Gravity returns

[Petr]

I was looking forward to this ride since, for personal and medical reasons, I could not join any intermediate drive for some time. To my surprise all the remaining jeepers converted to washmachines, many of them white (of course), so I felt a bit disoriented who is who for a while.

The meeting time was 6:30, so I had to wake up at 4:30, but I didn't regret. @scorpio was a leading marshall, @solmaz and @optimus with @rashidjass in the car supported the convoy. I was glad to see my intermediate fellows (including the converts, but c'est la vie). The drive was in my favorite area close to the Al Ain airport, so all ingredients for a great day.

The drive was smooth and free of big challenges. At one moment my engine started losing a great deal of power, without any indication on the dashboard. I was advised that this might be a faulty or dirty air inlet sensor that could throttle the power, especially after pushing the RPM high. After a restart it disappeared. Later during the drive it came again and I had to restart a few more times to get rid of it, but I found it as a good exercise for learning how to maintain momentum without pushing the engine too close to limits. The secondary impact was I didn't have problem with engine overheating that jeepers may experience at these summer temperatures.

I apologize for holding the convoy for this and also for sand in my fan I could not get rid of instantly, but I hope you guys realize that keeping my jeep in convoy pushes the likelyhood of technical issues from your card to mine, so you should keep me always there as a rabbit's foot or a horse shoe - I am the last one you have now!

Many thanks Scorpio for giving us the fun and to other marshalls to keeping us safe.

[Ehab]

Hi Almosters

Al Ain airport area, an area that we do not visit that much, very nice crests and M shape dune in addition to some technical areas, a combination of all giving us opportunity to enjoy and practice at the same time.

Enjoy watching

[David]

A drive that I was really looking forward to, leading Marshall that always pushes and the location one of my favorites without going too far from Dubai. A bit tired after the early start and having just flown back from Spain but the excitement more than compensated for this!!!

8 cars in the convoy and "last man standing" to allow a better flow.

Dunes in this area are of a really good size, with some clusters being magnificent, however there are also plenty of "Ts" that do not give you the chance of managing very long sequences.

Despite the last man standing rule we struggled for flow, too many interruptions that made the job of the leading car even more difficult.

Personally I enjoyed the most once we managed to get some speed on some nice "side to side" movements.

Scorpio selected a perfect track, first the chain by the airport to move towards "M dune" and finish on that chain, great job as usual in not very easy conditions. This area has a "reputation" for things always happening so well done to him and to all of the interms for playing it safe and getting all of the cars to the finish line.

Thank you Scorpio for organizing and leading, the combo Rashid&Optimus as well as the surprise appearance of Solmaz for looking after us and of course all of my great friends the interm for another great morning.

See you on the sand soon.

[CARLOSS]

Hi everyone!

Not sure about previous “Gravity” drives but this “Gravity Returns” was not easy to deal with from a Marshal’s perspective…but let’s start from the beginning.

Gravity was early posted on the App generating all type of gossip between some of us regarding the selected playground, convoy’s composition (due to drive description’s warning), difficulty level etc. and here we go, both registration and drive day finally came.

Also, I was quite excited not only for the drive itself but for Scorpio's return who is catching up with drives and eager Interm on a fantastic way. Thanks master for the time and efforts made!

Playground was fantastic, Al Ain Airport, one of the best places I would say within 1:30h range from Dubai however, we encountered plenty of tracks which is not normal there…3-4 weeks back it was completely clean like today Petr's mass flow sensor (LOL). Sand was also extremely soft in some areas but this did not prevent our leading Marshal to make the best of it.

Convoy was composed by a mix of “elderly” interm and “medium age” ones but for whatever reason I am under the impression that it did not perform as well as expected with a significant number of interruptions. “Last man standing” helped a lot to keep the flow but still.

All in all, Scorpio gave us a masterclass on tracks’ selection and adjusting the level accordingly to convoy’s performance and the three remaining Marshals (one driving a stolen car) did a great job specially at the back of the convoy managing all kind of situations. A big thanks to Rashid, Optimus and Solmaz (good to see you back since GPS challenge flags recovery)

I honestly believe that we can do better so there is only one way to prove it…guess what!

Thanks for reading and see you all soon.

Carlos

[Scorpio]

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to have this drive earlier for a full day when it was still cooler and we were able to camp near the Milky Way spot. Nevertheless, we still managed to drive and enjoy another beautiful area of Al Ain.

The drive was planned to have an early start to get the most out of morning weather before the day gets hot (expect, more and more drives getting scheduled really early morning until we see winter around the corner).

Now, coming to the drive, it was as per my expectations I would say because the weather has got hot now and unless you are prepared for the soft sand surprise, the 2nd tries are inevitable . However, with a few more drives like this you would be able to judge the sand more precisely and the convoy could have better flow. The best part is that the convoy played safe…most of the time, if not all.

As a lead car, I had to carefully choose the challenges apt for the convoy level and I aborted from few of the ‘nice’ points and sometimes changed my approach angle and momentum to keep it safe for the convoy. It’s heartwarming to see you guys learning and improving ; soon we can go back and conquer those crests which requires laser precision in terms of angle and momentum . The concept of ever-changing 2nd lead and last man standing was deployed only to minimize some interruptions to the flow and it worked well up to a certain extent.

I would like to thanks my co-marshals for their support; @rashidjass, @optimus, @solmaz and you all for calling out your 2nd tries and playing safe in that area.

Let’s see if you are ready for ‘Blade Runners’

Cheers,

[Dauntless]

Gravity Returns 2

I arrived at the meeting point on high spirits. I’d driven that area with Almost 4x4 twice and both times was high adventure and I knew with @Scorpio leading, the high adrenaline that I’d come to expect will definitely be delivered.

Briefing was brief as we’d all driven in the area before so we knew the joys and dangers. We did last man standing and we got to play second lead - mine was very brief towards the end of the drive, which I stole from @David because as we all know - he never has second tries

We were off to an exciting start. The dunes were high like our spirits and Scorpio found every challenge throughout. There was never a dune left Undriven but r a challenge ignored.

Only problem was my FJ which I’d collected from repairs but it felt much more sluggish than before. All temperature gauges were stable and there were no unusual noises which was good. I also need to play with my suspension- one couldn’t imagine how a good suspension can change your drive experience. I’m still feeling mine and they need more tweaking except I don’t know what needs to be tweaked.

I got crested twice but the first one had us laughing as the sand was so soft that I thought I’d end up sliding all the way down the dune. After hitching my rope to the rescue car, I had to grab onto the rope and pull myself up to my car and crawl in. Thank you Imran for the rescue. The second crest was a self recovery . Then I had a really hair raising moment when I overshot a crest. It was my instinct and skill that saved me from ruining the drive for my team mates - I gunned the gas and turned my wheels towards the base of the dune until I had control of the FJ and then continued on my challenge - shouting words at myself that only my FJ was witness too

Thank you to my fellow inters for your fun and patience.
Thank you Marshals: @aRashidJass, at my girl @Solmaz, @Optimas and @Scorpio for keeping us safe.

All in all, it was a blast and I’m glad we all made it out safe and sound.
PS. I miss my Jeep.

[CARLOSS]

For the records, you stole it from me

Gravity Returns 2

I arrived at the meeting point on high spirits. I’d driven that area with Almost 4x4 twice and both times was high adventure and I knew with @Scorpio leading, the high adrenaline that I’d come to expect will definitely be delivered.

Briefing was brief as we’d all driven in the area before so we knew the joys and dangers. We did last man standing and we got to play second lead - mine was very brief towards the end of the drive, which I stole from @David because as we all know - he never has second tries

We were off to an exciting start. The dunes were high like our spirits and Scorpio found every challenge throughout. There was never a dune left Undriven but r a challenge ignored.

Only problem was my FJ which I’d collected from repairs but it felt much more sluggish than before. All temperature gauges were stable and there were no unusual noises which was good. I also need to play with my suspension- one couldn’t imagine how a good suspension can change your drive experience. I’m still feeling mine and they need more tweaking except I don’t know what needs to be tweaked.

I got crested twice but the first one had us laughing as the sand was so soft that I thought I’d end up sliding all the way down the dune. After hitching my rope to the rescue car, I had to grab onto the rope and pull myself up to my car and crawl in. Thank you Imran for the rescue. The second crest was a self recovery . Then I had a really hair raising moment when I overshot a crest. It was my instinct and skill that saved me from ruining the drive for my team mates - I gunned the gas and turned my wheels towards the base of the dune until I had control of the FJ and then continued on my challenge - shouting words at myself that only my FJ was witness too

Thank you to my fellow inters for your fun and patience.
Thank you Marshals: @aRashidJass, at my girl @Solmaz, @Optimas and @Scorpio for keeping us safe.

All in all, it was a blast and I’m glad we all made it out safe and sound.
PS. I miss my Jeep.

[David]

Can’t wait for blade runners …

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to have this drive earlier for a full day when it was still cooler and we were able to camp near the Milky Way spot. Nevertheless, we still managed to drive and enjoy another beautiful area of Al Ain.

The drive was planned to have an early start to get the most out of morning weather before the day gets hot (expect, more and more drives getting scheduled really early morning until we see winter around the corner).

Now, coming to the drive, it was as per my expectations I would say because the weather has got hot now and unless you are prepared for the soft sand surprise, the 2nd tries are inevitable . However, with a few more drives like this you would be able to judge the sand more precisely and the convoy could have better flow. The best part is that the convoy played safe…most of the time, if not all.

As a lead car, I had to carefully choose the challenges apt for the convoy level and I aborted from few of the ‘nice’ points and sometimes changed my approach angle and momentum to keep it safe for the convoy. It’s heartwarming to see you guys learning and improving ; soon we can go back and conquer those crests which requires laser precision in terms of angle and momentum . The concept of ever-changing 2nd lead and last man standing was deployed only to minimize some interruptions to the flow and it worked well up to a certain extent.

I would like to thanks my co-marshals for their support; @rashidjass, @optimus, @solmaz and you all for calling out your 2nd tries and playing safe in that area.

Let’s see if you are ready for ‘Blade Runners’

Cheers,