Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i Land Rover Monthly

A few great event with a chilled-out atmosphere and loads of great motors in attendance. The weather was perfect, too, and as I took a break from our bustling stand and wandered around, I realised that none of the Land Rovers I’d been poring over had been trailered to the event, no matter their age. No doubt the sunshine and dry roads coaxed them out. But these days it’s not uncommon to see Land Rovers get trailered to shows and events, and I’ve always wondered why. After all, their first owners didn’t trailer them around when they were brand new, so why do it now? Land Rovers (in fact, all vehicles) were designed to be driven, and in my experience, they actually improve with regular use. With the colder months…

IN its continued push to take over territories once the preserve of the traditional Defender, Ineos Automotive has acquired one of southern Africa’s most established vehicle conversion specialists, Kavango Engineering, based in Maun, northern Botswana. The business has been renamed Ineos Kavango. Kavango has previously specialised in converting Toyota 4x4s for safari applications (although Land Rovers also feature on its website) and will now expand its current activities to encompass ground-up conversions of the Grenadier Station Wagon and Quartermaster pick-up for use in the safari, conservation, anti-poaching, veterinary, healthcare and film production sectors. The company will also provide servicing and maintenance for the Grendadiers it has converted. As a proof of concept, in late 2022 Ineos Kavango created a Safari Grenadier from a donor production prototype vehicle. Engineering modifications are…

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THE third day of the festival at which I am working announces itself, before dawn, with one of England’s finest summer downpours. After getting soaked through trying to re-peg the sodden tent, I head down to the staff parking area – a poor choice comprising a steeply sloping field – to see the state of it. Equally poor was my choice of steed – my mum’s old Yaris, which I have temporarily inherited until my nephew passes his test, but its fully-functioning indicators made navigating the M25/M40 combo that bit easier. The tracks through the parking field have already been transformed into mud baths, and a modest assortment of cars – manned by people attempting to make an early escape – are embedded in mud at alarmingly jaunty angles. I…

IN the February 2023 issue of LRM, we told the story of how Darren Ashcroft’s 1954 Series I resto project ended up, half-finished, being shipped from Macclesfield to the village of Nagyszénás, which is about 100 miles southeast of Budapest, when its restorer, Laszlo Izso, had to return home to his native Hungary. “Hungary certainly wasn’t part of my restoration plan,” Darren tells me with a chuckle. “Having bought the Series I in Ireland and shipped it back to Stockport, I’d used it for over ten years as a workhorse before deciding to consign it to Laszlo’s engineering business in Macclesfield, called The Classic Mechanic, to be rebuilt properly. “Laszlo came highly recommended by my good friend of many years, Simon Spurrell, and all the work Laz did on the…

SAY what you will about EVs, but you can’t deny the benefits of a new Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) that Jaguar Land Rover has launched in collaboration with Wykes Engineering. In fact, it will be one of the UK’s largest – and it will harness solar and wind power by using second-life EV batteries. The BESS will help both decarbonise the National Grid and deal with peaks in demand. According to JLR, just 30 second-life Jaguar I-Pace batteries can store 2.5MWh of energy at full capacity, enough to power around 250 homes a day. The batteries supplied have been taken from prototype and engineering test vehicles, and JLR aims to supply enough batteries to store a total of 7.5MWh of energy – enough to power 750 homes for a…

TARP AWNING PRICE: £119.95 CONTACT: outdooradventurer.co.uk Expand your Land Rover’s camping versatility with this Kelty Waypoint tarp. Available in two colour schemes, it uses a simple single-pole set-up for quick pitching and makes an ideal shelter for keeping out of the sun or rain. Comes complete with heavy-duty stakes and guy lines, and a shark-mouth carry bag for easy stowage. R/C SERIES II PRICE: $199.99 (approx £160) CONTACT: fmshobby.com This highly detailed, 1:12-scale radiocontrolled Series II has a sturdy metal chassis and leaf springs that can be made softer or stiffer by adding leaves, just like the real thing, and is topped with an 88in body that can be run as a hard top, pick-up or fully open. The windscreen even folds down! Comes pre-built and ready to run. ALL-TERRAIN…

WHY do you own a Land Rover? Or in my case (and many of you lot too), why several? Lately I have been guilty of neglecting what I perceive to be the big draw card and that’s their ability to take you to places regular cars can’t travel. I love driving my Land Rovers on road, but venturing off it is where the fun is amplified. I say this with renewed conviction having just returned from three days on K’gari (or ‘Fraser Island’). Before I emigrated to Australia, did I know about this 4x4 oasis on the opposite side of the world? Shamefully, no. For those of you similarly uninformed, K’gari is the world’s largest sand island (76 miles long) located 225 miles north of Brisbane. Get yourself a permit,…

THE familiar off-beat thrum of a fivecylinder engine cuts through the still summer air. From the distance an unmistakable silhouette approaches, sun dancing off the gleaming paintwork, causing the colour to flicker from bright copper to deep bronze. TAs the Land Rover draws closer, the driver’s side window rolls down and a smiling, if slightly tired-looking face leans out. ‘‘We made it!’’ grins Max Brown, owner and builder of this stunning Defender. You may recognise Max’s name from previous issues of Land Rover Monthly. As well as being a complete Land Rover nut, he also knows his way around a camera and has done a few photoshoots that have graced the pages of LRM in the past. Today’s a bit different though, as he’s not snapping someone else’s Land Rover…

IN JLR’s new ‘House of Brands’, the Range Rover is at the top of the pile. It is the company’s flagship vehicle and has been since the model was launched to the world in 1970. Nowadays, of course, the brand is a family of four vehicles, although in my view JLR still has some branding confusion to sort out. At the pinnacle is the Range Rover Range Rover, which is obviously where the branding is still a little bit flaky, and the lack of a sensible name is probably why the vehicle is commonly (and not very flatteringly) referred to as the ‘full-fat Range Rover’ as a way of differentiating it from the lesser models in the Range Rover family. Below it, we have the Range Rover Sport, the Range…

JLR is recruiting 300 new technician roles at its Solihull, Gaydon and Whitley facilities to support the testing and maintenance of new battery electric vehicles – as well as increased Range Rover production. Of the 300 new roles, around 100 maintenance technicians will be recruited for the company’s Solihull plant to operate and maintain highly automated, precision, production facilities in a new body shop costing around £130million. The new body shop will support an intended 30 per cent increase in Range Rover and Range Rover Sport production in future quarters. Alongside this, technicians will also be trained to work on an additional £70million new body assembly system to support production of the forthcoming electric Range Rover. The remaining 200 technicians and test engineers will support the testing and development of…

DID you go to the Goodwood Festival of Speed? JLR had a big exhibition stand with prominent Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar branding, but no green ovals. You’ll remember that after the company’s April rebranding announcement, a spokesperson clarified the Land Rover name would not disappear and continue as a ‘trust mark’ on some vehicles, while remaining ‘the cornerstone of our business’. But not at Goodwood. The building was rather at odds with the expensive ‘Reimagined Luxury’ inside, reminding me of a discount warehouse on an out-of-town retail park. A large beige arch surrounded the entrance, with plain white walls either side with a hint of what might become showroom windows. At the top of these panels were the four brand names, two on each side. No vehicles were…

THERE was a bit of drama in my sleepy village this week. Just as I was brushing my teeth and preparing to tuck myself in for the night, there was a huge ‘whump’ followed by a horn and lots of shouting. Peeling back the curtains revealed a chaotic scene as my neighbours’ cars were scattered at odd angles over the road and pavement and a Qashqai was embedded in the side of an innocent Discovery Sport. Without going into too many details, the driver had legged it, tossing a bottle of vodka into a garden as he went. He left behind three passengers and a trail of destruction. A parked Fiesta had been relieved of its offside wheel and suspension. The Ford had then hit the back of the Disco,…

OUR suspension is creaking, every fibre in our bodies is vibrating, and we are rocking uncontrollably from left to right. The road is bumpy and dusty, and the temperature outside is burning hot. Our windows are rolled down completely to let the wind blow through the cab, to cool us off. Thankfully, the dust from beneath our tyres stays behind the car. It is, as a matter of fact, the only thing we leave behind on these trails. Although these roads are tough, even for a 23-year old Land Rover, this is what a typical day in our Defender looks like. While battling through the brush, we suddenly shuffle to the edge of our seats to stick our heads out of the window; we smell something. Tobias immediately whispers: “It…

WHERE to begin? Having been Rhino Charging in Car 9 since 1997, the results are just the beginning of the story. You know you are somewhere truly special when you drive to an event past rhinos, elephants, giraffe and zebras; when friends lend you their 4x4 at the drop of a hat just so you can get your camp to the venue; and when the vast horizons of Kenya’s Northern Rangelands provide a location that is both stunningly beautiful and truly challenging at the same time. However, when you also learn that the 2023 Rhino Charge raised just over £1 million once again in support of the conservation charity Rhino Ark, few can fail to be impressed. Because the annual Rhino Charge involves going to a different, vast and top-secret…

How long have you owned it? Four years. What made you want to buy this particular Land Rover? I’ve always wanted a 110 County Station Wagon. I did prefer the V8 version, but having just passed my test the diesel was better for insurance. What’s the story so far? The Land Rover has taken my wife and I around Scotland, where we did the amazing NC500. Additions like a roof tent will hopefully make it better when we go there again. I also changed the rotten chassis at the side of the road. What has the biggest challenge been? Finding a garage locally that will work on a Land Rover, especially when it comes to things like welding. Any other areas that needed a lot of attention? The bodywork and paint are…