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Sunday, May 08, 2005
Let's offroad
Right... let's offroad!
I went along to the Cumbrian Rover Owners Club RTV (Road Taxed Vehicles) trialling competition today, just to have a look and see what it was all about. There are loads of technical rules such as having to have JATE rings attached to the front and rear so you can be 'recovered' if you get stuck and an extra throttle return spring in case the first snaps and the throttle gets stuck open. I have absolutely no clue about this sort of stuff, but everyone at these of events does so I just said "I haven't got a clue" and they helped me out.
Since everyone had been so helpful, it seemed rude not to have go, so I did. It's weird: it feels as if it should be nerdy, a bit like standing round a sports car talking about horse power and torque, but it's ace fun!
The event was on a farmer's bit of land on the side of a mountain. It had bogs, boulders, dense gorse, rivers, mud, rocks, holes, hills, lumps... basically lots of natural obstacles. The aim of the game is to drive through the numbered gates, starting at 12 and going all the way to 1. Each gate is set at an obstacle - a boulder, a steep drop, a bog - and if you clip the gate, stop, or get stuck, you score that gate's points. The person with the fewest points wins.
We did 12 courses and I scored 73. The winner got 42. I got a few clear rounds, got stuck on boulders a few times, failed to get up two hills and got stuck in a bog once: I got 'recovered' and, whilst being dragged backwards, went over a huge rock and dented an important steering bit - bugger. I also managed to lose my aerial whilst in the gorse and my passenger door doesn't close properly any more - bugger. But it was a cool day, scary, fun, exhilarating and enjoyable. And I came third!
It's amazing what Land Rovers can do. See the pictures.
.....posted at 8:36 pm permalink
babyatom's
old BIG BLOGS
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