4 Wheel Driving Force 2009
This is an annual 4x4 weekend event, this year being run by the Metropolitan Police Motor Club, and held at the MOD Police Training Centre at Wethersfield. It was under MSA rules and in association with British Police and British Armed Forces Motor Clubs, although
now open to any eligible participants.
Starting on Friday with a night navigation exercise, there were a variety of challenging on and off road stages.
Money raised by the event would be donated to the ‘Help for Heroes’
charity.
Essex Land Rover Club were closely involved assisting with the event, and needed marshals for the special stages in Suffolk,
which included Tunstall and Rendlesham Forests and Woodbridge Airfield. Suffolk Land Rover Owners Club was approached, but not too many members were free as they already had an event that weekend, so members of Norfolk & Suffolk 4x4 Response
offered their help as well.
As a result, a combination of volunteers from SLROC and N&S 4x4R descended on the Forests on the morning of the 25th April, to a rather cloudy and chilly start. The Met Police organisers ran through Tunstall setting it up ahead of the pack, then hitting us at Rendlesham around midday. The skies cleared and the sun shone as we tagged along setting up the course.
It was a scatter event, with participants collecting letters from fixed points, culminating in making up as many words as possible Scrabble style, all within 60 minutes.
Around 14.30 the first participants arrived and we shadowed them to the main map point where they had to transfer co-ordinates to their own maps, only to find someone had stolen the master map. Whoever did it was obviously unaware that the place was about to be swarming with police! A replacement map was soon found, just as more competitors arrived at staged intervals. We did a quick check around to make sure all ‘letters’ were still in place, then settled at the map point, which was a main intersection of routes.
Picture the scene, something resembling a ‘wacky racers’ cartoon; the centre of Rendlesham Forest with an assortment of vehicles, all converging and dispersing at a fair rate of knots, with mostly determined but some confused looks on faces.
Soldiers in Wolf Defenders, flying Dutchman in modified G wagons, coppers in Battenberg liveried Freelander 2’s, a selection of older Land Rover models, and the inevitable Suzuki.
Amongst all this there appeared two girls on horseback, needing reassurance as they were somewhat worried that they had stumbled into a military zone. Another couple walking their dog found it hugely entertaining, whilst others moaned that there
had been no signs that vehicles would be using ‘their’ forest. We refrained from mentioning that we had not seen any signs warning us that there may be walkers, and just offered friendly sympathy to the poor souls.
Very soon it all quietened down again, and we cleared up the course markers, and followed the participants across to Woodbridge
Airfield. Gaining entry past the armed guards we caught up with everyone else and headed to the Mess for some quick food and drink. It was gone 6.00 pm by this time, and Andy Sparks, the Met Police guy who had organised the Forest stages, had to leave us and head back to Wethersfield. He introduced me to one of the main organisers before he went, and got us an invite to tag on the end of the final stage around the airfield. It was pleasing to be told that everyone had commented how friendly the forest
Marshals had been, and how they had been met with smiling faces throughout the day.
As some of our guys had a two hour drive home, two vehicles called it a day, whilst Tony and ourselves stayed on to take in the
last stage. We queued up behind the entrants, and had quite a wait whilst the course was set up.
Eventually the participants set off at timed intervals, and we followed on together after they had all departed.
It seemed pretty straightforward until we encountered the nuclear bomb shelters. The sign seemed to say go over them as opposed to around them, and the tracks seemed to confirm this, so we gave it a go!
It was so much fun we went back and did it again!
Next was a pretty rough green lane run and Tony obviously had a need for speed. Don’t know what we were doing, but I was in third gear, and just managing to keep the 110 in a straight line. It was about the time I hit the third rabbit warren that I heard this ‘Oh Christ’ from the passenger seat and got the impression out of the corner of my eye that Derinda had adopted some sort of 'braced’ position.
I had almost forgotten the dogs in the back, but a glance in the rear view mirror confirmed they were still with us. They were sort of appearing in front of the rear window at random like they were suspended from the roof on some sort of invisible bungee, legs wide, ears back and mouths open! I don’t think this was the best part of their day.
I recall some 4 wheel dust drifts, and remember thinking that a 110 is not a vehicle that you normally associate with power slides around corners. After that we hit some tarmac, and I do remember seeing a bit over 70 on the clock before we again hit grass. By this time we had actually caught up with the last entrant, and sane speeds returned.
Certainly a cracking finish to a good day!
now open to any eligible participants.
Starting on Friday with a night navigation exercise, there were a variety of challenging on and off road stages.
Money raised by the event would be donated to the ‘Help for Heroes’
charity.
Essex Land Rover Club were closely involved assisting with the event, and needed marshals for the special stages in Suffolk,
which included Tunstall and Rendlesham Forests and Woodbridge Airfield. Suffolk Land Rover Owners Club was approached, but not too many members were free as they already had an event that weekend, so members of Norfolk & Suffolk 4x4 Response
offered their help as well.
As a result, a combination of volunteers from SLROC and N&S 4x4R descended on the Forests on the morning of the 25th April, to a rather cloudy and chilly start. The Met Police organisers ran through Tunstall setting it up ahead of the pack, then hitting us at Rendlesham around midday. The skies cleared and the sun shone as we tagged along setting up the course.
It was a scatter event, with participants collecting letters from fixed points, culminating in making up as many words as possible Scrabble style, all within 60 minutes.
Around 14.30 the first participants arrived and we shadowed them to the main map point where they had to transfer co-ordinates to their own maps, only to find someone had stolen the master map. Whoever did it was obviously unaware that the place was about to be swarming with police! A replacement map was soon found, just as more competitors arrived at staged intervals. We did a quick check around to make sure all ‘letters’ were still in place, then settled at the map point, which was a main intersection of routes.
Picture the scene, something resembling a ‘wacky racers’ cartoon; the centre of Rendlesham Forest with an assortment of vehicles, all converging and dispersing at a fair rate of knots, with mostly determined but some confused looks on faces.
Soldiers in Wolf Defenders, flying Dutchman in modified G wagons, coppers in Battenberg liveried Freelander 2’s, a selection of older Land Rover models, and the inevitable Suzuki.
Amongst all this there appeared two girls on horseback, needing reassurance as they were somewhat worried that they had stumbled into a military zone. Another couple walking their dog found it hugely entertaining, whilst others moaned that there
had been no signs that vehicles would be using ‘their’ forest. We refrained from mentioning that we had not seen any signs warning us that there may be walkers, and just offered friendly sympathy to the poor souls.
Very soon it all quietened down again, and we cleared up the course markers, and followed the participants across to Woodbridge
Airfield. Gaining entry past the armed guards we caught up with everyone else and headed to the Mess for some quick food and drink. It was gone 6.00 pm by this time, and Andy Sparks, the Met Police guy who had organised the Forest stages, had to leave us and head back to Wethersfield. He introduced me to one of the main organisers before he went, and got us an invite to tag on the end of the final stage around the airfield. It was pleasing to be told that everyone had commented how friendly the forest
Marshals had been, and how they had been met with smiling faces throughout the day.
As some of our guys had a two hour drive home, two vehicles called it a day, whilst Tony and ourselves stayed on to take in the
last stage. We queued up behind the entrants, and had quite a wait whilst the course was set up.
Eventually the participants set off at timed intervals, and we followed on together after they had all departed.
It seemed pretty straightforward until we encountered the nuclear bomb shelters. The sign seemed to say go over them as opposed to around them, and the tracks seemed to confirm this, so we gave it a go!
It was so much fun we went back and did it again!
Next was a pretty rough green lane run and Tony obviously had a need for speed. Don’t know what we were doing, but I was in third gear, and just managing to keep the 110 in a straight line. It was about the time I hit the third rabbit warren that I heard this ‘Oh Christ’ from the passenger seat and got the impression out of the corner of my eye that Derinda had adopted some sort of 'braced’ position.
I had almost forgotten the dogs in the back, but a glance in the rear view mirror confirmed they were still with us. They were sort of appearing in front of the rear window at random like they were suspended from the roof on some sort of invisible bungee, legs wide, ears back and mouths open! I don’t think this was the best part of their day.
I recall some 4 wheel dust drifts, and remember thinking that a 110 is not a vehicle that you normally associate with power slides around corners. After that we hit some tarmac, and I do remember seeing a bit over 70 on the clock before we again hit grass. By this time we had actually caught up with the last entrant, and sane speeds returned.
Certainly a cracking finish to a good day!
Gone to the Dogs
The E mail from Carl and Sue had asked for help with a Horse and Dog show at Sibton Park, and specified our job description as ‘setting out the rings’ on the Saturday, and ‘car parking’ on the Sunday. Fine we thought, conjuring up pictures of us on a sunny Sunday reclining on deckchairs sipping tea and eating scones whilst watching horses competing against a backdrop of a country house. All very civilised and very English.
The Saturday was hot and humid, but an enjoyable day spent with people from the Suffolk Land Rover Club we mostly know. All finished by around 4.00pm, sadly we had to miss the evening barbeque, having more pressing matters to sort at home. The memorable phrase of the day had been ‘the person who usually helps with the dog show can’t make it, could you help with that on Sunday?’ I could tell the ‘yes’ had left Derinda’s mouth before the implications had dawned on her. Oh well, I thought, how hard can helping with a dog show be.
The next memorable phrase appeared pretty early on Sunday morning, 8.16 if I recall, just as we were collecting the stuff to ‘help’ with the Dog Show. ‘The person who usually runs the Dog Show can’t make it; can you manage on your own?’ No answer was required, as this wasn’t actually a question, so we just nodded obligingly. Only once we were sat in the Dog Show marquee did the panic set in. Oh well, I thought, how hard can running a dog show be.
Picture the scene. Akin to receiving a package from MFI without knowing what’s inside, finding the instructions are missing,
and you don’t have a screwdriver. Oh, and you have just 30 minutes left to build it! There were crates full of paperwork, 150
rosettes and trophies, enough dog chews for an Antarctic expedition, and a ‘build it yourself’ dog agility course. Add to this the dogs owners starting arriving, most of which seemed intent on parking in the marquee.
At this point it seemed a good idea for me to go off and do a bit of car parking. This was to be something I was rapidly going to regret! Having established where everyone should park I donned my high viz and started off. Meanwhile a fight was breaking out
between two drivers who both wanted to park in the same spot, so I ignored them and headed for the old guy who had parked his fiesta on our dog’s rope. Much waving produced no results, and closer inspection revealed he was blind in one eye and couldn’t see much out the other. Much coaching got him to follow me and 20 minutes later he had negotiated the 20 yards to the car park.
Flushed with success I started waving at a Kangoo to no evident effect. ‘Can you park here please’ just produced a ‘no’. ‘Why not’ just produced a ‘the grass will scratch my car’. I grabbed a handful of grass and demonstrated it’s softness to the driver and all I got was ‘why can’t I park over there’. ‘Because it’s not the car park’ bought the reply ‘why can’t I park over there then’. Exasperated
I said ‘look, park over there then, the grass is only 4” long’. ‘No’ was the reply, ‘I want to park somewhere else’. It was at this point I decided to end my short car parking career, put my high viz back in the Disco, and headed back to Derinda and the ‘do it yourself’ Dog Show kit.
On the way I encountered the third memorable phrase, when a Galaxy driver said he ‘had to park next to the ring, in case it rains’. ‘Why’ just produced the obvious ‘I have poodles, and they can’t get wet’ Right, so suppose we must have a Gremlin class, silly me, should have known that!
In my absence Carl had arrived and given Derinda a crash course in Dog Shows, removing some of the mystique. The judge
had also arrived, and was helpful and pretty laid back. The marquee was still the favoured parking destination, and I set about building some barricades to halt the incoming rush of crazed drivers, and to give our dogs some protection. Funnily enough,
once parted from their cars, most dog owners reverted back to normal people, although mutterings would occasionally ripple through about ‘those horse people’.
Then it got manic. ‘I want to enter our seven dogs into 19 classes’ was a bit of a headache. I had to fill out the form for the fiesta
driver’s wife, as she couldn’t see either. But generally people were easy going and friendly. The agility course lady turned up and got cracking with that, and we got into a bit of a routine. We had a nice salad for lunch, filling in forms between mouthfuls, and luckily the judge sorted the trophies for the best in show groups. Around 115 dogs later, and we were old hands, with people asking how long we had been doing shows. Next year we just need some concrete bollards and trenches around the car park – whoops!Did I say next year………
The realisation of our anticipated day came around 4.30, when we could be seen sitting watching the horses and sipping a tea and a coffee, with not a mention of Crufts or Kennel Club rules. Very English after all.
The Saturday was hot and humid, but an enjoyable day spent with people from the Suffolk Land Rover Club we mostly know. All finished by around 4.00pm, sadly we had to miss the evening barbeque, having more pressing matters to sort at home. The memorable phrase of the day had been ‘the person who usually helps with the dog show can’t make it, could you help with that on Sunday?’ I could tell the ‘yes’ had left Derinda’s mouth before the implications had dawned on her. Oh well, I thought, how hard can helping with a dog show be.
The next memorable phrase appeared pretty early on Sunday morning, 8.16 if I recall, just as we were collecting the stuff to ‘help’ with the Dog Show. ‘The person who usually runs the Dog Show can’t make it; can you manage on your own?’ No answer was required, as this wasn’t actually a question, so we just nodded obligingly. Only once we were sat in the Dog Show marquee did the panic set in. Oh well, I thought, how hard can running a dog show be.
Picture the scene. Akin to receiving a package from MFI without knowing what’s inside, finding the instructions are missing,
and you don’t have a screwdriver. Oh, and you have just 30 minutes left to build it! There were crates full of paperwork, 150
rosettes and trophies, enough dog chews for an Antarctic expedition, and a ‘build it yourself’ dog agility course. Add to this the dogs owners starting arriving, most of which seemed intent on parking in the marquee.
At this point it seemed a good idea for me to go off and do a bit of car parking. This was to be something I was rapidly going to regret! Having established where everyone should park I donned my high viz and started off. Meanwhile a fight was breaking out
between two drivers who both wanted to park in the same spot, so I ignored them and headed for the old guy who had parked his fiesta on our dog’s rope. Much waving produced no results, and closer inspection revealed he was blind in one eye and couldn’t see much out the other. Much coaching got him to follow me and 20 minutes later he had negotiated the 20 yards to the car park.
Flushed with success I started waving at a Kangoo to no evident effect. ‘Can you park here please’ just produced a ‘no’. ‘Why not’ just produced a ‘the grass will scratch my car’. I grabbed a handful of grass and demonstrated it’s softness to the driver and all I got was ‘why can’t I park over there’. ‘Because it’s not the car park’ bought the reply ‘why can’t I park over there then’. Exasperated
I said ‘look, park over there then, the grass is only 4” long’. ‘No’ was the reply, ‘I want to park somewhere else’. It was at this point I decided to end my short car parking career, put my high viz back in the Disco, and headed back to Derinda and the ‘do it yourself’ Dog Show kit.
On the way I encountered the third memorable phrase, when a Galaxy driver said he ‘had to park next to the ring, in case it rains’. ‘Why’ just produced the obvious ‘I have poodles, and they can’t get wet’ Right, so suppose we must have a Gremlin class, silly me, should have known that!
In my absence Carl had arrived and given Derinda a crash course in Dog Shows, removing some of the mystique. The judge
had also arrived, and was helpful and pretty laid back. The marquee was still the favoured parking destination, and I set about building some barricades to halt the incoming rush of crazed drivers, and to give our dogs some protection. Funnily enough,
once parted from their cars, most dog owners reverted back to normal people, although mutterings would occasionally ripple through about ‘those horse people’.
Then it got manic. ‘I want to enter our seven dogs into 19 classes’ was a bit of a headache. I had to fill out the form for the fiesta
driver’s wife, as she couldn’t see either. But generally people were easy going and friendly. The agility course lady turned up and got cracking with that, and we got into a bit of a routine. We had a nice salad for lunch, filling in forms between mouthfuls, and luckily the judge sorted the trophies for the best in show groups. Around 115 dogs later, and we were old hands, with people asking how long we had been doing shows. Next year we just need some concrete bollards and trenches around the car park – whoops!Did I say next year………
The realisation of our anticipated day came around 4.30, when we could be seen sitting watching the horses and sipping a tea and a coffee, with not a mention of Crufts or Kennel Club rules. Very English after all.