Offroading in your Porsche

Chesapeake Region

Porsche Off Roading with NNJR

Randy Richter

It started innocently enough, we heard that there was an off-road event being hosted by Northern New Jersey Region in the New Jersey Pine Barrens on November 10th. Having grown up in New Jersey and having my parents enjoy their retirement at the edge of the Pine Barrens we were intrigued as we knew very little about this vast swath of New Jersey. After regularly driving across Route 70 for years to visit my parents, we would finally have a chance to see where some of those unmarked and unpaved sand trails branching off would lead. We had heard the event regularly is oversubscribed, so I contacted the event chair even before registration had opened; he replied that we were in!

The event required that you bring a four-wheel drive vehicle that had a minimum of four inches of ground clearance. As we had registered about three months before the event, the question now became which of our two four-wheel drive vehicle we would use for the event. On one hand we had a GMC Yukon XL which had skid plates, high traction tires and about twelve inches of ground clearance. The big negative for the Yukon, however, was the shallow entry and departure angle due to the vehicle’s long overhangs. The other choice was our Lexus RX 350, not exactly known as a paragon of off-road performance. On the minus side, it only had about eight inches of ground clearance and all-season tires. On the plus side had shorter overhangs, making the entry and departure angle much better. Over the

next three months, periodically Janet would ask me which vehicle were we taking, and I still had no good answer. The answer came with about a week to go when we got an update from the event chair telling us we were going to be on some narrow trails. That settled it, we were taking the Lexus.

The big day came and we arrived at the check in hall to be greeted warmly by coffee, juice, donuts, muffins and the members of the NNJR. As we arrived it was clear that we were probably the least

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Chesapeake Region

Porsche Off Roading with NNJR

After the briefing we were off, the first part of the rallye was rather benign and we thought, we got this…..never, ever make an assumption like that so early into an event. Our first stop was at the Whitesbog Historic Village a National Registered Historic Site where we learned about origins and past innovations of cranberry and blueberry culture and the unique ecology of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. One of the interesting items that we learned was that the iron furnaces that formed the bulk of the economy in the 18 th and 19 th century, while having a destructive effect on the Pinelands by dredging the land and diverting water formed the basis for the ability to cultivate cranberries. We were able to visit the historic Whitesbog General Store, with its Post Office, ice cooled storage, hand made candy, blueberry and cranberry products, historical information and pictures. While at Whitesbog we were also treated

to concert by the Accidential Jug Band. The rallye organizers had gone all out to make this event an engaging experience.

Next it was off to drive through the Brenden T. Byrnes State Forest. As one might imagine this was a more remote area where some of the route instructions noted “VERY BUMPY AND NARROW ROAD, WA- TER HOLES AHEAD AND YUMPS!!!!”. Uh Oh…..would the Lexas be able to make its way through this area? I figured that if we got stuck one of our rallye compatriots with the off road tires and winches would be able to pull us out. It was time for

capable off-road vehicle taking part in the event. There were two Porsche SUVs, however, the majority of vehicles were lifted Jeeps and lifted four-wheel drive trucks, all with huge heavily lugged tires. Were we in over our heads, both literally and figuratively?

The event chair began his briefing by pointing out that the week before the event it rained heavily in southern Jersey and there were some rather deep water holes. For those of you not familiar with the area you would think sandy soil drains relatively well. Yes, yes it does, however the area is only a couple of feet above the water table, so while it does drain it also has a limited ability to do so. We were again concerned that the grocery getter Lexus was the wrong choice. We were provided with about a fifty page, bound booklet that provided the events directions and also some interesting historical and informational coverage of the area. It was very clear the event chair and his team had done a thorough job putting this event together.

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Chesapeake Region

Porsche Off Roading with NNJR

lot of deep water holes and bumps. How deep we found out after we returned home and I cleaned up the Lexus. Inside the door frame there was evidence of muddy water that was kept out by the door gaskets. Ultimately it seemed the deepest water was about eighteen inches deep.

At the end of this section we returned to the meeting hall for very nice lunch. While we were there, we were sitting across from two gentlemen who asked us if we were the ones driving the Lexus. We said ‘yes’ and they told us they were following us in a Jeep. They said they had initially thought we had gotten lost and would up an unpaved road, however, after a while they figured that we were part of the tour as were doing very well going over the bumps and through the deep water.

After lunch, we were treated to a private area tour through the cranberry bogs of a local member of the NNJR. They also had a sand pit that we were welcome to play in.

the Lexus secret weapon, I hit the switch that electronically locked the center differential and plunged (literally) ahead. All went well and we made it through. We then reached a sand pit that was about 12-15 acres in size and about 100 foot deep at its deepest part. We had been warned not to attempt to go through the water hole at the bottom as it was essentially bottomless. We paused for a while and wondered if driving into the pit was a wise decision. As we watched the heavy duty off roaders play in the sand, I figured someone would be kind enough to pull us out if we got stuck. Down we plunged into the pit, as the pit of my stomach continued to ponder if this was a good idea. Going down was easy, now the question was could we climb out of a sand pit with rather steep sides? Once again with the center differential locked, the Lexus proved its mettle by easily pulling us to the top of the sand pit.

We continued the drive through Bass River North Forrest and Penn State Forrest with a

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Chesapeake Region

Porsche Off Roading with NNJR

The event was over with us having seen and learned a lot of things about the Pine Barrens

we did not know. For a state that we all think of as very industrialized and densely populated this tour opened our eyes to the beauty and rural qualities of southern New Jersey. We also learned that the Lexus was a lot more capable off road that we had ever imagined. If you own a Macan, Cayenne or even a Lexus RX 350, we would heartily recommend you try this event. It was educational, entertaining, enjoyable and very well run.

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