Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Land Rover Monthly

@LAND_ROVER_MARTIN HELLO! I’m Martin, and I’ve been given the great honour of being the new Editor of Land Rover Monthly. It’s not going to be an easy task to fill Patrick Cruywagen’s boots, but I hope what I can bring to the magazine and ever-expanding LRM events roster will help you get the most from your Land Rover, learn something and have a good time along the way. A bit about me, then. I was brought up around Land Rovers, and learned to drive in a battered 200Tdi 110 truck cab that my dad drove on the farm he worked on. In year 10 of secondary school, I was lucky enough to do my work experience at my local Land Rover main dealer, and left after two great weeks with…

IF one is having a great time on a trip, then often we promise ourselves that one day we will come back to the very spot, area or experience. This could be because of the food, the weather or the company. In 99 per cent of these cases most people never return because life and a lack of time or willpower just seem to get in the way. Occasionally some do return, though, as I’m doing right now as I make my way towards the McDonald’s in King’s Lynn, Norfolk. No, I am not some sicko who gets his kicks in a Macky D’s car park – this is the meeting point for several G4 Challenge Land Rovers that will be joining me on a day of greenlaning in Norfolk.…

BACK in the early 1990s I owned a 1978 Suffix F Range Rover that I bought for less than a thousand pounds. For the next 12 months I spent a considerable amount of time and money making that vehicle look as much like a new Range Rover as possible. Nationwide Trim installed a new interior in factory standard grey velour, the exterior was repainted in Ascot Green and I replaced the original bonnet-mounted mirrors for the latest fold-out versions that fitted in front of the two-door’s quarterlights using a custom-made bracket. That Range Rover – which was affectionately known as Camel – was transformed from rusty wreck to tidy vehicle by fitting new parts, and I enjoyed driving it for a couple of years before swapping it for TEW 78X,…

IN 2022 visits to my bolt-hole in County Donegal have not been as often as I would have liked – and the infrequent visits have been shorter than I would normally hope for. Consequently, my Land Rover One Ten V8 – which I keep in Donegal mainly for enjoying the lanes and beaches of the beautiful Irish county – has seen little use and has been very neglected. The Land Rover had been through a couple of incarnations during my ownership, before my friend Dan and I rebuilt her in 2016 on a new galvanised chassis, fitted additional seating in the back of the utility load bed and replaced the soft top with a new mohair one (manufactured by All Wheel Trim). Prior to this, the left-hand drive V8 had…

NOVEMBER was a hectic month for the Essex Land Rover Club with lots of varied activities and events going on. The first weekend the club was trialling in some woods local to Chelmsford. The Tyro on the Saturday had a good turnout of ten drivers of varying abilities. It’s great to get novices and more experienced drivers together as they can learn so much from one another: it’s surprising how a fresh pair of eyes can look at a section in a completely different way. There were five sections with plenty of options to tweak and change the gates to drive the sections the other way round for a second time as the day went on, and drivers enjoyed going over similar ground to hone their skills. In the end,…

ENTHUSIASTS have been modifying the lighting on Land Rovers since 1948, but it’s only recently that LED technology has not only transformed the performance of headlights, but has also enabled the lights to become a distinctive design feature. LED headlights are now a common upgrade for Defenders, allowing older vehicles to benefit from the latest technology seen on modern Land Rovers. Old H4 lights with typically corroded reflectors and stone-chipped lenses are often replaced by modern LED units which, in comparison, have a similar laser-like quality to the beam pattern of a new Range Rover. They offer a whiter, brighter light than H4 filament bulbs, but with hammer-tough lenses. Yes, ORE’s Chris McCormack has indeed demonstrated hitting the lenses of these headlights with a hammer. Here, Ian Baughan of IRB…

Sat 31 Dec – Sun 15 Jan 2023 DAKAR RALLY Sea Camp, Saudi Arabia dakar.com/en Sat 7 Jan 4X4 DRIVER TRAINING DAY Corby, Northamptonshire protraxoverlandadventures.co.uk NEW YEAR RUN Craven Arms, Shropshire timelessoverland.co.uk Sat 7 – Sun 8 Jan TYRO & CCV TRIAL Twinney Wood, Puckeridge, Hertfordshire elrc.info Sun 8 Jan PAY & PLAY DAY Canewdon, Essex 4x4er.co.uk ICE RUN GREENLANING TRIP Salisbury, Wiltshire sadlrc.co.uk TYNE & WEAR LAND ROVER TOUR Allensford, County Durham uklandroverevents.com QUARRY DRIVING DAY Stamford, Lincolnshire protraxoverlandadventures.co.uk WHO DARES WINS TRIAL Twechar, Cumbernauld, Scotland slroc.co.uk Fri 13 Jan – Sat 14 Jan 4X4 GUIDED TOUR MID & NORTH WALES Wales ardventures.co.uk Sat 14 – Sun 15 Jan YORKSHIRE DALES TOUR Wensleydale, North Yorkshire offthebeatentrack4x4.co.uk Sat 14 Jan WINCH & RECOVERY COURSE Corby, Northamptonshire protraxoverlandadventures.co.uk WILD WALES 4X4…

If you’re planning to attend a two-day Land Rover event in 2023, make it our Big Weekender – and being the middle of spring (20-21 May) we’re hoping for warmer climes than we’re experiencing now! Officially known as Land Rover Monthly Live, it celebrates 75 years of Land Rover and 25 years of LRM. The all-new event, hosted at the beautiful Malvern Three Counties Showground, features camping, a whole host of outdoor trade stands, arena displays, vehicle and club stands, an autojumble, Saturday live auction, a live events arena, entertainment on Friday and Saturday evening, and heaps more, including our special Hall of Fame. In addition to the popular Stockmans Restaurant that will open for breakfast, lunch and light refreshments – we also have a beer tent and various other…

JLR will hire around 300 apprentices in the UK in 2023 as the company continues to expand its talent pool as part of its transition to an electrified future. The hiring drive means over 800 people will join Jaguar Land Rover’s early careers programmes in 2023, a 55 per cent increase on last year’s figure and a new record intake for the company. Places are available across engineering, manufacturing, software engineering, data, logistics, and product development, with all successful applicants enrolled onto courses in autonomous driving, electrification and more. The programme includes flagship apprentice degree apprenticeship programmes in Digital Technology and Engineering for students pursuing careers in software engineering, data engineering and analytics, and cyber security. Apprenticeships at Jaguar Land Rover range from Level 3 to Level 7 and typically…

I know of a few examples of UK owners sending their classic Land Rover overseas to be restored, and for a long time it remained a pretty unusual thing to do. The undoubted attraction is the lower labour costs, but the downside is that it is much more difficult to keep tabs on the project, and there is always the concern that the work won’t be completed to your satisfaction because the restorer isn’t sufficiently expert in matters Land Rover, or simply because standards are different. Two early Discoverys that I know of were given chassis-up restorations abroad, and I’m aware of three two-door Range Rovers and several Series vehicles that were also restored overseas for UK owners. These projects were completed in Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Australia.…

I’VE been fortunate enough to cover some pretty hefty off-road events such as the Land Rover G4 Challenge and the Dakar Rally. While in Africa I have covered biggies such as Botswana’s Desert 1000 race and Zambia’s Elephant Charge. However, if you ask which 4x4 or off-road event in the world would I most like to cover before I die, then it has to be Kenya’s Rhino Charge. The next best thing to physically being there is to read Gavin Bennett’s book, The Rhino Charge, which was first published in 2018 to celebrate 30 years of the charge. Gavin calls it, ‘the story of the brawny, the brainy and the bewildered’. I concur, but call it just plain bonkers. Who drives in a straight line between various GPS coordinates along…

IT is so easy to get stuck in an unhealthy rut when the real winter kicks in by spending more time watching TV or comfort eating. I am trying my best not to fall into that trap. I recently purchased a little cottage in the Bedfordshire countryside and still try to get out for a walk, run or paddle every day. Yes, you read it right. I still do my stand-up paddle boarding. Even in the dark depths of winter. When out on a paddle last Saturday one of the lads who has a bad back and wrist fell in – luckily, he was wearing a drysuit and it did what it says on the tin, it kept him dry. Still, we were taking no chances and cut the paddle…

lrmtechnical@gmail.com MY Land Rover dealer loaned me an Evoque while repairing my Range Rover Sport. It was a couple of months old with 4000 miles on the clock, compared with my Sport’s 16 years and 150,000 miles. So I was surprised to find the Evoque less comfortable, less quiet, less rewarding to drive and with a lesser ride quality than my old Sport. Naturally, the Evoque had far less loadspace and less elbow, leg and storage space in the living quarters, but then, it’s a different kind of vehicle. I privately objected to having to go around in the Evoque – at least, for the first week. Then it grew on me. I liked the fact that I didn’t have a list of jobs to do on it and that,…

YEARS of hard work, accident damage and the dreaded electrolytic corrosion can take its toll on the bodywork of your Land Rover. Whether it be a 1948 Series I or a last off the line 2016 Defender, seven or 75-years old, the globally-renowned silhouette of their aluminium body will have received some abuse in its lifetime. There are plenty of people out there now remanufacturing Land Rover bodywork, but replacement panels may not be the answer for you or your vehicle if the aim is to maintain originality, cost or sentimentality. Repairing bodywork using the techniques described here will not achieve better-than-factory results so, if that’s what you’re after, then replacement will be your best option. Some of you may have seen our restorations from Julian Shoolheifer Ltd and will…

Bolt in trim sets Ruskin mark of quality Shipped worldwide WHAT IS RUSKIN ORIGINAL? Created by the talented team at Ruskin Design and inspired by Land Rover Defender connoisseurs, Ruskin Original® is a new range of pre-designed, bolt in at home trim sets for the Land Rover Defender 90. With Ruskin’s Great British, handcrafted luxury and prestigious elegance, each Ruskin Original® set is individually made to order and available to customers worldwide. BY POPULAR DEMAND Born from listening to a growing global audience who want to add style and value to their Defender with a Ruskin Design interior, yet location or logistics have been a barrier to ordering, we’ve launched the Ruskin Original® and… it’s available to Defender 90 owners across the globe. CRAFTED BY HAND Staying true to Ruskin…

Award-winning journalist Gary Pusey is co-author of Range Rover The First Fifty, trustee of The Dunsfold Collection and a lifelong Land Rover enthusiast. NEXT year we will be celebrating Land Rover’s 75th birthday, but the year will also mark another anniversary – it will be 55 years since the late Brian Bashall founded the Dunsfold Collection. It will also be the year when the UK gains its first ever museum dedicated to all things Land Rover, when the Dunsfold Collection opens its new museum building. Two years ago, Philip Bashall closed Dunsfold DLR Ltd, the parts and servicing business founded by his father. Initially known as Common House Garage, it was renamed Dunsfold Land Rovers and was granted Land Rover Retail Dealer status in 1981, before becoming Dunsfold DLR and…

THE military provides serving members with a brotherhood and new family. Clocking out of the military and into civvy street can be one of the most daunting things for a soldier or sailor. Suddenly your brothers and the banter are no more. Some struggle with the transition and there are various charities that offer lifelong support to service personnel and military veterans. Others take the skills and discipline they learnt while serving and make a success of their lives. This is the story of one such individual, Louis Tinsley, a former Special Boat Service soldier and co-founder of the successful technical clothing range, ThruDark. Louis drives a late old-style Defender 90 pick-up and it serves as his daily. This is what Louis had to say about soldiering, Land Rovers and…

To see examples of Laszlo’s work, including Darren’s Series I and Simon’s Lister, visit theclassicmechanic.co.uk. Contact Simon Spurrell at simon@theclassicmechanic.co.uk for an initial conversation about your project. Simon is based in Macclesfield and will arrange to meet you and inspect your vehicle. He will arrange for project cost estimates and take care of the shipping arrangements and assist with the regular project reviews with Laszlo. Laszlo is based in the village of Nagyszénás, which is about 100 miles southeast of Budapest.…

ONE of the best things about the Land Rover scene is just how many different paths the owners of vehicles can take them down. Some Land Rovers are put to work on a daily basis, some are cherished, polished at the weekend and only come out of the garage when the sun’s out and the roads are dry. Others give their owners freedom to travel the world, and some are built up for motorsport. The one thing they all have in common, though, is the ability to take on and conquer terrain that would stop most other vehicles in their tracks. And the opportunity to get the tyres properly muddy is exactly why I was up early one Sunday morning, warming up my Series III’s engine and wiping the condensation…

A chassis cab, also known as a cab chassis or half truck, is a type of vehicle construction often found in medium-and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. Instead of supplying a finished vehicle with a pre-assembled van body, flat-bed or pick-up body, the manufacturer sells the customer a vehicle that is simply a finished cab and open chassis rails. The owner can then handbuild on whatever type of rear body is required. For example: a tipping body, fire appliance equipment or a cherry picker can be fitted to the chassis cab vehicle. Over the years, Land Rover manufactured chassis cab Defenders, and earlier utility Land Rovers for many end-user purposes – and for the company’s Special Vehicles division to produce finished commercial vehicles. The chassis cab format was also used by Land…

UNLIKE the chain-driven Td4 diesel engine that replaced it, the early Freelander 1’s L-Series Rover diesel engine uses a camshaft drive belt that needs to be renewed every 48,000 miles and, while no time interval is mentioned on the standard service schedule, the typical limit of seven years is about the maximum to ensure the belt doesn’t fail through wear, cracking or oil contamination. Failure can cause serious engine damage, and this applies to any engine with a belt-driven camshaft. While the job of replacing the cambelt is different on each engine type, the principles employed in timing the crankshaft, camshaft and fuel pump are similar. For this engine, the workshop manual suggests removing the front axleshafts in order to move the engine to one side due to the close…