A Navigators Guide To Trialling

Most spectators watching a 4X4 trial would believe that it's the driver
of the vehicle who's in charge. Don't be misled!!. This assumption is
nonsense, it's the renowned and respected navigator who pulls the
strings and receives the final accolades when the dust has settled. This
article has been written by a seasoned navigator for all budding
apprentices in the noble art of this profession, in the hope of imparting
some useful tips and methods in training and keeping your pet.
Remember owning a trials driver is not just for Christmas, but for life.

Over the years I have compiled a list of valuable rules which must be
followed if you're to get on with your driver and get the most out of
him.

1. Remember most trials drivers think they are a cross between
Michael Schumacher, Colin Macrae, John Clelland, Saint
Christopher and Casanova. Rest assured that they are most definitely not!
Most of them would fail today's driving test-miserably. So be
patient (but only to a degree)

2. Trials drivers are notorious at making excuses, don't stand for
them. Here is selection I have heard from mine.

"Sorry I had the wrong gear"

  Presumably meaning donkey jacket, wellies and not much else.

    "Sorry I forgot to engage (diff-lock or 4 wheel drive"

All those levers are a bit confusing aren't they.

“I put too much power on too early/too late"

So what, if you hadn't done that, you'd have cocked it up somehow.

"I came over that hill, saw all those stick things and got all
muddled up"

Yeah, right.'

"I can't concentrate because I need to go to the toilet"

"You said left instead of right"

Don't be taken in by this one, the navigator is never wrong.

"These tyres are wrong for this type of ground"

That's funny, the other 4 motors with exactly the same type of
tyres have all just cleared the section.

"I never touched the cane"

It must have been the ground that moved it." Sure ! Even though
the offending cane now looks like it's been through a shredder and
is now lying 4 feet away from where is started.

"It just stalled"

No it didn't, either his foot was on the wrong pedal or it wasn't
pressed down hard enough.

"I can't concentrate"

It's not surprising, you've just scored 10 points, 3 times in a row
and now you're running out of excuses

3. Be patient for as long as possible, then rant, rave, swear and be
violent. In fact anything to make the point that you think your pet
is a complete waste of space and a lower life form.

4. 4. Go along with your partner's penchant for fancy dress. It's a small
price to pay to ensure his feel good factor. Mine at the moment
likes to wear military issue overalls, sunglasses and 'Derry' boots.
He says he feels like Tom Cruise in Top Gun. Of course he looks
more like Kevin Webster out of Coronation St.

5. Allow your pet to answer all calls of nature. Normally you will find
he like to wee on the tyres or the tailgate of his vehicle. This
behaviour is OK, he's just marking out his territory.

6. Take plenty of lunchtime goodies, i.e. Choccy biscuits, cakes,
coffee etc. My driver normally calls me a "Fat B*****d" as he's
just finished off stuffing his face with my sons lunch. Just
remember he may lose concentration in the afternoon session if
you Jet him eat too much.

7. Always give your driver chance to mix with other drivers after a
trial. They seem to enjoy discussing Gate 6, section 10 and the
comparison between 3.9 and 4.7 diff ratios. Don't let this get out of
hand, be prepared to send him home as he shouldn't be allowed out
unaccompanied after dark.

8. If you have to speak toy your driver on the phone during the week,
make sure he calls you. They will talk forever and if you end up
paying for the calls, BT sends you a bill delivered by Parcelforce.

9. Finally, humour them, look after them, but above all BE FIRM. A
good slapping now and again will bring them back into line, keep
them faithful and provide a lifetime source of humour and after
dinner anecdotes,

Anon'

All references and characters in this article are fictitious and are in
no way meant to resemble any persons living or dead.

A DAY OUT WITH ROVER

Through a competition in "4 Wheel Drive" magazine I won a day at
the Land Rover factory AND a drive in one of their new vehicles
around the land/jungle track at Solihull. The trip to the factory was
arranged for the 10 winners and a guest each, so I took a day off work
(ill), abducted a young Land Rover-loving female and off we went to
Solihull.

We were greeted at Land Rover Ltd by Mick Sharp - the L.R.
Press Officer and Mike Kennedy, a P.R. man, who gave a little talk and
slide show about Land Rover/Range Rover products and the Solihull
site layout. Because of re-arrangements being carried out on the Land
Rover production line it was decided we should be shown around the
Range Rover assembly plant.

Once in the plant, the two 'L.R. men' who were to be our guides,
proved to be inadequate since the noise level was such that it really
needed one guide per two or three people. Nevertheless I managed to
stick to one 'L.R. man' like a limpet in my attempt to glean informa-
tion. There were, however, some items they were not prepared to talk
about, such as when 1 spied what looked like a few 2.5 litre diesel
engines with turbos fitted, lined up with the V8 petrol engines. Were
these for pre-production prototypes? A polite silence!

The assembly line starts with pre-treated Range Rover body shells
entering, suspended on slow-moving overhead conveyors. Body parts,
wiring looms, seats, carpets, glass and pre-painted body panels are then
'attached' to the shells. Each shell has a computer print-out accompany- ing it,

showing information such as the dealer and the country to which
the vehicle will eventually be sent, the specification for the vehicle body
e.g. RHD, LHD, air conditioning, body colour, trim colour etc, etc.        
Later in the assembly process this is, hopefully, matched by computer
control to a chassis which also has a similar list attached to it, specify-
ing, for example, tyre type, engine tune to meet various emission
control standards etc.

It takes eight hours from the shell arriving on the production line
to it leaving as a completed Range Rover, during which time the vehicle
is practically hand built, and at a very leisurely pace at that. A 'fitter’
will fit his allotted parts, then sit down, have a few puffs of his fag
and another more detailed examination of the page 3 girl while awaiting
the arrival of another Rangie. Speaking of parts, it's a good job I don't
mend Rangies otherwise I think that place would have turned me into
a dishonest man! Crates and crates full of hundreds of expensive Rangie
bits EVERYWHERE! Almost like a dream world. All the parts to fettle
your motor hundreds of times over.                                        '

The mating of the body to the rolling chassis and engine etc is an interesting

and painless procedure taking about three minutes, mostly
spent lining the body up over the chassis. Then, using 'home made
tools' to aid alignment, the body is dropped on and bolted up on small
rubber mountings. The almost complete Range Rover is then given the
final parts required, tail gate and doors, and any remaining wiring
finished off. The brake pipes are attached to the flexibles and the
brakes bled. The method is quite ingenious. The brake system is
evacuated and fluid is introduced to take the place of the vacuum -
not a drop of fluid, rubber tube or jam jar in sight! Not even the
necessity to open a bleed nipple.

At the end of the line the now complete Rangie is driven on to a computerised

rolling road where the 'driver' is given various instructions from an overhead

V.D.U. (visual display unit) and the computer, through the rollers at each wheel,

assesses the performance of engine, gearbox, transfer box, centre diff lock,

front and rear diffs, brakes etc. A computer read-out gives an 80-point pass/fail

list. Any vehicle failing any point goes to be 'mended' by a team of mechanics.

The bodywork is inspected and repaired as necessary.

After a buffet lunch, accompanied by videos of the '83 and '84
Camel Trophy Rallies, it was time to take to the hills - or the next best
thing in the centre of Birmingham.

The jungle land track consists mainly of Land Rover Ltd's own
piece of 'Old Solihull’ which used to be known as the 'Solihull Jungle'.
A piece of very rough land almost untouched by the industrial develop-
ment around it, apart from Land Rover's own 'doctoring' to provide an
example of almost all conditions you can naturally expect your Landie
to cope with. Through it passes a rough track which starts off fairly
mild. 'Mr Land Rover's advice here was even though just about negoti-
able in 2WD, select 4WD (with diff lock) wherever you take your Landie

where you wouldn't take your company Cortina (oops sorry, Sierra!)
This is to minimise wheel spin and also to transmit less mechanical strain.
The condition of the track quickly deteriorates into very deep ruts so
we were forced to drive in existing wheel tracks. The advice here was to know

exactly in which direction the front wheels were pointing as there is a tendency

to 'plough' along on full lock - bad for the vehicle and dangerous if you suddenly

find traction with the front wheels and go shooting off the track! Then came a

steep climb where we were instructed to keep the speed down if the hill has a

bumpy surface as the wheelsmay lift off, losing precious traction. If the surface

is smooth takeadvantage of vehicle momentum by selecting as high a gear as

possible.Traction can be improved by easing off the accelerator just before loss
of forward motion.

Into a ford which was over 2 foot deep after the jungle's share of
'tropical rainfall' that morning. The main points to remember here were to use low gear and sufficient throttle to avoid stalling, since the exhaust was well and truly submerged. Slow progress is maintained to push water away and create a bow wave to 'protect' the engine bay. Any following vehicles must wait until water disturbance is minimal before wading in. Over a humpback bridge and through two articulation sections consisting of off-set railway sleepers that lifted the nearside front wheel and the offside rear wheel at the same time, most unsettling after our lunch. A couple of gullies were then to be negotiated - extreme, caution needed so that the vehicle did not ride up the gully walls and become trapped.

On to a nice simple bit, the log road, consisting of 6-foot lengths
of tree trunk laid side by side to form a roadway. Apparently many
roads in the deepest, darkest quarters of some countries are constructed
like this. Here I was reprimanded for a burst of speed! Through another
ford and on to some sections to be traversed - the 42° side tilts. Even
with eight people in the V8 110" 1 was driving, Don Green, my instruc-
tor and Land Rover's chief test pilot, assured me there was margin for
even more tilt with safety, as he pushed me off his knee which I had
practically slid down on to. Back into the driving seat and over a section
of railway sleepers arranged as a normal railway track - I was again
criticised for my turn of speed! And now to a section which consisted
of concrete 'half steps', an ordinary (but steep) concrete incline on one
side and on the other a concrete staircase so that nearside wheels were
on the slope and offside wheels on the staircase. Then up a 50% concrete
incline, which became very slippery as a thin layer of mud was deposited
by passing Landies, a very sharp, tight turn at the top and down the
correspondingly steep decline. Method was, as for any steep decline, to
use first gear, bottom box, feet off everything and let the engine do the
braking.

Last of all a sand section. Here the advice was to select a gear and
stay in it, as depressing the clutch will cause the vehicle to stop and
acceleration will cause wheel spin and digging in.

I must end by saying 'Thanks' to Land Rover Ltd for providing
such an interesting and exhilarating day out, particularly to Mick Sharp
and Don Green and of course thanks to 4 Wheel Drive magazine at whose

expense this article has been written - without permission in case the answer

was No! One last comment. I think Mick Woollett, editor of 4 Wheel Drive

magazine, may now be able to tell the difference between a 110" and a 90"!!

Arnold Solomon

Hope he doesn't talk about me like that. The day out wasn't intended as
an off-road vehicle test, hut Arnold assures me the 110 coped comfort-
ably with all the obstacles, natural and man-made - even his turns of
speed. Comments on how the driver fared are a little more vague - as is
the identity of the female L.R. enthusiast . . .

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