Catch Me If You Can XII - 28/11/2014

orlantsev
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First of all apologies for late report submission.
Day before the trip I had a corporate event which I had to cut short at 11 pm mindful of the driving challenge next day. Despite that when the alarm rang at 5.30 am it took me about 5 minutes to understand why I needed to wake up so early. On the way to the meeting point I was still very sleepy and stopped by the petrol station to boost myself with caffeine. Met Arun and Rashid and followed them to the meeting point. Initially Strawb asked me to be the driver in the convoy (after himself, the newbie under observation and Rashidjass). We drove straight into the Capriland where most us struggled and the convoy order became more chaotic. I managed to maintain my position only by changing the track and not strictly following Strawb’s tyre thread. Soon after that we did a Fossil Rock drop which was easy given Bu Salem’s instruction from few weeks ago. Right after that I came forward to follow Strawb as a second lead. Not long after I got stuck on a crest, which was quite interesting given that all 4 wheels had traction, but the car belly was firmly grounded. Strawb gave me a quick pull and I was released. Just less than a minute after I handed over my second lead position to Defrag we had an incident which kept us still for a long time. Despite that serious ‘near miss’ was avoided by both Strawb and Defrag, Strawb still took a hit by puncturing his back tyre. After it was fixed we had fewer smaller incidents such as one pop-out, minor stucks, so it felt we would reach Badayer towards sunset despite earlier planned finish at 11 am. After the ‘morale – boost’ session by Strawb the pace increased considerably. I guess one episode which ignited it was the drive around a big bowl. The big change from the earlier newbie drives given that we followed each other very closely – at 5-10 meter distance. I finally got a chance to make use of my ‘ rescue’ badge and pulled two cars from the crests. Newbie ethics does not allow me to mention names. Driving on a flat caused me some problem, as I found myself in cloud of dust and could not really see too much in front of me, so I let the car in front too far out and was promptly reminded by Strawb to close the gap. Towards the end of the trip three of us (myself, Defrag and Solmaz) were rewarded with some great lesson by Falasi how to get out of the bowl where three of us ended after not so successful crest. Even though we got separated from the rest it was very useful. Finally I am ‘proud’ to report my first damage! I realized that my front bumper had a dent. I do not even remember where it happened, but I guess it was somewhere before the Fossil rock drop. Yesterday I pushed it back from the inside, so even the impact to the car aesthetics is minor. Time to think of a reinforced bumper or maybe, which is more likely, better driving skills.
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SINGH
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A very good challenging and informative drive..... all the drivers performed well.
as mentioned in the above reports, start was a bit slow and the fossil rock climb has always proven to be bit tough and tricky. The drivers have to carefully avoid the sharp stones while struggling to climb up at the same time.

And that incident, which might have caused big damage to Strawb’s turtle & defrag jeep too. My respect for the marshals has really gone high. You guys lead us by putting yourselves & your ride into risk so that we can learn and improve our skills, BIG Thanks to all of you.
:thumbsup:

Final stretch was really a fast paced and i am sure that not only me but all the fellow drivers must have enjoyed that.

Thanks Strawb, Rashidjass and Falasi
momo
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[CENTER]Catch me if you can XII - Part 2 (more adrenaline):045:
[video=youtube;qGzHcdZW2A0][/video]
[/CENTER]
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Defragmantor
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[quote=orlantsev;39796]First of all apologies for late report submission.
Day before the trip I had a corporate event which I had to cut short at 11 pm mindful of the driving challenge next day. Despite that when the alarm rang at 5.30 am it took me about 5 minutes to understand why I needed to wake up so early. On the way to the meeting point I was still very sleepy and stopped by the petrol station to boost myself with caffeine. Met Arun and Rashid and followed them to the meeting point. Initially Strawb asked me to be the driver in the convoy (after himself, the newbie under observation and Rashidjass). We drove straight into the Capriland where most us struggled and the convoy order became more chaotic. I managed to maintain my position only by changing the track and not strictly following Strawb’s tyre thread. Soon after that we did a Fossil Rock drop which was easy given Bu Salem’s instruction from few weeks ago. Right after that I came forward to follow Strawb as a second lead. Not long after I got stuck on a crest, which was quite interesting given that all 4 wheels had traction, but the car belly was firmly grounded. Strawb gave me a quick pull and I was released. Just less than a minute after I handed over my second lead position to Defrag we had an incident which kept us still for a long time. Despite that serious ‘near miss’ was avoided by both Strawb and Defrag, Strawb still took a hit by puncturing his back tyre. After it was fixed we had fewer smaller incidents such as one pop-out, minor stucks, so it felt we would reach Badayer towards sunset despite earlier planned finish at 11 am. After the ‘morale – boost’ session by Strawb the pace increased considerably. I guess one episode which ignited it was the drive around a big bowl. The big change from the earlier newbie drives given that we followed each other very closely – at 5-10 meter distance. I finally got a chance to make use of my ‘ rescue’ badge and pulled two cars from the crests. Newbie ethics does not allow me to mention names. Driving on a flat caused me some problem, as I found myself in cloud of dust and could not really see too much in front of me, so I let the car in front too far out and was promptly reminded by Strawb to close the gap. Towards the end of the trip three of us (myself, Defrag and Solmaz) were rewarded with some great lesson by Falasi how to get out of the bowl where three of us ended after not so successful crest. Even though we got separated from the rest it was very useful. Finally I am ‘proud’ to report my first damage! I realized that my front bumper had a dent. I do not even remember where it happened, but I guess it was somewhere before the Fossil rock drop. Yesterday I pushed it back from the inside, so even the impact to the car aesthetics is minor. Time to think of a reinforced bumper or maybe, which is more likely, better driving skills.[/quote]
Take it like a birthmark but on your car :D would remind you in the future the good times you had with the club :D
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matts
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Does anybody have the GPS track / log for this trip that can be uploaded? I'd like to see where you went as i'm heading out that way on national day.

Cheers!
zeemmee
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Nice video [MENTION=8718]MOMO[/MENTION].:like:
Those are some nice cartoons, particularly the great attention to detail [MENTION=9136]margarita[/MENTION]
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