Rugged off-roading across the British military’s premier training area presented Tim Gosling with an excuse to check out some exceptional classic vehicles
Approximately 200 vehicles took part in the 2023 Salisbury Plain road run, taking them across the many rugged and unimproved tracks of this renowned military training area. Salisbury Plain was first used by the army for training in 1898 and comprises 150 square miles, of which approximately one-third is used for live firing exercises. Hard targets comprising tanks and armoured personnel carriers can be seen on the plain, but as the impact areas may still have live ordnance laying around, they can only be observed from afar. Criss-crossing the training ground are many miles of tracks which gave the drivers the opportunity to put their vehicles through their paces, with some of the steeper parts requiring some concentration. Driving over the Bailey bridges on the plain created a great photo opportunity, but unfortunately, being in such a large convoy, I couldn’t stop to take a photograph without causing a massive tailback.
Halfway around the track was a lunch stop where the organisers had put on a barbecue and a selection of packed lunches, the cost…
