La Casa de Papel

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Tomvanhouten
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Hello everyone,

What an epic day (yes, full) we had in the desert!
Arriving around 7am, in the fog, with multiple fog alerts on the phone coming in, we arrived at the MP, finding @Sorin already present.
Soon after, all drivers showed up and waiting for the fog to clear a little, we had a comfortable chat.

The plan was to drive around 100km, with the first bit to be fairly easy (at least that was said by our lead @Mabubaker ). Multiple second tries, proved it wasn't so easy, which was primarily due to distance.
Myself really needed to get used to throttle response in the car, which caused me to report several times over the radio. No worries, down the line, it went better.

Unfortunately, one car had to leave us, when the fun was just starting, hope you got out alright.
Once, the break (lunch) was done and the convoy was regrouped, we headed for some faster 'fence' driving towards the hidden fun area. And, man this was fun!!
High walls, big bowls and loose sand! I still feel it writing up the report, what a great part of the drive.

Absolutely loving what the day brought us, refilled with positive vibes and very tired, we arrived home for a shower and bed around 9pm.

Thank you all for this beautiful day and especially @presa @alshamsi_m @orlantsev and surely the fantastic lead of @Mabubaker

See you all soon

Tom
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brett
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Dear Sand People,
This is not a drive report as such, I was fortunate to tag along as a passenger to observe just what it is the Intermediates get up to when they are not helping us hapless Newbies on lower-level drives.

Firstly thanks to @orlantsev for letting me hitch a ride down to Abu Dhabi at the ungodly hour in the morning! thanks to @presa for organizing the drive. And a big thank you to @alshamsi_m for allowing me the seat in Mando
There was heavy fog on the drive down to the meeting point – we followed @KIMOz through the fog and the blaring txt alerts from AD Police to reduce speed. We met a few others at the last petrol station then headed to the meeting point – the others were parked 50m away and we could not see them at first. We sat around had coffee and dates – the drivers were going to need the sugar boost for energy later.

The fog cleared and we headed off with @Mabubaker taking the lead position. I had been in this area back in January as a -5 Newbie and the GPS showed me later that we crossed exactly the point where I managed to rip off my rear bumper. But this intermediate drive is on a completely different (HIGHER, FASTER) level.

Being on these drives with the intermediates is a fantastic opportunity to watch and observer their different styles. The pace was brisk driving through technical stretches, high arches, cresting on some very big dunes with razor sharp crests, drops, very steep climbs, very soft sand, basically you name it we encountered it, all at what felt like 100mph from where I was sitting.
To all my fellow Newbies - as I mentioned riding as a passenger is a great opportunity to observe and learn, so if you are offered the chance take it ! however a word of warning if you suffer from any form of motion sickness, have a heart condition, or you are pregnant this ride is NOT recommended for you !!!

During the drive we encountered only a few issues, two flat tires and one vehicle that needed to be towed out to the road due to a cooling fan failure (we won’t mention the make of those vehicles, or the band of tires involved. We also discovered that Nissan Patrols have a unique technical glitch where the engine light comes on for no apparent reason (that we are aware of yet!) removing the battery terminal for a minute then connecting it back and like magic the system resets and the light goes away. This happened on both Patrols in the convoy.

After lunch we needed to cross to an area with bigger dunes and bowls, some 25km along the plains at this point we really were doing 100mph (160kph) in a cloud of dust. As the sun started to set in the sky the drivers had the opportunity for “play” in a couple of BIG bowls that really was a sight to behold. 2 other vehicles we encountered at the first bowl the drivers and their young kids watched with dropped jaws and bulging eyes as the Almosters rocketed around the bowl.
At the next even bigger bowl we encountered another convoy, their “desert manners” were basically non existent as they were disrupting our convoy line as the guys were trying to climb and crest to the other side. Mando's response to this was to race around the bowl at a high level and basically corralling them while shadowing our drivers so they could cross the crest.

My Take aways
- Leave your ego at home
- Everyone gets stuck and needs second tries, there is no shame it. That it called learning and being safe!
- You may be an individual driver, but almost4x4 is a team and a family working together to ensure everyone’s safety.

Thanks for reading the tales of a passenger. Don’t forget to check out our social media pages, like, comment and share the content. A big thank you to our newly created “Media” team. We will be seeing more content on YouTube and our other sites moving forward.

A shoutout to all the drivers in the convoy, who made this drive an awesome experience for me.
@amarxterra @Christiaan @Jasper @KIMOz @mpodroid @osman @Rathica @Rooies @Sorin @David @SameRaptoRed @Tomvanhouten and my newbie batchmate @Laarni


*post publish edit. @alshamsi_m i was in no way suggesting it was a newbie level drive. I merely meant we had driven in the area but at a much lower level of track. The lead by @Mabubakr and the speed and skills shown by the intermediates was a level way way higher skill set than a newbie driver could hope to achieve
Last edited by brett on Sun Oct 03, 2021 5:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Until the next Adventure

Brett
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David
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Al Khatim to "Old Sweihan" (as now I know it is called in Almost terms)

Let's start from the end, most importantly many thanks to Abubaker, leading a full day intermediate drive through terrains so different requires a lot of skill and hard work, he did a fantastic job. Also to thank Presa and Shamsi for their continuous support, Orlantsev for sweeping for us and all the intermediates that showed up once again in high numbers and good spirit. thumbsup thumbsup

Drive started with technical area with very soft sand, a few second tries in the convoy in those difficult conditions, middle of the morning section the less enjoyable in my opinion, too much vegetation that did not allow to approach the crests safely, to be honest a bit of a pain that area, before lunch we drove in better dunes that allowed to increase the speed and the convoy managed to drive with great fluidity.

At some point in the morning mid-section I got one tire puncture, I guess the new softer shoes do not enjoy driving in the forest, many thanks to all of the fellow intermediates that helped me changing the tire, specially Rooies, he is "the man" in this type of situations. First time ever I get a puncture in a drive, I assume as a result of the new set up and the "price to pay" in order to get that little extra performance, hoping though it does not become a too "regular thing". whut

On a positive note I believe that fully adapted to the new set up, so if any kind Marshall is reading this and feels a bit playful and he/she is willing to take the interm to the big dunes now that the camping season is about to start I am for sure IN. Very keen to test the car in more difficult conditions!!! killzonesmiley killzonesmiley

Before lunch one of the cars (yes Bu Salem, a jeep ... oh noes ) had to be taken out due to some mechanical problems, Shamsi guided the car out to the tarmac and re-joined us while in our lunch break.

The afternoon session was the one I had been looking forward to for a long time, I knew the area, this was my 3rd time there, 1st one being very newbie and the 1st time in Sweihan with some friends with also little experience, it took us a full afternoon to reach from the road (where we exited) to the bowl with the burning car ... the 2nd time the day the JL went to the sand for the 1st time. I could not wait to get into those dunes again now with more experience, a convoy able to negotiate those dunes and most importantly a leading car able to read and follow those gorgeous lines. This section in "old Sweihan" was fantastic, Abubaker took the convoy to all the "sights" and managed to put together fantastic combinations, I love those high fast paced crossings, 2nd gear, pedal to the metal and pressing very very hard in case there is a bit extra somewhere. Honestly, I wished we had done a full day drive just in that area going back and forth in the same dunes!!!. Can not wait to get back there again!!! Psmiley Psmiley

Looking forward to seeing you all soon in the sand again!!!
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Sorin
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Hi everyone,

My first full day drive in a very long time and I’m very happy I decided to drive to AD the day before and rest well in a hotel only minutes away from the meeting point.

I was hoping for a cool day ahead and judging by the morning fog I thought it will be the case but no, it was hot 🥵

The first half of the drive was the price we had to pay for the second half grin

It was technical, soft sand, small dunes and bushes, lots of bushes, did I mention the bushes?
But we still made the most of it under the guidance of our leading marshal Abu Bakr.

I felt I wasn’t driving at my best level yesterday and the many mistakes I made prove my point. For some reason I kept approaching the major side crests with too much speed and once over the crest I couldn’t keep a parallel line and always had to go down immediately.

Looking past that, I tried to enjoy and have fun as you don’t have a chance like this very often.

After the break at midday which I thoroughly enjoyed (see pictured below) (Thanks Rooies and Jasper for the photos, did anyone else take pictures of me sleeping? Psmiley ) , we got the taste of big dunes and faster pace.

It started in the same area we had the break in then after crossing a 10-15 km sabkha we reached the “gems” we’ve all been waiting for. Coupled with the beginning of an awesome sunset and we had one of the most memorable drives ever.

Engines were roaring and altitude was increasing, adrenaline was pumping, no words really, pure joy.

At one point I thought I had a pop out but when I got out of the car to check, it turned out I didn’t so thankfully it was a drive without issues for me and mine thumbsup

Thank you to Abu Bakr, Presa & Abu Salem you guys are the real diamonds 💎

Good to see so many of my fellow Inters and I salute you all

Hope to see you soon

Image

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Last edited by Sorin on Sun Oct 03, 2021 2:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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presa
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Hi Almosters!

We had a blast drive yesterday with Abu Baker and Shamsi designing an spectacular track for the intermediates.
On my GPS we drove 150km, with 9h moving, starting at 8h30 and finishing at 19h.... so was a lot of fun!

The convoy was reasonably long, with 14 cars, including leading marshal and sweeper.

Due to fog temperature was on mid-20s at the start of the drive, but reach 43oC during the afternoon, what leads to lower engine performance, but this time, no overheating!

The first area was nice, but the convoy was having some difficulties on keeping the leading car lines, so we had a bunch of 2nd tries. Bushes were abundant but not as much as Sharjah or Dubai on my opinion.
The area has a great potential for fast technical drives, with small/medium climbs, sharp sidecrest, goes down and repeat!
We even visited Crocodile lake... Sorin tried to catch some of it, but they hide well...

Near midday our second lead had to leave due to a fan problem that can happen to anyone. Unfortunately he left before the last part :(

We stop for lunch, at reasonable 42oC, but two Ghaf trees... and Christian Tent, gave us shade to relax and eat... while the jeepers and patrolers were filling their fuel tanks grin grin grin grin

Shamsi and Brett joined us for lunch and we left Al Khatim to Old Sweihan area.

A few fences, some km and 120+kph after... Abu Baker took us to the bowls and dunes from Old Sweihan.

The area is a narrow stretch, closed by farms and both sides with a 10+km long line with beautiful bowls and dunes to climb. The kids were free at the playground.... leading car started with some climbs and the convoy was doing good. We passed by all the bowls in the area and looks like the convoy just didnt want to stop... I was surprised by meeting some families on that area, what is not usual, and many high mod cars on the most famous bowls, what was expected LOL...

Usually on full day trips we manage to make the afternoon shorter, since drivers are tired so less focused and less sharp, but this convoy was not willing to let it go... it rushed by all the bowls in the area and when the sun was down, it crossed the whole area again by the dunes instead of taking the easy track...

I believe that most of the drivers coming from Dubai believe the 1h30 drive to meeting point was worth it and since border is open I will post a few more drives in between Al Ain and AD for the summer.
orlantsev
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Hello all,

I went to bed early on Thursday and surprisingly was able to have good sleep and wake up at 4 am. I was joined by @brett as a passenger to the meeting point and back. We also met @KIMOz at the petrol station near Dubai and drove in a mini convoy through the fog to the last petrol station. In these unpredictable conditions it is always good to leave with sufficient time allowance.

I changed suspension the week before the drive, so could not wait to try it. Initially the plan was to drive with original settings and later change to stiffer to see the difference, but the car underbody got hot and it was not easy to reach, so I stayed with the same settings until the end.

As a sweeper with a fast moving convoy you cannot afford second tries as very quickly the convoy will be out of sight. On one hand after many cars have passed cresting is less sharp, but on another hand the soft sand has been disturbed even more which adds to the challenge.

For me the most adrenaline situation was not in the dunes, but on sabkha. To avoid the dust from the cars in front, I drove slightly parallel to the convoy. Since my kill switch also kills the speedometer I have no fear :) Then the rock emerged in front of me. Today I think it was not that big to be dangerous, but than I thought it was and I swerved. For a second I thought I could roll over, but after left-right-left I regained control.

Unfortunately after lunch my engine indicator light appeared on the dashboard. Whether it is pushing the car too much (even I tried to switch to even 3rd gear on a flatter terrain), or the clogged filter (which I cleaned before the drive) or the coolant problem (which I changed during the week) is yet to be seen. I checked with Rashid today, but due to battery reset the computer did not see any fault history. As it has been mentioned the battery reset helps, but it does not leave you with full piece of mind to continue to push the car to its limits. The light came on again towards the end of the drive even with some smell. Apologies for small delay it caused to the convoy.

I fully agree with @presa that extra 30 minutes drive to the meeting point is nothing if it allows to enjoy pristine conditions.

Till next time
orlantsev
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I have just realized that my first version of the report did not save, so I re-typed, but forgot to add the amazing stamina of Abu Baker who gave us challenge until the end...and it has been 8 hours of driving. Great job
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alshamsi_m
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Hello Everyone

It was a joy to my eyes to watch you ridding the dunes-like eagles cool So proud of you all !!

I would like to thank or organizer @presa for allowing us to drive in Abu Dhabi again and for young padawan @Mabubaker for the excellent planning and executing the drive, well done cool

The marshals are planning long drives for the 2021/2022 season which is why they were scouting in summer and not showing up in some drives. Also, we have a fair share of camping spots for the new season too. What you experienced is just the beginning brigade.baka-wolf.com

I read in your reports that you loved the second part the most or as my passenger @brett commented that it was a NEWBIE level. So please allow me to explain to you how the marshals are playing the game.

A high-level drive is not the same rhythm for the whole drive otherwise you are going to make the drivers tired and they will lose force which is dangerous. Moreover, the leading car will take you from easy simulation for what is coming so by the time you reach the big dunes, your brain and body are ready for it and that was exactly what happened to you. You entered the big dunes with no fear because you were prepared. Finally, it take a single mistake from the leading car to jump the level of the drive to higher in one spot where it could lead to accidents so it is really difficult to keep the level in newbie 10+ and intermediate you're kidding, right

We had a great lead, great support and great drivers which all lead to a GREAT DAY thumbsup

Thank you all and looking forward to see you soon

Cheers
Shamsi


P.S : @David I checked in google about the PIN and discovered it is made by JEEP grin
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Jasper
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Hello everyone!

I was very fortunate to experience the full day drive we had from Al Khatim to Old Sweihan last Friday. @presa posted the drive and the lead was assigned to @Mabubaker, while @alshamsi_m and @presa floating. This whole day drive was not easy for the drivers and you can just imagine if you are the one leading this. Hats off to @Mabubaker as he did a fantastic job! He kept us alert full time and when you are enjoying you wouldn’t notice the time at the safe time playing it safe for the level. The day passed very fast and all of a sudden, the sun is setting and time to exit. This is the only time the adrenaline level goes down and you try to recall what you just experienced. This drive gave a lot of learning especially those big wall climbs. I still have to learn the secret gear combo… 😊 Next time I will try to do that. I only used 4H and L during the drive. Switching to 2nd and 3rd only on the flat areas. All climbs were just on 4H and L and this gear setup most of the time helped and sometimes no! With my FJ having a cutoff on the redline I have to manage the RPM all the time as you’ll losing power during the climb if I just floor it all the way.

The first half of the drive is a combination of technical and medium climbs switching from one side to another. After the lunch break the speed went up with the big bowl and climbs which allows you to really test your skill and concentration. We drove for 146KM for about 10.5hours. This is really amazing. We had 2 cut tires, which needed replacement. That was done very quickly and 1 car had to be exited due to engine fan issues. Assisted recovery were present and multiple 2nd tries.

I agree with everyone…driving 1.5 hours from Dubai is all worth it and to experience this level of fun! Can't wait for the next one! I have used half of the FJ’s double tank before exiting to inflate.

See the track view on Relive app. It’s amazing how we covered all the kms in an intermediate level drive
https://www.relive.cc/view/vPOpdVDG8EO

Again… can’t say enough thanks to our leader @Mabubaker. You did a great job! And to @presa and @alshamsi_m for taking care of the convoy and @orlantsev for sweeping. Well done as well to my fellow intermediate drivers for playing safe and having the good drive together!

See you all again soon!
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osman
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Hi,

We received the invitation message for 100Km drive with a possibility to extend another 30Km and planned finish time at 3PM. Instead what we had:
  • 150Km covered in 10 hours with convoy moving time of 7 hours reaching max speed of 110Km/h
  • 1 founder, 1 marshal, 1 explorer, 1 adv, 12 intermediate, 2 newbie passenger
  • 7 FJs, 6 Jeeps, 2 Patrols, 1 Xterra
  • six bowls and lots of vegetation
  • 93.75% of the cars completed the drive
The day started with a patchy fog after reaching Abu Dhabi border and the meeting point was not visible from 50-100m when I reached. But it cleared while we were preparing the cars and chitchatting. This is a good sign that the weather is cooling and we will enjoy the our time on the sand more.

We had @Mabubaker leading and @SameRaptoRed as the second lead which then changed to @Rathica and @orlantsev as the sweeper. @alshamsi_m and @presa were floating with their eagle eyes and very much valuable feedback. I was the 11th car in the convoy.

We started off with technical area with lots of vegetation. I can't remember any other drive that we past so much vegetation. When we were talking during the lunch break, long time desert drivers mentioned that the desert was much more arid many years back. I think flat earthers are responsible for green stuff fighting the global warming. We stopped crocodile-less crocodile lake to see if any crocs appeared recently but there was nothing other than @alshamsi_m wore time to time.

The drive speed picked-up towards the mid-day and we enjoyed some walls and bowls. At some point, I heard in the radio that @Mabubaker advised to go under the bush if the car does not have enough speed, but it was not yet visible for me what he was talking about. When I saw what he mentioned, it was an interesting scenery. There was a relatively large bowl, its bottom and lower part had heavy vegetation, plus there was a car size bush more than 1-1.5m high, closer to the top of the wall. Making it worse, there was a hump at the entry point that you may hit badly at high speed if you are not careful. So, when I reached the decision point, I still had the power and the speed to pass the bush from the upper side (well - I thought I did). But when I climbed higher, the sand got softer and softer and I slide down and I had a very intimate look at the bush!. I also checked another bush at the bottom of the bowl on the second round and then had the right speed and momentum to exit the bowl in my last try.

At the lunch break, I realized that one of my tire was losing some air. I removed, cleaned and put the valve core back and started to drive again. But when we stopped, I checked it was still losing. @alshamsi_m said lets roll the tire a bit and see if he can spot the leak. Then bingo! he spotted the side-wall puncture. This kind of knowledge and experience is priceless. We then changed with the spare tire. Thanks everyone, the change was done at no time with a great team. It is such a coincidence that same brand and new tires had almost the same puncture in two different cars in less than two hours apart. Shortly after that incidence we had fast drive along the fence to reach where everybody's favorite part.

One large bowl after the other, some of them with lots of spectators. We also exercised reaching to the top of the bowl from the bottom and side cresting to the next one. It was so enjoyable but equally challenging to keep calm and steady with one eye on the temperature gauge. You need to drive with full throttle and maximum torque continuously for a long time.

I did not count the bowls but towards the end of the day, but @Mabubaker said we finished five treasures and one more to go then we call the day off. We drove the last few kilometers at dark to the inflation point and everybody with the smiling faces looking forward the next adventure.

Thanks to @Mabubaker for the great lead, @presa for co-organizing the drive and taking care of us, @alshamsi_m for your great leadership and friendship, @orlantsev for the support, especially hard task on chewed-up tracks by 13 other cars.
Warning: Sand is addictive... and also the sea salt.
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