How to Survive Off-Road

If you take away only one thing from this article, it should be: Go slow off-road. A successful off-road driver will drive so slowly that his passengers may think he's gone mad. Forget the photographer-pleasing, full-throttle mud and rock-flinging shot. That's a sure way to wind up either stuck or with a broken vehicle. Or both.

After a day with the Land Rover North America's off-road driving instructors on a special course set up in a dry Mississippi River channel near Tunica, Miss., I've forsaken my "Speed Is Your Friend" attitude and adopted their motto: "As slowly as possible, as fast as necessary."

There are some places even Land Rovers can't go. As DeMere found out on his father's farm in Tennessee. Fortunately, Mac DeMere Sr. had a tractor readily at hand.

"Speed only gets you stuck a little further in," said instructor Fred Nonsees. "Speed throws you into the trees and tears up the terrain. Driving off-road shouldn't feel like an ongoing car accident."

"Speed causes the suspension to bounce, which reduces ground clearance," said Bob Burns, training and development manager for Land Rover North America. "In serious off-road situations, if you're using more than 1500 rpm in third gear, you're probably going too fast."

At the end of the afternoon of some serious off-roading, involving steep descents, boulder-laden inclines and steep off-camber traverses, all at a slower-than-Sun City pace, Burns said, "Driving like this, the vehicle will last 300,000 miles." "Driving like we do on photo shoots," I replied, "the vehicle sometimes doesn't last three miles."

We're setting a bad example with even this moderate mud-splashing shot. But driving the correctly slow speed off-road produces some awfully boring photos.

Occasionally, off-roaders require a lot of throttle, but it's in situations you might not imagine, like when descending a steep, slick hill in 4WD low and first gear. Even engine braking alone may be too much decelerative force and the tires may start to slide. Then you need to gas it!