One of the most common questions asked by newer off-roaders is “What should be one of my first upgrades?”. Usually the response is something like tires, suspension, adding a winch, etc. It’s not too often you hear someone say YOU. Having the all the latest and greatest equipment is all is fine and good but if you don’t know how to use it…it’s useless. This is clearly seen again and again out on the trails.
Here’s the common scenario, and it’s common in all forms of motorsports. You get into some type of motoring sport like racing, or recreation like off-roading, and before long you plateau. You want to go faster, or climb bigger obstacles, so you start throwing a tremendous amount of money into upgrading your vehicle without first upgrading your own skills and/or knowledge. If you want to go faster on a race track…add more horsepower. If you want to climb bigger rocks, buy a lift kit. Sure you will see some gains but perhaps not as much as you hoped. So you add more, and more, and more. Without ever having learned how to use it.
As an advanced driving instructor and performance driving coach for over 20 years, I’ve come across this more times than I can count. Even just in the world of off-roading, I can’t count the number of times I’ve had drivers ahead of me with a jacked up Jeep on 37″ tires, and a 4″ lift kit constantly get stuck on obstacles, while I’ve been able to tackle the same obstacles in a heavily loaded, and low sitting stock Jeep with stock tires & suspension.
When I used to be a racecar driver, and while driving at the amateur level, I was driving a bone stock FWD Eagle Talon with a 10 year old engine, and I was regularly beating drivers in Porsche turbo Cup Cars and BMW M3’s.
The difference…skill. This isn’t me bragging. It’s a simple fact that a good driver in stock vehicle can out perform a poor driver in a heavily modified vehicle. We see it all the time at every level of competition…and recreation.
This is one of the reasons why we offer a Off-Roading 101 Course. Improving your skills and knowledge, therefore making you more capable, is always cheaper than making your vehicle more capable…and it’s transferable to other vehicles. Upgrading your rig could cost over $10,000, but upgrading your skills and knowledge can cost less than $500 and it’s worth far more than it costs.
A good example of this is Stability Control. It’s required by law now in modern vehicles, and it’s specifically to make up for a driver’s lack of skill when faced with a skid. What’s interesting about this, is that on a race track, it will actually slow drivers down a lot. Ask me now I know. 😉
In modern off-road vehicles, you will notice that when you engage 4-Low, all those nannies (traction & stability control) are turned off. Why? Because they hinder your abilities on the trails. Quite often you need to spin those tires a bit and traction control gets in the way of that.
Most of the time, your vehicle is far more capable than you are. So learn how to use the equipment you have to it’s maximum potential before upgrading the equipment. This practice of improving technique over technology not only saves you a lot of money in premature, or even unneeded upgrades, but it also saves you a lot of repairs caused by damage suffered on the trails.
So before you go out and spend thousands on upgrades to your rig, work on your skills and knowledge first. Trial and error is an expensive way to learn so do some research, and find an off-road driving school nearest to you and sign up for some courses. They are worth more than they cost, and they are a lot cheaper than repairs, and upgrades. Save the upgrades for later once you’ve learned to maximize your vehicle’s current capabilities.
Feel free to contact us for to discuss options.
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