4x4 Adventures Ltd Taunton, Somerset
(6034521)
Wellington Drive Round Day – 3rd November 13
Words, Pictures And Video by James Trembath

Our last Wellington DRD of the season, it has certainly come around fast! We will miss the Wellington site with its great little tracks tucked away in the foliage, not the mention the hard going on the leaf mulch! Over the last four to five years the tracks have certainly changed a great deal as they have established themselves and then changed again with the climate and ‘vast’ amounts of water transiting them. The climbs and drops have held firm giving everyone the opportunity of a challenge should they wish to take it on!

Joining us today we had Mark from Superwinch who had brought along his partner Paige to let her have an introduction to off roading – the proper way! That is to say something a little harder than what your average greenlane may throw up for you! We also had Bill and Steve in their newly acquired P38 range rover, Jeroen and the Shane in their td5 110 and tdi 90, plus Matt sporting his very capable trayback along with Keith in a 08 90 hardtop Puma. Tony from Bishops Lydeard garage also joined us in his td5 Discovery along with Jason Davies. So a full Landrover house this time out covering most of the models too!

We started the day on the very wet island, which proved particularly hard going for some, especially those on ATs – Shane! Tony had a slight mishap with a tree, whilst the P38 showed its true potential with the 4.6 Lump regularly singing away. The ground was certainly hard going, so much so that we didn’t attempt to push it on the climbs and even cut and run reasonably early from the site to head across to the more structured surfaces that the moor tracks could offer us.

The main access tracks off the moors allowed everyone to make good progress but the routes off them still provided all with a challenge at some point or another. Sams pond was a good depth too for those that wished to tackle the water splash. The routes up and around the back of the paintball areas had a fair bit of traction but you had to work hard at times to find it, they caught a few of the unwary out!

With lunch time soon looming we met back up in the carpark field and between the deluges of rain attempted to fix Keith CBs with its earth and tuning issue whilst talking general 4x4 things and ‘discussing’ the merits of the different types of vehicles present for the day. The P38 was certainly winning on the comfort stakes with Westminster carpets and heated seats not to mention the rear seat TVs!

Post lunch we took on the challenge of Bumps and Dips, well that was the plan, although the lead vehicle became stuck enroute to them after attempting to reverse back to see where the P38 had got! The latter managed to extract its self without a winch, which wasn't the case for the former!!! As ever the tight bends through the axle twist caught a few out, Keith had a bit of twitch when his 90 went a little further over than expected (or required!) All was going well until the P38 snagged an air bag which dropped the front suspension. With Steve and Bill extracting themselves and the P38, we said our goodbyes before the reminder headed on back to the far side of the moor, within the larch areas, to tackle a few more of the challenging rutted tracks, whilst watching Matt playing in quite deep pond section.

Despite the weather and the wet ground conditions a superb day was had by all, Paige certainly seemed to enjoy her day out as I am sure the majority of Wellington heard at some point!!!


A video clip of the day...


Some pictures from the day