Off-Road experience

HOLD ON TIGHT AND ENJOY THE RIDE

Your route will take you through the off-road rutted tracks of the perimeter of Goodwood Motor Circuit. Some of the driving is easy and some of it is more challenging, but assuming you are successful and your instructor doesn’t get you lost, you will arrive back at the Race Control Building, just in time for a cup of tea.

OUR INSTRUCTORS SAY:
For these various challenges it is critical that both vehicle and driver are prepared for the exercise on approach, i.e. don’t wait until you’re half way up to realise that you’re in the wrong gear or that your speed is too fast or slow. Before you set off have a run through in your mind of what you’re about to do, it is okay to walk the obstacle before attempting to drive it if you so wish
and provided you are wearing appropriate footwear! Make sure you select the correct gear and reach optimum speed before reaching the bottom of the climb, your instructor will help you perfect both of these elements. Maintain a steady but slow speed on the incline and as you reach the top bring your foot off the accelerator as gravity begins to take over and pull you down the
other side. You’re looking to maintain a constant speed throughout, letting off too early or too late will upset the speed of the vehicle. Try to avoid using the brakes on the way down as the gear that you should have selected will control vehicle speed, do not push the clutch pedal down!

THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY IN

Although life can only be understood backwards, to look backwards, you have to move forwards, so that’s exactly what you need to do. There is only one way into our activity area, and that’s over our mound of timber. Having a gate would have been far too easy and ignore any easier options you can see.

OUR INSTRUCTORS SAY:

We never said this was going to be easy. We could let you drive the easy route to our activities area at Lavant Corner, but our Forestry Team appear to have strategically placed some timber and earth in the route we usually take. Remember those skills you have learnt whilst you have been out and about and put them to good use. Maintain a steady but slow speed on the incline and as you reach the top bring your foot off the accelerator as gravity begins to take over and pulls you down the other side

THE LOG TRAVERSE

Congratulations on making it this far! Our Forestry Team here at Goodwood have an unwavering commitment to looking after our natural environment for both present and future generation’s enjoyment. Sadly, we have been affected by ash dieback, which has proved fatal to almost every tree it infects, causing the leaves to wither and blacken. The only thing to do is to remove them and our Forestry team have taken out thousands of ash trees (although a few have been kept just in case they prove resistant). We are busy replanting a mix of native broadleaf British trees: beech, hornbeam, oak, hawthorn, blackthorn and hazel. The good news is that the log traverse you will drive on today is, rather unsurprisingly, ash from the Goodwood Estate being put to good use!

OUR INSTRUCTORS SAY:

For this exercise vehicle speed is key. The steering is less responsive than you may be used to, so in order to stand the best chance of keeping all four wheels on the logs, drive as slowly as possible to enable you to take full advantage of any steering inputs. Remember, unlike modern cars your Land Rover will require a relatively large input on the steering wheel to give the necessary amount of movement at the wheel. Select the gear advised by your instructor and then forget about it and focus. You want to ensure you have maximum concentration on your speed and steering inputs.

THE TIMBER SLALOM

The beautiful pieces of timber you see before you represent at least one generation’s growth. Like our timber, we also would like you to take your time – feel free to count the tree rings on the way past – this is not a downhill ski slalom.

OUR INSTRUCTORS SAY:

The most important tip for this challenge is to turn early! The shortest line will be faster, however, this is not typically achieved by simply going fast – this is not about clipping the apex. Going too fast will often end up in having to take a longer route, which will also mean that as you get further through the logs the steering angle will get tighter and tighter – and with a Land Rover, there isn’t much to play with in the first place! The aim here is to carry a reasonable speed that allows minimum steering input to negotiate the timber.

THE AXLE TWIST

Your next challenge will feel pretty unnerving but it’s all about control and understanding the Land Rover’s centre of gravity. The higher a vehicle, the higher you raise its centre of gravity. Roughly speaking, for every 2.5cm of additional height you add to a vehicles’ design, you need to bring the wheelbase outwards 3.8cm to retain the same tip over angle. Your Land Rover steering was designed to work to maximum efficiency with the stock king pin angle (the line between the top and bottom mount points of swivel ball). When you change this angle from what the factory put in the steering loses stability – rest assured that’s not what we have done. Changing the angle on the front differential changes the king pin angle. Just listen carefully to your Instructor and let’s get on with it!

OUR INSTRUCTORS SAY:

The obstacles are laid out in such a way that, as you crawl over them (well not “you” exactly, your Land Rover) one side of the Land Rover will have its suspension fully extended, whilst the other side will be fully compressed. This is designed to show how capable your Land Rover is and that it really can go pretty much anywhere, when driven in the correct manner