Well, got the opportunity last night to go and do an hours laning with three other offroaders. Included a bit of training for possible response work. We drove a lane near Biddistone. I guess it was about a mile long. Got to the end and drove back.

The significants of this was this was the first time I had the chance to experiment as I knew that if it all went wrong and I got stuck then there were others to pull Hippo out.

As it turned out, although I got stuck a couple of times, I was able to break free without assistance. This was heavily rutted muddy bits where the car tracked in the ruts and the steering had no effect over the direction I was going in. This was okay until I grounded out and that brought things to a halt. A bit of messing about soon sorted the problem.

I was very impressed with the machines abilities. It was generally a case of first gear and feet off all pedals. It happily plodded along.

It wasn't a particularly difficult lane. Generally flat, part through woodland and part a very narrow lane where I've seen tarmaced roads in worse condition. Bit scratchy in places but no problem.

When I did get stuck I was, I thought, gentle with the controls but I did encounter a bit of wheel slip and then there was that strong smell like clutch or brake linings getting hot. I didn't allow the clutch to slip nor did I rant the engine. One of the guys reaconed I had got mud on the exhaust. I wondered if it was heat off the slipping tyres. Whats the thoughts here. I'm always a bit touchy about the clutch as its a serious job to replace it.

We finished our trip by a visit to the local watering hole. There we discovered that one of our number had managed to put a hole through the side wall of one rear tyre. Bummer as this is a newish Rangie and there was loads of meat on the tyre, which was well over 200 in width. The guy reaconed that was 150 quids worth to replace. Couldn't see properly as it was getting dark by then and all available torches were bought to the seen. We had fun replacing it as this Rangy had a self leveling system. This confused the hell out of us as we tryied the jack it up. Then we switched it off

This morning I generated a river of mud down the road as I pressure washed the underside. Took longer to clear the road than the car. Had to do that as I live in an estate and would have upset the neightboours.

Oh well, not a massive trip to report but fun all the same.

good to know you had fun .

they all response members?

Yes, there were nine of us at the pub, four went laning before hand. It was a local social meet for north west wiltshire. There are over 100 members in the wessex region alone. Thats Wilts, Dorest, zummerset and part of Devon.

Darmain said:

When I did get stuck I was, I thought, gentle with the controls but I did encounter a bit of wheel slip and then there was that strong smell like clutch or brake linings getting hot. I didn't allow the clutch to slip nor did I rant the engine. One of the guys reaconed I had got mud on the exhaust. I wondered if it was heat off the slipping tyres. Whats the thoughts here. I'm always a bit touchy about the clutch as its a serious job to replace it.

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dyou have traction control ? if so, it will be applying the brakes to one or more wheels when the wheels start spinning, this can sometimes cause a bit of heat and/or burning smell, depending on what brake pads are fitted.

glad you had fun though.

Yes I do have traction control, and it was active at the time. You are on to something there OP, I didn't think of that one. Cheers.