War with China/Russia

MartytheMartian

MartytheMartian

Legendary Knight
You know I have always wondered just how important 4x4 is. I know a guy who, while being a big Landy fan and an instructor at a Landy off-road school, claims that there is nothing really a 4x4 can do that a two wheel drive can't.

As an aside this guy was a driver in the RAF, before being badly smashed up in a bike crash going to the base he was working at down south many moons ago, who drove just about everything but absolutely hates flying and won't fly anywhere. Kind of baffled me why he thought joining the RAF was a wise move although he did say that during the entire length of his service he never set foot on an aircraft once.
 
DD67

DD67

The Peace Keeper
Staff member
MartytheMartian said:
You know I have always wondered just how important 4x4 is. I know a guy who, while being a big Landy fan and an instructor at a Landy off-road school, claims that there is nothing really a 4x4 can do that a two wheel drive can't.

As an aside this guy was a driver in the RAF, before being badly smashed up in a bike crash going to the base he was working at down south many moons ago, who drove just about everything but absolutely hates flying and won't fly anywhere. Kind of baffled me why he thought joining the RAF was a wise move although he did say that during the entire length of his service he never set foot on an aircraft once.
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Proper 4x4's like a Land Rover Defender or what @Big Sandy has. Or even that Lada are the real deal off road. The same goes for the lowly Suzuki SJ413's & even the Jimny.

But the Chelsea Tractor variety with 22" alloys fitted with sports tyres. Are no better off road than a front wheel drive Fiesta. Apart from the added ground clearance offered by the Chelsea Tractor.

Having said that (and being the owner of a Chelsea Tractor myself) My idea of "off roading" is driving into a field at a car or bike show. Or putting two wheels "off road" outside the Post Office. The other 98% of the time on the road. It's smooth, quiet & uber comfy 🤗

It's definitely a case of horses for courses 🙂
 
Big Sandy

Big Sandy

Legendary Knight
It's a lot to do with the driver.

There was an open day at Culzean years ago, Mahindra were releasing a new model of 'jeep'.... They had an off road track, look how great this jeep is.

My mate asks if he can have a go, so yes, of course you can. He says, no, I'll go round in my own car....... A 2cv. In reverse..... 🤣
 
Sarky B’stard

Sarky B’stard

Legendary Knight
MartytheMartian said:
You know I have always wondered just how important 4x4 is. I know a guy who, while being a big Landy fan and an instructor at a Landy off-road school, claims that there is nothing really a 4x4 can do that a two wheel drive can't.

As an aside this guy was a driver in the RAF, before being badly smashed up in a bike crash going to the base he was working at down south many moons ago, who drove just about everything but absolutely hates flying and won't fly anywhere. Kind of baffled me why he thought joining the RAF was a wise move although he did say that during the entire length of his service he never set foot on an aircraft once.
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He was talking through his rectum!

Show me a 4x2 with a diff lock and low ratio gearbox. The driver certainly matters (stay off the effing clutch!) and I learnt stuff that amazed me about where a Bedford 4T could go with views from the cab that felt like falling off a cliff. Ultimately you need: grip, clearance and steep angles of approach and departure built into the vehicle. Basic 4x4 have them built in. Some Chelsea tractors defy expectations. The Toyota Land Cruiser is hugely reliable but is quite too heavy and easily rolled in soft sand that a Range Rover cruises through. And rocks eat alloys worse than kerbs!

Without fear of BS I have driven a variety in various locations and the SWB LR is still pretty much the design standard. After that it's the the right tyres for the terrain.
 
Don the Don

Don the Don

Legendary Knight
MartytheMartian said:
As an aside this guy was a driver in the RAF, before being badly smashed up in a bike crash going to the base he was working at down south many moons ago, who drove just about everything but absolutely hates flying and won't fly anywhere. Kind of baffled me why he thought joining the RAF was a wise move although he did say that during the entire length of his service he never set foot on an aircraft once.
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So he never deployed once? or maybe he was not in very long, We had an Armourer on one of my old sqn's that hated flying, a bit like that BA guy in the series A team, So he was medicated to calm him when flying either that or he was of no use to us, once in Cyprus he lost it in the terminal and was smacked by my mate a big Glasgow Sgt out cold we then carried him onto the plane "sorted"
 
Big Sandy

Big Sandy

Legendary Knight
Trouble with modern 4x's is computer controlled gizmoidery. All this traction control is all well and good, and yes, you can turn it all off and it will still do what you ask.... But, folk without basic knowledge will let the software drive the vehicle into places where you'd normally get out of the cab and have a look first, and think "fook that". That software is very capable of getting you a lot more bogged than you can do by yourself... A false sense of security. (a bit like ovloVs in that respect 😏)

Last 'new' LR I had a go at was in about 2004, a new Range Rover and also the new D3.. Drove it round the then LRE site at Spinningdale (well, Skibo Castle... It was for a magazine photo shoot and publicity, my mate was doing the photography and needed, as he put it, "sandbags". I managed to keep my mug off camera though.) and was actually quite impressed. Stopped it on a helluva steep slope, and the traction control allowed it to reverse back up... Probably 1 in 6? Then did the same without traction control. No bother. I wasn't allowed to take it wading though.... There was a pool of water at the bottom of that slope, and it even held on the brake going backwards up out of that... And then I reversed down the slope... Quite happily. Very capable.

Would I have one? No ta. Need a degree in computer science to fix them!
 
Doc Strange

Doc Strange

Legendary Knight
Best off roader I've ever driven was in Brazil.....

....the Ford Fiesta hire car we had :)

My mate lived further up the road/track than they took tourist groups doing the 'rainforest experience' bit to in their Defenders.

Paid for full cover too so the dent from an incredibly recklessly driven bus didn't matter either.

Wouldn't have wanted to do it in the wet season mind!

DS
 
MartytheMartian

MartytheMartian

Legendary Knight
He told me he did deploy, assigned to drive heavy stuff by road and sea though, @Don the Don. I think he was in for about eight or nine years before he was invalided out after his crash. The poor bugger staggers slowly along with the aid of two sticks now and, although he was a short stop to start with I think that he lost a couple of inches in height after all the surgery he went through although he's lucky just to be alive at all he was that badly smashed up. I can testify that he can drive his landy bloody well as he drove me and a couple of other guys up a couple of mountains here visiting aircraft wreck sites.
 
Don the Don

Don the Don

Legendary Knight
Then he was part of the Mechanical support units based mainly at wittering "Nice one"

No 2 Mechanical Transport Squadron (2MT) is the Royal Air Force’s road-going heavy lift capability. 2MT’s history stretches back to the Battle of Britain when the RAF Drivers transported spares and equipment between airfields. Today the Squadron operates a fleet of specialist vehicles, capable of moving anything from fuel and water to aircraft towing tractors.
 
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MartytheMartian

MartytheMartian

Legendary Knight
I think Wittering might be spot on and possibly where he had his crash. It was a wet morning and he was rocketing along far too fast, by his own admission, before he realised that traffic in front of him was stopped. Smacked into a van or HGV if I recall correctly (haven't seen Stewart since before Covid fecked everyone up) and wound up down in a ditch with his legs wrapped around his neck. Came-to with an ambulance crewman looking down at what he thought was a dead biker from up on the road. They hadn't even checked on him, convinced he was dead as an off-duty fireman who had been at the scene told them he was a goner and so left him there while they were waiting on cops to arrive. It was only when he groaned and tried to move that they realised he was still alive and swung into action to help him.
 
Scrappy

Scrappy

Legendary Knight
Don the Don said:
"So" Ukrain's a can't fight in area "But Taiwan" would be okay to fight for, old duffer Biden flexing his muscles aginst China
www.bbc.co.uk

Biden vows to defend Taiwan in apparent US policy shift

The US leader warned China against invading the island, likening such a move to Russia's war in Ukraine.
www.bbc.co.uk
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I'm sure the CCP are quaking in their boots, after a threat from that senile old prat. The first sign of China really flexing their military muscles would have Biden shitting his pants again and running away :rolleyes:
 
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