GNFD 2023
-
CARLOSS
- Advance
- Posts: 196
- Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2020 2:10 pm
- Location: Dubai
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Hi everyone!
Another GNFD under my belt (passenger’s seat belt, to be precise) and I believe that it is only the second one of many more to come…
Last year I was nicely surprised by a Marshal’s invitation so I thought, for 2023 edition I won’t be that lucky and someone else will take this honor but, with Almost you never know and to my surprise, I received again another one!
Thanks @giorgio for that and it was real pleasure being your copilot! Excellent company and amazing driving experience! 
I learned a lot from you and willing to put that in practice very soon in a full day interm drive. 
We reached the meeting point plenty of time, we got the car ready, collected the goodies & food and met our colleagues already filling their tummies during breakfast. Our founder and number 2 of the organization, master of masters @alshamsi_m was welcoming all Almosters & others very friendly, attending to the press and all that, with a smile in his face. Congrats to the organization, all was perfectly designed and executed. Beautiful track selection suitable for different levels and kudos to our mentor
To be honest with you, this edition was quiet compared to the previous one (the cancellation of the initial event did not help I can imagine)...Not so many cars, I calculate that around 250-300, but same drivers’ enthusiasm and willingness to have a great time. Not an issue anyway, the lesser number of cars the more fun
At the start line, all drivers lined up in two lines being dispatched in batches and some of them “showing their muscles”
at the start of the drive and us thinking, “good luck, I will see you stuck in a few dunes”. A short of a catwalk with very nice stock low-shinny bumpers passing in front of our eyes without knowing that their fate was already written on the sand…And as expected, no more than 2 km away from the starting point a massive jam of cars trying to get out of the mess 
…this was like when you are hungry and see a nice buffet in front of you…yummy.
Vicking rope started to work out early morning and stopped around 2pm or so with our last customer. This year, not too many recoveries (6 or 7) but a couple of pop outs and 1 crash between 2 cars assisted.
A few victims on our way with hoods open, bumpers laying on the sand, a few motion sicked people but all in all, it was a great experience for everybody I guess with people enjoying the scenery, taking breaks while relaxing and refilling both stomachs and fuel tanks, taking pictures of camels and burning out & showing off in IG, tik-tok and all these s*** for young people.
By the time I reached home I debriefed my wife @Flor and I was so happy that she told me: “I should make it next year as participant”. Let’s see, next edition I may end up rescuing her
Thanks for reading and get ready for next edition!
Carlos
Another GNFD under my belt (passenger’s seat belt, to be precise) and I believe that it is only the second one of many more to come…
Last year I was nicely surprised by a Marshal’s invitation so I thought, for 2023 edition I won’t be that lucky and someone else will take this honor but, with Almost you never know and to my surprise, I received again another one!
Thanks @giorgio for that and it was real pleasure being your copilot! Excellent company and amazing driving experience! I learned a lot from you and willing to put that in practice very soon in a full day interm drive. We reached the meeting point plenty of time, we got the car ready, collected the goodies & food and met our colleagues already filling their tummies during breakfast. Our founder and number 2 of the organization, master of masters @alshamsi_m was welcoming all Almosters & others very friendly, attending to the press and all that, with a smile in his face. Congrats to the organization, all was perfectly designed and executed. Beautiful track selection suitable for different levels and kudos to our mentor
To be honest with you, this edition was quiet compared to the previous one (the cancellation of the initial event did not help I can imagine)...Not so many cars, I calculate that around 250-300, but same drivers’ enthusiasm and willingness to have a great time. Not an issue anyway, the lesser number of cars the more fun
At the start line, all drivers lined up in two lines being dispatched in batches and some of them “showing their muscles”
at the start of the drive and us thinking, “good luck, I will see you stuck in a few dunes”. A short of a catwalk with very nice stock low-shinny bumpers passing in front of our eyes without knowing that their fate was already written on the sand…And as expected, no more than 2 km away from the starting point a massive jam of cars trying to get out of the mess …this was like when you are hungry and see a nice buffet in front of you…yummy. Vicking rope started to work out early morning and stopped around 2pm or so with our last customer. This year, not too many recoveries (6 or 7) but a couple of pop outs and 1 crash between 2 cars assisted.
A few victims on our way with hoods open, bumpers laying on the sand, a few motion sicked people but all in all, it was a great experience for everybody I guess with people enjoying the scenery, taking breaks while relaxing and refilling both stomachs and fuel tanks, taking pictures of camels and burning out & showing off in IG, tik-tok and all these s*** for young people.
By the time I reached home I debriefed my wife @Flor and I was so happy that she told me: “I should make it next year as participant”. Let’s see, next edition I may end up rescuing her
Thanks for reading and get ready for next edition!
Carlos
