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Why must all my most memorable
Land Rover weekend experiences
begin with an alarm clock blaring
in my ear at some ungodly hour?
It really shouldn’t surprise me at this point. After getting myself
together, I met up with some co-workers from Rovers North at
the Pour House in South Burlington, VT for one of the greasiest
–yet tasty - breakfasts in recent memory. Our group of four,
Les Parker, Steve Haskell, Matt Martin and I loaded our
larded-up selves into the vehicle and pointed it south down
Route 7 towards Manchester, VT. Our destination: the Land
Rover Experience Driving School at the posh Equinox resort,
about 100 miles south of Westford, VT. Just south of Rutland,
VT, we met up our fifth teammate from Rovers North, Calef
Letorney, our specialist in Waxoyl products.
As soon as we made the left on to Union Street in
Manchester, we spotted the armada of shiny and stately silver
Land Rovers we’d soon be driving off-road. The four Land
Rovers in the line up included: an LR3, a Range Rover Sport, a
Range Rover HSE and an LR2. The vehicles were as they left
Solihull, sporting factory tires and impeccably clean. The latter
issue would soon change.
We proceeded into the retail shop where our instructors
greeted us: Location Manager Josh Williams, Chuck Worrell,
Cortland Wood, and Rick Serroro. We were impressed to learn
that all four of our instructors were genuine Land Rover enthusiasts
with personal Land Rover ownership experiences. After
an introduction to the day’s off-road activities, we boarded our
Land Rovers and convoyed out to the site of the 80-acre offroad
course, consisting of about 5 miles of trails. The 80 acres
are split into two sections: the front 40, featuring “purpose
built” obstacles and the “back 40,” which remains in its more
natural state, yet hosting a series of challenges.
Josh Williams educated us with a most detailed explanation
of the vehicles specifications and their off-road systems.
He compared and contrasted the vehicles on and off-road
technologies in the current Land Rover line up. Owning a
Range Rover Classic, I impulsively headed towards the Range
Rover HSE, where Rick pointed out the off-road capabilities of
the HSE. Needless to say, technology has come a long way
since the days of the red and yellow transfer case levers in my
military 109”.
Each of the four Land Rovers went in separate directions,
exploring all aspects of the trail network, rejoining momentarily
up to swap drivers until we met up as a group and headed
to lunch. We began our instruction on the “front 40” with
side-hill traverses, ascents so steep that you only see the blue
sky, descents so steep you are grateful for Hill Descent
Control(HDC) and Gradient Release Control(GRC) systems,
terrain so rocky that you are forced to explore the “Rock
Crawl” mode on the Terrain Response System.
The Land Rover handles all these situations with aplomb
once you’ve selected the appropriate settings on the Terrain
Response System’s five settings: General, Grass/Gravel/Snow,
Mud/Ruts, Sand, and Rock Crawl. The HDC kept roughly
6,000 pounds of Range Rover HSE from uncontrollably
barreling down steep descents without my foot ever making
contact with the brake pedal. The Electronic Air
Suspension(EAS) raised our vehicles and increased our
approach and descent angles, also allowing for impressive suspension
travel. The Electronic Throttle varied the accelerator
pedal feel in accordance with our selection on the Terrain
Response System. CommandShift manual gearbox control gave
us plenty of drive train control, as we were instructed on the
optimal gear selection to conquer obstacles with the greatest
degree of poise. The 4-wheel Electronic Traction Control
(4ETC) provided confidence inspiring traction even on the
most slippery of terrain. Electronically controlled, infinitely
variable locking center and rear differentials allowed us to
climb to the heavens. Eventually, we made our way to the
“back 40” and started mudding up the Land Rovers with a
combination of dirt and water, in all their various forms.
After an appetizing lunch break, we were back on the
trails, making sure we were each able to sample driving each
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