exception of a few struck/cressted situations.

Finally the drive ended (A bit later than scheduled) and I hit the road back to Dubai.

Many thanks for @Mabubaker for the amazing route and lead, and to @giorgio ,@alshamsi_m ,@orlantsev and all other intermediates and crew for support.

Till the next drive.
Mghoneim

Thanks Mabubaker for the smooth curvy lines in the " up to speed " drive yesterday . the area selection was fantastic for the rock 'n' rolling .  . All the side slope sways ( slept on my side :)
Big thanks to the support making the whole thing smooth and ofcourse not to forget the eye in the side ( mini jimny) . even we were behind schedule it was worth the experience .
look forward to the next ones...



 

Hello everyone,

Coming from the morning drive and after a great lunch, we had plenty of time to relax in the meeting point with the A/C on.
This was well needed, as when the people started to arrive and I left the chilled FJ, I soon started to say to myself...why did I go outside? Oh yes I remember, good company and plenty of chit chat!

When we started the drive, we needed to run to the actual starting point using some gatch roads and Shabkha's, but apparently this was all part of a bigger plan.
If you ever driven GNFD in this area, you are in for a surprise when @Mabubaker takes the lead!! 180 degrees, full transformation from what I experienced there before...great job!

As @giorgio mentioned already, distance was a point of interest this drive, which caused many stops, recoveries and other incidents. When you take that distance into account, you will feel the enjoyment much more, but well done to everyone, no major things and all went safely.

Enjoyed the afternoon workout with some pop-outs, engine issues and a leaking washer pump, so when I came home, it was bedtime after getting the sand washed away off course.

See you guys next time

Tom

This was yet another great drive with the Almost4x4 family, a good into into the summer adventures as the temperatures reached 50 degrees in the middle of the drive. I even saw my Prado's temperature indicator "unglue" itself from the bottom of the range and crawl up to the middle of the dial (by the time the airco goes off as I observed ).

It never stops to amaze me how different the drive/experience can be in the same area, depending on the level of drive. We were playing in the GNFD area, yet with so much more twisty path.
The lead topic for the drive was speed, safari-style driving and sabkha (and fences) crossings. With some technical areas for added flavour.

@Mabubaker cooked the path to perfection, and the convoy did very well despite its size. We had very good flow, only partially interrupted with some technical issues and small amount of stucks / second tries (there were more of them towards the end of the drive, I guess fatigue and a bit more technical terrain took over). The recoveries were dealt with swiftly with help handful of volunteers helping out despite the heat.

This time around, despite quite infrequent driving I had a very good feel of the car and power, and a lot of fun on the arches. Can't wait for more.
One observation is that managing the speed is essential for safe driving - can't be too fast, can't be too slow (particularly crossing the uneven "wavy" slopes can be tricky).

Overall we covered 78km and drove for 4.5h (of which 2.5h moving).

See you on the sand!

Piotr

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What a great afternoon guys, big thank you @Mabubaker for the selected area and drive, was a lot of fun, enjoyed the fast pace drive, as well as the arches, it was great fun

Thanks to all the Marshals and crew, @alshamsi_m @giorgio @brett and everyone else.

When we reached, the heat was scorching, I was just thinking how tough will be recoveries in that heat, but the team did some great work, several recoveries from stuck and pop-out, I mean that is some great work guys. The drive was great, cant wait to see some videos, @Arjun_M hope you share some of the great moments. Towards the evening, got a bit dark, was the first time for me in a technical area at dark, its a new experience ditches just come out of nowhere

The evening was finished in the parking with everyone inflating and chatting, the buzz of all the compressors filling the evening like a bee hive.

Cant wait for the next drive.

Dear Almosters,

That was one HOT afternoon, on the drive down the temp was reading at 47C !
I was running a bit late arriving just on the scheduled meeting time of 230pm. Did I mention it was HOT !

Attendance and convoy positions were advised and a quick briefing from @Mabubaker @giorgio floating marshal later joined also by @alshamsi_m appearing from nowhere in BigRed with new Papa Smurf badge.
@orlantsev was also floating to keep an eye on us newbies
Media were there in force @nidal78 @Ehab @mpodroid to catch every moment for prosperity.
Mid convoy and sweeping we had support from intermediates @Tomvanhouten @Laarni

It was a large convoy. As explained by @Mabubaker it would be the GNFD track but it would be fast safari style and some technical areas.

We set off across the flat areas at a fast pace - reaching over 100kph in parts to stay close to our leader. Then into the sand following the GNFD track which had been well used recently due to the number of tire tracks so the convoy needed to take care to follow the right lines. we did some lovely climbs and lots of arches flowing from one arch to the next at a decent pace.

Of course there were 2nd tries, some mechanical issues and stuck recoveries. towards the end we entered some very technical terrain. At one point I managed to get completly crested requiring a quick tug from the front by @Mabubaker apologies for holding everyone up. it was starting to get late in the afternoon, I approached the crest with caution as I did not want a repeat of last weekend "flights" end result STUCK ! but this was better than flying.

In the technical area and we encountered several incidents stucks pop outs etc due in part I am sure to the heat and fatigue - that last 10min it is critical that you keep focused.

Safely back at the starting point there were lots of big smiles and already banter of the exploits of the drive - all in all a great afternoon in the sand.

Take aways
- keep the correct distance
- keep an eye on the car behind you
- radio communication
- its summer ! ensure you have plenty of water
- stay alert, if you are feeling tired/fatigued speak up so the marshals are aware

Watch the app, set alarms for 5:59pm on registration days, the drives keep coming and the temp keeps rising

Hello Everyone

I was racing the time to reach the meeting point and I was 4 min late, I reached while the convoy was moving to quickly I deflated and drove to catch up but the whole convoy just disappeared in the desert with no trace ?!!!!

The Good news is that I know the original plan so I was able to catch up and join the drive . I really enjoyed the safari-style that @Mabubaker gave us and I could see the effect on my 1.3 engine so I was happy whenever they have stops to down

Unfortunately, I had to pull out quitly the same way I came to end my drive with the minimum casualty, Never The less, I had great time teasing the big cars and showing up in different places at the same time

Before I close the report thanks for @giorgio for the support and driving the whole day with club

Looking forward to see you soon

Shamsi

Hello Almosters,

I arrived early to the meeting point to find @Ehab, @Tomvanhouten, @Laarni, @orlantsev and @giorgio already there chilling in their cars.
The weather was so hot that mounting the flag and deflating the tires is such a brave sport itself
Thankfuly, my apex valves reduce the deflation time to 15 sec per tire, which is well appreciated in summer!

Close to the start time, @Mabubaker quickly briefed about the drive and defined the order of the convoy: @Mabubaker as leading marshal, @brett as 2nd lead followed by under 10+ newbies (with myself included in this group), then the "true" 10+ newbies, and @Ehab as sweeper.
Intermediates @mpodroid, @Laarni and @Tomvanhouten were placed in between every 4 newbies to provide support and rescue, and @giorgio and @orlantsev were floating to ensure the safely of the pack. Our founder @alshamsi_m surprised us all by catching us after the start driving his BigRed now renamed "Papa Murph", and completed the floating team.

@Mabubaker explained that the area we were about to drive would be familiar to those who participated in GNFD events before, however the drive would feel different because we were going to do it in a Safari style with a good amount of speed.

We started the drive on a gatch track and immediately the name of the drive started making sense!
We were rolling at 100 km/h for a 8km stint before we hit the first dune.
It was a very good warmup for what was prepared to come still.
Climbs, drops, big arches, long side slopes and all done with such a pace that you would not have time to relax, or you would pay a high price for any mistake.
It was a very good drive and helped to sharp our senses.
I was lucky to be positioned just behind @mpodroid. Having a experienced Intermediate in front of me gave me a good confidence to manage my distance and speed.
This is very important as it helps to maintain a good convoy flow.
We had a few stops due to some 2nd tries, stucks, pop-outs and technical issues, but all were sorted with the help of our support team and marshals.
The last section of the drive was technical and done after sunset, which added some spice to the drive, as we had to complete it with the help of our offroad ligths.
The drive came to an end at the same start location, but it was already night dark when we inflated the tires.

My takeaways from this drive are:
- Keep my focus sharp when I'm driving at higher speeds, any mistake will have proportional consequences
- Maintain a proper distance to the car in front of me, at higher speeds I need to increase the distance to keep the convoy flow
- Keep the car in the back in my rearview mirror, If I don't see it for some time, report it on the radio

This drive, together with all my other previous drives, are the proof that every drive in this club is planned to the smallest detail.
Every drive has an objective, usually to expose drivers to a new challenge, where it can be technical dunes, high dunes, small arches, big arches, speed, etc.
We as newbies are constantly facing new experiences in every drive we participate.
And with every drive, marshals also plan an expected outcome.
Building driving skills consistently, learning from our and others mistakes, learning the importance of good communication and mantaining proper distance are some of the examples.
Drives should provide us a fun moment, but for me as a newbie, it gives me slots of takeaways to digest and get built in over the week and before the next drive!
Looking at the drives from this perspective, it seems that our marshals know what they are doing, don't they?!

At last, I'd like to thank @Mabubaker to accept me on this drive, and for providing me with the fastest drive I have experienced so far with the club. Also a big thanks to @alshamsi_m, @giorgio and @orlantsev for taking care or our safety, and to @mpodroid, @Laarni, @Tomvanhouten and @Ehab for the support.

I can't wait to see you all soon in the sand!

Pedro