July 2010

Organised by the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE), the event was the season-opening round of both the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup and the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship

Entry to the 2010 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge was open to cars and trucks complying with FIA T1, T2 and T4 technical regulations, as well as motorcyclists and quads running under FIM auspices.
This year, and to mark the 20th edition, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge saw record level of competitors this with 44 entrants in the car category and more than 100 competitors in total.

The sunset start in the ‘shadow’ of the Grand Mosque flagged off a non-competitive liaison section that guided the drivers and bikers to the first overnight halt at Moreeb Hill, near Liwa, where the rally would be based for the next four days at a specially-prepared desert bivouac. Moreeb is part of the Empty Quarter, the world's largest uninterrupted sand mass.
Legs two, three and four featured demanding loop stages around Moreeb Hill, across somewhat challenging gatch tracks, winding desert trails and the region’s notorious towering sand dunes, considered to be the highest dunes in the Empty Quarter.

The fifth and final leg took place on Thursday, April 1, with teams tackling a desert section between Liwa to the event's finish in Abu Dhabi city.

Our new products this month are a little bit different. Instead of choosing products that are FJ Cruiser specific, we’ve found a couple of really cool gadgets that we’ll be testing out this summer. These devices can be used by anyone, and are excellent options for those looking for an outdoor HD Camcorder and/or a cell phone signal booster.

For this installment of our seat cover reviews, we contacted TRD Sparks about a set of Clazzio Seat Covers. The great thing about Clazzio covers is that they are very customizable. The outer material is made of a quality PVC product and is available in 4 colors. Next, the inner material can be PVC, Leather, or suede in many different colors. Finally you can choose a custom stitching color to complete your customization. Fully customized covers take a little longer to arrive since they’re made individually at the factory, but for a truly custom seat cover they’re well worth the wait!

The install took a little less than two hours, thanks in large part to the amazing instructions that came with the covers. Some manufacturers only provide ‘generic’ instructions for their covers, but this Clazzio set from TRD Sparks comes complete with custom directions for the FJ Cruiser. They include full color photos with captions that detail exactly how to do each step. The grammar is a little off sometimes, but it’s very easy to see what needs to be done.

A weekend with the FJ Bruisers

We pass a white checkpoint sign less than half a mile from the starting line. For me, it's an omen that we're on the right track. For my cousin and driver, Doug Dobrynski, it's cause for uncertainty.

"They wouldn't put a sign that close to the start," he says.

"Yeah, they would,” I reply more harshly than intended. “They don't expect us to be looking for one this early on. They're hoping we blow right by it."

Three minutes into the first ever FJ Bruiser Tri-State Rally and we've already had two reasons to doubt each other. At the starting line, I confused the area code and the zip code on the Green Ridge State Forest data sheet and now we can't agree on the validity of a checkpoint that's sitting in front of us as plain as day. There's brilliance at work in the set-up, but it’s hard to see past the inhuman cruelty of making us question each other’s judgment at such an early stage in the game.