Posts Tagged ‘4×4’

Each year hundreds of 4×4’s descend onto an open field in Axel during the “Pinksteren” [Pentecost] holiday weekend. The reason? Simple. To celebrate everything that is Land Rover.

In the Netherlands, there aren’t a lot of places left for 4×4s to roam; largely due to the size of the country in relation to her population and their needs. So most offroaders head east towards Germany, Poland and Croatia or are southbound towards France, Spain and Portugal. Read the rest »

The idea of angry 4×4’s tearing up ancient forests horrified me. I adore nature and being outdoors. So when we got the chance to attend the Croatia Trophy, I was in a quandry.

On the one hand, not wanting to experience, let alone promote, such destruction … and on the other hand, wanting to know what the 4×4 adventure thing is all about. Read the rest »

2 am sees us pulling into the driveway of our rental home. Shattered by a 21-hour journey, but without complaint. Dorota and Anno have been on the road for 34 hours and Wojtek is still en-route.

The Discovery pulling one of the competition cars has developed some issues.   Read the rest »

Pink Panther

The Croatia Trophy is a massive challenge, being the toughest 4×4 competition in Europe. Just finishing the race is already a major achievement. Adding to these rigours with extra, unforeseen, problems meant that the days were sometimes rather long…

For ‘Team Tommie’ the predominant feature was, sadly, mechanical failure, but of the kind that you couldn’t predict or plan for, like: a blocked suction tube in the fuel tank? Crown wheel bolts sheared off? Axle halfshaft twisted and snapped? You can’t make this stuff up… Here’s a day-by-day account of our adventure.

Read the rest »

Croatia Trophy 2010 (29/04-09/05)

4×4 offroading challenge – F1 in mud!

Two weeks before the trophy is due to start, our good friend Rob Mieras drops a little bombshell … his co-driver has to pull out of the competition and is needing a replacement.

Rob asks Marcel to join his 2-man team. AWESOME!!

We’ve had one weekend of 4×4 offroading in Germany, so it should be alright then!! Read the rest »

Rob Mieras is a 4×4 driving instructor and has the patience of Job when it comes to teaching new offroading skills to nervous drivers. We had the good fortune of joining them on a camping trip to Freizeitpark Mammut in Germany, which was just fabulous.

The highlight of the week was definitely learning how to gear down steep slopes and charge through muddy pools. But it all started rather slowly for me … Let’s face it, keeping control of a beast that weighs more than two tons is scary. Read the rest »

Building a camp fire is not allowed in most of the camping spots we’ve visited in the last couple of years, both in Holland and in Germany. But this one was different.

Freizeitpark Mammut is huge, with lovely grassy fields, ginormous trees and slopes to match, with forest areas, marsh lands and open savanah-type areas. It’s an off-roader’s dream!

But I digress … I was harping on about the campfires. Because that’s the way we used to camp as kids - rugged, full of adventure and a mesmerising fire to capture your memories.

And then there was the mud. Read the rest »