Off road driving

At Marshall Scout Moor Quarry. Five Team members Ged Clarke, Chris Greenhalgh, Mark Scott, David Sarti & Pete Ellwood under the guidance of Andy Ryding & Mike Marsh, completed an Off Road familiarisation course. Consisting of basic control and handling of a Team Landrover on semi rough tracks and steep hills, making full use of the low ratio gears & diff lock. The success of the session can be measured by the grins on the faces of those involved. They put that of Lewis Carrols Cheshire Cat to shame. Thanks must be made to David Sarti & Marshalls for gaining the permissions to allow us to use the quarry. Such was the success of the first session advanced bookings are now being taken for the 2008 course !!!

A Landrover driving over the crest of a very steep incline, during the off road training day.

Mark Scotts account of the day follows:

The off-road driver training on Sunday 14 September 2003 had that magic combination: it was very useful and necessary, but it was also enormously enjoyable. Who would not relish the prospect of driving up and down unfeasible-looking quarry slopes in one of the team’s Landrovers? For me, and (I think) the others, this was one of the highlights of the training we have received so far.

We were taught how to use the Hi and Lo settings of the gear box, and the mysteries of the difflock. Learning the technique to recover from a stall on steep ground by starting the engine in reverse with the clutch engaged was, for me, the most difficult part, but thanks to our excellent and patient team-member instructors (Mike Marsh and Andy Ryding) we all managed this and the other techniques that were demonstrated. My appreciation – and indeed admiration – for the team vehicles greatly increased as a result of this training. I’d never done any off-roading before so I didn’t appreciate what feats the team vehicles
were capable of.

Yes a Landrover can drive up this kind of gradient, even with all our MR kit in the back.