Report: CROWNE PLAZA GPS Fun drive 2011 by AD4x4

[tillybean]

To echo everyone else....great day, fantastic organisation and a brilliant team.

Day started far too early - up and out the door for 5.30am. Thank goodness for a coffee stop at the petrol station on the way. Arrived at the deflation point with plenty of time to spare so sat and chatted and then the GPS coordinates were issued and we plotted our route and headed off to the first check point.

The dunes were very challenging and our leader (Extreme) did an amazing job of navigating through some very challenging terrain. The sand was so soft that pretty soon we were rescuing each other. I have become the Queen of Rescues now! Our newbie (Betty Boop) did a brilliant job and was not fazed by anything.

The day passed so quickly but it was hot, hard work which required lots of concentration and a lot of physical effort to dig out our stucks or to recover them. Thank goodness we had some very nimble passengers who were of great help.

Thanks to Bulldozer and team for the rescue....just when we thought we were going to have to call it a day, out of the dunes came the welcome sight of Bulldozer.

I was very proud of our team (Team Red Flag) and all the other teams who took part. Such a great day. Thanks so much to Hani and everyone else who organised it - brilliant job.

And finally, a special thanks to Moe, Martin and Kieren for rescuing me when the valve snapped on my tyre as I was trying to reinflate on the side of the road. After a long day, this was the last thing that anyone needed - to completely change the tyre - but you guys were so great to help me out. I really appreciate it.

The true spirit of AD4x4 lives on.

[9ball]

Getting up at 0500 was pretty brutal, but not as much as driving in the dunes with a hangover... But my passenger and I sucked it up and did what we had to do: endure and drive! At noon we were feeling much better. Wow, what a nice day it was, great experience. Triplod and Waqmaster, it was an honour being in your team! Awesome team work, great super fast driving, great scenery. Nobody was the team leader as we each contributed and took turns at leading and getting stuck . At the end of the day we came in 3rd place, we were 4 minutes late and lost 10 points, all because one of my tires was too soft on the way back to camp and I had no choice to stop and put some air in it. Dammed tire! Looking foward to the next edition, and would not hesitate to have the same partners.
Thank you to everyone and especially all the organizers for making this day one of the most memorable ones since joining the club.

[wolle]

Hallo Organizers,

a BIG thanks to you all, it must have been a huge amount of work to set up this event. For me as a newbie it was a great day of driving and learning.

Special thanks to the team MAYHEM, to the guy at the gas station....., no serious, it was super. My abilety to use the GPS increased a lot. My knowlegde of recovery technics also ( did we get x - tra points if all team members got stuck at the same, time and we manage to free ourselfs???) The Team was great, lots of fun, not enough sleep == made me feel 20 again. .
Just one little thing, it would be nice for everybody, I think, to have some kind of patch to remember this event.

So, my regards to everyone

Wolle.

PS Adigas " we leave nothing behind" gets a new dimension regading all the flags.

[Frank]

Dear all

what a perfect day. Many thx to the organizers. good job.
It was a really relaxing drive and at the end we were fourth. unbelieveble with the three big cars.
It was a perfect team and I am proud to be a member of it.
We shared the leading job and Juergen and Pumuckl did a perfect job especially in the noon time with white sand.

Next year maybe with the same team and then we will win and put the three jeeps of the winning team in our backspace

see you al in the sand again

frank

[Xof]

just a question... who actually won ???

[wolle]

Hey happy Reefer,

everybody who participated

[Xof]

so i lost...

[desert_hawk]

so i lost...

Meeeeee tooooooooo

[Solitaire]

Although I was just joining as co-pilot I spent an amazing, challenging and fun day with wonderful people in an awesome setting. Thanks to everyone who made the effort to organize such a great and professional event!

Look forward to the next event. Keep it up!

[Juergen]

A big thanx to the team who organised this event and made it happen!

Congratulations to all who participated and especially to the winning teams!

It was definately one of the best drives I had so far and worth every second and meter that we did. The spirit was very good at all times and sharing the lead and sweep, doing recoveries were not an issue at all. Everyone contributed at high level. Even though we did not expect too much, considering our LWB cars, we took the fun to reach the difficult waypoints, tackling the dunes from various sides if needed in order to get there. Technical areas and soft sand had to be crossed at noon time with difficult sight. At the end we came in fourth, which we felt was a big success. Thanks again to Frank and Pumukl, it was a pleasure driving with you and should be repeated soon.

The following camping with bbq, chit chat and some cold drinks rounded up the day.

Thanks again and hope to see you soon.

[lighthunter]

Many thanks for a fantastic event. Great job by all organizers!!!

While we were climbing up those dunes in order to collect our stamps or trying to access quite weird places to get close to the flags we were wondering who put them there in the first place. Must have taken you guys weeks to put this awesome event together.

Looking forward to next time. Be ready for Team Arizona reloaded then.

AD4x4 rocks!

[Triplod]

Thanks for a great day out. Great format, fantastic area, plenty of competitors and the best organising team. Well Done.
Thanks to Waqar and 9ball for forming such a good team, the team spirit was tops. Long day 113km in the desert.
Thanks again to all that joined in.

Regards Triplod

[Kieran]

Many thanks to the organisers for putting in the effort to make it a great day. You picked a great area to host the event. I am fairly sure everyone left the sand knowing a bit more than they did at the start of the event.

Thanks to Bluiser for inviting me on your team at the last minute, I am glad I didn't miss this one.

Nice meeting you Khaluf, I know you enjoyed your introduction to the club and hope to see you out again in the sand soon.

Kieran

[Astroburn]

Thanks to the organisers for putting together such an awesome day.

It was really well planned and also well coordinated. You guys did and excellent job.

Special thanks to team Mayhem, you guys rock. Wolle and Mishmumkin made a hot day chasing flags so much fun, I would not have had it any other way.
We had so much fun we even had time to take a lunch hour...

I look forward to next year's event - hint hint...

Thanks,
Astroburn

[waqmaster]

my first GPS fun and a very memorable one! It was aswesome driving with 9Ball and Triplod. We had no one leader! but after getting the points from the organizer, we studied them and then GO! GO! GO! point after point we went and tried to hit all the points we understood each others driving and were a cohesive team.

At the end with half an hour to spare we headed to M10 and then to the camp, it was a drive to remember! Great chat at the camp and thanks for the quick help for the little splash of petrol before the drive back. looking forward to the next one with the same high spirited team.

Great job organizers, couldnt have asked for anthing more.