Intro Sand Driver Training
Our introductory sand driver training day should have been more appropriately named introductory sand
blasting as we had gale force winds along with the
second dust storm for Sydney, so Ron and Peter had to deal
with some really unaccommodating elements to say the least. From the short drive to the beach car park from the Metro
Service Station I managed to
pick up an inch-long piece of
aluminium in my rear tyre which, with the help of Ron, we
managed to change before the introductions had started.
As an introduction we
had 5 D3’s, a Range
Rover Sport, a Classic
Sherwood, a Disco 1,
and Ron and Peter as
our fearless leaders
for the day. So, after a
briefing and the reduction
in tyre pressures, we
were off to our first dune.
There stood 8 vehicles
in a row at the bottom of
the first dune, with the occupants all sitting in
the warmth of our cars
watching Ron and Peter
attempting to stand on
the top without getting
blown off the edge,
covered in sand, and attempting to provide
us with instructions over
the UHF that we needed
to come up and then
reverse back down.
We then had our firstview of what came next once we were at the top of the dune
as Ron and Peter’s Range Rover disappeared over the edge
and we realised what these cars are capable of doing as we all
dropped over the edge with mouths wide open.
Then once we were over the first dune we were all like an excited bunch of kids with our new toys. We headed over
towards the beach front and along the way the D3’s and
Range Rover Sport were interested to see that the ‘Sand’ Terrain Response setting was nowhere near as effective in the
conditions of the day as the Grass, Gravel and Snow setting!!!Another example of why these courses are so useful.
We then headed down the beach for about 10km in search of
our next challenge but at the same time were provided with
an overview of the beach history and some additional tips and
tricks to enhance our beach driving skills – particularly dealing
with ‘tram-tracking’.
We headed inland a bit and just as we were getting overconfident,
Ron and Peter managed to find some soft sand for
us to fail to proceed (FTP) in, which again was a great exercise
in realising that sitting there with the foot on the accelerator
was not the best option and momentum is king. Slow as
possible – fast as necessary; a catch cry of the driver training team.
After a few laps around a couple of dunes which enabled us to
get a feel for how the cars react, we moved on for morning tea,
getting some more tips from Peter and Ron and managing to
keep the sand out of our sandwiches.
The rest of the morning was spent going over what we had
learnt, putting it into practice and getting a real feel for the cars
in different types of sand, and of course, getting stuck and
being helped out by Ron and Peter.
We managed to find a great sheltered spot for lunch and an
overview of Ron and Peter’s recovery gear and experiences,
not to mention a few of their jokes along the way!
Now it was time to put the recovery gear to the test and so it
was time to get the D1 dug in so that we could do a snatch
recover with one of the D3’s. Since it looked so much fun, the
Range Rover decided to get in on the action and after getting
another D3 down to the belly it was once again a successful
recovery and we were all amazed at how undramatic a well
planned snatch recovery can be. As Ron and Peter said,
having a flask in your recovery gear to remind you to have
a cuppa and think over the recovery plan rather than diving
straight into it is the right way to go about things.
We ended the day working our way back to the meeting point
and a debrief.What a great day, and even though the wind made it hard work
for Ron and Peter, they made our experience a blast with lots
of great info and advice. I am sure that we will all be back to
Stockton to re-test our skills and see if we can stay above the sand.