Recommendations for 4x4 Driving Class in Bay Area

C

cutty01

New member
Hi,

I did a search, but maybe my search kungfu is not strong...Can any of you recommend a good day/weekend 4x4 class in the Bay Area. I thought there was some that did their classes at Hollister OHV, but I couldn't find any that taught beginners. I only saw one that taught other instructors or emergency personnel. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!
 
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cutty01 said:
Hi,

I did a search, but maybe my search kungfu is not strong...Can any of you recommend a good day/weekend 4x4 class in the Bay Area. I thought there was some that did their classes at Hollister OHV, but I couldn't find any that taught beginners. I only saw one that taught other instructors or emergency personnel. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Check out Esprit de Four. They have a "safety clinic" at Holister Hills OHV that I think is what you are looking for. ( Safety Clinic) I did it this past May and thought it was a great course and a day well spent.
 
If anyone is doing a search for a 4x4 training or intro to offroading in the Bay Area, I highly recommend the Esprit de Four 4WD Safety Clinic. I just got back from the Fall class yesterday at Hollister OHV park and it was excellent!

The clinic is a combination of 1/2 a day class room instruction and 1/2 a day hands-on driving. There is even a BBQ at the end if you want to pay a little extra. In our class, we had about 35 vehicles ranging from a Porsche Cayenne to heavily modified Jeeps. There were about 50 students which included women and a few teenagers so everyone and anyone should feel invited to this clinic. They even cater to two drivers in one vehicle if you want to take your spouse, kid, or buddy to learn with you. The day was extremely well organized and they have about 30 of their club members volunteering and helping with the instruction.

When you arrive, they do an inspection of your vehicle. Then they split our vehicles up in groups of 10. After airing down, you get shuttled to a building for the classroom instruction which consists of slides and live demonstrations of equipment and recovery gear. After lunch, each group does 5 hands-on driving skills which are a combination of doing technical challenges on the obstacle courses and driving some of the blue-diamond trails. Whether you are a beginner or intermediate, I am sure you will learn something and you will meet a whole bunch of fellow enthusiasts.

I am thinking of joining their club too so I don't have to go out on my own. Everyone was very helpful and extremely nice. The club does sponsored day trips and camping trips for all skill levels. They also donate most of their tuition fees and club dues to sponsoring organizations and lawyers that help preserve dedicated land for off road use.

Hopefully this helps someone who is new to offroading and wants to learn how to use their vehicle or wants to meet some really cool people.
 
Last edited:
The VP of the club works at my company so I just sent him an email. Here is his reply:

"The May Safety Clinic will be on Saturday May 19th and Registration should open up here in the next few weeks. I’ll confirm that at our general club meeting on Feb 13th. "
 
cutty01 said:
The VP of the club works at my company so I just sent him an email. Here is his reply:

"The May Safety Clinic will be on Saturday May 19th and Registration should open up here in the next few weeks. I’ll confirm that at our general club meeting on Feb 13th. "
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
Really interested in this + "registration link"

but, 5 weeks prior to the event im scheduled to have shoulder replacement surgery and im told i cant drive for 6 weeks after the surgery. Ill have to confirm this before i can register. But damn this looks like fun...


Heres a link to the registration for the 5/18 event.

https://www.eventbee.com/event?eid=133467474#/tickets
 
zxpwr350 said:
can't believe I missed the registration... It's now a waiting list.
Click to expand...

... Yeah... its a popular course that fills fast... but it's worth it. I think they do it 2 times/year and are usually pretty communicative about when they will open up registration for each... The time I got in, I just bird-dogged it and signed up like the day they opened registration.
 
Registered

about 2 hours after my last post. looking forward to it and applying what ill learn.
 
So first off, my son is 18 and has an'88 toyota pick-up. He got it running in December, took it out to go "4 wheeling" and returned with bent tie rods on a tow truck. I figured I had to find him some way of learning, and I've never done much myself. I started looking for classes at Prairie City SVRA in Folsom since its closest to us. They wanted $350 and up for a one day class per person. More than I hoped to spend.

After searching, I found this class. Both of us went camped two nights and had dinner Saturday night for $158. :party: Great, friendly people in the club. Knowledgeable and willing to share that knowledge. First thing in the morning we were inspected to insure we met their minimum requirements (identical to those of Cal Assoc of 4WD Clubs requirements for trail rides). Mine was one of maybe 5 or 6 4Runners. Most had Jeeps. A few Chevy's and a Dodge in the mix. After everyone arrived, was inspected, lined up with your group and aired down the tires, members shuttled us to the classroom.

A couple of hours (I think it was like 930 - 1145) of classroom. The powerpoint was likely stuff you could find online, but it was new to me and my son and they filled in some gaps and answered questions by sharing their own mistakes and how to learn/avoid those issues. Anyone with an 18 yo knows its better received hearing the information from someone else.

We broke for lunch in the groups they assigned. Everyone introduced themselves and shared what, if any experience they had. Then we headed out. Each group rotated around two sets of two each skills areas (stuff like tire placement exercises and a stair stepper), intermixed with two trail rides. On the trail rides they had practice some of the stuff they talked about in the classroom and/or at the skills stations/exercises.

The only thing that intimidated me at all was the stair stepper (short steep hill of polished/worn concrete with 8" steps and artificial concrete rocks irregularly placed at each step. They had spotters to guide you to insure you placed tires on the rocks, or at least to minimize/eliminate any under-body strikes. I was worried I didn't have clearance. I was wrong. :dancin: It was a lot of fun!

All in all, my son and I loved it. Since we were two drivers sharing one vehicle we split the trail rides, but we were each able to do all the skills exercises. A long drive for us, but fun camping out and a huge SVRA that we didn't know existed and will now go back to.
 
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