Many look at the dunes as a very daunting task of getting from one destination to another. Lets give some tips and tricks that will help you get out there and safely back to camp. First and foremost is to make sure everyone is properly buckled in their seats. Lap belts are placed low, across the hips, and tight. Never drive anyone that is not properly buckled up. Vision is the best tool for success and we will discuss later how this is vital.
A giant roller coaster ride
When done properly it is like Riding the best roller coaster (without loops) hopefully without getting car sick. Here are some main pointers.
- Momentum is key
- Never go up and over top of dune
- Look far ahead, plan your route, Not just in front of the vehicle
- Be aware for “witches eyes”
- travel at a safe distance to the vehicle in front of you
- Transitioning from one dune to the other
Momentum– your biggest friend in the sand is momentum. This allows you to travel along with minimal throttle input and traverse the dunes. You want to get a “run” at a steep incline to help you maintain momentum as you travel up the face of the dune. This is usually the easiest when there is smooth bottom that allows you keep speed at bottom. sometimes there are bums AKA “whoops” at the bottom that will require you to slow down to get through these. Once clear it is time to throttle up to gain speed and momentum to get to the top. Throttle control is key as too much the tires spin and dig in, to little will leave you with not enough momentum to make it to the top. A good suspension will allow an under powered vehicle carry speed through the dunes. Good example is the old VW sand rails and the Yamaha Rhino Both with approximately 35hp we able to maneuver through the dunes.
Never go straight over a dune- As you can see in the picture a cross section of the dunes that shows a ramp up from the right to a drop off on the left. The Dunes are wind shaped and usually have a slope and drop off. When cresting a dune the safe practice is the steer to the right or the left to drive parallel to the top before then turning down the steep face. this will prevent you from flying off and landing nose first at the bottom.
Eyes up and looking ahead– Many first time driver riders all make the common mistake of not looking far enough ahead of where you are. You should not be looking 100ft in front you should be looking 1000ft ahead. You should always be scanning your surrounding area you can not avoid a hazard if you can not see it. If you are traveling in a group you should be looking 2,3,4 vehicles ahead to see what they are doing. Not just the vehicle in front of you. By the time they react many times it might be to late. It is always a hard balance of trying to keep up while still maintaining a good pace and momentum. When dodging obstacles you may take a glance to see the obstacle pass but as soon as you can get the eyes up and scan as far ahead as you can.
Witches Eyes– What is it? Witches eyes are a hole or depression in the sand that is caused bt the wind swirling off the top of the dune. The swirling action pulls sand out causes a hole. This is typically unexpected and does not follow any pattern. Many a weekend has been ruined by Witches eyes. Typically ripping a front end wheel off or worse bodily injury. Photo from Berts Mega Mall.
Safe Distance-This is the age old question. How close or far back should I be from the car in front. This is the hardest part to learn in a group ride. You dont want to be so far back that you loose site of your group or hold up the rest of them. But you also dont want to be too close that you can’t react appropriately when something happens in front of you. Its a lot like driving down the freeway. Travel a speed and distance that allows you to make corrections but not so slow that you are impeding the traffic behind you. If your in a group have an experienced leader and follow behind people that you trust. Problem is you may be in a group that is full of idiots, oh and they are out there. Best advice is to look up and as far ahead as you can.
Transitioning from dune to dune
- Maintain Speed along with momentum
- DO NOT steer up transition (I’ll explain below)
- Must commit to transition
Once you are feeling more confident and are able to go faster in the Dunes, you have mastered the smaller dunes, and now want to make your way to the BIG BOWLS behind Oldsmobile hill. This is where you will have to learn to transition from one bowl to a another bowl. The smaller dune transition are sometime so small you dont realize that you are doing it. When traveling around the bigger bowls you will maintain your speed (momentum) to keep your self up the face of the bowl If you cannot maintain your speed DO NOT fight gravity and try to turn up face of the dune. You can sometime slightly turn up to help hold your line but too much steering input can be catastrophic and you may proceed to roll over. If you feel like the vehicle sliding down loosing momentum you really have 2 options 1- More throttle to up your speed to maintain current path to transition or 2- if you cant speed up to maintain current path than just turn down and circle back around gathering more speed to the transition point. Lastly If you panic DO NOT STOP ON THE HILL SIDEWAYS always turn down the hill and have your nose face down towards the bottom. Stopping your vehicle on the side of the hill will more than likely lead you to rolling sideways down the hill.
Commitment– Once you have maintained your speed and are at the top crest of the bowl about to move into another bowl there will be a small rigid that you must roll over. this will look sometimes like your driving off into nowhere but your vehicle should be move almost parallel with crest. At a slight angle you will continue your momentum and drive that front left or right tire over the crest. Once most of the vehicle is over the crest you will drop into the new bowl. The Key here is to maintain speed and momentum to then travel around the new bowl. When transitioning is done properly you will experience a roller coaster like effect of quick turns, Increased G forces, as you transition from bowl to bowl through the dunes. Below is a video of the Bowls between the Slide and Swing set.
