Four Wheel Drive Club of Sri Lanka

FWDC - 4X4 Jamboree 2010

24th July 2010, was not a ordinary day in Padukka as the FWDC bandwagon took over a private land to work off the 4x4 Jamboree for the 4th consecutive time. This was after a very successfull Jamboree last year, where Mr. Luis Wee came to witness the mighty Sri Lankans take on mother nature.

This year event was also split into two groups, "Touring Class" & "Extreme Class". New faces were present at the Touring class. The usual competitors where also there for the Extreme event likes of dynamic duo Indika/Navin, Ranga/Ravindra. Minus a few favourites including Sam, Deepthi and Ravindra.

All together 7 Extreme class vehicles & 10 Touring class vehicles took part in this event, which was much appreciated by the gathered & amazed crowds of Padukka.

OFF-ROAD BATTLE OF CHINA, IN SANYA (HAINAN) 

This coming 18-24 August, the heat is on, for 4x4 action in Hainan Island, the biggest off-road extreme challenge of its kind in China. More than 500 participants, teams and media from over 15 countries will converge in Sanya, China’s southernmost city. The Malaysian teams will set the record as the biggest foreign contingent this year.

Hainan Island already has a reputable tourism status as it is also known as the Hawaii of China, the Chinese Riviera and its hosting of the Miss World Beauty Pageant further reinforces its position as the tropical paradise of China.

But this time, the island has another type of unique promotion, in the form of extreme

off-road sports event, that is, the 2^nd China-Sanya International Rainforest Challenge (CIRFC). This sports tourism event follows the same format as the Rainforest Challenge (RFC) – the world’s most internationally represented 4x4 event.

Bog Standard.  The bogs in Russia have a timeless quality about them, as though millions of years of evolution have completely passed them by. A cloud of mosquitoes buzz around my head and somewhere through the stunted trees dotting the landscape a single bird calls out. This is nature in her most untouched state... A scene from National Geographic, maybe… But half an hour later though it's very different scene as this stretch of the middle of nowhere has the Ladoga Trophy passing through it. The high-pitched whine of winches, the angry roar of big engines as the Proto cars inch their way through meter deep mud and the voices of a dozen determined faced men as they shout instructions and insults out to each other in Latvian, Finnish and Russian. It has taken me two hours to walk here and I can't go any further. With each step I sink to my knees and I only have two Snickers bars left to give me the energy I need to trudge all the way back.