Hi Folks. Bunmonsta here,
Just thought I’d write a few lines to tell you about a great day out I had at the Land Rover Experience, which operates at Eastnor Castle in the fabulous Malvern Hills. As you may be aware I have done a few drives for the Premier Automotive Division of Land Rover Jaguar over the last couple of years, one of which you may have read about through my previous article about driving to Spain in a Jaguar XF; also on these pages.
My off-road driving experience will be like most peoples, rather limited, unless you practise it at off-road events and races. Basically, I learnt through my police training with the usual day or two being taken out in a Land Rover and shown what they could do. For my training an army course was used where the conditions were excellent and all sorts of obstacles and surfaces were available. I loved it and wanted to do more, but with a young family, having a big old toy of a 4-wheel drive was out of my range and something that I could not justify.
Luckily for me I had the chance to do more off-road driving during the various stages of my career, where the use of 4x4 vehicles became necessary, and therefore had some further training. It was about 15-years back when I did a 3-day course at Exeter, where I drove all sorts of 4x4’s, including a Range Rover, Vauxhall Frontera, various Land Rover County and Land Rover Defender type vehicles; including some of the original models. It was a great learning curve that would later save my bacon in tricky situations. Back then the 4x4 vehicle market was really starting to open and with the Japanese manufacturers competing for buyers too.
Since then it had obviously been a while since I’d driven a 4x4 vehicle, but then I got a call to ask if I could help out with repatriating some Land Rovers that were in Morocco. This request came in on the Sunday just after Christmas and involved me flying out the following Tuesday to Marrakech so as to get the vehicle back home by Saturday. This was my first assignment with this crew and I quickly became part of what I learned to be a highly efficient team. On this occasion, drove a Range Rover Supercharge as part of a convoy of other vehicles all the way back through Morocco, Spain, and France to their spiritual home at Gaydon Warwickshire. It was quite magnificent as the vehicle  I was driving was one of 32, the group later splitting into smaller pods as from Spain. I found the Range Rover Supercharged to be a lively beast, perhaps akin to a thoroughbred horse in that it is full of power and very spirited to drive. However, it needs to be driven with care, but is a most satisfying drive all the more for that.
Later that year I helped to bring home the G4 Challenge vehicles from Morocco, and these were completely different. They looked fantastic in their special paint schemes and with all the full off-road toys on board too. These vehicles had traversed some of the most difficult terrain around the world, and we were given special safety instructions, as these cars had proper off road tyres with a set design speed limit on them so they would not over heat, which then could mean the possibility of them blowing at speed. We kept the speed to a maximum of 85mph, even though we had a huge distance to cover. On that occasion I drove a Range Rover Sport and surprisingly enough I found it more comfortable than the Supercharged. However, they are both fantastic vehicles if that is the market you are into.
Throughout trips of this kind we all had a bit of a laugh and joke with our intrepid leader, Roddy Hamilton, asking about the potential of getting some freebies. You know the sort of thing, perhaps a t-shirt or a jacket, as we do these runs without actually receiving payment. We had pulled his leg a few times, so imagine our suprise when Roddy organised a day out for us at Eastnor with the Land Rover Experience to say thanks. Well thank you Roddy, what a great day out it was.
The whole team met the night before at a local Premier Inn and it was great to catch up with everyone’s news over dinner and to have a few beers. I had taken my son along, as I had planned a visit to Cardiff at the end of the off-road driving day as we were going to see a concert there. From the hotel we drove in a convoy with the others for the 15-minute journey to Eastnor Castle, and quickly got into the spirit of the day, as this was how we worked – driving in convoy. Upon arrival at the centre I was immediately very impressed by the layout, and by the car park, which was full of more 4x4’s than at a Chelsea supermarket!
Everyone parked up and changed into sturdy footwear, this to go with the suitable clothing we were wearing ready for a muddy environment and were met by the event coordinator, Jo Wilson. We were treated well right from the start, as we were made to feel very welcome with the offer of tea, coffee and biscuits. We found out that the usual format would have been to be provided with sausage and bacon roles, but as we had already eaten a huge breakfast, we passed on that one. We certainly learned a lesson there. Our crew were introduced to the instructors by the head instructor, Tim Pellet, and given a short but important safety briefing. We were then allocated our respective vehicles, which that had been brought out for us to try.
 Wow, what else can you say as one looked upon the full range of models from the Land Rover stable. There was a Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, the latest Discovery, the Freelander 2 and the Defender, all of which were presented in matching paint and in gleaming condition. We were split up into pairs, one pair to each vehicle, and joined by an instructor in each car. My day started in the Defender with James and our instructor called Ken. He showed me all the latest stuff on the Defender, including the new non-stall feature, and I followed his instructions as I drove around the estate to the off-road tracks that we were going to use for the morning session. I had the opportunity to use the anti-stall feature, and by following his instructions I pulled away in second gear, having taken my foot off the clutch and then released the footbrake! This was going up hill too, which was even more amazing. This vehicle certainly had been improved upon since the last time I’d driven one.
After driving the Defender for a while everyone swapped round, which involved me going to the vehicle ahead (I had been in vehicle No.2 of the convoy) and all other drivers swapping to the vehicle behind as their passenger took over. Sounds a bit complicated, but it isn’t and gives everyone a chance to drive each car, and importantly, listen to the instruction when not multi-tasking. I enjoyed the chance to drive every model and was majorly impressed by the Range Rover when it was my turn with that one, taking it through a particularly deep and slippery muddy section. Driving this gave a bizarre feeling, because I can honestly say it didn’t seem slippy as there is now so much  technology on these vehicles that it does all the tricky stuff for you. I could hear all sorts of noises going on underneath and looked questioningly at Alf, the instructor on this car, who explained the mechanics of what was happening by using the visual displays on the dashboard. The off-road performance of these vehicles was made all the more impressive when you realise that all of them just had ordinary road tyres on them!
We continued to swap around vehicles, as well as positions within vehicles, and eventually came to series of dips and hills called, The American Dips. Here we all stopped and got out to have a look at these severe dips and hills on foot, as it was explained what we would have to do. By this time I was now in the Freelander 2 with Phil, the instructor on that vehicle, and James as my crewmate. This section really is a bottle-tester, as you drive over the brow of the hill and go down the hill. I must say that I thought James drove the Freelander down here under total control, unlike those in a couple of the heavier vehicles. When it was my turn I drove up over the first hill and then came down the second dip, whilst following Phil’s instructions to the letter. However, as I drove up the other side the vehicle lost grip, even though I was wiggling the steering from side to side as I was told to do in these circumstances. Phil then told me to reverse and to dip the wheels in the water that filled the bottom of the valley before trying again, giving it more power this time and again wiggling the steering to increase grip. I did give it more power and we surged off up the hill, this time making it to the top.
What I hadn’t realised, due to all the noise, was that I had grounded out and caught the rear bumper, pulling it out of line. When I stopped behind the car in front at the top, and when people came over and started taking photos, I began to get worried. I had signed a disclaimer at the beginning of the day, just like everyone else, and now I  thought, “Whoops, how much is this going to cost.” However, I was reassured it was not a problem as I had only done as I was told and that it wasn’t classed as major damage. I was also told that it was the first time they had taken the Freelander 2 over the dips too. You can see how I did by watching this video clip
Not letting this minor hiccup spoil the day we carried on, making our way back for a pleasant lunch at the centre, which also provided an enjoyable break from driving. This was a chance to catch up on individual adventure stories, and the general opinion was that everyone was well impressed with both the vehicles and the quality of instruction. These guys are real professionals in their field and all have extensive experience, having taken rigorous training courses themselves so as to work at the centre. After a quick look around the centre it was back out in the vehicles for some more rugged off-road driving.
This time the outbound route led us to another part of the estate, and here the terrain changed as we again took turns at driving and being a passenger over these new tracks. We also drove the vehicles through some deeper water, and when the lead vehicle got stuck, we watched as this was hooked up and pulled free by use of a winch on another vehicle. There was great care shown when doing this, with a full explanation of techniques, and also how the ground had to be carefully tended afterwards. This showed out the true professional credentials of the team in terms of their care towards the environment they work in. We continued around the deep-water sections and learnt the techniques for creating a bow wave ahead of the vehicle, and to make the steady progress required to keep the wave going. I did this section in a Discovery and was impressed with the ease by which it coped with everything that was asked of it.
When everyone had driven all the different types of vehicle we headed back to the centre for a wash up session, this being carried out most literally completed in my case, and a quick change of clothes. Coffee and biscuits were served as we discussed the events of the day and thanked our instructors, as well as the centre staff alike, for an entertaining day, as we really had been made to feel most welcome. In fact, I think we were all reluctant to leave, but in my case I had to get to Cardiff by early evening for a pre-booked seat at a concert, so we took our leave and drove back through the glorious countryside to the M4.
It had been great to see all of Roddy’s team back together again under his stewardship, and great to share the experience with my son as well. He learnt a lot from the day and no doubt that will remain with him for the rest of his life.
Speaking personally I would recommend the Eastnor Castle experience for anyone who drives a 4x4, or if they are considering buying one. Even if you are not doing any of those things it is still worth doing the course, as these vehicles do have awesome capabilities off road, and it’s good to learn from the experts in real conditions in order to experience this. If you are interested in completing the Eastnor Castle off-road driving experience, you can find details on the official website.
If you do have a 4x4 vehicle as your main car, remember they do drive slightly differently on the road, and the best bit of kit you can get to tune them up so as to improve performance is to get some training for yourself. Of course, don’t forget that Ride Drive can provide all of the on-road driver training you could ever need no matter what you drive.
Drive safe, |
