Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2020 i Land Rover Monthly

THE Last Overland expedition crew have been hogging the Land Rover headlines since their triumphant return to British shores on December 14, 2019. They fully deserve every single free beer and accolade that they get. Three Land Rovers (one of which was Oxford the 1955 Series I which did the original First Overland expedition), eight explorers, 23 countries, 11,806 miles, 9792 terabytes of footage and a lifetime of Land Rover memories – I salute them all and look forward to the documentary and book that they produce from the journey. As is often the case with this type of things, there is often the rarely seen or spoken about person lurking in the shadows, who without his or her dedication or kindness, none of this would’ve been possible. In this…

A brand without a celebrity endorsement doesn’t seem to be worth its salt nowadays and Land Rover – never one to shy away from Z-list approval – has just recruited comedian and actor Jack Whitehall and his father Michael to demonstrate that their tow assist technology is idiot-proof. Now, Discovery and towing go together like fish and chips, but for some reason JLR felt compelled to get a comic to reverse a 6.8m-long Airstream caravan down a narrow single-track causeway, against an incoming tide, to prove its worth. The Corbière lighthouse in Jersey set the scene – presumably because when we think of the super posh the Channel Islands spring to mind – or it was a nice backdrop, of course. Fortunately Advanced Tow Assist comes to the rescue as…

Send us your shot  email patrick@lrm.co.uk to feature your photo in LRM…

I seem to be having Lightweight flashbacks. My first-ever Land Rover was a 1973 Series III Lightweight, more than 30 years ago now. It was a very rough, heavily-abused example and I didn’t keep it for long, but it must have started something, because I almost immediately went out and bought another Land Rover to replace it (1965 Series IIA diesel in even worse condition than the Lightweight) and I have owned at least one Land Rover for most of my life since then. Just lately I seem to be encountering a lot of Lightweights: I have two in the workshop at the moment, and at the other end of the yard Dave the landlord is putting the finishing touches to his own Lightweight restoration. At one point we had…

I’M sick of invites to Land Rover dealerships or events where you can only see and touch the new Defender. It’s been over three months now since it was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. I was standing next to some of the engineers when the covers came off and one or two of them shed a tear. Rightly so. They have been working on Defender since 1948. That’s a lot of buried emotions right there. Whenever a new Land Rover comes out it’s all razzmatazz and rock and roll, but for me the true test is when I finally get behind the wheel and experience its capabilities thousands of miles away from the safety of a dealership or any other source of support. Will it get me up that…

WE called it the ‘berm.’ There wasn’t really any other name for the slightly eerie and bizarre wall of sand that dominated our view to the west. This intimidating feature, standing over 100 m high, stretched as far as the eye could see north and south. According to our WWII era maps the berm hasn’t moved in over 70 years. Beyond lies hundreds of miles of a vast sand sea, the Grand Erg Orientale. As we wandered about our base camp, eyes were often drawn to the mysterious. We had come to Tunisia to search for the missing WWII vehicles of the ‘lost patrol,’ a joint Popski’s Private Army (PPA) and Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) patrol that set out from Libya in the closing months of the North African…

4x4 Adventures Ltd is holding an off-road excursion led by David Bowyer around his off-road training site in Credition, mid-Devon, on Saturday February 8. This is aimed at novices and more experienced 4x4 owners and allows the opportunity to explore the vehicles' capabilities with help and advice on-hand with a bunch of like-minded people. The morning will also give attendees a good insight into greenlaning. Full information and the cost of this and other events run by 4x4 Adventures Ltd can be found on its website. 4x4adventures.co.uk…

THE Canada Geese are on the move, the clocks went back for us in the UK, and that can only mean one thing; time to put my cars into hibernation. Except this year, unusually for me, I haven’t. When Patrick was lining up the buying guide cover, knowing the two big car photo studios were expensive to hire – and appreciating our editor likes to spend money wisely – I suggested instead of me shooting it he went to John Colley’s studio instead. That’s exactly what he did, but also why I found myself heading to Derby one Friday afternoon in my Range Rover Classic, as Pat still wanted to use my Classic for the shoot. I gave it the quickest of washes that morning, but nothing more – Gary…

Looking after your tyres pays dividends because under-inflation may cause uneven wear and make them prematurely illegal. To be within the law, a tyre must have more than 1.6 mm of tread depth across the central 75 per cent of its width. The penalties for having an illegal tyre on your vehicle are a ÿne of up to £2500 and three penalty points for each one. It could also cost you more than that because under-inflated tyres use more fuel and adversely affect your car’s braking and cornering. Using a combined pressure and tread depth gauge – or a kit containing both – is the simplest way to keep track of tyres. To ÿnd the best way to look after yours, we tried eight solutions suitable for road tyres. PCL…

IT was bad news for Greta Thunberg, the teenage Swedish climate activist, when she ÿnally stepped off her boat at Gothenburg – and was promptly seized by school truancy officers. No, she wasn’t really. I made that up. But that would have happened if Greta had been English and decided to skip school when she was 15. Her parents would have been arrested and no doubt the social services would have been called in when they found out she was sailing around the world with a strange man. But I digress – and I have nothing but admiration for the child who pulled a face and stuck her tongue out at Donald Trump, then told the rest of us to clean up our act because we were stealing her future.…

Tells us a little about what you do and where you are from? I am a service van engineer for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. In other words I ÿx ÿre engines and equipment. Before that I spent nearly a decade in the British Army as a mechanic. So it would be fair to say that I had plenty of contact with Land Rovers while doing that. I’m originally from Eastbourne in East Sussex, but after moving around a lot while in the military I have now settled in Havant. How did you find this project? This was my ÿrst Land Rover that I owned when I was 17. I only had it for a year back then before selling it as I pursued more ‘Max Power’-type hot hatches.…

FOUNDED in 1985, Bowler pioneered the production of dedicated off-road competition cars and has enjoyed much success in international rally raid events over the years. The expertise Bowler has amassed for all-terrain vehicle dynamics, low-volume production techniques and extreme durability, is highly sought-after, so it’s no surprise that Jaguar Land Rover jumped at the opportunity to save it from administration and secure the future of the Bowler brand. Not only that, but Bowler has had a close affiliation with Land Rover, which was formalised with a brand partnership in 2012 that led to the creation of the popular Defender Challenge by Bowler rally series in 2014-2016. With JLR’s Special Vehicle Operations division adding Bowler to its portfolio of automotive businesses, the Derbyshire-based all-terrain performance specialist perfectly complements the existing SV,…

4x4 enthusiasts from four different clubs in Norfolk drove their Land Rovers from Ryston Hall to Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital to deliver bags of presents to the West Newton ward, which cares for the elderly. A segment of society that often gets left out at Christmas time, they delivered nine sackfuls of presents to the ward. A total of 35 Land Rovers, each adorned with tinsel and wreaths, and their drivers in Christmas attire, made the annual parcel run and brought a smile to faces of the n.urses – who came out to receive them – and the patients apparently who were all rather pleased. In a time of economic and political uncertainty it’s great to hear a heart-warming story of holiday cheer. The spirit of giving lifts everyone’s mood…

HELLO LRM! Last night myself and a friend went to the launch of the new Defender 110 at Listers Land Rover in Droitwich. It was a cracking evening, with the new Defender under a sheet and a Series I, plus some other original Defenders. The room was buzzing with excitement. After the big reveal we were all allowed to get “in amongst it”. We both absolutely loved it. Hopefully an icon of the future. To all the keyboard warrior haters: you really do need to get up close and have a look before you criticise it. Good work JLR! Simon Hague Looking good in a car showroom in Droitwich is a bit different to driving it across remote deserts and through dense jungles. Let’s hope it lives up to its…

WINDSCREEN MOUNT PRICE: £34.99 CONTACT: popsockets.co.uk THIS unique design allows the ring to rotate meaning the phone is viewable from multiple angles in both portrait and landscape mode. Built-in cord management. Secure suction on most surfaces GALV TD5 CHASSIS PRICE: £3105 CONTACT: ribblevalley4x4.com THIS Marsland Defender 110 Td5 chassis was manufactured by GKN Wheels & Structures. According to them they used the same materials, processes and quality control techniques as were stipulated at the time of original equipment manufacturer. Type approved and crash tested. VENT MOUNT PRICE: £16.99 CONTACT: popsockets.co.uk GO hands-free whenever you are on the road. Simply attach it to your air vent and slide your PopSockets grip into the mount for a secure hold on your phone. LONG-RANGE TANK PRICE: £1666.49 CONTACT: arbil.co.uk THE LongRanger fuel tank…

OLD age creeps up on you. I’m the far side of 50 and it is starting to show. Visiting customers still comment on the way I can clamber around an old Land Rover, from inside the engine bay to underneath and back like a rather oily chimpanzee, but after a hard day’s spannering I sometimes feel as though I have been run over by one of my own vehicles. And in the world of Land Rover fettling there are plenty of hard days. Everything is big and heavy, every fastener is done up super tight, seized solid or both. A lot of the ‘ordinary car’ mechanics I talk to really hate working on Land Rovers for exactly this reason. I have to admit that when I have to give my…

I don’t like calling them this name or term but ‘old Defenders’ are still just as popular as ever. In fact, when they stopped producing them four years ago their prices just rocketed as they became a must-have accessory amongst the fashion conscious and average LRM reader. One might even argue that they have become more popular, most definitely so amongst the thieving bastards who nick them. Which is why some enthusiasts would rather drive an affordable Freelander, Range Rover or Discovery. I mean when was the last time someone nicked one of those? The same ‘tired and knackered’ Defender 200Tdi which might have cost £2500 in 2015 is now being sold as a ‘must-have collectable’ for £5500. Just with more rust. People always want what they can’t have though…

“ TReK’s back!” “TReK what..?” After 16 years of being away, you’d be forgiven for not knowing what Land Rover TReK is. Unless you’re a long-time follower of the green oval or a Land Rover Experience instructor, then it’s unlikely that you’ve ever heard of this retailer-only competition that started in the US over 23 years ago. With its inaugural event in 1996, Land Rover TReK was conceived by former Land Rover Experience manager Bob Burns and the late and much-missed PR supremo Bill Baker, as a way to encourage the company’s US and Canadian retailers to get out of the dealership and behind the wheel of fully-prepared Land Rovers. Over two decades later the event’s aim remains the same: to get retailer staff to take part in adventure competitions…

DAVID Meek is from the small town of Edzell in Tayside and has lived in the area all his life. He is a mechanic by trade and works at the local garage in the High Street, just across the road from his house. “Because it’s a country garage we get all manner of vehicles coming through the door, including tractors and old Land Rovers, of course,” he grins. “The area around Edzell is hilly and green oval badged vehicles are quite common, particularly the older models.” David has been fixing up Land Rovers for years in his spare time, and his back yard is full of various projects awaiting attention. He takes up the story: “I’ve got several Land Rovers on the go at the moment including a 1985 110…

WHAT a year 2019 was. Not only did we finally get to see the all-new Defender, us traditional Land Rover folk also had a number of great Land Rover events to attend of our own – and, of course, a copy of LRM to read each month. What more could we possibly ask for? One of the main highlights for me during 2019 was being asked by Hayley from Polybush if I would like to have all the worn suspension bushes on my Ninety replaced, which would take place live at the Kelmarsh Land Rover show in July. I’ve often spent time over the years viewing the various activities that go on in their marquee – and I definitely wanted to be part of it. Fortunately, it was also one…

January 9 – 12 ■ Autosport International, Motorsport Show NEC, Birmingham autosportinternational.com January 10 – 24 ■ Morocco – ARDVentures, Overland Adventure Western Sahara & Atlantic Coast Morocco ardventures.co.uk January 12 ■ Pennine Land Rover Club, RTV/CCV trial Catlow, Lancashire penninelandrover.co.uk ■ Malvern 4x4 & Vintage Spares Day Three Counties Showground, Malvern 4x4sparesday.co.uk ■ UK Landrover Events, Tyne & Wear 4x4 Tour Durham uklandroverevents.com ■ 4x4 Adventures Ltd, Drive Round Day Bampton, Devon 4x4adventures.co.uk January 18 ■ Solent & District Land Rover Club, GreenLanes TBC sadlrc.co.uk January 18 – 19 ■ Adventure Travel Show Olympia, London adventureshow.com ■ USA - 4xFar, Defender launch live music and adventure festival Coachella Valley, South California jaguarlandrover.com January 18 ■ Northern Ireland LRC, Forest Drive Springwell Forest, Coleraine landrover-club.com January 19 ■ Four Wheel…

April 4-5 BXCC 2020 Dates have been announced for the 2020 Motorsport British Cross Country Championship. This year’s BXCC will run over six rounds, and looking at provisional dates the first round will take place on April 4 and 5, with following rounds in May, June, July, September and October. Full details of the 2020 BXCC Comp Safari Championship and venues will be announced at the annual championship awards evening in January. Look out for more information on the organising club's website and its Facebook page. thats-motorsport.com crosscountryuk.org May 29-31 Camel 40th Anniversary The Camel Trophy Club is organising CT40, Camel Trophy 40th Anniversary Reunion. The event will take place in the South West of England over the weekend of May 29 to 31. They are asking anyone that was…

IT is still dark as I steer the Discovery down the rough track, the headlights picking out the water-ÿlled potholes as I make my way across the marsh, but a smudge of brilliant orange on the eastern horizon beyond the sand dunes means ÿrst light isn’t far away. I pull up near the old salt barn, with the nose of the vehicle pointing north, which just happens to be the direction that the wind is roaring in – from the Arctic to North Norfolk, with little in between to temper its icy edge. It’s a struggle to get out of the vehicle, with the force of the gale doing its best to keep the door closed. Once out, the cold takes my breath away, but nothing can dilute the sheer…

IF you are a fan of off-road thrills or simply driving great roads, chances are you will eventually want an action camera to record your Land Rover adventures. These tiny devices can be mounted in or around the cabin, on a helmet and even outside the car to provide detailed footage of your driving from just about any angle you want. With waterproof casings and image-stabilisation software, they’re also ideal for other outdoor pursuits. The latest not only record in crisp 4K, but also offer 360-degree footage, giving users a full view of the action around the car. To find out which is the best, we put eight cameras, both standard and 360-degree, to the test. GOPRO Hero 7 Black PRICE: £337 RATING: ★★★★★ CONTACT: amazon.co.uk THERE is a reason…

If you’re in the market for a particularly unique, discerning Range Rover then you might want to consider the Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic Black, with just 500 examples produced for the UK market. Based on Land Rover’s top-selling D180 R-Dynamic SE, the Black limited edition features, funnily enough, the Black Exterior Pack, privacy glass, fixed panoramic glass roof, 21” gloss black alloy wheels, heated steering wheel, metallic paint and Adaptive Dynamics as standard. Two metallic exterior colour finishes are available to choose from – Santorini Black and Eiger Grey, while for the interior the Ebony Perforated Grained Leather is complemented by an Ebony Morzine headlining. Prices start at a cool £56,995 (or £499 per month on the road) and it is available to order immediately. If you win the lottery…

1. How can a monthly magazine have a “Winter edition”? 2. Why would an “Ultimate Buying Guide” cover only the ÿrst three generations of the Range Rover, yet completely ignore every full-size Range Rover built for the last six or seven years - and still ÿnd space to include the Evoque? What is it about the L405 that makes it unworthy of inclusion? Remember, this was billed as being the “Ultimate”. 3. Why have three perfectly good pages (68 to 70) been squandered on repeating Auto Express childish fantasy Photoshops, built from a collage of current LR images and a healthy dose of guesswork – which only serve to mislead and confuse. I rely on LRM for being a source of reliable information and this only damages your hard-earned reputation.…

BOLLINGER is best known as the expensive brand of Champagne that folk with more money than class drink loudly, in public, to underline their stupidity. But to Land Rover fans it will soon become known as the company that stole Defender’s lunch. US-based Bollinger Motors has, you see, come up with the Defender replacement that Land Rover should have done, but didn’t. When real Defender production ceased four years ago, JLR made it plain that its eventual replacement would be very different to its iconic predecessor. It was clear that this would leave a vacuum in the 4x4 world where the old Defender used to sit. It was equally clear that there would be some motor manufacturers eager to fill that vacuum. With 4x4s more popular than ever, any perceived…

ONE of the little joys that make this job worthwhile is when a customer brings you a vehicle with what appears to be a major problem, and you fix it in a couple of minutes at almost no cost. Jobs like that might not generate a lot of income but they are very good for massaging one’s ego, which can take a bit of a battering when things go wrong. A few days ago I had a visit from the current owner of ‘Piglet’, my old Discovery 300Tdi automatic. The vehicle looked very smart, having been treated to a bit of machine polishing: but something was amiss with the fuel system. Like most 300Tdi automatics, this one has the Bosch Electronic Diesel Control (EDC) system, sometimes referred to as fly…

THIRTEEN years ago I went on a greenlaning weekend with some friends and family, fearing that it was going to be one of the last times that it would be possible to drive off-road in the UK. The NERC (Natural Environment and Rural Communities) Act of the same year included some quite radical changes to rights of way. Councils were required to re-classify all unsurfaced roads or UCRs (Unclassified County Roads), RUPPs (Roads Used as Public Paths) and BOATS (Byways Open to All Traffic) as byways, either ‘open to all traffic’ or ‘restricted’. Overnight, hundreds of vehicular rights of way were lost for ever. With a rationale that is perhaps hard to understand now, such a dramatic and Draconian act saddened me so much that I hung up the keys…

THE very last Defender rolled off the Solihull production line in January 2016. Killed off by safety and emission regulations, as well as a lack of demand, the legendary 4x4 could trace its origins back almost as far as the end of World War II. But even though Land Rover sounded the death knell for the classic Defender nearly four years ago, a smattering of companies around the country can still give you what is, to all intents and purposes, a brand-new Defender with little more than delivery mileage on the clock. One such enterprise is Twisted Automotive, a Yorkshire-based business owned by Charles Fawcett. The company was inspired by his father, who spent much of his time in the 1970s running an off-road driving centre and working on classic…

RECENTLY the Northern Ireland Land Rover Club prepared for an exciting new venture. With no greenlaning rights of way available throughout Northern Ireland, the club had been in negotiations with local landowners and community groups to make farm tracks available to drive – and for the local community to benefit from monies raised. A previous effort a month or two before had seen the village of Glenarm benefit from our efforts on a trial run when we were kindly assisted by the Glenarm Estate along with locals to open gates and make tracks available for club members to drive in preparation for this adventure. The Glenarm village car park was the meeting point, with club member Ian on site to make breakfast and hot drinks for those arriving and have…

The annual Barrie Murdoch Memorial Trial will take place this year on Sunday, January 19 at Wickenby Airfield & Woods near Market Rasen and run, as in past years, by the Lincolnshire Land Rover Club. This annual CCV Trial in memory of club member Barrie Murdoch has become over the past five years a must-do CCV Trial for many ALRC trial drivers. Camping is available on-site from Friday along with toilets and burger van: all profits are going to a chosen charity. Members of all ALRC clubs are welcome. Details can be found on the club's website. llrc.co.uk…

DEFENDER ownership is great when you’re cruising along some greenlanes or up some foreign mountain pass in the sunshine. The frustrating bit is when things go wrong as I found out in spectacular fashion while out on Cannock Chase recently. While making my way up some slippery incline I gave it some beans. After getting to the top I noticed the engine was overheating while steam came out from under the bonnet. My viscous fan had disintegrated and smashed into the radiator, thereby damaging the ÿns. I think that the fan caught on the cowling after it came loose. It was a glassÿbre cowling that I had picked up a year ago while in Africa as that is the only place in the world that they sold these Defenders (remember?).…

EX-MILITARY Land Rovers – or at least my ex-military 110 V8 soft-top – do not have a conventional ignition switch and steering lock assembly. Instead, mine had an electrical ignition switch with no steering lock, in the usual location. Before I rebuilt the 110 a couple of years ago, the ignition switch failed and I replaced it with a Massey Ferguson switch I had to hand – the one with the all-familiar Lucas key, that any classic tractor driver will be familiar with. This worked, but was not ideal; started by a common key that is easy to get hold of, no steering lock and a soft-top is not a secure mix. Luckily, in Co Donegal where the Land Rover is kept, there isn’t much petty or vehicle crime. The…

THE ignition lock/switch assembly ÿtted to early Ninety and One Ten (and 127) models, through to the Defender range, are generally reliable and give many years of trouble-free operation. However, any mechanical device will begin to wear and deteriorate over many thousands of operations, and the Land Rover ignition set-up is no exception. There are a number of reasons why an ignition lock/switch might need to be replaced with a new one. For example, the ignition key and lock barrel can become worn after many insertions and removals over the years. This may have the effect of difficulty and unreliability of turning the key in the barrel. The barrel mechanism can also become worn, making it difficult to unlock the steering or to effect a successful engine start sequence. On…

SOLDERING is a process of joining two metal items together, securely. Similar to welding, heat is applied to the metal parts to be joined, and a ÿller material is melted into the joint to fuse both parts together securely to achieve electrical conductivity. Welding uses intense heat to melt both ÿller material and some of the material being joined, whereas soldering relies on heat to only melt the ÿller material. We’ve all got a soldering iron somewhere, but soldering can be one of those jobs we rarely do. When we do have a need to call on it, we can often become a little frustrated with less than perfect results. That needn’t be the case. Spend an hour spent practising, understanding the basics, appreciating the key points to get right,…

LAST month in the workshop we spent quite a lot of time carefully assembling the pistons and crankshaft into the Series I’s 2.0-litre engine block. This month, equal diligence goes into ÿtting the camshaft and the twin rocker shafts and assembling the lower rocker system. As with the crank and piston components last time, assembly of this next section is totally different from the more familiar, later Land Rover engines. We’re also looking ahead and preparing the next stage of the engine build – assembling the camshaft timing gear comprising the sprockets, chain and tensioner on the front of the engine. At that time, the camshaft will be timed with the crankshaft position, and to do that, the engine flywheel needs to be ÿtted, so that’s the ÿrst job to…