OFF-ROADING

noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) Driving on dirt tracks and other unmetalled surfaces as a sport or leisure activity; also known more fully as off-road racing. Etymology: Formed from the adjective off-road (which dates from the early sixties) and the action-noun suffix -ing, perhaps by abbreviating off-road racing. History and Usage: Off-roading originated on the West coast of the US in the late sixties, when recreational vehicles such as the beach buggy were first in fashion among young people. From California it spread across the US as a more serious sport, and from the late seventies and early eighties was increasingly practised in an organized way outside the US as well. An off-roader is both a vehicle used in off-roading and a person who takes part in it (but see also mountain bike). Although off-roading began as off-road racing, racing is not an essential element of the sport, which focuses more on the enjoyment of driving away from the traffic and pollution of metalled roads. A serious off-roader is more interested in what a vehicle can do once its wheels start rolling. Outdoor Life (Northeast US ed.) Oct. 1980, p. 29 Unsurfaced roads...are becoming muddy death traps for other countryside users as off-roading becomes an increasingly organised leisure activity. Daily Telegraph 13 Jan. 1988, p. 25 The new all-drive platform is aimed at the rustbelt market, not at serious off-roaders, so the MPV 4WD doesn't sit six feet off the ground or ride on giant knobby tires. Car & Driver Sept. 1989 p. 131