Go off-roading to get your jeep thrills

The Jeep Academy allows you to take to the dunes in a highly modified four-wheel drive and be tutored by experts on the smart ways to drive off-road in the UAE.

A driver descends a steep dune during a Jeep Academy class. Photo by Clint McLean for The National

Here's a fresh take on the 80-20 rule – or the Pareto principle, if you want to get technical. It's a fact that about 80 per cent of the UAE's surface area is covered in desert, yet it's equally true that far less than 20 per cent of motorists in the country have actually driven – themselves, that is – in the sandy stuff.

Why do so few people take the opportunity to explore this surreal, dune-populated realm, when it’s right at our doorsteps? Two reasons: firstly, most individuals may not own a four-wheel-drive that’s capable of venturing into the desert without getting beached up to the axles; secondly, even if they do have an off-road-capable vehicle in their garage, a good percentage likely bought it purely to combat the urban jungle, feeling safe and aloof in the lofty capsules that these vehicles provide. Witness the number of pristine Lexus LX570s, Nissan Patrols and Mercedes G-Wagens, and you’ll know what I mean – they’ve never been off-road and they never will be.

However, if there’s one four-wheel-drive that tends to be used far more often for what it was actually designed to do, it’s the Jeep Wrangler. Most individuals who buy one of these have a realistic expectation of venturing beyond tarmac and gravel roads, and it’s with such a group that I find myself today as part of the Jeep Academy.

What is the Jeep Academy? It’s essentially a hands-on training programme that imparts basic sand-driving skills to four-wheel-driving novices (you get to attend for free if you buy a new Wrangler) – or even those who may have tried it before, but want to ensure they’re going about it the right way.

The academy is run by the off-road veterans Peter Gladstone and Fraser Martin, a regular contributor to The National's Motoring pages. Both men have been operating in the region for decades. If there's anything they don't know about driving across sand, rocks, mud or wadis, the chances are it's not worth knowing. They're veritable encyclopedias when it comes to tackling the rough stuff, but their greatest gift is being able to disseminate their know-how with a healthy dose of dry ­humour.

On arrival at our bivouac – referred to simply as “The Tree” by Martin, because a large, shady tree is all that’s there – in the sandy expanse behind Al Awir, we disembark from our vehicles and absorb an introductory discourse on the elementary dos and don’ts of driving on the sand.

Briefed, the first step is to deflate our tyres to roughly half the standard recommended pressure for road use – about 16-18psi, as a general rule of thumb. The reason for doing this is to increase the surface area of the rubber – making them mimic balloons rather than ice skates, enabling them to glide over the surface of the sand, as opposed to cutting into it.

We then pile into Martin’s Wrangler Unlimited and Gladstone’s vehicle – half of the group in each – and we’re given a quick demonstration of how basic dunes should be tackled, and how they shouldn’t.

“The idea is to not break the surface of the sand,” explains Martin, and to illustrate this point, he accelerates gently from rest and comes to a smooth halt a few metres later, ensuring there’s no loss of traction. We then dismount and observe the tyre tread clearly imprinted in the top layer of the sand.

He then repeats the exercise, only this time he stands on the gas and then stamps on the brake pedal a few seconds later. We then examine the evidence in the sand, and what it reveals is that the tyres dug into the sand as a result of accelerating violently and then again under hard braking.

“This is what not to do,” says Martin. “Treat the pedals like sponges, and squeeze them rather than stamping on them. Use only as much power as ­necessary.”

We then ascend a couple of moderately sized dunes, and Martin demonstrates the technique of building as much speed as required on the flat sections and then maintaining momentum on the climb. The trick is to then back off the throttle just as you reach the crest, enabling you to pause and see what lurks on the other side of the peak.

There have been many fatalities in deserts around the world, as a costly mistake some hapless rookies make is to assume the gradient on the other side of the dune is the same as it was on the ascent. The dune can drop away sharply on the other side, so unless you want to perform a vertical crash-test on your vehicle, it pays to have a look before leaping.

Martin again stresses the importance of modulating throttle inputs at all times, adding for emphasis: “It’s not a four-wheel-drive if two wheels are in the air ... It’s not the flight that’s the problem, it’s the abrupt ­landing.”

He’s quick to point out that off-roading is not a perfect science and that you will at some point get stuck, if you make regular forays into the desert. “I’ve been off-roading for 40 years, and I still get stuck occasionally,” he concedes. “All it takes is a momentary lapse in ­concentration.”

That said, Martin says you’re not stuck if you can dig the vehicle out, rock it from side to side to gain purchase on the sand or use some other means to get mobile without resorting to a tow.

Having absorbed these and a few other basics, we mount up in our own vehicles – in my case, this happens to be a modified Wrangler Sahara on loan from Jeep’s regional office. It’s kitted out with Dh65,000 of Mopar kit to enhance its off-road prowess, so if I get stuck today, I’m really going to look like a mug.

The first steps before setting off are to completely disengage the electronic stability-control system – achieved by pressing the appropriate button on the centre console for eight seconds until a chime sounds – and engaging high-range four-wheel-drive via the clunky lever adjacent to the gear selector.

Why turn off stability control? Because while it provides a valuable safety net on tarmac, it’s a hindrance on sand, particularly on steep ascents where you don’t need any interruptions in power going through to the wheels.

We then hit the dunes, gentle ones at first, to practise getting our throttle modulation down pat and ensuring we ascend straight up the face of the dune and descend the same way. Any attempt to scale dunes diagonally introduces the risk of a rollover so, while it may look spectacular, it’s not very clever.

We gradually work up to more challenging dunes, improving our smoothness on the throttle and ability to judge how much speed is appropriate to scale each individual dune along the way. Steep descents also require smooth braking inputs (if you choose not to activate hill-­descent control) to control your speed on the way down.

After a brief period of familiarisation, you’ll see that four-wheel-driving is rather good fun, and the feeling of freedom you get from being able to chart your own path is matched perhaps only by something such as hang-gliding.

Equally enjoyable is seeing an array of fauna in its natural habitat. We spot a number of donkeys, camels and deer going about their business, even though today’s venue behind Al Awir is barely 20 minutes out of Downtown Dubai. Martin says that there are also foxes, antelopes, gazelles, hares and scorpions in the area, and plans are in place to introduce oryx.

You don’t need to worry about getting lost either, as you’ll always be within 8 kilometres of a tarmac road in any direction. Our photographer and I stay on after the group had departed, and we were told to follow the electricity pylons to find our way out, which we duly did.

If you live in the UAE, you really owe it to yourself to at least have a crack at off-roading. There’s every possibility it could become a healthy addiction.

The Mopar Jeep Wrangler

The Jeep Wrangler is already a pretty capable off-roader in standard form, but I was fortunate enough to temporarily make use of an embellished example with Dh65,000 of Mopar kit to make it an even more formidable all-terrain warrior. Mopar is an in-house division of the Fiat-Chrysler Group that makes and sells speciality parts. Its name derives from morphing the words “motor” and “parts”.

In the case of the Wrangler featured in this story, the bespoke bits are too numerous to list, but some of the key modifications include a 50-millimetre suspension-lift kit to liberate even more ground clearance. Its lofty stance is evident when the vehicle is parked next to standard Wranglers at the academy – it positively towered over them.

It’s also equipped with Cooper 315/70R17 knobbly tyres, which are great in the sand, but not so handy on the road, as they generate a fair bit of tyre roar, in addition to imparting a slightly wander-prone feel. But driving on tarmac is not what this vehicle is about anyway.

Other notable mods include off-road front and rear bumpers, plastic front and rear fender flares, a vented bonnet, a light bar with a quartet of spotlights, Rubicon 10th anniversary aluminium wheels and a Warn winch to enable the vehicle to haul its way out of trouble.

I have to admit, I don’t warm to the vehicle initially, but having spent a few days both on and off-road with it, the Mopar Wrangler does grow on me. It might be crude and noisy, but it’s not nearly as ponderous around town as it seems on first acquaintance. Its real talent, however, is only evident when you hit the dunes. In that domain, it’s supreme.