Jul 05, 2021
I just wanted to stop in and give some photos and video of my experience at the recent attendance to the Off-Roadeo event in Horseshoe Bay, TX.
Who am I, an auto enthusiast with no affiliation other than a passion for most things automotive much like many average customers out there. I am by no means an off-road expert and most of my practical experience comes from muscle car ownership and drag racing. My technical knowledge only comes from what I learned from others, posted internet content, and limited off-roading in any capacity that would be even moderately severe. I have no interest in rock crawling, but overlanding and camping are more my desire for this vehicle. I enjoy getting out there with friends and family around a camp fire and just enjoying nature responsibly. If you want a clean approach and no spoilers to the event, I would stop reading now, I will be as thorough as my recollection allows 1 day after the event.
Attending the event is pretty straight forward from the GPS pin location they provide and they have a handy "turn here" indication for you to look out for when finding the location, trust the push pin, it is dead on the spot for the entrance as out there, there are so many ranch entrances you can easily get confused, but the push pin location is dead center on the entrance, stray no further to get there. Parking is adequate as they tend to not have too many planned guests at any one time and shouldnt be an issue if you are driving there directly. The location is iirc roughly a bit more than 350 acres of property, so there will be somewhere to park I can assure you.
Upon arriving and parking, head towards the easily distinguished main building and in through the tinted sliding or opening glass doors, where in the center you will be greeted at the check-in registration desk. There you will sign your forms for the event and given a few details on what it going to happen that day. You will be given a colored bracelet for your group color if you are a driver, but guests and non-drivers are given a different color to indicate they are not the main attendee. In practice, does this mean only the main attendee can drive, absolutely not, but it does designate that you and your guests will share a vehicle and can at times swap drivers through the 2 day event. The main building holds the registration area, relaxing area after and before the event with chairs and fire pits, eating area, restrooms for both men and women kept pretty tidy, a merchandise store area (caps, shirts, Yeti items like mugs/cups/bottles, and some misc Bronco swag gear, and a Bronco Outer Banks models on some rocks in a display. Getting this part out of the way as well, approx. 150 Full sized Broncos were ordered for the event locations starting with the Austin location. There are about 54 Broncos on location at the Austin site including the Bronco Sports. According to the person who ordered the vehicles, he made attempts to order the vehicles in such a way as to get a varied sampling, while not hitting a whole lot of constrained items (as much as he could avoid and still have the course vehicle) as to avoid as much as possible from impacting customer vehicle wait times. This is why at times you may see Broncos with configurations you couldnt get in your own hands because they modified it to limit that impact. In other words, don't base your knowledge completely on how you see these vehicles because they are preproduction, may not have the final versions of those parts, may not be the final colors, and may have already been changed several times since these parts. For instance, the White Wildtrak I drove had the very early tacked on sasquatch bumper winglets that look very tacked on and cheap, while other Wildtrak models had the newer version of the bumpers that included the portion extensions on them that looked a lot more integrated.
Most of what you see is a timeline of when the event took place, but might be very slightly out of order, though I think I got it right. I give my thoughts on what was happening there and what I observed from my perspective. All of the linked items are videos I shot from the attendee perspective.
Registration desk
Outer banks display unit (pre-production)
Main Entrance, this shot taken about 50 feet in from the turn in. To my right though out of camera is sitting the sign that indicates to turn into this area. The sign ahead says turn right for the event location area and parking. Parking is just out of view over the ridge here on the right.
View from just in front of the parking area where there is a roundabout. Event main building on the right here and there is a group preparing to head out after a brief orientation and group introductions from the trainers and attendees. The Broncos seen on the left are staged for after the off-road initial basic orientation and fundamentals of off-road, the basics of vehicle approach/departure angles, etc, and some basic facts about the vehicle capabilities (this stage starts at the Blue Bronco [yes I know their real colors but that is gonna get tedious real fast if I use the real color names every time I reference a Bronco in shot, just go with it] seen directly dead center in this shot slightly pointed in the air on the rocks). There is a canvas covered area there that gives some modest shade. I will point out here, that YES, it will very very likely be hot and very very likely be humid, drink plenty of water with the provided Yeti water bottle and fill it regularly as they have cold water Yeti coolers throughout the event area. Afterwards, you will be heading to the far left of this shot to be introduced to more concepts like seating position, camera views on the dash cameras (with the 12 inch screen), how to locate obstacles in front, trail turn assist feature, sway bar disconnect feature, and overall basic vehicle handling, spotter commands, and the site functions.
The blue Bronco referenced above where the initial "ORX" orientation, second portion of the journey, took place. Referenced as the "Sluice Box" onsite.
Getting up in the air with the sway bar disconnected, the vehicle was pushed with a few fingers forward or back on balance and learning how to deal with tires that have traction and the "hero switches". Also, a big note, the camera does not easily convey just how steep or large the obstacles are. The Bronco is showing to be very capable and in person on inclines of as tested even 30 degrees or more with casual users, this is a basic course, but also shows what the vehicle even with a basic understanding of off-road techniques can do. Kudos Ford and Bronco.
All of the following videos are uploaded unedited or changed from their original shooting. This is not a review, only a sample of some of the content seen while in attendance of the Off-roadeo event. All content if property of their respective owners and I am by no means saying any that they say is fact, only that I am representing it here for an idea of what to expect when attending and the kind of testing you might experience.
The following video is just one of the attendees who has absolutely no experience "volunteering" to be one the first to drive within the group. Good sport.
Bronco Basics and Articulation
The following video is a demonstration of one of the attendees trying out the trail turn assist feature just after coming out of the water way for basics of water fording. Of note, the event goes over proper usages of water fording and when and why to do it. I really loved that the event trainers put a lot of emphasis on responsible off-roading and to avoid water at almost all costs because it is very detrimental to the ecosystem when done improperly. It can kill a lot of wildlife with chemicals off the vehicle, destruction of habitat itself, and of course animals. To note, almost all the bodies of water on this entire property are just spill ways created for the course or surveyed by the water ecological surveyors for proper usage of water controls, contamination, and effects on the local wildlife prior to any vehicle usages. I am very happy that they took the time to think it through and not just do things because they can.
Bronco Trail Turn Assist feature
The following video goes over the trail control feature which helps with hill climbs and even reversals which was something I didn't see very many say anything about. The ability to control your reversing off a hill is actually a pretty good feature for safety on say a climb that you ended up not being able to complete.
Bronco Trail Control feature training and usage
Yes, you can just unscrew the antenna and just take it off, good, because I really didn't like the look of it whipping around. I will never use the radio anyway.
Who am I, an auto enthusiast with no affiliation other than a passion for most things automotive much like many average customers out there. I am by no means an off-road expert and most of my practical experience comes from muscle car ownership and drag racing. My technical knowledge only comes from what I learned from others, posted internet content, and limited off-roading in any capacity that would be even moderately severe. I have no interest in rock crawling, but overlanding and camping are more my desire for this vehicle. I enjoy getting out there with friends and family around a camp fire and just enjoying nature responsibly. If you want a clean approach and no spoilers to the event, I would stop reading now, I will be as thorough as my recollection allows 1 day after the event.
Attending the event is pretty straight forward from the GPS pin location they provide and they have a handy "turn here" indication for you to look out for when finding the location, trust the push pin, it is dead on the spot for the entrance as out there, there are so many ranch entrances you can easily get confused, but the push pin location is dead center on the entrance, stray no further to get there. Parking is adequate as they tend to not have too many planned guests at any one time and shouldnt be an issue if you are driving there directly. The location is iirc roughly a bit more than 350 acres of property, so there will be somewhere to park I can assure you.
Upon arriving and parking, head towards the easily distinguished main building and in through the tinted sliding or opening glass doors, where in the center you will be greeted at the check-in registration desk. There you will sign your forms for the event and given a few details on what it going to happen that day. You will be given a colored bracelet for your group color if you are a driver, but guests and non-drivers are given a different color to indicate they are not the main attendee. In practice, does this mean only the main attendee can drive, absolutely not, but it does designate that you and your guests will share a vehicle and can at times swap drivers through the 2 day event. The main building holds the registration area, relaxing area after and before the event with chairs and fire pits, eating area, restrooms for both men and women kept pretty tidy, a merchandise store area (caps, shirts, Yeti items like mugs/cups/bottles, and some misc Bronco swag gear, and a Bronco Outer Banks models on some rocks in a display. Getting this part out of the way as well, approx. 150 Full sized Broncos were ordered for the event locations starting with the Austin location. There are about 54 Broncos on location at the Austin site including the Bronco Sports. According to the person who ordered the vehicles, he made attempts to order the vehicles in such a way as to get a varied sampling, while not hitting a whole lot of constrained items (as much as he could avoid and still have the course vehicle) as to avoid as much as possible from impacting customer vehicle wait times. This is why at times you may see Broncos with configurations you couldnt get in your own hands because they modified it to limit that impact. In other words, don't base your knowledge completely on how you see these vehicles because they are preproduction, may not have the final versions of those parts, may not be the final colors, and may have already been changed several times since these parts. For instance, the White Wildtrak I drove had the very early tacked on sasquatch bumper winglets that look very tacked on and cheap, while other Wildtrak models had the newer version of the bumpers that included the portion extensions on them that looked a lot more integrated.
Most of what you see is a timeline of when the event took place, but might be very slightly out of order, though I think I got it right. I give my thoughts on what was happening there and what I observed from my perspective. All of the linked items are videos I shot from the attendee perspective.
Registration desk
Outer banks display unit (pre-production)
Main Entrance, this shot taken about 50 feet in from the turn in. To my right though out of camera is sitting the sign that indicates to turn into this area. The sign ahead says turn right for the event location area and parking. Parking is just out of view over the ridge here on the right.
View from just in front of the parking area where there is a roundabout. Event main building on the right here and there is a group preparing to head out after a brief orientation and group introductions from the trainers and attendees. The Broncos seen on the left are staged for after the off-road initial basic orientation and fundamentals of off-road, the basics of vehicle approach/departure angles, etc, and some basic facts about the vehicle capabilities (this stage starts at the Blue Bronco [yes I know their real colors but that is gonna get tedious real fast if I use the real color names every time I reference a Bronco in shot, just go with it] seen directly dead center in this shot slightly pointed in the air on the rocks). There is a canvas covered area there that gives some modest shade. I will point out here, that YES, it will very very likely be hot and very very likely be humid, drink plenty of water with the provided Yeti water bottle and fill it regularly as they have cold water Yeti coolers throughout the event area. Afterwards, you will be heading to the far left of this shot to be introduced to more concepts like seating position, camera views on the dash cameras (with the 12 inch screen), how to locate obstacles in front, trail turn assist feature, sway bar disconnect feature, and overall basic vehicle handling, spotter commands, and the site functions.
The blue Bronco referenced above where the initial "ORX" orientation, second portion of the journey, took place. Referenced as the "Sluice Box" onsite.
Getting up in the air with the sway bar disconnected, the vehicle was pushed with a few fingers forward or back on balance and learning how to deal with tires that have traction and the "hero switches". Also, a big note, the camera does not easily convey just how steep or large the obstacles are. The Bronco is showing to be very capable and in person on inclines of as tested even 30 degrees or more with casual users, this is a basic course, but also shows what the vehicle even with a basic understanding of off-road techniques can do. Kudos Ford and Bronco.
All of the following videos are uploaded unedited or changed from their original shooting. This is not a review, only a sample of some of the content seen while in attendance of the Off-roadeo event. All content if property of their respective owners and I am by no means saying any that they say is fact, only that I am representing it here for an idea of what to expect when attending and the kind of testing you might experience.
The following video is just one of the attendees who has absolutely no experience "volunteering" to be one the first to drive within the group. Good sport.
Bronco Basics and Articulation
The following video is a demonstration of one of the attendees trying out the trail turn assist feature just after coming out of the water way for basics of water fording. Of note, the event goes over proper usages of water fording and when and why to do it. I really loved that the event trainers put a lot of emphasis on responsible off-roading and to avoid water at almost all costs because it is very detrimental to the ecosystem when done improperly. It can kill a lot of wildlife with chemicals off the vehicle, destruction of habitat itself, and of course animals. To note, almost all the bodies of water on this entire property are just spill ways created for the course or surveyed by the water ecological surveyors for proper usage of water controls, contamination, and effects on the local wildlife prior to any vehicle usages. I am very happy that they took the time to think it through and not just do things because they can.
Bronco Trail Turn Assist feature
The following video goes over the trail control feature which helps with hill climbs and even reversals which was something I didn't see very many say anything about. The ability to control your reversing off a hill is actually a pretty good feature for safety on say a climb that you ended up not being able to complete.
Bronco Trail Control feature training and usage
Yes, you can just unscrew the antenna and just take it off, good, because I really didn't like the look of it whipping around. I will never use the radio anyway.
Deano Bronc