I’m sure it didn’t really sink in when the deal was originally signed, but being sponsored by Land Rover has to be the best excuse there is to go and play in the mud for a day.

While some may think of their local school/shopping run when they see a gleaming Land Rover Freelander, others just itch to get their vehicle into the rough. It’s not difficult to imagine what a team used to giving expensive hardware a hard time would prefer and when they were given the chance to hurl their gleaming team transport around 700 acres of scrub and bush, there weren’t too many offering to stay back at the base and clean the yard.

So, on their one day off during the break between Round Robins some of the GBR Challenge crew, (and I’m pleased to say a few other invited guests), trekked off to Rotorua and the official New Zealand Land Rover experience.

With a mixture of slippery slopes, deep puddles and bone jarring humps and hollows, this was a full-on, big grin day. There was of course a serious side to the day which highlighted just how versatile these vehicles are, even in their standard street-wise set up. Letting your brand new Freelander drop, yes drop, off the face of a steep muddy cliff shaped slope having been told not to touch any of the pedals, took some getting used to. While the sophisticated descent control took care of the speed you slipped and slithered down the slope, it didn’t seem to stop the front and back axles going airborne as the vehicle threw itself down the slope.

Having watched and been a part of this, I’d suggest you don’t mess with a GBR Challenge crew member in a supermarket car park. They’ve little fear and they’ve been trained.