Take your 4x4ing to the next level
As a novice adventurer with limited off-road driving experience and a basic training course under my belt, I was keen to raise my 4x4 driving skills and knowledge. So, when the Toyota Gazoo Racing Driving Academy invited the Adventure Afrika team to participate in their Advanced 4x4 and Recovery course, I put my hand up without hesitation. As my grandma always says, “you don’t know what you don’t know”. And boy, did I learn that I don’t know a whole bunch of things!
We headed to the Gerotek Test Facilities in Pretoria West for what promised to be a challenging, but informative day of training behind the wheel of the capable Hilux 2.8 4x4 double cab Legend RS, which was supplied by the driving academy. After refreshments and sharing a few stories with the group consisting of other Toyota owners and drivers, including some also keen to up their 4x4 game, we were ready for the classroom.
The hour-long theory session repeated some of the basics I had learned in the Level 1 course with Ford Adventure Club a few months before, but it was useful to brush up on vehicle dynamics, 4x4 transmission operation, suspension limits, how and when to engage low range and diff lock, and the fundamentals of tyres and tyre pressures. And then we were ready to head out onto the track, in a controlled environment with instructors to guide us through the obstacles and to answer our questions if they arose.
Practice makes perfect
So, would the more advanced challenges before us require different techniques or
