Newbie All In

[Maddie]

Sounds Fun guys, I'm glad everyone had fun. I got Recovery Truck Operating instruction over the weekend :smile:

[KIMOz]

[quote=caprihorse;33366]There is nothing like automatic switch off for traction system (stability control or similar, every car maker calls it differently). You need to disengage the system pressing some button. Which? Read the book...[/quote]
Ohhhh yup i got it, so usually i must switch it manually off (using da bottom) while im off-roading. Thanks for the info ;)

[Bu-Shahid]

Nothing more left to say....
First hat off for the great efforts from the organizer and all marshals :045:
Second I am glad that I got upgraded to intermediate because get a place in the convey with this huge number of newbies is really tough
Third thanks for Al Khatib for the last part of the trip...you made my day (watch the video to the end)...:ninja:

I was in -5 convoy led by Mazzaj in which the drivers did great and the duns were technical and somehow challenging...thanks to all

my record;

[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106 ... %20map.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106 ... l%20in.png[/IMG]

[video=youtube_share;qX2ld268vrQ][/video]


Keep the sand flying.....

[TAURUS]

Super video Bu shahid :like:

[Dave]

Great management and organisation of Almost4x4 successfully pulling off a Friday morning drive with 60+ 4x4's. I must confess to having a few doubts after noticing the Thursday PM copied to 64 mail boxes. The Newbie group has grown considerably since my first club drive around 5 months ago. It was hard enough finding a space back then but now its almost mission impossible!

However, very kind of the founders and marshals to have an ''All In'' morning. It shows really how many are left disappointed not making the cut every week as the drive could be filled up over and over again! It would be interesting to know of all our active members, what percentage fall in the ''Newbie'' category. At a guess I would say over 75%. And not to have the Intermediates and Advanced drivers feeling left out, they were invited along to aid in the rescue operations. So, it really was an ''All In'' day for everybody!

Late to report due a chaotic day at Dubai Airport Saturday morning due fog. Departures running over 4 hours late. However, no such problems the morning before in Nizwa. 60 plus cars departed on time! I think our Marshals would be very good at running ground operations at Dubai International Airport! If you can dispatch 60 cars on time why not 60 planes too!

I was Newbie +5, with speed demon Yoghbear at the front. An experienced convoy of friends I am beginning to know better every weekend meet. A fast start once we accepted the fact that Oxana's radio didn't like the new frequency we had chosen for the day! A few hundred meters down the track Ginger parked up to admire his Nissan's new ''shoes''
and started digging a small hole with them when it was time to move on.....! Then it was 2nd gear (high ratio Mr Caprihorse of course!) at speed over a long section of technical dunes. A nasty pop out followed a little later which I believe caused more damage than the deflated tire so we were down one member. Hope the damage was minimal.

Over two hours later we were back in Al Badayer and there were 60 smiling faces to be seen. All 4 convoys were pushed to their respective level of skill and maybe just above so I hope everyone learned a little more Friday and improved their off road driving skills in preparation for the next adventure!

Well done again all involved. Thanks Yoghy for keeping all of us behind you busy and attentive. A very enjoyable morning.

[Paul]

Hi guys

Wow, this was a great trip. There was a huge turn up of Almost 4x4 vehicles at Nizwa.
It was awesome just to be there for the chit chat.

I was given a new job of "roaming recovery" for the first convoy, lead by Rashidjass.
I had not done this before, so was quite excited.

As a newbie, there were always some things that got my blood flowing.....today i wanted to help especially in these areas.

- When the convoy gets spread out due to "second attempts" and "one by one" over a tricky part. You can easily loose the trail and end up on a "solo challenge" trying to rejoin the convoy. I could either lead the cars to rejoin, or go ahead a little to give people a target to drive towards.
- When going over a tricky dune. To have a marshal in a suitable point, observing and giving instruction, when needed. This always made me feel safer.

Regarding the trip:

Rashidjass picked a great route. Fairly challenging, but not scary.

Everyone drove well. There were very few "stucks" or "pop-outs".

We did one big climb, where some guys needed a second attempt. I think we learned that the correct tire pressure and learning to read the dune is vital to climb.
Approaching a big climb, you want as much speed as possible(in the correct gear). But not too much speed to bounce about on the small bumps.
You need to anticipate when to give full power. Once you start slowing down and loosing RPM, its too late.

We had a few guys getting stuck, mainly due to the famous "fighting gravity".
How "fighting gravity" didn't mean too much to me when i started.....

Basically, as Bu Salem briefed, when you are sideways on a dune and you feel the car sliding down a little (usually the back of the car). The temptation is to turn up the slope. This is "fighting gravity". You will not win, you will only make the situation worse. The car will slide down more and it will end in 3 scenarios.... stuck, pop-out or roll over.

The correct action is to turn down the slope a little. This will regain control of the car and stop the slide. Once you had control back, you can pick a new path.
I think the fear of turning down is that you don't want to end up down the bottom of the ditch. It is better to be down the bottom on your wheels than on your roof.....
If you react quick enough, you only go down the slope a little before you are in control again. It is something that needs practice.

Thanks to the entire Almost4x4 team. You guys put on an amazing show.
Well done.

Regards
Paul

[Adnan]

[quote=Bu-Shahid;33372]Nothing more left to say....
First hat off for the great efforts from the organizer and all marshals :045:
my record;
[video=youtube_share;qX2ld268vrQ][/video]
Keep the sand flying.....[/quote]

Fantabulus video record Bu Shahid,,,2 thumps UP bro.I like it, especially the last couple of minutes but I wished to continue another few rest minutes.:yaeh am not durnk:

[Maddie]

[quote=Dave;33380] A fast start once we accepted the fact that Oxana's radio didn't like the new frequency we had chosen for the day! [/quote]

Thanks Dave for the detailed report. Chief's Radio many times gave off a distortion (is it called static?) when passing instructions, what was said came as unclear.
I got a good snap back once from chief when i asked a repeat :killzonesmiley: . I am absolutely sure no one understood that until Chief had mercy on me and repeated his set of instructions again.

[Fat Rabbit]

Thanks Bu Shahid, great video.

And you're the name I didnt get the day of the drive. Now I know it. Thank you for the tip of switching into 4L when my Jeep rested comfortably sideways on the top of one of the dunes. This was my first time using 4L... and it worked magically :)

[Fat Rabbit]

[quote=pwood;33381]
The correct action is to turn down the slope a little. This will regain control of the car and stop the slide. Once you had control back, you can pick a new path...
Paul[/quote]

Hi Paul,

This brings new perspective to me. I usually just turn down all the way and make a second attempt in a situation like this. I think I should now practice not to go down all the way, but try to go up again (safely by charting a new route) after regaining control. Thank you for sharing this tip.

One concern however... if I chart a new route (which I did once on the day of the drive), the vehicle behind me just followed suit... until the roaming marshal went on the radio and asked other vehicles not to follow :)