Land Rover Monthly October 2018

ON THE Monday after the Billing and Kelmarsh shows my inbox contained several emails from people who had been victims of theft at the shows. The police force had a stand at Billing, yet still the thieving bastards struck. And Tom and his incredible team from Live Promotions went beyond the call of duty to prevent similar incidents at Kelmarsh. They even had a special secure parking area for Defenders. Despite all of this, our friends from Duckworth Land Rover were relieved of £7000-worth of bits from their trade stand on the Saturday night. There goes their profit for the weekend. Will we see them at future shows? They would be poorer events without them. Happily, not all the attempts at theft at Kelmarsh were successful. See our happy ending…

WE’RE DELIGHTED to announce that we officially broke the Guinness World Record for the Largest Parade of Land Rovers/ Range Rovers at The Billing Off Road Show on June 30, 2018, with 640 vehicles. A huge congratulations and thank you to everyone who took part in the parade, sponsor Lancaster Insurance Services and all the marshals – without you all history would not have been made. We actually had 910 Land Rovers take part in the event, but sadly only 640 of these vehicles were counted towards the record due to the rules set by Guinness. Needless to say, it was still a spectacular achievement and a great way to celebrate 70 years of Land Rover. We’re already looking forward to next year’s show on the June 29-30.…

THIS YEAR’S Classic and Supercars Show at Sherborne Castle saw a celebration of 70 years of Land Rover, and fans of the green oval were in for a treat with the main display marquee dedicated to the car maker. Taking pride of place was the 1953 Royal Ceremonial Land Rover as used by her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip during the 1950s and 60s, joined by 20 other special vehicles loaned by museums (including early prototypes) and more than 30 private vehicles. Visitors also enjoyed a wonderful parade of vehicles spanning from 1948 to 2018 in various guises with commentary from Land Rover enthusiast Richard Beddall of the famed Dunsfold Land Rover collection. With some 42 car clubs in attendance, and hundreds of private classic and sports cars, supercars…

LAND ROVER and Terry Grant have smashed the Guinness World Record for the fastest mile in a car on two wheels at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The 2:24.5 run was set in a 575 bhp Range Rover Sport SVR that topped 60 mph – an improvement of over 30 seconds on the old record, set by Terry Grant himself in 2011. Land Rover’s Goodwood Festival of Speed presence also included the largest single batch of cars to ever take on the hill, as historic and important Land Rovers celebrated the brand’s 70th anniversary.…

WELL-KNOWN EXPLORERS and Land Rover ambassadors Kingsley and Ross Holgate are to embark on their next world-first humanitarian and geographic expedition on Mandela Day, July 18. The Cape Town to Kathmandu Expedition will travel through Southern Africa to the edge of the European world and then through ancient Asia to the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal in two new Discoverys. Covering 19 countries and 17,000 kilometres, including 5000 metre mountain passes and 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the vehicles will take in some of the world’s most iconic sights. Kingsley Holgate said: “It will be the first time that Discoverys undertake a transcontinental journey through Africa, the South Caucasus region, Central and Southern Asia. “We will be using our two specially-kitted expedition Discovery models that recently completed a world-first journey to…

FOR FANS of Solihull’s finest, the 44th Scottish Transport Extravaganza certainly impressed, with many Land Rovers of all ages to be found among the numerous stands, including various club displays and a military section. The 101 FC was also strongly represented and one was even being used as an improvised camper by one of the stall holders. Other interesting vehicles included a Wolf 110 ambulance enjoying a second life as a coffee wagon. There were lots of early Series models in attendance – some still being used as workhorses – and Discovery and Range Rover models. All in all, it was a great weekend with the Scottish Land Rover fraternity well represented and definitely worth a visit next year if you’re around Angus in July.…