Almost4x4

Friday 13th. A drive with long history in the Club Now I know why, as it was literally THE most crazy drive I have ever participated in. Also one of the most fun I must admit.

Already the lineup of Newbies (victims?), Support and Marshals indicated this will be a drive like no other, the Telegram chatter only upped the pressure. At some point I was thinking if I should maybe buy some extra insurance for the car in case something happens Or reinforce the underbody. Or buy bedlock rims Or whatever.

On the day itself @alshamsi_m gave us a short and simple briefing to what turned out was quite a complex logistical exercise for the convoy (basically, try to keep up, Newbies bypass the stucks, if you are stuck (and you will get stuck) you will get help… eventually ) – all this with some 30 cars on in the convoy. And off we went.

Already after the first 2 or 3 minutes the radio literally exploded. It was like a real war, with only grenade explosions or series of shots from machine guns missing. I’m stuck / second try / can I move / where is the track / can someone help me / don’t go there. Carnage
Despite all that (and as promised/designed) @alshamsi_m continued his quest of trying to beat the whole desert (and Newbies) into submission. Sharp crest, turn, ditch, bowl, bush, ascent, descent, it did not matter. He relentlessly went through anyways, and behind him his army , with the unlucky ones being helped by the "medical" team And there was quite a bit of help required, so the promise – delivered!
After more than 2 hours of driving, with no real casualties we sat down in a beautiful area to down, chat and enjoy the time together.

I enjoyed the bumpy rollercoaster A LOT (my car probably less so, but I the end nothing gave up), with the path feeling like either a straight line through a desert (at speed), or sometimes – to spice things up – our Dear Leader’s take on “let’s take the most difficult path we can think of from here”. The track required constant 100% focus, the moments when I lost my guard immediately resulted in second tries (a few), or a stuck (must admit there were 3, so thank you @Rashidjass , @Scorpio and @Jasper for your help!, plus once or twice I self-recovered). But it was also a pure joy to ride – beating technical terrain being equally rewarding as the fast safari-style driving.

Learnings (and there is always more to learn):
- Starting the soft-sand ascent with low initial speed is a guaranteed fail. Best to come up with a different path to gain more speed early.
- “Overtaking” a stuck car and rejoining the convoy in a technical area is not as easy as it sounds (particularly if the rest of the convoy follows)
- Sometimes it’s just you and your car with no assistance – and given the extensive training we got from the Marshals we Newbies can do it!
- Never lose focus in a technical area

Overall we drove for 2.5h and covered 22km.

Hello Everyone,

It is one of those signature drives that really tests your technical skills, endurance and put you under pressure to test your panic response.

It was great to see such a large number of participants which made the event even more fun. I was floating around and watching the carnage happening. The drive was packed with stucks and second tries, as expected. There would have been even more if ‘some’ had not made short cuts and had followed the originally crafted route by @alshamsi_m.

I will leave you with the video to enjoy:



Cheers,

Face your Fears…. Conquer them…..!!!

That was the words running thru my mind moving towards the meeting point that afternoon…..!

My 1st Friday the 13th drive….. and the title ‘Let there be carnage’ did its justice without fail…..

My fears…. and had a lot going thru…..

- Had my car just picked up from garage on Wednesday after a major work and had not gone thru the
real test of tasting the offroads yet.
- There was still some intermittent knocking sound from the front differential/axle
- Would my overheating issues still appear again…?
- If so would I endure the drive without the AC ON on such a challenging drive and this time of the -
season?
- On top of all this would I be able to survive and get to the end…. Ohh the fears were endless....

Reached the meeting point at about 1505, there were already a few early ones…. As the usual got ready deflated and flag on.

Got the attendance done, however by then there were Green & Orange A4 size stickers being handed over to Newbies & Intermediate and aboves respectively. This added to the curiosity and later it was explained that this is to identify the newbies and this time the driving style is different…… If one is in trouble the rest of the convoy overtake and move on…. The 1st intermediate and above’s shall assist the recovery and bring the newbie back into the convoy…..The convoy always keeps moving….!!!

The 1st half at area A and if you survive you get to area B which is even worse….. OMG….!!!

The drive kicked off with a fast pace drive to the area A and then started the fun or fear I should say…..

Climbs/bumbs/ditches/bushes/drops/hops/crests/troughs/twists/turns….. just imagine all of them coming towards you in a matter of seconds…. And you just don’t have enough time to calculate all this in the slightest interval….!!!
On top all that the new convoy order of overtaking the victims created its own confusion….and took time for everyone to settle down to put it into action….
And once that was in action….. a mix of voices going around the radio adding to the mix up of who’s & what’s going on…..!!! TOTAL CHAOS

My flagpole holder gave away, tried to fix back but vain…. And finally had to remove it and was asked to remain at the back of the convoy so I don’t cause any visibility issues for the one that follows from the newbies. 2nd half the instruction was given for the supports to float around

I got stuck atleast 6 times with 1 pop out. The worst part being towards the end…. being stuck….recovered….popout….recovered….stuck…..recovered…..all in a series while the rest of the convoy had already reached the end of the day relaxing at the sitting area sipping karak & coffee……

At the end of the day I can confidently say that it was a treasure box of learning experience and definitely a confidence and skill booster….. It is a must go if you really want to reflect on where you are, what you have gained and where you need to improve……

Thanks a ton to @alshamsi_m @Rashidjass , @Barish , @Scorpio , @SINGH , @presa , @Solmaz , @optimus , @Abu Odai , @Rooies , @Jasper , @mpodroid , @Rathica, @Petr , @Sorin, @Tomvanhouten @rapailo @Daggerfall for the endless and selfless support provided.... please spare me if I have dropped off any names....

Also appreciate the rest @AndreAJ , @Asadwrangler ,@brett , @dorudoru , @Ehab , @ImranFJ , @jeepers76, @Laarni , @NahorJP , @nidal78 , @piotr , @RyanRichard , @Shawqi , @Zain ......

Shall keep seeing you all in the sand again....

Best regards,
Nabeel.

Good day Almosters!

If I have to be completely honest before the drive looking at all the hype and discussions I thought to myself this must be an exaggeration right? I mean how bad can it possibly be. In the words of Jeremy Clarkson 'What can possibly go wrong'

I couldn't have been more wrong. The people in this group are crazy! And boy do I love that

The terrain looked completely undriveable and I thought to myself 'oh we must not be driving there' however, to my disbelief that was exactly where we went

I was the last car in the newbie convoy as my sticker fell and I had to wait to get another one, Thanks @Rashidjass for the help. As evident by all the previous trip reports this drive had many many stucks and second tries. I myself had 2 recoveries and I think at least 4 5 second tries. Because we had to overtake stuck cars, at the end I was the 5th car in the convoy. This is when I captured @alshamsi_m being pulled by @NahorJP

There was a point in the drive where I was going on another line due to stuck cars and had a bit of a flight I immediately looked in my rear view mirror and all the newbies behind me had the same problem. I saw at least 2 cars behind me also catch some air. @Barish quickly called on the radio to not fly and to side crest on that point instead of going straight.

Thank you to all the Marshalls and support crew for making this happen and to being crazy enough to do this @alshamsi_m @Barish @Rashidjass @scorpio66 @Agalon @Solmaz @SINGH
@Daggerfall
@rapailo
@Rathica
@Jasper
@Tomvanhouten
@mpodroid
@Rooies
Apologies if I missed any!

Friday the 13th, Let there be Carnage & yes there was, lotsa carnage .

Friday the 13th is always a drive I look forward too, there is always lots of action, stucks, pop outs etc.

We met at the meeting point, there was a lot of cars, about 16 drivers & 18 marshals, crew, advance & intermediates willing to give a hand .

The newbies got green stickers & the rest got orange stickers, identification done. @alshamsi_m explained the "rules", it was simple, we drive, you get stuck, you call on the radio you are stuck, the car behind you will overtake & the 1st inter will come & assist, simple as that..... .

We headed out to the playing area, fairly close to EIB area, not long & we had our first casualty...@rapailo was stuck entering the playing area . The rest of us followed the convoy & it was not long before the carnage started, cars got stuck, people forgot to overtake, inters struggled to get to the stuck cars...bit of chaos . Slowly but surely drivers got into the habit of calling stucks & second tries. The area is not the easiest to overtake & overtaking can lead to you getting stuck. At once stage I needed to take the Red GMC back to the convoy, I could have taken the short route, but feared that the GMC will not make it. When we connected to the convoy @Sorin cam to me & said "I see you took the easy route with him".

We stopped for a quick briefing, "Rules" again were explained & we were off again. At one stage there was 3 stucks nearly on top of each other. It was not long & everybody was back in the convoy. We headed to the flat area & from there headed to area 2 .

@alshamsi_m told to support to leave the convoy & play by ourselves. That was the fun part. I was playing, having fun, criss crossing over the dunes, then it happened.... I got caught out by a small crest , luckily @Rashidjass was close by, he gave me a light tuck & I was back playing.

We were heading to the seating area, the yellow Xterra got stuck, we did the recovery & I drove in front taking him back to the convoy, then he got a pop out. @Abu Odai was nearby & helped with the pop out, not long & it was fixed & we were ready to go again. Then he got stuck again, we tried to rescue him but no luck, @Rashidjass kinda got "stuck" pulling him, then I needed to pull @Rashidjass but that also did not work. Then I pulled the Xterra to loosen the slack on the rope so that @Rashidjass could loosen the rope. It took a while to perform this recovery, but we got it done. @SINGH took lead & took us back to the seating area, it was nearly dark when we got there.

Overall I would say it was another successful Friday the 13th drive, @alshamsi_m did not disappoint the drivers. Thanks to all the marshals, advance, crew & other inters for lending a helping hand.

Till we meet in the sand again, stay safe.
Greetings
Rooies

Its never too late to write a rip report.

Here is mine for the Friday 13 – let there be carnage.

I entered the playground floating from the west side of the convoy. It was only 40-50 mtrs from the start point the drivers started to struggle.
They just kept going without maintaining a proper driving distance. I could see one jeep doing a 2nd try and the cars behind tried to overtake him thus creating a chaotic scene.
Marshals & us had to intervene and manage the traffic at multiple junctions during the entire drive. The newbies were reminded constantly to maintain the driving distance & do not attempt to fly or break their cars.
This is a very special drive for newbies. They are given a chance to test their reflexes under extreme stressful driving at a medium-fast pace inside a highly technical & challenging area.
This is not a competition where whoever comes first, Wins or whoever doesn’t get stuck, gets the additional points!.

At one particular dune, I Saw Bu Salem doing a very short & fast side crest but the newbies behind him couldn’t. Most of them flew over to the other side . I saw only one FJ who attempted a correct side crest but he had to do a 2nd try since he didn’t had enough speed to safely cross over to the other side. Well Done!
Getting stuck or doing a second try means you are playing safe & at the same time you are trying to improve your skills by learning the capabilities of your cars but flying would damage your cars or can event hurt you.
At the end its you & your car. Whoever didn’t cheat & played as per the rules should be proud of themselves. They are the real survivors!

A big thank you to our founder & the author of this offraod chapter in our Almost4x4 offroad book @alshamsi_m
Thanks to all the braveheart newbies who signed up for the convoy.
Last but not least ofcourse. A big thanks to our marshal’s.
@Agalon
@Barish
@Daggerfall
@presa
@Rashidjass
@Scorpio
@SINGH
@Solmaz
Our explorer @rapailo

until next time!