Almost4x4

Hello Guys,

I reached the meeting point at 8:00 am, and @siddharthsai and @nomi4x4 were already there. After saying hi, I deflated my tires and fixed my flag. Soon after, our three legendary explorers arrived. Then the full camper convoy showed up, and I immediately regretted missing last night’s camping.

Abubaker selected Ehab to lead the -10 convoy and Carlo to lead the +10 convoy. I was in Carlo’s convoy, with Shamsi and Brett guiding and supporting us.

The drive was absolutely thrilling. Long climbs, straight crests, rapid turns immediately after cresting, narrow turns with tricky angles, and huge arches, it had everything. The pace was fast, the terrain challenging, and the whole route felt longer than usual.

We had a short break where Shamsi shared some crucial tips:
• How to park on dunes properly
• How to avoid putting load on walls

At one point, after climbing a dune, I lost sight of the convoy. I followed the tracks until I hit the gravel track and realised ,I lost the car I front of me . Luckily, Shamsi was right behind me, he contacted Carlo and helped me rejoin the group. Lesson learned: communicate immediately if you lose sight of the convoy.

We took a break for the famous Shamsi coffee and kadak tea, which hit the spot after such an intense drive. Then we went for one more round of dune dashing, climbing, and high speed driving until the end.

Thank you so much to @alshamsi_m , @Mabubaker ,@CARLOSS , @David , @Ehab for organising and leading the drive . Thanks to @brett for looking out for us and keeping us safe .

See you soon in sands

One of the most enjoyable drives in a while! After a great bbq challenge get together with a lot of yummy food, we took off for a morning newbie +10 drive led by Carlos. Slightly more fast paced drive with a few higher arches, some safari style sections and relatively high drops. Got crested twice, which in turn helped me to adjust my speed successfully for the next few drops, lost my fender liner (quick visit at Rashid tomorrow), but learned how to better adjust my gears during higher climbs (a way I have not tried before), which made a massive difference. Great lead by Carlos! Thank you to Brett and Shamsi for support.

What a great day of driving.

Let's go 12 hours back.

I couldn't get sleep the night before as I had an office event with unlimited redbull zero as it was sponsored by redbull. Had 2 glasses and then realized the mistake. Came home and my brain was racing. Managed just 2 hours of sleep and I was up and ready at 5:30. Then I opened the app and realized the meet up is at 8:45. Lol. I tried waking up @Minhaj but he was smart and put his phone on silent or DND.

I played some Arc Raiders till 6:30 and then slowly left for the drive. Nahil is close by. Now since I don't go to Badayer anymore, I'm used to the 58 mins drive from home. It's a little bit of window down drive and then closing it up when it gets really cold. I was wearing the almost hoodie and was still getting cold. Since it was a late morning drive I had the sun glaring at my face all the way from AUH border. That was something different.

I reached the point and deflated and was ready. David came and then we went to the actual meetup location that was like 50M away.

Soon @Minhaj joined and we were deflated and ready to move. @alshamsi_m and the guys who camped also arrived shortly and the convoy was split into 10+ and 10- .. our 10+ being led by @CARLOSS ..

Drive was already looking promising in the first 20 mins. Quick turns, some dips. I was behind Virginia and for sometime Minaj was behind me and then Shamsi made him switch back since we were driving together now for a long time. He had a valid point. We need to learn other people's driving styles as well.

It was amazing to drive behind @virginiasz ..she was just flat out most times.

The whole drive for me was adjusting between the right gears as the dunes got bigger and bigger. Right momentum and you can climb. At one point I had to switch to 4L to climb some steep dunes. We stopped at the mid point for some nice Karak and coffee from @alshamsi_m ..

From there we drove another Safari style drive for another 1 hour and ended the drive around 12.

The best thing about the drive was when I thought it was over but then we drove for another 25 mins. Somehow this drive felt long and nice like we were in Liwa. Full satisfaction.

Big thanks to Carlos as Shamsi and all the support team for this drive.

Great day with great people.

Ciao

What an amazing Saturday, after the legendary Meat & greet event! I headed back home after the bbq, only to change and head back for the After Party drive.

We all arrived at the meeting point and were quick to deflate and ready our cars after after the feast. I was in the 10+ convoy led by @CARLOSS and supported by @alshamsi_m & @brett . I was second lead to Carlos in explorer mode - and what a lead he was! Drive started off at a decent pace and eventually went up to higher speeds, big climbs, crests, safari style, and some technical areas. The convoy was pretty smooth, till the lead decided to spice things up a bit, and have a few of us sitting on a high crest and some rescues. Despite of having done similar drives in the past, it was a whole new learning experience learning from a seasoned lead and having Carlos every once in a while explain techniques, landscapes and maneuvers! Overall a fantastic drive, with great company, amazing karak by Abu Salem, support from Brett and amazingly positive energy of Carloss

Morning drive in Nahil with Members being split in 2 groups, Carlos with the Support of Shamsi took the 10+ while Ehab took care of 10- with the support of Mabubaker and myself.

Normal basic mistakes for drivers that are starting their journey with Almost and that I would encourage them to try to pay attention to resolve as soon as they can since it will make their drives more enjoyable and safer:

Radio communication, always needed after clearing an obstacle, having a 2nd try, ... this allows the rest of the convoy and Marshalls to be aware of what is happening.
Distance with the car in front of you, you can not be too close not to be able to reach if they have a situation neither too far not to see where they are going, this is extremely important, we have a couple of situations when the right tracks were not followed which can be very dangerous, don't forget the leading Marshall is choosing the track based on your level, you follow the wrong track and you could very easily end up being in trouble.

See you on the sand soon.

Hi everyone!

Another successful Almost drive under my belt but this time leading which is a different story . It was named: “Meat after party” but I did not see any meat anywhere but I did see big bellies in some members camping and participating in the Meat & Greet Challenge.

As indicated in other trip reports, our dear newbie members were split in two convoys, -10 and +10 with my mate @Ehab along with @David and @Mabubaker and myself leading them. @Mabubaker organized the drive, took the attendance, and made the division and @alshamsi_m was so kind to be in my convoy taking care of everything, including myself.

In my convoy the plan was simple: to play in the first Nahil chain and to move to the other at the back for a bit of sarafi style once crossing the power lines, towards the final section of the drive. And in the menu, as usual for this level: A bit of a mix of arches, straight cresting and side cresting when flat on the other side, exercising the wall and some climbs.

I got started with a bit of a warm-up for all to get used and gradually, I increased slightly the pace and difficulty level up to the convoy reasonable limits. I must say that I was impressed with the convoy performance reaching from time to time a very decent flow with no interruptions and radio silence. This is the best part, when all convoy behaves as a single “big snake” and people get into the zone with little thinking, driving almost like in copilot mode, but lots of fun and adrenaline.

Whenever I felt that the convoy was having “too much fun”, I spiced things up with a few tricky straight crests and that was all. End of the story, a few cars stuck on the belly and time for me to enjoy the landscape and good weather.

Shamsi did as usual, incredible, taking full control of the convoy with only one intermediate Brett, playing the sweeper role. And I can tell you that this is not easy at all, impossible for almost the rest of us I would say.

No major issues were witnessed, just normal menu of second tries and stuck cars but I don’t recall any significant incident or tricky situation. So kudos on the convoy members because they were focused all the time and played safe.

Couple of areas of improvement though: i) Radio comm. => Whenever you get stuck, second tries or losing the car in front/behind you please report immediately and make sure that you message has been received by the Marshals by asking for confirmation in case you don’t hear any response. ii) Proper distance => Nowadays, we have tracks in most of the areas so please keep proper distance (around 20m) with the car in front of you. Whenever you might need to keep bigger distance, you will be told.

I hope the convoy enjoyed as much as I did, learned something new and had fun.
Thanks and see you soon.
Carlos

virginiasz wrote: Sat Nov 15, 2025 10:39 pm One of the most enjoyable drives in a while! After a great bbq challenge get together with a lot of yummy food, we took off for a morning newbie +10 drive led by Carlos. Slightly more fast paced drive with a few higher arches, some safari style sections and relatively high drops. Got crested twice, which in turn helped me to adjust my speed successfully for the next few drops, lost my fender liner (quick visit at Rashid tomorrow), but learned how to better adjust my gears during higher climbs (a way I have not tried before), which made a massive difference. Great lead by Carlos! Thank you to Brett and Shamsi for support.

great performance last weekend and big improvement, congrats. And if I may, pls dont waste you time fixing your plastic fender but making sure that you get rid of the other one soon (LOL). These are like battle scars...you should be proud of them.

Dear Almosters,

Lovely 10+ drive led by @Carlos , very fast paced and higher scale drive, absolutely loved it, we gathered at the meeting point at 8am with the lovely temperature of 21 degrees, and started the drive at 8:30am having 2 convoys, one for 10- and once for 10+.

The 10+ convoy was short (less is more), with @Carlos leading it and @alshamsi_m guiding us as floating marshal.

We went off with medium dunes and them moved the scale up to bigger one with some very nice side walls and straight climbs and descends. the overall drive was 10 out of 10, with very few 2nd tries and 2-3 recoveries after which we took a coffee break special thanks to @alshamsi_m for the karak and snacks.

Completed the drive by 11:30am and then went off to home to rest.

Looking forward for more drives, thanks to all the supporting crew and the marshals for their support and guidance.

Cheers.

Nomi

Dear Almosters,
We arrived at the meeting point a little behind schedule due to the distance from the camp site and encountering a lot of trucks and other traffic on the back road gatch short cut we followed.
Once we arrived everyone set about deflating correctly and chit chatting about the successful Meat & Greet event.
The attendance was taken and initial briefing was given by @Mabubaker the group would be split to 10- and 10+ convoys to be lead by our fast advancing “Explorers”
I was positioned as sweeper in the 10+ Convoy lead by @CARLOSS with @alshamsi_m as floating marshal.
@CARLOSS led the drive with amazing finesse gradually increasing the leave as the dive developed with faster and higher level of obstacles to master. Steep straight crests and drops, amazing high line arches that required 110% focus by the 10+ drivers to conquer.
The drivers that couldn’t manage the high lines on the first attempt were requesting 2nd and even 3rd tries changing approach, speed and gear selection until they were able to complete successfully - well done everyone, every drive is an opportunity to develop your style and increase your level, you could almost feel the adrenaline pumping through the veins of the drivers when we stopped for the coffee, cookies and Karak courtesy of @alshamsi_m
As mentioned in other reports some reminders
- Radio communication is key to a safe and successful drive
- Maintain distance not too close not to far
I had some issues of my own with my radio meaning at a certain point I was unable to instructions from @AlShamsi and @Carloss – situation remedied by having an extra handheld device available
Thanks to everyone for a fantastic experience.