Now Search

Now Search has a reputation of delivering complex, innovative, problem solving solutions to improve their clients effectiveness online.

t: 020 7078 4358
e: info@now-search.co.uk
p: 26 Dunstable Road, Richmond, TW9 1UH

Away Day VII - Dirt Drifters

Date: Tuesday 23rd February 2006
Location: Markyate, Hertfordshire
Activities: Off-road buggy racing
Organised through: www.dirtdrifters.co.uk

Add snow and rain to an already muddy track, then get two meaty buggies to tear it all up in, and you have yourself a recipe for getting very, very dirty. Without shadow of a doubt this was the muddiest we have ever been. If you imagine naked girls wrestling in mud, you're pretty close to how caked we were in the stuff. Except that we had clothes on of course. And we weren't wrestling. What were we doing, you may ask? Well, some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to participate in an outdoor activity in the middle of February, whilst it was snowing. It's that kind of thinking that puts people in padded cells these days.

Tucked away in the Hertfordshire countryside is a little place called Markyate. Then tucked away down a long country lane in Markyate is a little company called Dirt Drifters. And as the name suggests, they specialise in getting off-road buggies to go sideways round a muddy track. Sounds a little like fun, doesn't it? Well, we can 100% confirm it is bloody great fun. Muddy great fun in fact.

For £75 per head, we got three 20-minute track sessions. 20 minutes may not sound like much, but when it's so cold that even the one armed bandit in the pub has a glove on, 20 minutes is a long time.

We rocked up at 10.30am, whereby John, the man in charge, briefed us on how the buggies work, tips for getting the best slides on track, and all the usual health and safety spiel. After that, it was time to don helmet, gloves and goggles and get out on track. To minimise disruption and get the best flowing laps, we went out two at a time.

The buggies throw out around 26hp, but they are so light that the power/weight ratio is similar to that of a sports car. The suspension carries a whopping 14 inches, so there's plenty of bounce in the old girls too. Just how we like them. So we head out in pairs and it's Tom and Ben first up. "Take it carefully for the first couple of laps" warns John, "get an idea for the feel of the cars and the track". Which they did, for the first few laps… Tom knew how competitive Ben was, and it didn't take him long to push a little too hard and end up mounting the tyres. D'oh

Another crash from Tom and loads of laps later, it was the turn of Mike and Simon to head out. Mike proceeded to drive with his eyes closed - well, at least that's what it looked like, because he spent more time in the tyre walls than out on the track! Simon, meanwhile, waited patiently as the erstwhile stewards pulled Mike out of the corners on several occasions.

The track itself is designed perfectly for getting decent speeds up and attempting to get the buggies sideways round the corners. There are a couple of hairpins where you can really get the back end spinning out (with a bit of practice of course), whereas the back straight mean you can go flying into the last corner to try and show off in front of the pits. This means you have a bit of everything as you go round. They're tough buggers these buggies, so you really throw them around with no fear of crashing. This gives you a great sense of freedom as you hurtle into the next corner brush the tyre wall and speed straight into the next corner. If it's high-octane action you want, it's high-octane action you get.

We took it in turns to go out in different pairs to ensure a bit of variety and the middle session proved to be the most accident ridden for poor old Mike. We estimate that he ended up in the tyre walls 4 or 5 times, and even Ben ended up in there a couple of times. It's probably fair to say that session wasn't the most free flowing. Funny to watch though!

The conditions were really tough. The snow fell constantly and the track just got slipperier and slipperier. The back ends of the buggies were sliding around like a drunken Bambi on ice and it was really difficult to keep them going where you wanted to go. But that's partly what this is all about - getting to throw a buggy round a track isn't exactly an average way to spend a Thursday afternoon! In the end we ended up dirtier than Kat from Eastenders, but we were grinning like the Cheshire cat who got all the cream. Dirt drifting is a great way of spending an afternoon. You get great action, laughs, mud and speed all thrown in to one and we had a ball. It's one day later and we're still finding bits of mud in unknown crevices. That's a good sign...

What did we learn?

Ben: "Having cold hands really, really hurts"
Simon: "Northern lads aren't as hard as I thought"
Mike: "If you can't see where you're going, drive until you hit something"
Tom "I haven't mounted that many spare tyres since I pulled a rather large lady in Magaluf back in '96"

Away Days

Now Search

Away Day VII - Dirt Drifters

What did we learn?

Other Away Days