Almost4x4

Hi Almosters

We had a smooth drive to Al Wagan with @kareem.alameldin in the evening. The time run fast when you have a company you can chit chat on the way

After a small night rally on the sabkha we reached to the camping point easily and joined to the other Almosters. Special thanks to @Markouss , @giorgio and @Issa (Sorry if I missed someone), we had a great meat fest including "Homemade" special "Greek Bread" by @giorgio as usual and go to bed under the stars with happy stomach after enjoying camp fire stories and sharing good old memories.

After another beautiful morning , sunrise and digging hard wet sand for 15 minutes under my car when I get crested on the way to a technical break (Lazy to deflate the tires ) and getting saved by @Rashidjass , we joined with new comers and had our breakfast. Thanks to @Saeed FJ for the beautiful pastry!

As a tradition @giorgio started blasting the Thunderstruck from his car during preparation and everybody was ready to move within minutes, 08:30 sharp!

The drive was fine and smooth. We drove around 3,5 hours in the morning till the long noon break and drove until we empty our tanks in the afternoon. And it seems I need to calculate for more extra fuel next time since we had to leave earlier than planned. (Our attempt to buy fuel from the intermediates when we met them in the afternoon is also failed since they didn't left any extra fuel either XD )

We completed the drive safe and sound except some minor issues (Part of the game) and head back home with little bit "unsatisfied" (We could play more ) and start thinking about how to plan the next one on the way (Including an arrangement of CAFU delivery to the desert XD )

Thanks to our adv drivers they all did very well and I had a great weekend with dear Almosters.

Hope you also enjoyed it and see you next time.

Thunderstruck III:

This was the 3rd edition of this Legendary drive and it is one of those drive's that you are seriously wish to go and you and your car come back in one piece.

The drive to the camp the night before the drive, was smooth but long (i hate the Al Ain roundabouts). I drove with @Issa to the camp point and we reached around 9:45 pm.

There was no time to waste so the BBQ was set and the smell of the lamp-chops feel the air with the usual aroma.

On our arrival, there were just a hand full of cars with more arriving little by little.
We stayed around the grill ( not around the fire) pass midnight and only when we were full from eating we moved to the fire and stayed another hour before we start moving to our tents.

The evening was quite and fairly with no humidity. The morning found us all well rested with new arrivals coming none stop ( some advance some intermediates).

BF was served and all drivers were in a preparation mode tiding down their supplies and equipment for the upcoming challenging drives.

The two levels were separated at 820 for their individual briefs and at 8:30 sharp we (advance convoy) moved out.

The brief was short and to the point. We were to drive towards the sun for the first half of the day ( better viability and shadow recognition) and after our noon break, to drive back to manage again using the shadows to our advantage.

To be able to accomplish our driving plan we first had to drive around 20 min on a 10+ level to reach the beginning of the chain. This was a nice warm up session before we actually get to the hard core driving.

The convoy had no order. The last man standing system was applied with @Daggerfall as a lead and the rest in no particular order were following.

Al Wagan is well known for its Tall dunes with crispy sharp crests with a touch of soft sand and a sprinkle of vegetation all around.

The convoy was moving fast to very fast with minimum radio communication. Hands were glued to the steering full concentration and alot of praying.

There were times that i hoped that the lead car wont make the climb (aboard the climb) so we dont have to follow. Fortunately our lead manage to accomplish all the impossible tasks and we manage to concur our fears and followed him.

The drive as i mentioned was fast crossing the dunes one by one. We had the chance to visit stadium bowl as well as Giorgio's bowl which personally I was hopping that we will so I can tick the box that i did them.

Although the drive was smooth I was the first one to notice that my fuel was going down quicker than the usual (maybe even a fuel leak which i still need to look into).

Unfortunately 45 min before the drive come to an end, i had to aboard with a quarter tank left to use for exiting the desert and reaching to the nearest gas station.

The convoy took me out to a safe area and i continue following the camp track to the civilization while i could still hear on the radio the convoy getting back to drive more.


This was an amazing drive that we all gave the best of us and we left on the sand all we got.

Special thanks to the organizer and @SINGH for looking over us.


Until next time drive safe and looking forward to more drive like this one.

I am one of the lucky one who has been part of all the Thunderstuck drives… Right from the first one, all versions have done some addition to the learning.

I left my office on Thursday evening after 1800 hrs, went home to pick up the stuff. Was about to move and heard sirens of the fire fighting vehicles. To my surprise, there was a fire broke in the next building to mine. Things got delayed further, as the road in front of my building was blocked and I had to detour to come out of the place.

Weather was amazing and I drove at a reasonable pace to reach the farms area around 1145pm. Started heading towards the camp, but surprises were waiting for me.
I was may be few a km away from the camp when I saw fencing of a farm and changed my route a bit, then the stupid thing happened. I don’t know what came to my mind, to reset the route. I stopped navigation on my GPS, went back to saved waypoints, and selected the Camp again. I tell you, after driving for 30 or more minutes, when I reached that camp point, it was wrong. I was at one of the previous camp which was saved with the same name in my GPS. I just didn’t checked the co-ordinates before selecting that. What a stupid mistake.

Called on the radio and @Rashidjass responded to me “Where are you man, we saw your light and then you didn’t turned up”. Cutting short, selected the right camp, which was now showing 6.8kms from my current location and started moving towards that. To reach there I had go around few big bowls, did side cresting to pass them, then nice eggs in the basket kind of area, with lots of plantations and finally reached the correct camp, where all were sleeping, except @Rashidjass . He was waiting for me, thanks a lot to our guardian @Rashidjass …. So in a way, i did a Solo night drive in Al Wagan, due to one stupid mistake.

In the morning, all were up and excited for the drive. Both Intermediates and Advance drivers were ready for the challenge. Drive started dot at 0830am. Sand was relatively dry on the top but a bit moist underneath a few places. We targeted and conquered most of the High dunes, flattened the sharp crests, climbed smoothly the steep climbs and drove safely down the dead drops.
Fuel consumption was the only thing which has challenged us this time, but that’s acceptable, considering the fact that vehicles were knocking the rev limiters during almost the whole drive, and the fun starts from thereon. That’s what Al Wagan is all about. You have to pass the limits to go across those huge landscapes made up of sand.

As always, great lead by @Daggerfall and thanks to all the fellow advance drivers for making this a successful edition of”Thunderstuck”….. Looking forward to the next one….

Good evening everybody
Sorry for the late report, iam writing this report while not feeling my bones, so lets start

Moved with @giorgio at 730 pm heading to the meeting point
We deflated and drove to the campsite to find @Rashidjass , @Youssef.Abdelhady , @Scorpio , @MarkoZ and later @Mabubaker , and @Daggerfall joined us for dinner, was fun chitchatting under the stars in alwagan

Next day, drive day

Basically it was a last man standing drive, @Daggerfall was leading and @giorgio was second lead, we literally drove each and every type of dune, bowl, or arch. All in all the drive was smooth without second tries or popouts.
We were supposed to finish at 6pm but due to shortage of fuel we finished at 4 pm driving 150 Km in the wonderful wagan

Once again thanks marshalls, organizers for this amazing trip.


Untill next time
Stay safe

here we go

what an amazing drive, nothing can be said to describe the drive, as mentioned before we drive till the empty tank.

I got some good shots in my camera and happy to share it with you, enjoy it



in the end, a big thanks for the organizer Marshall @Daggerfall for orginizing and leading amazing drive. cant wait for more of this drive, and for all the driver to make it possible

Hey Almosters,

I was really looking forward to this drive for two reasons :
- Its the legendary Thunderstruck drive I've heard so many stories about.
- During my last drive in Al Wagan, I barely slept the night before and didn't get the chance to fully enjoy the drive.


But this time it was different; the one word that can describe this day is : PERFECT

Starting with Thursday evening, I was able to leave work on time and drove straight to the camping point, where I met @Scorpio by chance. We drove together to camp to find @Rashidjass & @Marcouss already there. @giorgio and @Issa joined shortly after and started on the bbq right away. One by one the remaining campers joined and we all had an absolutely delicious bbq meal with one of kind "homemade" Greek bread (Thank you @giorgio, @Issa, @Marcouss).

Went to sleep shortly after and had a great night's rest, the weather stayed very pleasant all night.

Woke up 6 am > Breakfast & Coffee > Briefing > All set for the action.

We were all still somewhat asleep as we started, fortunately we had warmup session on smaller dunes, so once we hit the big dunes I felt in the zone.

After that it was just pure bliss, non-stop high speed side cresting on every big dune in the area from all possible angles. yuush
The flow of the convoy was awesome especially since we applied the "last man standing" concept, meaning we wouldn't need to stop the convoy for second tries.

Thankfully we had no major issues, and all reached the tarmac low on fuel and high on adrenaline.


Thank you @Daggerfall for an unforgettable drive.



See you all soon.