4×4 Off Road Day

Landrover Defender clawing its way up a mud bank

“Seatbelts on please guys”, says Rob, my Off Road Driving Instructor for the day. I’m thinking ‘ok I’ll wear it, but as we’re not on a public highway and we’ll probably only be doing 5-10 mph, I really can’t see the need for it’.

Oh NOW I see why I have to wear it! (Cue my face trying to mask the terror but not quite succeeding). I’m sat in the back of a Landrover Defender 110 County Station Wagon and we’re descending down a rocky slope at an angle way in excess of 40 degrees. Here, the seatbelt is literally holding me from falling into the front cab of the vehicle, then possibly, through the front windscreen, onto the muddy ground, and finally rolling – dazed, bruised and broken – to a stop 40 feet down the hill, which would properly ruin the day.

Why on earth am I in this situation though? Well for a start it’s for some of the best fun I’ve had for ages, but it’s also a very practical lesson in the art of off road driving, which now comes in handy as I’ve bought myself a Mitsubishi Pajero. Which, by the way, for those who believe that 4x4s are for just going to the shops and dropping the kids off at school, ALSO do actually work off road. Wow! You really do learn something every day folks.

I’d fancied having a go at a bit of off roading for a while now, so when I was offered the opportunity to spend some quality time with a tough Landy, a whole load of open space plus some fairly deep water and steep, challenging hills, I jumped at the chance.

So at 9.15 on a sunny Saturday morning I arrive at the off road training ground. Rob’s here already to open the gate and I drive through onto the edge of the 1000 acres of hills, water and mud owned by the M.o.D. (Ministry of Defence) and used to train the troops in driving a number of different types of off road vehicles. We’re here today though as Rob has a licence to use this training ground for his training and instructing.

No stopping this beast

Rob, who is a member of the British Off Road Driving Association, also points out the fact that you can not just turn up at this place with your own 4×4 and expect to be let on, “the M.o.D. takes it very seriously if anyone did just start driving around the ground, and so they employ security to patrol the area and even have some policemen on dirt bikes riding around a fair bit”.

So on with the day. I jump into the driving seat, Rob selects the low ratio gear box and we’re off, well if you can call 10mph ‘off’ that is. Having said that after only a few yards we are already onto some serious humps that would see your everyday car not only stuck but in dire need of a new sump, exhaust system and various body panels to boot. However, none of these things bother the Defender though, as it has a vast amount of ground clearance and an underneath tougher than Stallones face in Rambo. Rob, who has been using Landrovers for long while and bought his first one in 1966 says they’re one of the best off roaders around. “There are other 4×4 vehicles out there that are very capable off roaders, but they just don’t have the ground clearance or the same amount of useable torque the engine produces”. Okay so prove to me just how good they are then Rob!

And so he does. We drive to the bottom of a hill that is well over 30 feet high and has an angle of easily 40 degrees, selects the low ratio and the differential lock on the small gear stick next to the main one, and tells me to get into first gear. He then instructs me to take my foot off the clutch and not (much as I am tempted) to press any of the pedals at my feet. What happened next just seems to defy logic. Instead of it stalling as I expect it to, the Landrover just claws it’s way seemingly unstoppable, to the top of the hill, over the apex and down the other side, controlling speed with engine braking. After that display of power and grip my respect for these amazing vehicles goes up in one huge leap, now I’ve seen what it can do I want more of the same type of thing – lots more in fact. And Rob obliges willingly.

Defender goes wading in at the deep end

After a short coffee break, we head off again, this time  towards some deep water. At the edge of a fairly large body  of water, I select second and take the plunge, “go in slowly  then build up speed in order to form a bow wave at the  front” ,says Rob, “ this in turn helps the vehicle to plough through the water a lot more easily”. So I do, a little too slowly it seems though, because the Landy starts to lose grip and Rob tells me to floor the accelerator, which of course happens, and we surge out the other side, water pouring off  the bonnet with some ending up on the floor by my feet, which leaked in through the doors. I still have trouble in seeing how this, a bog-standard Defender that has come straight out of the showroom and even has the same tyres that are on when you buy one, can manage to do all this.

It does though, and after my half day of training from Rob, not only was I impressed with the Landrovers capabilities, but also with Robs excellent teaching manner and the way he made the day a fun one too.

All photos taken with a Canon Ixus

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