03/04/2021
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Story: The Dodgy Lean. If you've had your fair share of off-road driving misadventures, then it's fair to say that you'd have an appreciation and respect for how little it takes to put your rig in a roll over position. It's not as difficult a task as one might think. One incorrect tyre placement, a miniscule error in turning direction and voila, your vehicle is having a sleep, or is very close to it. The three images above pertain to exactly that situation... Mitch (the slightly forlorn and sheepish looking bloke in these images) and I decided to take the rigs out for a spin, both to have some fun and get him used to driving off-road. On this particular stretch, Mitch was driving the Knight and as you can probably see, the track was not overly technical. And therein is a good time to dispel the myth that tracks that are gnarly and technical are the ones where most rollovers occur. Not true. Any seemingly benign track with a few lumps in the right places will have you on your side quicker than you can say, "can you just hold my beer". Fast forward... So here I was, standing at the top of the rise where said track ended, keeping an eye on Mitch's line, when all of a sudden he decides to turn up the slope! Tip: if you're already driving on a slant be very careful turning up the slope. Doing so will increase the sway to the down slope and if you hit a few rocks or bumps located in just the right place then, nap time. As soon as I noticed this I calmly gestured for him to halt further movement forwards. Or maybe I screamed like a freaked out banshee to stop, I can't quite recall. Either way, he got the message. It may not appear so from these images but one good boot into the drivers side and I reckon she'd have gone. So, the first step in these situations is; Take a few deep breaths, calm down and think through the situation. Tougher than it sounds. Second step; stabilise the vehicle. In this case we used a chain run from the internal ROPS to a tree nearby. Being able to do that has saved the Knight from numerous dicey situations. The problem with the position the Knight was in, was that driving forwards or backwards both looked equally dangerous. Ultimately I decided that reversing out was the go, and to limit the potential rollover risk we deployed the MAXTRAX; their other great function: propping up. In the end, it was all a storm in a teacup and we reversed the big girl out no problem. At the end of the day, if the only thing that needs replacing after an event like this is your underpants, then you've had a big win. 🐫⭐🐫
