Petrol heads III

[Mghoneim]

Fellow Almosters!

I got pumped about the drive as soon as I knew the meeting point as I have some unfinished business in the area. This area is very beautiful and usually doesn’t have too many tracks. It has many big bowls , higher dunes and challenging climbs.

Arrived around 2:30pm (1hour in advance) full of excitement. Deflated and tried to snooze till everyone gathered up.

The briefing was very fast as all of have driven here before. Off we go for a last man standing drive in what I call “The Evil Sweihan )

I was ready as soon as @optimus started driving so I secured a second lead and I was super focused and managed to maintain the second lead for a long period.

@Scorpio was sweeping / looking after the back of the convoy.

@optimus had fly mode on and i kept drafting his lines and with a big smile on my face.

Although we had a couple of second tries here and there but the convoy was flowing until we reached my unfinished business, i think this is the climb at G bowl or death bowl (Cant recall what it is called)

The whole convoy kept attempting at it for a few times until most of us came across. I actually touched the crest a couple of times before I make it but my momentum was not enough and it was safer to bail out and do it a gain. (Picture below)

Followed that we kept flowing touching most probably every nice dune in the area at a fast pace and then we took and exit to the gatch and cruised back along the side of the dunes.

One had one incident with @Enrique ’s car as it had and over heating gear since the beginning, and had to be escorted to the gatch earlier, apart from that all went well



Many thanks to @optimus for the pumped up lead , fantaboulos track and loads of fun.

Many thanks for our guarding angel @Scorpio

Many thanks to my fellow intermediates
@Carlos ,@David (hope i tagged the right one), @Ehab , @Petr , @ImranFJ , @Enrique , and @Giovanni .

Till next time

[giorgio]

Fellow Almosters!

I got pumped about the drive as soon as I knew the meeting point as I have some unfinished business in the area. This area is very beautiful and usually doesn’t have too many tracks. It has many big bowls , higher dunes and challenging climbs.

Arrived around 2:30pm (1hour in advance) full of excitement. Deflated and tried to snooze till everyone gathered up.

The briefing was very fast as all of have driven here before. Off we go for a last man standing drive in what I call “The Evil Sweihan )

I was ready as soon as @optimus started driving so I secured a second lead and I was super focused and managed to maintain the second lead for a long period.

@Scorpio was sweeping / looking after the back of the convoy.

@optimus had fly mode on and i kept drafting his lines and with a big smile on my face.

Although we had a couple of second tries here and there but the convoy was flowing until we reached my unfinished business, i think this is the climb at G bowl or death bowl (Cant recall what it is called)

The whole convoy kept attempting at it for a few times until most of us came across. I actually touched the crest a couple of times before I make it but my momentum was not enough and it was safer to bail out and do it a gain. (Picture below)

Followed that we kept flowing touching most probably every nice dune in the area at a fast pace and then we took and exit to the gatch and cruised back along the side of the dunes.

One had one incident with @Enrique ’s car as it had and over heating gear since the beginning, and had to be escorted to the gatch earlier, apart from that all went well



Many thanks to @optimus for the pumped up lead , fantaboulos track and loads of fun.

Many thanks for our guarding angel @Scorpio

Many thanks to my fellow intermediates
@Carlos ,@David (hope i tagged the right one), @Ehab , @Petr , @ImranFJ , @Enrique , and @Giovanni .

Till next time


@Giovani?

[Mghoneim]

I just saw his picture in the other drive !!!!!

And I am 100% sure I saw him at the meeting point and shaked his hand , but during the drive I don’t think I saw him.

Looks like I am getting old.

@Giovanni please tell me that you were at the meeting point

[giorgio]

I just saw his picture in the other drive !!!!!

And I am 100% sure I saw him at the meeting point and shaked his hand , but during the drive I don’t think I saw him.

Looks like I am getting old.

@Giovanni please tell me that you were at the meeting point

He was my support unless I am getting older than u

[David]

I do like old Sweihan, I think it is as close as it gets to the real thing without going 3h away from Dubai. Area is very narrow for the size of the dunes hence you need a very good lead to make the most of it, yesterday's was not very good, it was excellent.

Optimus leading and Scorpio on the "stolen car" supporting the convoy. Leading car made it clear at the beginning, you all have driven here before, "last man standing", I have things to do in Dubai so we go quick to the end and come back. And fast we went, very good pace and some great sequences that were put together, I enjoyed it a lot!!!

Main issues faced were a car that did not enjoy the 50C we had at the beginning of the drive, a few "I have lost the convoy" on the radio and one pop-out that, to my surprise, showed how 15cm deep the sand was still completely wet.

Thank you Optimus for a fantastic drive, very very enjoyable. Scorpio for supporting the drive and my interm friends for attending.

See you on the sand soon!!!

[Ehab]

2nd part of the full day in sand, as expected @optimus did an amazing lead in a well known area that does not disappoint. I visited the area few months back, full of tracks and there was a scary construction in one of the favorite bowls, we did not enjoy it at all. Lucky us, the rain did it job, many areas were with zero tracks while there was no sign to the construction at all.
Optimus did his magic with the combo crests and bowls arches, and again he challenged us with the known impossible climb, but this time we did it, that was enough to get reenergized for the week ahead.

Looking forward toward more full day driving in summer

[CARLOSS]

Hi everyone!

Petrol Heads III was not as expected in my mind as I though, with one or two “fresh” intem in the convoy we would have had a “walk in the park”, but it did not happen like that…

The drive level was very good, tailored for the convoy’s overall experience, and we had tons of fun in the big bowls and while following the nice and natural flow imposed by @optimus. For sure, "Optimus climb" was in the menu with 2 failed tries (4H & 4L) and a winning one in 4L…still remember the first time I challenged that with 8-9 tries.

Some of you may know that I hate Old Sweihan because of my history with cut tires (normally 50% of the time) but this time I managed to escape alive from Optimus’ "tyranny" when challenging Sweihan walls (LOL)

@Scorpio was taking care of the convoy from the back, bringing lost drivers to the herd from time to time. Even myself, I got lost once when trying to escape 2 times in bowl…convoy was not merciful that day, and it was more like “find your way and try to survive on your own” which I really appreciated. With GPS coordinates provided on the radio I came back to them.

All in all, it was a fantastic drive perfectly lead by Optimus and professionally escorted by Scorpio so thanks a lot for that.

See you soon,

Carlos

For the records, Giovanni was there but he was not at the same time (LOL). For you to keep on speculating…

[giorgio]

Hi every body.

I would like to thank all the support and organizer for opening the drive to multiple convoys

As we had new intermediates which were upgraded and some members that still need to attend the exam we end up killing two birds with one stone

The summer is here and we all felt it quite aggressively this past weekend where the temperature reached to 51 degrees

The drive was somehow intenced with moderate to high climbs and fast pace in part of the drive.
All members had the chance to play in the Nagra dune and practice 4L with multiple combinations

Over all the radio communication was satisfactory (still room for improvement)
I would like to highlight that in this higher lever drives the drivers need to be more aware of the distance between cars as the needs are constantly changing
Yes the rule calls for 15-20 meters but as the dunes are getting bigger each driver will need to possible has to rather increase the distance to ensure that he/she has the required space to maintain the proper momentum to complete the climb.

IT was a fun day on the sand and I am looking forward to see you all again on the upcoming drives.

[Petr]

The journey started with my difficulties to register. The upper limit for participants was set to 100 drives, which eliminated automatically the old dog with 134 drives under his belt .

50degC is killing Jeeps in intermediate drives. I had to be really careful not to use the 1st gear unless absolutely necessary, and use all the momentum instead. Not an easy task in the convoy led by @optimus, but definitely a good learning exercise. Only the proverbial Optimus'es climb was out of reach - there is not enough space to develop momentum and the hot gear always pushed the power down before touching the top. Regardless, the pace of the day was smooth and we all handled our sh.t without delaying the others too much .

We all enyoyed the drive. Thanks @Optimus for leading us, @Scorpio for the support and my fellow intermediates for a great company.

[Msharhan]

Hi Everyone,
The drive “Petrol Heads III” was on the list for a while and never thought of getting a chance to drive until the special announcement came and thanks to all the Marshals for their time and efforts in training us.
This was my first intermediate drive and was totally a mindblower. Even though we had driven many times in the same area, this time all the dunes were new to me, realizing that we are now on the next level drive. Previously we used to have smaller dunes and arches and skips the higher ones, it’s not the case now.
It was a fast-paced drive led by @giorgio and there were few members on exams, however they did it very smoothly. Congratulations @Aljamhi and @Moustafa19 for your upgrades.

A quick scenario of how the exam goes for those who don’t know it yet, each exam drivers would be driving between the leading marshal @giorgio and another marshal @alshamsi_m for about 10-15 mins, which all their skills will be tested. Upon driving their time, will be shifted back into convoy positions and the next person would start their turns.

When both the members finished their part, I was bit shocked when both Giorgio & Alshamsi paged my name on the radio “Sharhan… Come to front”!!
I was like I’ve passed the exams and celebrated, now what… ... ‘am I called by mistake?? Do I need to do another exam?? many questions flashed within seconds…
Thanks @Moustafa19 comforting with his words, “you already passed last time, its time for you as second lead.”

Ohh Wow.....
Now the windows are down, and soaring 50 degrees and the blowing hot sands doesn’t bother anymore, the only thing that matters is full attention and focus. And it was the best of the best drive ever happened to me.

Thanks to the organizers and the founders for such a drive. And special thanks to @giorgio and @alshamsi_m for lending a chance for the convoy position. And special thanks to @Rashidjass @Mabubaker & @rapailo for the float and sweep.
And looking forward to drive again for the unfinished business here.