BETTER PARTSThe hard way after Peru 2017
Hair/Langenaltheim, 1 September 2016
Since 2001, there are the Land Rover Experience Tour with adventurous off-road fans with Land Rover vehicles in the unwirklichsten angle of the planet beta. The twelfth edition in the year 2017 will be also high: the goal is Peru and so it will be for the third time to guest on the South American continent. And because between the Pacific coast and the over 5,000 meters high Andean passes the Atacama desert, impenetrable rain forests and high mountain areas alternate, off-road tour participants must be just as harsh and varied as the terrain in which they will be on the road. That's why the current selection process is already running. What hurdles 2017 must take potential participants on the way to Peru? We have participated in a skills camp.
Large crowds at the preliminary round of qualification
How big is the attraction of the tour, shows not only the number of 400 applicants who are Frolics on a weekend beginning August 2016 on the site of offroad-parks in the Middle Franconia Langenaltheim. No, today almost 120,000 people have clicked on the application website. About 10,000 have then filled out the registration form and sent to be with some luck at one of the qualifying camps here. Total nine of these camps take place tour 2017 to the next Land Rover Experience, the remaining two appointments are then again in Langenaltheim of 10 and 11 September in the off road Center Horstwalde in Berlin, as well as of 15 and 16 October. What awaits the participants in the preliminary rounds of the qualifying, is not a piece of cake, because the level is already here incredibly high and we were greatly astonished.
Theory part with questionnaire and GPS orienteering
Let's start first with a little theory: you get sheets with questions about land and people, topographic maps, handed out to the orientation in the terrain or for solving complicated equations. Include to increase the pressure, not only the correct answers, but also the time it is stopped. Then it goes on somewhat more practical: when a GPS orienteering in a contiguous piece of woodland is the aim to track down certain marks in the terrain by means of coordinates and a GPS device. And because also teamwork is vital in the tour, partly stick hard routes must be dealt with, which make the physical fitness, technical talent as well as the improvisation talent to the test.
Under time pressure on tight and loose surfaces
We are glad when the part is on two legs is done and we can switch to four wheels. Because the eagerly-awaited driving experience follows the theory with current Land Rover models. Relaxation? Error display. Steep up and runs, interweaving passages, a wooden rocker, a tree root bridge as well as oblique and mud driving through the Offroadpark in a quarry opened the whole repertoire of obstacles looming in the event of an emergency. On a defined terrain course we and participants must demonstrate for the first time, how well you cope on tight and loose ground under time pressure.
A bit of fun must also be
Finally it is under the guidance of yet once criss-cross through the terrain. We're for a defender. In the driver's seat, it has a participant end 50 comfortably made itself at least as comfortable as it is can be made even in a defender. "A switch? It was 15 years ago that I last drove a switch", thinks the Munich. Despite low concerns, get her started and is then excited, what obstacles you can take with this terrain veteran. "I would not do but something with my Evoque", she adds, laughing. Yes, it's said to not only work in the qualification rounds, but it's also fun and looking for Peru and the offroad driving itself.
What's next?
How will it continue for our chauffeur and the others? A total of 3,500 participants of nine camps, the 60 best reach the German finals. 30 men and 30 women competing in the spring 2017 in Wülfrath. Here the six winners are determined more tasks, which evenly divided by gender, then ultimately must go to Land Rover discovery models on adventure travel. If you would like to apply now as a candidate for a place in the remaining qualifiers, you better hurry. The last free tickets are in hot demand and are awarded according to the principle "first come first served". You can also win their luck yet on a wild-card photo directly for the final round in Wülfrath. So: Good luck, success and always a thickness of your hand air under the differential cover. (ml)