Off-road enthusiasts can now experience the joy of dune bashing in Bahrain at the region's first dedicated track open to the public.

The Land Rover Experience at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) opened yesterday (February 17), giving four-wheel-drive fans the chance to drive around an all-terrain course in one of eight Land Rovers on offer, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

For just BD65 ($171), drivers are given 90 minutes to tackle more than 30 obstacles on the three-kilometre course, or you can pay BD12 to ride as a passenger.

"This is the first real off-road dedicated centre in the region and that includes North Africa," said Euro Motors managing director Nawaf Khalid Al Zayani at the launch yesterday.

"There are plenty of natural off-road driving courses, but to have it all in one place that is tested and safe, you are guaranteed a certain level of driver involvement, training and enjoyment.

"Everything from the blind corners to the humps, the water hazards, the rocky hazards, the sandy hazards, the steep inclines - if I wanted to experience them in a natural environment in the wilderness it would take at least three days or a full day of driving and trekking to find them.

"The unique thing about the BIC off-road circuit is that we can have them all in 90 minutes of driving."

The Land Rover Experience has been brought to Bahrain by a partnership of Jaguar Land Rover, the BIC and Euro Motors.

They have worked together to make the track the perfect combination of high-quality and safety, according to BIC chief executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa.

"The Land Rover Experience takes off-roading to a whole new level," he said.

"Our lead instructors have been rigorously trained and the public can now actually drive the cars instead of being just a passenger.

"Anyone who takes part will get to know the cars and experience them and learn which buttons to press and when to press them."

Shaikh Salman explained that everyone that runs the course will be accompanied by an internationally accredited off-road instructor who will teach them the best way to get across the obstacles.

"Anyone can come and drive," added Jaguar Land Rover managing director Bruce Robertson.

"They could be people who are just interested in off-roading or they could be people looking to drive a Land Rover or existing customers who actually own a Land Rover and want to understand what the capabilities of their vehicle are.

"We have the full range of vehicles - the Discovery, Range Rover and Range Rover sport.

"So customers can come here and drive a selection of vehicles through the obstacles."

He explained that the track has been engineered to take more of a beating and said it will evolve over time to become "more extreme.” - TradeArabia News Service