Extreme sports as a team building exercise: Buggy Racing

There are so many different categories of extreme sports that we are spoilt for choice. We have already covered white water rafting in the Scottish mountains and the thrills and spills associated with that sport. We moved from water sport, sort of speak to aerial or sky sport in the piece on parachute jumping and the adrenaline rush associated with that. Now we go to terra firma and explore the thrills and adrenaline levels by having a go at buggy racing.

So we have air, water and mucky terrain as the first three on our to do list for team building and in those three we are examining three elements that get the juices of excitement going and at the same time contribute to our team building exercise.

There is no doubt that Buggy racing will tick all the boxes. We have yet to meet someone that doesn’t want to get behind the wheel of any vehicle and give it welly.

It’s amazing to think the motor manufacturing conglomerates are concentrating so much money and technology on building driverless cars! Especially when all the world and it’s mother just wants to get behind the wheel of a vehicle and test their driving skills. Mind you, the roads are so congested with traffic these days that any type of driving can be either boring, painful or both for that matter. So let’s get off road and experience the absolute thrill of bombing a rough terrain buggy around some serious undulating country side. This is team building as it should be. Team leaders can select the drivers that will give them the best advantage over the rival team.

The first of the three adrenaline “hits” comes early.

First is the kit out and buggy allocation. It will bring back memories of the bumpers at the local funfair when the now adults and team leaders were children on holidays from school. The buggies are powered by 650 cc engines, have robust suspensions and sequential gear shifts built for mayhem. They are fitted with a safety harness and anti roll cage bars to ensure safety. As you await instructions from the course marshal and encouragement from the team leader, the excitement builds. This is what time out from the office should be all about. First a leisurely lap of the track to get familiarised with the course and then back to the starting pit, line up and off.

Number two : the actual drive.

It doesn’t take long for the competitive streak to kick in with the teams. Speeding on the flat surfaces where the opportunity exists to overtake and get your team in the lead is followed by some tricky maneuvers over rocky terrain. Drivers will master driving sideways, oversteer and understeer techniques. The teams will learn how to tackle extreme terrains, bumps, twists, jumps and turns. And, learn how to overtake your team opponent particularly on the flat fast section. For team building, this has it all. Team work, team leadership and team enjoyment;

Number three on the adrenaline scale is the race to the finish. That means challenging the opposing team at every opportunity even more so when it would normally be deemed as risky. That is when the thrill hits the top note. It is great fun, highly entertaining and extreme. Don’t underestimate the power of these awesome buggies; a breathtaking experience.