Car Christmas presents: 4x4 Driving Day

Briefing

First up is a briefing session – a step-by-step guide to what we’ll be doing today. At the top of the list is ‘Thumbs’.

According to Noel, it’s incredibly important to keep your hands firmly on the wheel, but to rest your thumbs on top of the wheel, rather than gripped underneath. If you’re driving round the course and hit an obstacle such as a rock or a branch and the wheel spins round violently, the resulting steering wheel spin could break your most important digits.

Next is ‘Gears’ - on level ground and on ascents the vehicle should be kept in second gear, but on descents it should be in first. Vehicles with automatic transmission benefit less from engine braking, and low-speed control is essential. It’s not about blazing round the track at 60mph (which the Jeep Cherokee I had for the day would get to in 10.8 seconds), it’s about control and self discipline.

Noel also mentions the importance of crossing ditches and ruts at a 45-degree angle, and pausing before going down a slope and at the top of a hill, so you can make a judgement about what lies ahead.

It’s also important to drive to the side of ruts, rather than in them. If the rut is eight inches deep you’ll have eight inches less clearance on the bottom on the vehicle. Hit an obstacle and you could do some serious damage.

The motto for the experience is ‘As slow as possible – as fast as necessary’.

“It’s not a rally,” says Noel.

We walk out of the building to inspect the vehicle itself. It’s a 201bhp Jeep Cherokee - a four-speed automatic, and specifically designed for this type of driving.

We crouch down to see where the lowest points of clearance are on the underside of the 4x4, especially at the front and at the rear, and where we’re likely to hit if we drove to fast down a slope or down a rut.

Round the course

Up to three people plus the instructor can be in the Jeep at the same time, but today it’s just me and Noel. Before I get a go in the mighty Jeep, Noel takes us round what he calls the course’s nursery slopes to demonstrate the kind of driving we’ll be doing.

The first dip goes down into a pool of mud.

“You should have seen it early today,” says Noel. “It rained pretty heavily last night so it was totally waterlogged. Some people were almost getting stuck. But if you know how to use the vehicle properly you can get out of those situations.”

Noel takes the 4x4 up and down the slopes, along some slippery-looking grassy banks and across some rough terrain. The Cherokee takes everything in its stride, barely breaking into a sweat in conditions which would be extremely challenging for most other vehicles.

The steepest slope

We return to the start of the course. Now it’s my go.

Driving round the course I’ve just seen is a daunting prospect, but it’s reassuring to know I have an expert with me who’ll tell me exactly what to do if something unexpected happens.

I manoeuvre the vehicle to the top of the first slope. It’s important to pause at this point to check out where the slope leads. If a driver went flying down a hill without first checking which direction the slope turned they could easily find themselves in a tricky situation.

I switch to first gear and we move down the hill and through the mud. No problem. The first incline is straight ahead. We’re in second gear now, at the base of the slope.

“Give it a few more revs,” says Noel, encouragingly. The Cherokee starts to slide over to the right. But with more power applied we straighten up and make it to the top of the hill. A great deal of driving under these conditions is about controlled momentum.

We take a hard right and drive on round the rest of the nursery slopes. It’s a great introduction to what initially feels like a very unnatural way of driving.

After a few minutes getting used to the conditions it’s time to go up a level. Noel directs me to the advanced slopes.

The first hill looms into sight. To my eyes it looks like Everest, but again the 4x4 makes scaling it easy. It’s the steepest hill I’ve ever driven up, and there’s a real sense of achievement when we get to the top.

This is fun.

No entry

Next we drive past a sign which says ‘No Entry’ (er…), and down an equally steep slope. It’s important to control your descent and not to tear down the hill at great speed – you could do some serious damage to the front of the vehicle.

We reach the base of the hill safely and take a left turn onto a steep sideways slope. This is something I’ve been dreading. Will the 4x4 turn over? What’s a safe angle? How much is too much?

Noel tells me people’s instinct if they get into trouble and start to slide sideways is to steer up the slope, but the trick is to do the exact opposite. We drive along the slope and the vehicle gradually reaches an angle of 38 degrees. It feels very strange, but I’m totally in control.

We move onto another section of the course which looks like a dirt-bike track. There’s a steep double hill ahead of us, and Noel tells me to stop at the top of the second hill. I’ll see why, he tells me.

He’s not kidding. It’s an extremely steep downwards slope down to another track. Just beyond it is a line of tyres.

“There’s a 30-foot drop the other side of that,” says Noel.

I’ll take this one slowly.

We’ve been driving for a long time, but now the experience is over, so we return to the hut for the de-briefing session and certificate presentation.

So is the experience any good? For most people it’s a style of driving they won’t get to take part in anywhere else. It’s exhilarating, fun, and worth every penny.

http://www.racing-school.co.uk/