Driving Sand
Hi,
Way
back, we had to take a Bedford 7ton 4x4 from RAF Sharjah (near Dubai) up to
the Burami "hot-spot". We were travelling in convoy with the Trucial Omen Scouts.
So there we were grinding along in third gear, low box, 4 wheel drive, and these
Arab lorries were just cruising past us.
At next tea break we asked them how they did it? They suggested that we let our tyres down from the specified 70 psi to 20 psi. The difference was astounding. Previously we had been sinking into the sand, now we were floating ontop of it.
I don't think this works on mud, mind. On the way back, my co-driver managed to empty a jerry can of water into the petrol tank. Can anyone tell us how we solved that one? The first problem was realising that the wet stuff in the carb wasn't petrol. The convoy just disapeared into the night.
Final tips. Don't jump out of your truck without
wearing shoes, and don't climb back in without checking your cushion. Anything
the sun shines on gets extremely hot. Burami? Oh, about 140 in the shade. The
only shade is under your lorry.
' 602