Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2020 i Land Rover Monthly

WHAT an issue to be a reader of LRM! For the month of September, we are the biggest Land Rover magazine in the world. You are holding in your hands 196 pages of the finest Land Rover content on the planet. It just gets better. On the same day this specific magazine went on sale our new website went live. How good is that? Just click on landrovermonthly.co.uk to check it out. Magazines definitely need an online and social media presence. We already had a strong Instagram and Facebook presence so a brand-new website was the next logical piece of the puzzle. The website is not replacing the magazine, it is merely making it a better and more complete product. We have been extremely busy during the lockdown, getting the…

SARAH Baxter recently wrote a piece in The Telegraph titled ‘The hidden wonders of England’s most boring county’. Which county was she referring to? Bedfordshire, the place I have called home for the last seven years since moving to England from Africa. I think we should send Sarah to Mogadishu or Kinshasa for a few weeks, then she will wish she was in boring Bedfordshire. According to a 2018 YouGov poll, in which 42,000 people participated, Bedfordshire is the most unpopular county in all of England. I wonder how many of those 42,000 people have actually been to Bedfordshire? I am obviously a fan of the place or else I would not have ended up staying here for so long and I have no plans whatsoever of leaving. People say…

NEED TO KNOW TIME: 5 hours  COST: See below DIFFICULTY: MODELS: Early Ninety, One Ten, Series and Defender TOOLS: General workshop tools, sockets, spanners, drill, drill bits, hammer, bolster/chisel, pop rivet gun, hacksaw, files, clamps PARTS & COSTS: Heavy duty galvanised front seatbelt mount bracket (part no. 175WF), £115.20; 2-door front of rear tub repair section (part no. 122), £22.80; 100 x 1 mm x 5 m single-sided foam tape (part no. 1903), £9; quantity of pop rivets (A-type left over from Part One of this story) WORK SAFELY: • Ensure that you wear eye protection when grinding or cutting metal • Wear thick workshop gloves when cutting, grinding and handling metalwork to protect against sharp edges. • Clean up all swarf/drilled out rivets at the end of each work…

CORONAVIRUS has had a devastating effect upon the motor industry. The number of new cars sold in April and May was a tiny fraction of what were sold in the same period last year and the uncertainty over the future – including, crucially, businesses and jobs – means folk aren’t so eager to buy or lease new cars. In fact, many people are being forced to downgrade, selling their nearly-new Land Rovers and buying something more modest, in order to raise cash. But where does this leave would-be buyers? In a good place, actually. If you’re in the market for a new model you can expect huge discounts and incentives, especially on extras and accessories. You should enjoy great finance deals, too. Secondhand prices are low, too, especially for premium…

WELCOME to the first-ever edition of LRM’s Drive 25 and thanks to Heritage Insurance for joining us on what promises to be an exciting drive. What is Drive 25? It is 25 of our favourite Land Rover drives and activities, most are in the UK but one or two will take a ferry or long drive just to get to. Like driving up the Langjokull Glacier in Iceland in a Bigfoot Defender or taking a tour of the French World War I or World War II battlefields. Owning a Land Rover provides you with a passport to explore, adventure and experience our wonderful island and the surrounding kingdoms. We have helped you to pick your next Land Rover adventure. Best of all, many of these adventures are absolutely free, you…

NOTHING beats a great day of driving greenlanes in the British countryside in your Land Rover. The banter between mates, the lunch stop, the cake stop and just being out in nature enjoying everything that it has to offer. Lauren Eaton, the GLASS Executive Media and Communications Officer and GLASS North Wales Lead Rep gives us her top ten greenlaning tips. 1 Check before you go – is it legal? The local council can help with this. Are there any current restrictions/obstructions? The TrailWise2 mapping system (free to GLASS members) can help with more detailed route information. 2 Never go alone: Adventures are always more enjoyable (and safer) with friends. Lanes may be public roads, but once off the tarmac, you’re on your own. The RAC won’t be coming to…

THE thing about Wales is that you can go laning there for three of four weekends in a row and never drive the same lane. The valleys are vast and plentiful. So too the sheep. When it comes to greenlaning then Wales is undoubtably the king of the home nations. One way of dividing up the main laning areas would be north, mid and south Wales. Each a laning utopia in its own right. You could just focus on one of these areas or if you have the time do a combination or all three of them. Do your research beforehand and find out which lanes are still officially open and contact the local GLASS rep to ask if they have any new updates regarding the lanes or area you…

SELFIES are all the rage and the more well-known the person in the selfie with you, the more likes and comments you will get. So, where do the Land Rover legends hang out? Big vehicle launches or Land Rover celebration events are always a winner. I once sat next to Sir Ranulph Fiennes while enjoying a spot of lunch in the Land Rover VIP area at the Burleigh Horse Trials. Another option are events that Land Rover sponsor, such as the Rugby World Cup. A-listers include people like Bear Grylls, Gerry McGovern, Roger Crathorne, and Joe and Bob Ives, the only Britons to have won the Camel Trophy. As for B-listers I would say people like Dave Phillips, Gary Pusey and Ed Evans. We look forward to seeing your selfies.…

SOME of the most strategically significant battles and campaigns of both the First and Second World Wars took place in France. Most of you reading this have heard of Passchendaele, the Somme and D-Day beach landings, all places where thousands and thousands died while trying to crack German defences. Thanks to the terrific tour operator Battlefields by 4x4 you can experience unique tours that take in these and many more incredible places of wartime significance in France while driving your Land Rover. They use very knowledgeable British guides and as you are in a 4x4, they will take you along muddy lanes where the tour buses can’t go. You will go along the same tracks and trails used by both Allied and German soldiers during WWI and WWII. LRM have…

IF YOU like trees and forest trails then you need to try the guided off-road tracks of Cannock Chase, just north of Birmingham. These trails are open only on the first Saturday of every month, so be sure to book well in advance as they are very popular and places fill up quickly. The trail kicks off at 09.30 am but not before a safety briefing by the very experienced local guides. In fact, they know every single tree in the 6000 hectare Cannock Chase by name. Any standard Land Rover should be able to comfortably complete the trails with ease though you will experience a loss of traction on some of the longer climbs as most of the trails are gravel. In fact, it’s here where the largest amount…

Going abroad? Then contact the local Land Rover club or enthusiasts where you are going and see if they are planning any trips, outings or events while you are there. Break up seven days of lying on the beach with a day spent bouncing about in a Land Rover over technical tracks with the locals. Your mates back home will be jealous of your holiday pics and videos. Land Rover owners are generally pretty friendly and love entertaining foreigners. As for events abroad we would recommend the following: the Land Rover Party in Spain (landroverparty.com), Landrauvergne in France (landrauvergne.fr) or else the biggest overland show in Europe, Abenteuer Allrad in Germany (abenteuer-allrad.de).…

FINALLY images of the INEOS Grenadier have been revealed… And it looks great – perhaps something that Land Rover’s design boss Gerry McGovern should have penned. But is there still a market for this type of car given that Land Rover killed off the original Defender partly because the market for ultra-rugged vehicles had dried up? On the contrary chairman of INEOS Group, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, says the Grenadier project started “by identifying a gap in the market, abandoned by a number of manufacturers, for a utilitarian off-road vehicle”, and when you consider that the famous 4x4’s fate was mainly sealed by European laws on safety and emissions, then this may not be such a huge gamble after all. In the official press release from INEOS Automotive in the reveal…

@LRMonthly facebook.com/LandRoverMonthly @land_rover_monthly Send us your Landy lockdown shots Whether you’ve been at home with your Land Rover or carrying out essential tasks, we’d like to know what you’re doing! Send your shots to: patrick@lrm.co.uk…

ONE of the consequences of lockdown was that I had to suspend the search for a couple of engines which I needed for Tdi conversions. Once the restrictions were relaxed I put out an appeal on Facebook for engines, and had a message in reply from a chap locally with two old Discoveries to dispose of, a 200Tdi and a 300Tdi. I went along to have a look and ended up buying both of them for what I considered a fair price. The seller was happy to deliver them both the same day, and before I packed up for the day I thought I would have a quick look over them and see whether they would yield any useful bits apart from the engines. The 300Tdi was a three-door manual,…

IN the space of less than six minutes, Nick Dimbleby left a voicemail message on my mobile, sent me a text and an email, and recorded a message on our home landline. Was I free on Friday, 5th of June? And more to the point, was my NXC available? Needless to say, I called him back as quickly as I could. Nick explained that he had been retained by JLR for a hush-hush photoshoot at Gaydon, and he needed a very early two-door Range Rover in Tuscan Blue that would scrub up well. And even better if it was a 1970 press launch vehicle. This sounded interesting! The 50th anniversary year has been a washout because of the pandemic and none of the eagerly anticipated Range Rover birthday events have…

In 2018 I travelled the ancient Silk Road to Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Iran, in my converted 1996 Defender. Regular readers may remember reading about that 'Roof of the World Tour' in the November 2019 edition of LRM. The objective for my next adventure was to go higher still, with a six-month trek down the spine of the Andes in South America — from the very north to the southern tip of the continent and back in time for carnival and Brazil. This latest expedition started in September 2019 in Colombia and finished just after carnival in March 2020, just days before COVID-19 lockdown in Argentina. There’s a lot to tell you about, but, first, let me tell you a bit more about the all-important vehicle for the trip… Nelson…

“There’s someone here who wants to look at the Disco…” Ian’s been driving Land Rovers for over 40 years and drawing for LRM since issue 2. He lives on the coast of East Anglia and drives a Freelander 2 DISCLAIMER: The views expressed by contributors and advertisers are not necessarily those of the publishers. Every care is taken to ensure that the contents of the magazine are accurate but the publishers cannot accept responsibility for errors. While reasonable care is taken when accepting advertisements, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for any resulting unsatisfactory transactions. They will however investigate any written complaints.…

IS there a more beautiful 500-mile coastal road in the world? We doubt it. The sometimes narrow and winding Highlands track that hugs the coastline of remote northern Scotland will literally take your breath away with each turn or corner. It has something for everyone: castles, distilleries, breweries, indigenous wildlife, tasty local produce, lighthouses, white sandy beaches, wild camping and friendly locals. You know a route is pretty good when Rough Guides have dedicated a whole book to it (£5.99 on Amazon.co.uk). Get it and go now! The route starts in Inverness, then heads north-west towards the coast, but to get there you have to make your way over Beelach na Ba or Cattle Pass, the UK’s third highest drivable pass. Stop at Applecross, where they serve the most delightful…

SOLIHULL is the original home of Land Rover. It’s where the first-ever Series Is and the last-ever old Defender rolled off the production line. It’s a place that all true Land Rover fans should visit at least once in their lives. Take a tour of the impressive state-of-the-art production facility and see how a Range Rover and Range Rover Sport is made. Prepare to be impressed at how man and robot work together to produce a modern, highly-sophisticated Land Rover. There’s also a Land Rover Experience on site where you can drive yourself around the famous Jungle Track in a new Land Rover while under the expert guidance of an LRE instructor. To book see landrover.com/experiences/manufacturing-tours.…

LAND Rover owners can find insurance a bit of a minefield – especially if you’re set up for off-road driving. Here Andy McDonald, Heritage’s in-house underwriter, answers your important questions.  Do more modifications mean more premium? This is a common misconception, but with our modified 4x4 scheme that’s very rarely the case. Engine swaps that increase engine capacity can attract an increase, but beyond that our scheme doesn’t load for many mods at all. Declaring all your modifications is more beneficial. On a modified scheme, there’s usually a minimum modification level to qualify and a very lightly modified LR could end up on a more standard scheme. As far as modified 4x4 insurers go, the more off-road mods you have the better: additional lights, rock sliders, snorkels, suspension changes… this…

LAND Rover thefts are on the up in the United Kingdom. Not a day goes by without one or more of them being nicked. When some Land Rover owners wake up in the morning, the first thing they do is check to see if their Land Rover is still there. Imagine how that makes their partners feel? You can put a steering guard, pedal guard, cut-off switch and a host of other security measures in place and the thieves will still be tempted to try and steal it. Statistics show they are succeeding. What about a deterrent that is hidden from sight? One that gives you and the police the capability to track in live time, exactly where the thieves have taken your precious Land Rover. Yes, we are talking…

NOTHING beats wild camping especially if there are no other vehicles or people for miles. These places exist and if you get to experience them you will feel like the king or queen of England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland. Having a place all to yourself is what life is about. For some solitude and isolation are a curse while for the wild camper it is their idea of utopia, like waking up in heaven. A chance to connect with nature and a chance to recharge tired batteries. As with most wild camping spots you need to be entirely self-sufficient. So, bring clean water, food, something to cook on, dry clothes to change into, tent, sleeping gear and the right attitude. Oh, and some wood to make a fire or else…

NOT up for the maddening summer crowds while doing the North Coast 500? How about Scotland’s North East 250 instead? The North East 250 is taking in the best mountain passes of the Cairngorms National Park followed by a coastal circumnavigation of the very same park! Brace yourself for the whisky distilleries of Speyside, the famous castles of Royal Deeside, the granite city of Aberdeen, the rugged North Sea coastline to the east, and the picturesque seaside villages of the Moray Firth Coast. As you make your way along the Speyside every bend in the road brings another world-famous distillery. Don’t leave Portknockie without visiting its famous Bow Fiddle Rock and sampling some of its award-winning fish and chips. We loved doing the route and at times it felt like…

THE three big annual events at Goodwood are the Festival of Speed, Goodwood Revival and the Members Meeting. If attending the Festival of Speed be sure to visit the massive Jaguar Land Rover stand to see their latest offerings. From there take a walk up the hill to the off-road course and rally section as you will always see lots of Land Rovers kicking up dust there. At Revival when strolling around the paddocks be sure to look out for Richard Beddell and friends as they use Series Is to recover vehicles that need a pull start or recovery. There is never a shortage of Land Rovers at the premier Goodwood events. To book your tickets see goodwood.com.…

ASK any green oval enthusiast. Occasions are even more memorable when there are Land Rovers involved or around. Would you like to go to your grave in a Defender? Or how about driving a Series I on your wedding day? Throwing a party where the guests will need loads of beer? Ever heard of One Ten on Tap? A Defender 110 with beer taps on the side and barrels of beer in the back. Perfect for a party or event. Our favourite Land Rover hearse for hire has to be One Life Lived It. Yes, it’s a deadlier version of the phrase One Life, Live it. Peter Davies and his shiny black Defender 110 hearse is the perfect way to go to your final resting place. Land Rover fan Peter…

TAN Hill Inn, recorded in the 1976 Guinness Book of World Records as the highest pub in the United Kingdom. How high? 1732 ft above sea level and there it has stood for more than 500 years, at the top of Pennine moors. Book a room or pitch a tent in the car park. But hurry as plans are underway to develop this national treasure, so go before the bus loads of tourists arrive. If visiting during a cold snap in the winter take care on icy roads and it’s not uncommon to be snowed in at the highest inn! To find out more see tanhillinn.com.…

FOR anyone who has purchased the new Defender and are looking to go overlanding in it (who isn’t thinking of 4x4-based adventures in these unprecedented times?) then you may be interested to know that Land Rover and Autohome have developed a state-of-the-art roof tent, which can be put up in seconds with one simple movement. Sounds great, right? The downside is that it only sleeps two adults – but for any couple seeking short overnight camping trips or even lengthy overland expeditions you’ll be doing it in complete comfort, with a full-size luxury cotton mattress, pillows, LED lighting and a rear canopy. It ain’t cheap mind – with a price tag of €3081.96 (just shy of £2800 at the time of writing). The roof tent is said to feature an…

TO FEATURE YOUR PRODUCTS IN LRM EMAIL PATRICK@LRM.CO.UK LIGHT YOUR RACK PRICE: From £57.50 CONTACT: frontrunner.com Exciting news. The new ORAM 40” LEDriving® FX1000-CB SM driving light (containing 40 long-life OS-RAM high-power LEDs) is now exclusively available from Front Runner? Why you may ask? The light can be mounted onto a Front Runner Slimline II roof rack by using the special Front Runner bracket and mounts. Best of all it has a front cover so you can hide the light bar or protect it when off-roading. Bracket and shield are £57.50 while the Light Bar is £572.50. The driving light combines near and far field illumination, the so-called Combo Beam. Therefore, the light bar achieves a range up to 635 m. The light bar has double ECE-Certification which allows a…

WHEN JLR launched the new Defender at Frankfurt last September they went to extraordinary lengths to explain and demonstrate its off-road capabilities. The company clearly recognised that it had to show, and prove, that its new vehicle was a capable and accomplished off-roader worthy of inheriting the hallowed name. Land Rover ambassador and professional mountaineer Kenton Cool drove it on the aptly-named ‘Expedition 001’ in Kazakhstan, a nod to the Land Rover’s indispensable role in journeys of exploration as far back as 1949 when its simplicity, practicality, fixability and relatively cheap price inspired a post-war generation to go out and explore the world. Six months later, journalists were introduced to the new Defender onachallengingoff-roadmini-expeditionin Namibia, just before the pandemic put paid to the rest of the planned press launch. JLR…

THEY call Land Rovers the most versatile vehicle on the planet. Farmers use them to pull ploughs. The fire services used to turn them into fire trucks. I have seen people convert them into campers, bars, gunships and hearses. The opportunities are limitless I suppose, but when I got an email out of the blue asking if I wanted to come and see a Land Rover Gastrowagon, I had to Google what it was. Forgive me for my honesty but I had never heard of celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall prior to receiving that email. What I did know is with a name like that he probably went to the same school as Boris Johnson and David Cameron. I was right. He went to Eton College and was in Cameron’s…

CHANGING a Land Rover Discovery’s fuel pump is typically a casual affair. But when it’s a roasting 35 degrees, you’re in a remote mining settlement in the mountains of Washington State, and wildfire threatens to cut off your path, the project gains a certain sense of urgency. A grizzled volunteer firefighter rushing to the front lines in his pick-up truck paused alongside my Land Rover. Leaning out the window, he gazed toward the smoke and advised retreating to safe ground. I was halfway through the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route and was not interested in bailing out now. With the spare pump installed, the engine roared to life and we raced over Blewett Pass before fire blocked our progress. Three days earlier I had started the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route, a…

Show us what you’re working on Send us your shots! Want to feature your project in LRM? Email patrick@lrm.co.uk How did you find this project? It all began with a simple phone call from my auntie, which I still remember very, very clearly. It went something like this. Auntie says “my neighbour is selling their Land Rover, do you want it?” I reply “what is it?” She answers “a blue one, of course”. The rest as they say is history. After purchasing it and doing some digging I realised that for only £1000 it was a great bargain. What’s the story so far? It went like most serious projects, I suppose. First there was the simple strip and good old clean. This soon became a complete strip and rebuild, piece…

ANT to do something seriously cool? Fly to Iceland for a couple of days and hire a Bigfoot Defender from Ice Rovers in Reykjavik, the capital city. Then take a day trip to the Langjokull glacier and drive up it. What is a Bigfoot Defender? One with lots of rubber, ours had massive 37-inch tyres and you literally had to climb up onto the beefy side-steps just to get into it! Be warned, driving a Bigfoot is not like driving a normal Defender, they float like a hovercraft and they are pretty big, of course. Try not to drift into oncoming traffic. Getting to the second-biggest glacier in Iceland is an extremely scenic drive. Take the 550 in a northerly direction and make your way up the highest mountain pass…

I‘M IN the fortunate position of owning three of Lode Lane’s finest, and whilst I don’t mind spending my hard-earned on them – and as Land Rover owners, we know that we all like to anyway - but it’s when it comes round to insuring them - that’s when it can get a tad expensive. As I bought my Land Rovers at different times, in turn, each separate vehicle insurance policy started at the point of each purchase. As time went on, it seemed like I was getting an insurance renewal reminder literally every other month. At one point, not only was I insuring the Landies, I was also insuring an MGB GT - and a motorbike. I was finding it an ever-increasing problem keeping up with them all. The…

IN the UK you cannot drive massive sand dunes like you do in Namibia, Dubai or Morocco, but there is a National Park in France called Marquenterre, which will put your sand driving skills to the ultimate test. The park with its lush forests and tricky dunes is only an hour’s drive away from the port of Calais so getting there is no problem. There is a campsite (Le Champ Neuf) only a few minutes away from the park and it has a pool and decent shop. If birding is your thing then take a walk to the park as it is home to around 300 species and most can be spotted near the many freshwater ponds and brackish lagoon. As for the actual dune trips they are done under…

SHOWS are a great place to find out about cool new accessories, products and parts, but they are also about the camaraderie and hanging out with like-minded green oval fans. It does not matter if you are the head of engineering at JLR or if you once put a Tdi engine into a Series III, at shows all are equal in that they love all things Land Rover. Yes, one can buy everything on the internet these days, but when browsing online do the smells of a BBQ fill your nostrils or is there some practical demo in the arena that you might like? Plus, if you have any tech questions then the savvy salesman at the show is probably a Land Rover owner like you and knows the product…

EVERY fan of the brand feels all warm and fuzzy inside when they spot a legendary, historic or famous Land Rover. Where does one begin? I say at the finish, with the last ever production old Defender to roll off the Solihull production line on January 29, 2016, a Heritage 90 soft top with the reg plate HI66 HUE. Let’s go back to the beginning to probably the most famous (and oldest) Land Rover on the planet HUE166, a pre-production Series I 80 inch. Both the aforementioned priceless Land Rovers can be seen at the British Motor Museum and they are normally wheeled out for major events, special occasions and anniversaries. There are lots of other famous Land Rovers on display at the BMM, such as one of the Darien…

THEY call it the UK’s last true wilderness. It might be on the mainland but you can’t drive there thanks to Loch Hourn and Loch Nevis and once you get there by ferry it’s like being at a mini Land Rover show. Only 100 people and 50 Land Rovers call this piece of heaven on Scotland’s west coast home. Rent a Defender from a local and explore the handful of roads on this 55,000-acre peninsula. Sit at the Old Forge and watch the ferries come and go, take in the island life and enjoy some freshly-caught seafood and a glass of white wine. It’s like the place the rest of the UK forgot about. To plan your visit, see visitknoydart.co.uk.…

IRELAND’S 2500 km long Wild Atlantic Way is the world’s longest official coastal touring route and ideal if a pint of Guinness, seafood, incredible beaches, dramatic cliffs, friendly people, sea air and coastal landscapes is your thing, rather than a weekend in Blackpool. The Wild Atlantic Way is a long and winding route and if you are going to try and take it all in, you will need a couple of weeks to do it justice. If not, the route is divided into six different regions and running from north to south they are: The Northern Headlands, the Surf Coast, the Bay Coast, the Cliff Coast, Southern Peninsulas and the Haven Coast. So, if you only have a week why not just focus on one of them? You won’t be…