4x4 Magazine - May 2022

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4x4

40 YEARS OF BRITAIN’S ONLY ALL-MARQUES 4X4 MAGAZINE! PLUS As we hit the big 4-0, we drive Jeep’s special-edition 80th Anniversary Wrangler

THE UK’S ONLY 4X4 AND PICK-UP MAGAZINE

40TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

Off-road tales from then and now as we look back to the year of our birth

Ford Mavericks cross Siberia in the depths of winter On test: Revised Dacia Duster could be all the 4x4 you ever need

PLUS: Hartley, Hallett and Bowyer: The wit and wisdom of 4x4’s founding fathers Toyota Land Cruiser 80 – still the best 4x4 we’ve ever tested?

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The Pilgrims Way: reprising our first ever roadbook

MAY 2022

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May 2022

CONTENTS

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‘David Bowyer had had the idea and with first Brian Hallett on board, Britain’s first off-road magazine

40 32

4 | MAY 2022

Contents May.indd 4

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4x4 06/04/2022 14:37

52 COOL TOOLS WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE!

Right now you can get 4x4 delivered for a year for just £30 – and we’ll sweeten the deal by sending you a high-quality Sealey multi-tool worth £21.54!

4x4 Scene: News, Products and More…

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Great British Land Rover Show 1 May at Newark – the show is set to go!

SsangYong Musso Mountain rescue duties for doughty one-tonner Lotus Eletra Iconic sportscar brand joins the club with electric super-SUV Kia EV9 Wild concept paves the way for next year’s showroom model Kingsley Re-Engineered Resto specialist pioneers cryo metal cleaning Bowler Challenge Defender-based rally series gets underway in fine style Isuzu D-Max New range of genuine accessory packs now available Safety Devices Tailor-made snorkel solves issues of clashing with a cage Osram New LED bar puts out 6000 lumens for just £299 TeraFlex Budget 1.5” lift for current Wrangler now in stock at Jeepey Smittybilt Wrangler Door Steps are a work of creative inspiration

Driven 28 32

Dacia Duster Facelifted compact SUV ticks every box at a sensational price Jeep Wrangler 80th Anniversary edition marks Jeep’s birthday in style

Every Month 6 52 64 80

Alan Kidd So many people to thank, so little time…

Subscribe Get 4x4 at a knock-down price and receive a free Sealey multi-tool Roadbook Back to when it all started, in every sense, on the Pilgrims’ Way Next Month The £1.25 million 4x4, plus a legend of a Roadbook

Features 8 40 46 50 62 78

4x4 at 40 What it means to a magazine to enter its fifth decade in print Jeep CJ7 An archive road test involving Brian Hartley and freewheeling hubs 100” Defender There’s still a reason for building hybrid Land Rovers Land Cruiser VX Was the 80-Series the best 4x4 of all time?

Green Laning An intriguing look at how things were on the lanes in 1982 The Last Word Launch editor David Bowyer’s view on our first year ih print

Travel 54

Siberia by Winter When Ford set out to drive from London to New York

64 East Kent Roadbook Step

13

Step

12.3 41

Abbey Strata Florida

8.75

track to the Take the rocky track the main Cat A

Step

14

Step

38 13.1

left of

More rock steps, water trough

Step

followed by a long

47

Step

15

There’s a couple of huge water troughs after the junction

13.1 Step

43

11.7 Step

16 11.8 Step

17 12.8 Step

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It’s a steep, sharp climb up and over a bigger track – you can’t see ahead over your bonnet to start with

Caution over a steps as you short set of rocky drop down the hill

15.0

Step

4212.6

10.9

Hartley and then Mike blossomed’

are sharp rock Caution – there as you climb the steps to negotiate hillside

Step 40: Turn left off the main embankment track, dropping then plunging down the straight into a water trough (right)

37

Step

Step

48

Look out for you cross the the waymarker as ford

15.2

13.4 Step

Join the Cat A

track

44

You may find yourself driving a river bed along for a while…

13.65 Step

45

track Drop off the main the gate and immediately before trough water into yet another

14.7 Step

to clear these axleneed a bit of momentum right is much bigger to the Step 37: You might warned, the drop-off twisters – but be than it looks here

4x4

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2020 | 89

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4x4 Contents May.indd 5

MAY 2022 | 5

06/04/2022 14:37

4x4 Tel: 01283 553243 Email: enquiries@assignment-media.co.uk

Alan Kidd Editor

E

lsewhere in this, our 40th anniversary issue, I’ve talked a bit about the history of 4x4. I tried not to get too personal there, because my own place in the magazine’s development has been little more than a footnote, but here I’m going to indulge myself. There are a lot of people who deserve my thanks and I’m only going to scratch the surface here, but while it’s a time for looking forward, it’s also a time for looking back and reflecting.

I first worked on 4x4 in 1993, when it was known as Off Road and 4 Wheel Drive. On my way to the interview, I was following a Trooper towing a trailer with no lights, and about three times my old Rover 216 almost ended up mounting it. A good anecdote, I thought, and if nothing else it didn’t seem to do any harm. I was met at reception by Emma Northam, who has gone on to be one of the best production editors in the business, and shown in to a meeting room where I met the editor, Graham Scott.

How did it go? Well, if someone had walked into that room carrying a crystal ball and announced that 27 years later, Graham would be my best man, I’m not sure which of us would have been more surprised.

Graham was a great editor and a great mentor, and he became a great mate. He appreciated what I brought to the mag, he was tolerant of even my most crass mistakes and a year and a half later, when our offshoot title Land Rover World found itself in need of a new editor, it was Graham who persuaded me that although our teamwork had become close to telepathic by then and I was absolutely loving my job, I should grasp the opportunity.

So I moved on and left OR&4WD behind, and on Land Rover World I was part of a new team. I’ll single out Matt Ross here; a quietly diligent but exceptionally driven journalist who eventually left the magazine to go overlanding in an 88” Series III he had rebuilt. Matt tends to write about politics these days – and he does so with wisdom and, in particular, a quality of prose that puts me in awe every time I read his words.

Fast forward five years to a bleak hillside in Fife where I was standing in torrential rain while attempting to take photos of the 2002 Scottish Hillrally. No cars had

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There are a lot of people who deserve to be thanked been past in ages and my fingers had gone numb. Eventually, I squelched my way over to an ATV parked in the distance to ask the crew if they knew what was going on.

As it turned out, one of them was a freelance photographer called Steve Taylor who was also a member of the Scottish Land Rover Club. When I told him I was shooting the rally for a new magazine called Total Off Road, his eyes lit up… and the following year, he moved down to England and joined the company.

Over the next ten years, Steve and I went on countless forays to cover events and 4x4 launches, compile roadbooks and generally be creative while doing a lot of off-roading and having no end of laughs.

Pictures from the huge archive of his work appear in almost every issue even now; that, and a sense of nostalgia for those happy days, are why I continue to include his name in the panel to the right, even though it’s a long time since he moved on.

Steve became a colleague and a friend and so too Tim Gibson, who emailed me out of the blue after the first issue of TOR was published. He had done work experience with us on OR&4WD; now he was at uni and was wondering if I needed someone to write the odd feature.

If you were around at the time, Tim’s name will have been very familiar. He produced a massive amount of what went in to the magazine over the course of many years – and like all the others, he was a colleague and a mate in equal measure.

If you read our sister title The Landy, indeed, you’ll know that Tim still has a monthly column in it. And he writing is still as beautifully crafted as ever.

Which brings me kind of up to date. Here I am back at the magazine where I started out – still probably a bit prone to making crass mistakes but very, very grateful for the guidance and the support of so many people down the years. There’s a whole lot of the journey still to come – and for all those whose names I haven’t mentioned, rest assured I know how lucky I have been to have shared it with you.

Web: www.totaloffroad.co.uk www.4x4i.com Online Shop: www.toronline.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/totaloffroad www.facebook.com/4x4Mag Editor Alan Kidd Art Editor Samantha D’Souza Contributors Mike Hallett, David Bowyer, Brian Hartley, Olly Sack, Tom Alderney, Gary Noskill, Dan Fenn, Paul Looe Photographers Harry Hamm, Steve Taylor, Richard Hair, Vic Peel Group Advertising Manager Ian Argent Tel: 01283 553242 Advertising Manager Colin Ashworth Tel: 01283 553244 Advertising Production Sarah Moss Tel: 01283 553242 Subscriptions Sarah Moss Tel: 01283 553242 Publisher and Head of Marketing Sarah Moss Email: sarah.moss@assignment-media.co.uk To subscribe to 4x4, or renew a subscription, call 01283 553242. Prices for 12 issues: UK £42 (24 issues £76); Europe Airmail/ROW Surface £54; ROW Airmail £78 Distributed by Marketforce; www.marketforce.co.uk Every effort is made to ensure the contents of 4x4 are accurate, but Assignment Media accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions nor the consequences of actions made as a result of these.

When responding to any advert in 4x4, you should make appropriate enquiries before sending money or entering into a contract. The publishers take reasonable care to ensure advertisers’ probity, but will not be liable for loss or damage incurred from responding to adverts Where a photo credit includes the note ‘CC BY 2.0’ or similar, the image is made available under that Creative Commons licence: details at www.creativecommons.org 4x4 is published by Assignment Media Ltd, Repton House 1.08, Bretby Business Park, Ashby Road, Bretby, Derbyshire DE15 0YZ

© Assignment Media Ltd, 2022

4x4 06/04/2022 12:54

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4x40!

As Britain’s only all-marques off-road magazine celebrates its 40th anniversary, our current editor (whose own association with the publication goes all the way back to 1993) takes a look back at the complicated history that brought us to where we are today – and paints a picture of what you can expect as you read through this landmark issue of 4x4 Words: Alan Kidd

T

hat were you doing in the spring of 1982? A good proportion of you hadn’t been born yet, but those of us who had were mainly worrying about nuclear war and Bucks Fizz being at the top of the charts.

Britain and Argentina were going at it in the Falklands. England’s footballers were getting ready for the World Cup in Spain, where getting knocked out by Germany was still an unfamiliar experience. Britain’s first test tube babies were born and both Kielder Water and the Haçendia nightclub were first opened.

Me, I was just turning 15. So you can take an educated guess at what I was mainly doing.

Meanwhile, a long way to the south, the first issue of Overlander 4x4 was on the shelves. David Bowyer had had the idea a year or so previously and with first Brian Hartley and then Mike Hallett on board, Britain’s first off-road magazine blossomed. The club scene embraced it, sales grew and grew and, as used to happen back then, the big publishing companies started to take interest.

Within a couple of years, the magazine had been taken on by Link House, a giant in the magazine industry at the time, whose other titles included Custom Car, Mini World, Superbike and the iconic Cars and Car Conversions. As it grew,

its name changed – first to Off Road and 4 Wheel Driver and then, in short order, to Off Road and 4 Wheel Drive – and as the 80s became the 90s it was edited by a succession of heavy hitters including Nigel Fryatt, John Beese, Graham Scott and then, later, the late Bob Cooke, a man whose popularity among his fellow motoring journalists lives on even today.

This was a time of enormous growth in the 4x4 market. During the 80s, the GTi generation

was lording it with the big Land Cruiser VX and after years of messing about, Jeep finally decided to start taking Britain seriously. The Wrangler was a bit of a slow burner, but Cherokee absolutely monstered its way into the sales charts.

The magazine’s success had not gone unnoticed. It attracted competition, from the worthy International Off-Roader and a very clubby publication called… 4x4. The latter bore more than a passing resemblance to the way OR&4WD had used to look back in the days when it was still called Overlander 4x4 and colour photographs were still a thing for the future, but the market had moved on into much slicker territory and it came and went without making any real waves.

Certainly, it was long forgotten about by the time Link House decided another name change was in order and Off Road and 4 Wheel Drive became the much more succinct 4x4 – which, of course, it has been ever since, albeit with a slightly confusing flirtation with calling itself 4x4i for a short while.

Does that bring the story up to date? Not quite.

I worked on the mag for a couple of years back in the early 90s, but then I was offered the chance to edit Link House’s recently launched Land Rover World. I wasn’t that keen to go single-marque at

David Bowyer had had the idea of launching an off-road magazine a year or so previously – and with first Brian Hartley and then Mike Hallett on board, Britain’s first off-road magazine blossomed

8 | MAY 2022

2pp Ed Essay.indd 8

had started to grow up and have families – and rather than moving into what they saw as the sort of cars their own dads used to drive (big Volvo estates took a spanking in the sales charts), they went for the new breed of shiny off-road wagons like the Mitsubishi Shogun, Isuzu Trooper and Land Rover Discovery.

For younger, more carefree owners, Suzuki absolutely cleaned up with the Samurai and Vitara.

Vauxhall chimed in with the Frontera, Nissan and Ford launched the Terrano II and Maverick, Toyota

4x4 06/04/2022 12:52

that point in my career, but the offer of the top job at such a young age was an honour I couldn’t turn down. I left in 1998 to write a novel (which was never published, and quite right too as it was rubbish), but then in 2002 I was at the helm of a new competitor to 4x4 called Total Off Road.

To cut a long story short, TOR was a big success but never quite matched 4x4 for sales.

However in early 2017, we approached 4x4’s publishers about buying it and that spring (everything seems to happen in spring), we took it on and merged the two titles together. We decided to keep the name 4x4 as it was the bigger brand, but the idea was to bring together the best bits of both magazines – something which, hopefully, we’ve managed to do over the half a decade that’s followed.

Anyway, that brings the history lesson up to date. There are of course many twists and turns that I’ve left out (not least the inexorable drift away from off-road ability in the new vehicle market, which started way back in 1995 with the launch of the Toyota RAV4) but if the story hasn’t already started getting boring, believe me it soon would if I went in deep.

Much more importantly, let me give you a flavour of what you can expect in this issue of 4x4. To celebrate our anniversary, we’re re-running a number of stories from back in the spring of 1982 and the months that followed – not just out of sheer self-indulgence, but because they stand today as a fascinating history lesson. So much has changed since then but, as you’ll see, some surprising things have stayed the same. Bucks Fizz no longer pose a threat to the top of the charts, for example, but the less said about that of nuclear war the better.

We’ve gone back to look at some early road tests of vehicles that were to go on to become 4x4 legends, in the case of the Jeep CJ7 Renegade comparing it to the latest version of the

4x4 2pp Ed Essay.indd 9

Wrangler – which, coincidentally, was conceived last year to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the original off-road marque.

Another article we’ve re-run, and I personally find this one very telling indeed, is an essay by Mike Hallett from a very early issue of Overlander, titled Green Roading. As you’ll see, some of his references (in particular to Roads Used as Public Paths, a definition which was quashed in 2006) are now very much out of date. But overall, his words are as relevant today as ever. Don’t go blasting up and down, keep your convoy small, don’t go anywhere you shouldn’t and pay attention to voluntary restraint.

Yes, in 1982. Voluntary restraint already existed 40 years ago, and thanks in part to the wise words of people like Mike the overwhelming majority of green lane users have been abiding by it ever since.

Sadly, there will always be the kind of person who doesn’t give two hoots about anybody else.

This is the kind of intellectually delinquent individual who campaigns against motor vehicles because they want to purge the whole countryside of anybody but themselves: but it’s also the kind of individual who gets their sad kicks from climbing aboard a 4x4 and doing as much damage as possible – thus turning decent, reasonable, tolerant people into fodder for the pedlars of hate. Without the selfish fringe trying to ruin it from both sides, we would all be able to enjoy the countryside without this constant atmosphere of conflict.

Let me give you one very good example. Total Off Road was famous for its green lane Roadbooks, and these are a feature we brought with us with great enthusiasm when we merged it with 4x4. For this issue, we’re re-running a version of our first ever route, which was on the Pilgrims Way in East Kent.

One of the lanes we included back then runs along the side of a gentle, grassy hill on which a 200-foot white cross was cut into the chalk ground in 1921 as a memorial to parishioners killed in the Great War. The lane is now gated, and you have to apply for a permit to drive it – after someone decided to venture off the track and use the war memorial as an off-road playground.

The actions of these rank criminals, who are most emphatically no friends of ours, have not changed in the last 40 years – though the advent of heavier vehicles with ever more powerful engines and, in particular, extraordinarily aggressive tyres means the damage they can do both to the lanes themselves and our reputations has grown exponentially.

So if you intend to follow this month’s Roadbook, plan in advance and apply for a permit to follow the lane past the Lenham Cross. It’s a beautiful, peaceful place – and one whose purpose is currently thrown into sharper focus than ever by the gruesome stories coming out of Ukraine every day.

Next to those horrors, the battle for the soul of the British countryside is a small matter. But it’s one which has raged throughout the 40 years since that first issue of Overlander 4x4 came off a classic Heidelberg press at the Standard Print Works in Andover. And that’s another story you can read about in this issue, because we’ve included an abridged version of David Bowyer’s own retrospective written on the occasion of the magazine’s first birthday.

We’re going to dip back into the archives here and there throughout the rest of our 40th anniversary year as we consider the history that brought us to where we are. But for now, you’ll find David’s musings right at the back of this issue – because as we celebrate, it’s only appropriate to let our first editor have the last word.

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09/11/2021 19:15:17

NEWS

The time is now! New Great British Land Rover Show all set for Newark Showground on 1 May

AS THIS MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED, the new sprintime edition of the Great British Land Rover Show will be nine days away. All set for Newark Showground on 1 May, it’s going to be an absolute must for Land Rover owners of every kind.

You don’t even need to be into Landies for the show to be well

worth visiting. With parts and accessories to buy, bespoke vehicle builds and eye-popping restorations, Land Rover toys and models, branded clothing and other merchandise, as well as specialist insurance providers, overland travel operators, tyre and exhaust specialists and yet more, there’s going to be more than

just something for everyone at Newark. There’s going to be lots for everyone!

Of course, there’ll be most of all if you’ve got a Land Rover and you’re looking for more or less anything to do with it. That’s what the Great British Land Rover Show is all about – and over the years, it has gained a reputation as one of the best in the business at delivering the goods.

The show is supported by Headline Sponsor BFGoodrich Tires, Terrafirma, Paddock Spares and The Landy. In addition, the All Wheel Drive Club will be running a special 2.4-mile off-road course which visitors will be able to experience in their own vehicles.

The show’s off-road route is always a smash hit at Stoneleigh in November, and Newark is set to be no different. The course has several levels of difficulty, making it suitable for all levels of driver ability and experience – and for every kind of Land Rover, from Series Is to new Range

Rovers and everything in between.

Marshals from the AWDC will be on hand with advice on driving techniques – and, should that not be enough, a handy tow rope!

The organisers recommend that you buy your tickets in advance for the off-road course, both to avoid disappointment and to be able to select your preferred start time.

The same goes for the display apparatus that will be specially erected by the Land Rover Experience. Here, you can take a passenger ride in the latest Land Rover vehicles with the company’s expert instructors at the wheel.

With intense inclines, dramatic descents, sideways tilts and more, the Experience’s Dynamic Display Equipment, which was designed to showcase the technology and capabilities of all the company’s vehicles, demonstrates their capabilities in various different ways and always makes a popular addition to any show. It was a huge hit at Stoneleigh last November – and you can be sure the same will be the case at Newark in May! Tickets for the Great British Land Rover Show, at Newark Showground on 1 May, cost £15 on the day – or, if you’re in time, £7.50 in advance.

You can get them by payig a visit to gblandrovershow.co.uk – we look forward to seeing you there!

2022 dates: 1 May, Newark • 20 November, Stoneleigh 4x4 1p GBLRS May 22.indd 11

MAY 2022 | 11

06/04/2022 12:53

NEW 4X4S

SsangYong heads for the hills

S

sangYong GB and Bespoke Traffic Highway Solutions (BT-HS), which specialises in converting vehicles for traffic management and emergency service use, have donated a fully converted and equipped Musso to Bolton Mountain Rescue Team. The truck, which was prepared for mountain rescue work in BT-HS’ Chorley facility, will serve a team of 51 volunteers who respond to an average of 100 call-outs each year.

Established in 1968, Bolton Mountain Rescue Team covers a territory of 360 square miles, stretching from Darwen and Wigan in the north and west to Manchester Airport and Bury in the south and east. It supports the emergency services in responding to wildfire incidents on the moors, with rope and water res-

cue operation, search operations for missing people and calls to casualties in difficult to access or remote locations. Thus the Musso’s off-road ability will be crucial to its role.

‘We were delighted to be con-

Lotus unveils its first SUV

firmed as the recipients of a newly converted SsangYong Musso 4x4

by BT-HS,’ said BMRT Team Leader Steve Fletcher. ‘The team’s new addition to the fleet has the call sign BM4, replacing our recently retired

2004 Land Rover. We have been very impressed with the collaborative design and build of the Musso and look forward to bringing the vehicle in to operational use.’

LOOKING A BIT LIKE a cubist version of an old Nissan Patrol, Kia’s EV9 Concept is ‘ready for adventure.’ This is no hollow boast, either, because the company has confirmed that a production version of the vehicle will be coming here in 2023. With a 122” wheelbase, it’s the same sort of size as a Patrol too – though with an all-electric drivetrain and a ‘scenic first-class lounge’ of a cabin featuring a 27” display, safe to say that’s where the similarities will end.

LOTUS HAS BECOME the latest sports car manufacturer to join the SUV club. The Eletre is an all-electric ‘hyper-SUV’ with power outputs starting at 600bhp and a 0-60 times below 3.0 seconds. Lotus forecasts a 350kW charging time of 20 minutes for 248 miles’ range and around 373 miles on a full battery. With its 119” wheelbase, the vehicle promises ‘the soul of a Lotus with the usability of an SUV.’ Production starts this year at a new factory in China, with UK prices set to start at just less than £100,000.

12 | MAY 2022

Scene New 4x4s May 22.indd 12

4x4 06/04/2022 12:51

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07/04/2022 12:31

NEWS

Kingsley Re-Engineered introduces cryo cleaning for rusty metal Dry ice blasting facility now in operation at Oxfordshire premises • Rust removed with no damage to good metal • Service available to other specialists and private individuals

W

hether you’re restoring a classic Land Rover, turning a middle-aged Patrol into an off-road warhorse or creating the ultimate expedition wagon from a one-owner double-cab, there’s one obstacle that’s very likely to make the job less fun than you had hoped.

Rust is the bane of all our lives.

Chassis parts, suspension parts, body panels, doors, you name it… if it’s made of steel, it’s going to suffer.

So most projects, if they’re being

14 | MAY 2022

Scene Kingsley News.indd 14

done properly, will start with a stripdown followed by a very comprehensive assault on all areas tainted by the tin worm.

There are various ways of doing this, some of them quite frighteningly brutal. Whether you’re media-basting it, chemically stripping it or going hammer and tongs with a grinder, you need to be very careful not to do more harm than good.

But Oxfordshire-based Kingsley Re-Engineered, which specialises in remanufacturing Mark 1 Range

Rovers to a far higher standard than the original, has just started employing a subtler technique for stripping metal. Cryo cleaning, which uses dry ice granules as a spray agent, is less abrasive than traditional methods – to the extent that it can result in as many as 70% more panels being saved.

And you don’t need to be in the market for one of Kingsley’s very expensive remade Range Rovers to get the benefit of its new investment in cryo cleaning. The company is offer-

ing its facilities to other specialists, and private individuals, with various options available for both body and underbody treatments.

Kingsley says the process of stripping the corrosion and dirt from a Range Rover’s chassis and shell prior to starting work on a rebuild takes around 100 hours. That’s for the sort of gold-standard level the company works to, of course, and for a cheap-and-cheerful resto you might cut corners – but there’s a reason why they’ve restored more

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NEWS

than 400 of these vehicles – and whatever kind of rebuild you’ve got in mind, the hard yards you put in at the outset will only ever pay dividends in the future.

The problem is that those hard yards have traditionally tended to involve processes using chemicals or abrasives – making them either harmful to the environment or harsh on the metal. In some cases, removing the rust has done so much damage that the panel itself has been destroyed in the process.

Dry-ice blasting is different because the frozen CO2 granulate it uses as a spray agent purifies immediately to CO2 gas when it touches the surface. This makes it much gentler on the good metal than blasting media like shot and sand which remain in their solid state throughout, with no spray agent residues are left behind.

In addition to removing rust, the process works on other contaminants like old undercoat and flaking paint – while remaining harmless to painted surfaces. It can also be used to clean areas like engine bays – and even carburettors and instrument clusters.

Kingsley Re-Engineered started using cryo cleaning on all its Range Rover projects from 4 April – as well as offering outside clients the

chance to take up the excess capacity in its on-site blasting facility.

‘Rust is one of the biggest challenges we have to overcome being Range Rover Classic specialists, but also an issue we’re keen to solve,’ said Kingsley founder Damon Oorloff. ‘We’re introducing cryo cleaning to the stripping process as it’s not only a safer, more gentle way to rid cars of corrosion, it’s also less abrasive – and that leads to having a better chance of saving original panels and chassis parts that would otherwise be condemned.

‘I’m a big believer in working with other specialists but also opening the doors of Kingsley Re-Engineered to others. That’s why we’re not just offering this service for our customers and Range Rovers in particular, but any other specialists are welcome to see the process and request a quote from us to assist with their projects.

‘Whether it be a restoration done by a single person in a garage or other restorers, we’d love to share what this amazing technology can do for others.’

Interested? If you’ve got a crusty vehicle niggling away at your conscience, you should be. Kingsley has set up a dedicated website for its cryo cleaning service – it’s at www. iceblasting.co.uk.

SPECIALIST 4X4 VEHICLE DISMANTERS JEEP - LAND ROVER SPECIALIST 4X4 VEHICLE DISMANTERS AND MOST MAKES AND MODELS JEEP LAND ROVER QUALITY GUARANTEED USED PARTS AND MOST MAKES AND MODELS QUALITY GUARANTEED PARTS SOME OF THE VEHICLESUSED WE HAVE RECENTLY DISMANTLED: SOME OF THE VEHICLES WE HAVE RECENTLY DISMANTLED:

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2007 DODGE 2018 JEEP NITRO 2.8CRD 2010 Isuzu RENEGADE 2007 DODGE Rodeo NITRO 2.8CRD

2016 RANGE 2008 NISSAN ROVER EVOQUE 2012 Range PATHFINDER 2.0 TD4 2016 RANGE Rover Sport ROVER EVOQUE 2.0 TD4

2014 RANGE 2016 2014 2010 JEEP 2006 JEEP 2011 ISUZU ISUZU ROVER SPORT 4.4 D-MAX 2.5 DIESEL CHEROKEE MK5 WRANGLER TJ RODEO MITSUBISHI L200 2010 2015 Mitsubishi 2020 Ford V8 Jeep DIESEL KL 2.0 MULTIJET 2014 RANGE 2016 ISUZU 2014 JEEP Cherokee KK Outlander Ranger ROVER SPORT 4.4 D-MAX 2.5 DIESEL CHEROKEE MK5 V8 DIESEL

KL 2.0 MULTIJET

JEEP 2007 LAND 20152010 RANGE 2012ROVER CHEROKEE MK4 DISCOVERY 3 2.7 ROVER EVOQUE MITSUBISHI ASX 2015 Range Jeep KK 2.8JEEP CRD 20072016 TDV6 2010 LAND ROVER Rover Evoque Renegade CHEROKEE MK4 DISCOVERY 3 2.7 KK 2.8 CRD

TDV6

2008 HONDA 2013 TOYOTA CRV 2.2 CDTI HILUXGrand 2006 Jeep 2008 HONDA Cherokee CRV 2.2 CDTIWK

2006 NISSAN 2006 JEEP 2006 JEEP GRAND 2015 LAND 2004 JEEP CHEROKEE WK PATHFINDER 2.5 GRAND GRAND 5.7 V8 HEMI ROVER DCI 2020 Jeep Land2006 Rover NISSAN2015 Nissan 2006 JEEP2018 GRAND DISCOVERY CHEROKEE WK CHEROKEE WJ 2.5 X-Trail WK PATHFINDER WranglerCHEROKEE JL Discovery Sport Charlton Recycled Auto Parts DCI 5.7 V8 HEMI SPORT Vehicle Recycling Centre, Gravel Pit Hill, Thriplow, Cambridge, SG8 7HZParts Charlton Recycled Auto Tel 01223Gravel 832656Pit Hill, Thriplow, Vehicle Recycling Centre, Email parts@charltonautoparts.co.uk Cambridge, SG8 7HZ PLEASE VISIT WWW.CHARLTONAUTOPARTS.CO.UK Tel 01223 832656 Email parts@charltonautoparts.co.uk PLEASE VISIT WWW.CHARLTONAUTOPARTS.CO.UK

4x4 Scene Kingsley News.indd 15

MAY 2022 | 15

07/04/2022 14:28

MOTORSPORT

New era of Bowler Challenge gets underway as new 90s do battle at Walters Arena Words: Tom Alderney Pictures: Bowler

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hirteen identical Defender 90s lined up for the start of the 2022 Tata Elxsi Bowler Defender Challenge at Walters Arena in Wales earlier this month – the beginning of a championship which the specialist Land Rover tuner hopes will see some of its clients on course to compete on the global stage.

Driving Bowler’s highly evolved version of the current 90, which has been thoroughly redeveloped for motorsport use, the teams started the weekend with a day of familiarisation with the vehicles – before the action got underway the following morning. The field included a number of complete novices – though alongside them, three-time British Rally and 2018 British Rallycross

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champion Mark Higgins was a clear favourite for the honours.

And sure enough, it was the team of Higgins and co-driver Claire Williams that set the early pace, with a blistering start that drew on their vast experience to deliver the fastest lap by a comfortable margin.

It wasn’t to last, as they retired during the afternoon – however by now, they had shown the rest of the field what the Bowler Defender is capable of.

Thus encouraged, other crews started to go on the attack, putting their Defenders’ robustness to the test as they explored the vehicles’ capabilities and performance. A team of Bowler technicians was on hand to take care of the servicing and repair duties, turning the cars

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MOTORSPORT

around quickly to keep the competition alive.

With Higgins and Williams out of the running, three candidates for the honours emerged – with the crews of Thwaites and Cuming, Beecroft and Parish and Williams and Chambers all vying for the lead as lap times continued to improve throughout the day .

With the afternoon drawing on, it was Thwaites who topped the leader board – though with one lap remaining, Beecroft had only an eight-second gap to close. Pulling out their fastest lap yet, the second-placed crew feverishly chased down the clock – only to be denied

victory by a mere two seconds as Thwaites and Cuming kept their cool to hold on.

Williams and Chambers scored a well-deserved third to complete a podium that was covered by less than a minute – with all three competing in a rally for the first time.

The leaders were joined on the podium by Gareth Bent and Paul Hulston, who received the Spirit of the Rally award for their commitment and endurance.

‘It’s been an amazing weekend for our entire team of competitors, technicians and support staff,’ said Bowler General Manager Calum McKechnie. ‘The action has been in-

credible. There have definitely been challenges for some in the competition and I think everyone has learnt a lot from the event – both in terms of rally skills and the capability of

the cars. To have three complete novices competing so closely for the win is brilliant and shows just how exciting this championship is set to be.’

The second round of the 2022 Bowler Defender Challenge saw three-time British Rally champion Mark Higgins take the wheel of a 90 liveried in homage to 60 years of James Bond movies. The event in Dolgellau, North Wales saw Higgins, who has been a stunt driver in the last four Bond films, win by a minute and 41 seconds alongside co-driver Claire Williams.

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MAY 2022 | 17

06/04/2022 12:48

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18 | MAY 2022

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4x4 07/04/2022 21:01

Ford Ranger Big Brake Kit Ad - Jan 2020 - UK.pdf

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For the discerning driver who is particular about how eXtreme Brake Kit. The braking results are staggering with the inclusion of a larger 6 pot caliper design, high tech TrakRyder eXtreme kevlar ceramic pads mated with a 10 slot dimpled and geomet coated larger diameter rotor.

Bigger braking surface means bigger stopping power. With the fitment of the all new Pedders TrakRyder eXtreme brake kit, independent Australian Engineering tests reflected an average improvement in braking distance by up to 14%.

Features: • Stainless steel braided hoses.

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* Independent Australian engineering test results proved that at 100kmh the TrakRyder eXtreme Brake Kit system upgrade stopped on average 11m sooner than original distances are reduced by 21%. This kit is suited for 18” wheels or larger. Further details available in store and on our website. Suits Ford Ranger PX & PXII Models.

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The 2022 Land Rover Yearbook – it’s the perfect companion for every Landy enthusiast!

The essential annual for Land Rover owners and enthusiasts

THE LEADING LAND ROVER AND RANGE ROVER 4X4 ENGINE REBUILD SPECIALISTS ENGINE REBUILDS & SERVICING ELECTRICAL REPAIR WORK HEALTH CHECK GENERAL REPAIR WORK AIR CONDITIONING REPAIRS OLDER & CLASSIC VEHICLES

www.4x4enginerebuilds.co.uk

0203 542 0100 4x4 4x4 AD Spread.indd 31

The annual Land Rover Yearbook is a treasure trove of features on the best modified, restored and historical vehicles to grace The Landy newspaper over the last year. It contains in-depth tests of the latest Land Rovers, travel and workshop stories, a Buyers’ Guide covering the whole of Solihull’s history and an extensive guide to the latest and best new products for Landy owners

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Available in WHSmith, RRP £7.99 Or get it in print or digital format from our online shop: www.4x4magazineshop.co.uk

MAY 2022 | 19

07/04/2022 21:32

PRODUCTS

Isuzu introduces new range of accessory packs for D-Max

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f you’ve got a new-shape Isuzu D-Max, or are waiting patiently for one to be delivered, Isuzu UK has just released three new accessory packs for the DL20, DL40 and V-Cross versions of our 2021 Pick-Up of the Year. The company has also published a new brochure comprehensively covering its entire range of accessories for the vehicle.

Kicking things off with the DL20, the new Start-Line Pack comprises a Keko Tonneau Cover and Sports Style Bar, along with an under-rail load liner for the load bed, as well as remote tailgate central locking and rubber floor mats. You also get a towbar with 13-pin electrics, a quick hitch socket and a Lazer Linear 6 lamp set for mounting on the front grille. This retails at £1375 plus VAT, saving you more than £100 – you do still need to pay for fitting on top, but that’s still a whole lot of equipment for your money.

Moving up to the Mid-Line Pack, designed with Isuzu’s All-Purpose DL20 and DL40 models in mind, this combines a colour-coded CMX Commercial Canopy with solid sides and lift-up gullwing doors, with an under-rail load liner and water defence kit for the load area.

Once again, you also get a Lazer Linear 6 grille-mounted lamp set; this is augmented by a dark grey over-fender kit and, for the cabin, a hard-wearing 3D mat set. This time, the price is £4150 plus VAT, again excluding fitment), giving you a saving of a nice round £100.

If your D-Max is the range-topping V-Cross mode, the High-Line pack is for you. This features an Alpha Type E Air Gullwing Canopy, along with an

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added water defence kit and a bed rug for the load area. The exterior is enhanced with a longitudinal roof rail set and dark grey over fender extension set, along with a towbar with 13-pin electrics, and yet again you get Lazer’s Linear 6 front grille lamp set. This time, however, there’s more Lazer goodies in the shape of an LED roof bar; we’ve got one of these fitted on our Project D-Max GO2, and it’s the absolute business.

Inside, the High-Line pack adds a new rear-view mirror camera kit, specially designed for the D-Max, which provides a permanent highquality rear-view image. Once again, plenty of kit for your money – which,

in this case, comes to £5250 plus VAT and, again, fitting. It all adds up to a saving of more than £250.

All of this and more is detailed in Isuzu’s new accessory brochure, which brings every genuine Isuzu D-Max accessory together in one place – no small feat, because that’s more than 160 individual items.

If you own a new D-Max, or are thinking about buying one, you’ll find exterior and interior enhancements, safety and utility parts, alloy wheels, towing and load-carrying accessories as well as a full range of canopies, both commercial and leisure-orientated, load liners and tonneau covers.

‘These new packs put together some of our best-selling accessories, along with new additions, to provide customers with a cost saving and a less overwhelming option when it comes to enhancing their new Isuzu D-Max,’ says Isuzu UK’s Darren James. ‘We aim to provide the most comprehensive range of accessories possible for our diverse customers and the new updated website and accessories brochure showcase our expansive range.’

Did someone say website? It’s at www.isuzu.co.uk, then hit the Accessories tab at the top and you’ll be there.

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17/01/2022 19:51:47

PRODUCTS

Safety Devices snorkel designed to work in tandem with a roll cage

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wo of the first things you’re likely to think about if you’re prepping a vehicle for action, especially the kind of action that involves long-range overland expedition travel, are protecting its engine from dust and water ingress and protection everything else, yourself included, from the consequences of a major stack.

The latter puts you very firmly into roll cage territory. And the former is all about kitting up your truck with a raised air intake.

These are both fine things, and well worth the investment. But fitting them can give you a problem – which is that they both want to occupy the same bit of space down the front of one of your A-posts.

Safety Devices’ own 3” raised air intake is the answer. At least it is if you’ve got an original-shape Land Rover Defender and you’re fitting one of the same company’s roll cages,

From roof tents and awnings to cookware and barbecues, LVB supplies all your overland and camping requirements.

Sole UK Bush Company importer

UNIT 10 Gunhills Lane Industrial Estate, Armthorpe, Doncaster DN3 3EF

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PRODUCTS

New light bar from Osram puts out 6000 lumens for just £299

because they’re designed to work together. So if you’re looking at a Defender 90, 110 or 130 and it’s a Hard-Top, Station Wagon, Pick-Up, Double-Cab or Hi-Cap, there’s an answer here for you.

The air intake that’s supplied by Safety Devices doesn’t include the 3” head shown in the pictures, but you

shouldn’t struggle to get your hands on one of those. And you certainly shouldn’t struggle to get your hands on the intake itself, because it’s just become part of the Britpart range.

They cost around £250 including the dreaded; drop in on www.britpart. com and tracking one down will be a piece of cake.

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A LIGHT BAR, the latest new product from Osram’s LEDriving range is, well, a light bar. It’s called the VX1000-CB SM, a name which could refer to an old Vauxhall sports car, citizens’ band radio or high times in a sex dungeon, but what you need to know is mainly that it bangs out enough light for you to see the road up to half a kilometre ahead.

Made up of 35 high-performance Osram LEDs, the VX1000 produces a 6000lm luminous flux in a combination beam designed to deliver both near and far-field illumination. It has a colour temperature of up to 6000K, mimicking daylight as closely as possible to prevent eye fatigue.

The LEDs are housed in an aluminium structure and behind a stable polycarb lens, with IP67 protection against water, dust and impacts.

Thermally managed and polarity protected, they have a service life of 5000 hours and promise to be as tough and rugged as they are bright.

Ideal for off-roading, then. And with ECE approval, you can use them on the road too. Osram’s suggested retail price for the VX1000-CB SM is a pleasingly modest £299 – to find out more, get yourself to www. osram.com.

BLACK MAGIC LED SERIES AUXILIARY LIGHTS

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TAKE THE ADVENTURE WITH YOU www.hella.com/offroad

6019 HELLA Black Magic Half Page Advert.indd 1

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06/04/2022 13:34

MAY 2022 | 23

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PRODUCTS

Jeepey’s TeraFlex 1.5” Spacer Lift – a budget-friendly way to make your Wrangler big enough for 35” tyres

JEEPEY IS WELL KNOWN for supplying everything it takes to turn a standard Wrangler into the ultimate trail rig. But what if you just want a cost-effective way of enhancing your daily driver – while at the same time giving it the look of a lifted motor with bigger tyres?

The good news is that Jeepey is every bit as good at supplying this kind of kit, too. Kit like the 1.5” Sport ST1 Spacer Lift and Level System from TeraFlex, for example.

This is suitable for use on all Wrangler JL 4-door models built from 2018 onwards, and

it promises ‘true street and trail performance and capability in a dependable and maintenance-free package.’ Using coil spring spacers, it won’t compromise your vehicle’s ride and handling on the road, while its Falcon Progressive bump stops will prevent tyre contact and shock bottoming.

By using taller spacers at the front, the system corrects the nose-down rake with which the 4-door JL is set as standard. Once installed, there’s enough lift to fit 33” tyres for off-road use, or 35” if you’re sticking to the street.

The system is designed to work with Jeep’s own shocks. However Jeepey also supplies TeraFlex’s own Falcon Performance Shocks if you want a Wrangler that really handles.

The system retains a full range of suspension movement for off-road flex and articulation, and as well as being well mannered on the road it promises to reduce your vehicle’s NVH. It’s not a major project to instal, either, with no welding or alignment required as it bolts into place. And TeraFlex’s lifetime warranty means you can be sure it’s the real deal in terms of quality, too. The kit is priced at £275.89 plus VAT and is in stock now at jeepey.com.

Smittybilt Door Steps from Jeepey provide innovative access to your Wrangler’s roof rack EVERYONE LOVES AN INNOVATIVE IDEA. And they don’t come much cleverer than Smittybilt’s Atlas Door Steps for the Jeep Wrangler, which are available now from Jeepey.

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Suitable for the Wrangler JK and JL, these mount on to the vehicle’s door hinges to provide a sure-footed solution for easy access to your roof rack and more. Made from 1/8” steel with a durable black powder-coated body and clear zinc step, they promise a combination of safety, functionality and durability – and with a 350lb load limit, you’d need to be either a very solid citizen indeed or carrying a hod of bricks the size of your bedroom to overload them.

The steps have a non-slip serrated design and, in another example of innovative ideas you can’t help but love, they come with a built-in bottle opener. When they’re not in use, the part you actually step on folds up flush to the vehicle’s body to keep itself out of harm’s way.

You can fit these steps to any Wrangler from 2007 on, using the front doors and, in the case of Unlimited models, the rears too. They’re supplied in pairs and are priced at £114.84 plus VAT from jeepey.com.

4x4 07/04/2022 14:23

RLG Tyres

Tyres cheap. Not cheap tyres!!

OFFICIAL STOCKIST

Main supplier of and all major 4x4 tyres

Groundcare • Car • ATV • Tubes • Mobile Tyre Fitting Puncture Equipment & Repairs • Four Wheel Alignment Durrants Farm, Rushlake Green, Heathfield, East Sussex TN21 9QB

Workshop: 01435 830664 Mobile: 07710 372672 Email: chris@rlgtyres.co.uk

www.rlgtyres.co.uk

Storm Jeeps have a number of modified Jeep Wrangler JL Rubicon's for sale. More details on available stock via our website or call 01482 666491

4x4 3pp Scene Products May 22.indd 25

MAY 2022 | 25

07/04/2022 14:23

4X4 TYRE EXPERTS & OFF ROAD SPECIALISTS Alloy and steel wheels for van, car, SUV & 4X4

NOW AVAILABLE AT SILVERLINE

Unigrip specials available at these great prices: 265/75R16 LT265/70R17 275/45R20 255/55R20 33X12.50R15

116S 121Q 110H 110H 108Q

Lateral Force AT Road Force MT Lateral Force AT XL Lateral Force AT XL Road Force MT OW

£105.00 £129.00 £139.00 £149.00 £129.00

These are just a few of our available sizes if your size requirement is not shown please give us a call

Other brands also available please give us a call

Call 01926 490002 Silverline 4x4 Units 3 & 4, Nelson Lane, Warwick CV34 5JB www.silverlinewheels-tyres.com | www.facebook.com/Silverline4x4

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ilverline 4x4 is seeing a boom in business as more off-road lovers make tracks to the Midlands-based experts.

The historic wheel and tyre experts are welcoming more and more motorists to their Warwick forecourt and have strengthened their offering to cater for vehicles of all sizes and capabilities.

Silverline 4x4’s managing director Antony Barnsley said: ‘We’re finding that there’s a renewed sense of passion for 4x4 driving, whether that be off-road or the all-terrain experience. Off-roading and 4x4s is most definitely a passion for many of us and we have been busy, precisely because 4x4 owners are deciding to put more time and effort into their pastime. We are finding that more customers are coming to us because they want to customise their vehicles rather than replace them.’

Rather than selling on price, Silverline 4x4 advises on the right solution for each vehicle. Antony added: ‘Our services aren’t like conventional automotive centres in so far as our products aren’t viewed as distress purchases, so price isn’t

the overriding factor as the specific solution is the main requirement.

‘Brands obviously play their part and some customers are more brand loyal but as a rule, it is a bespoke solution and the correct advice, coupled with the recommended wheel and tyre package which meets their vision and requirements. This allows the owner to enjoy their driving ownership experience to the full.’

Speaking of brands, Silverline 4x4 is the only garage in the UK to stock the critically-acclaimed Unigrip tyre range, starring the Unigrip Lateral Force and Road Force tyres available in 15” up to 20”.

Antony added: ‘Having driven on Unigrip ourselves, we can vouch for their performance capabilities in the most uncompromising of conditions. Unigrip Tyre gives you the confidence to enjoy the road while helping to keep you safe behind the wheel.

‘Unigrip dedicates to innovation, technology and development of new patterns, sizes, compounds and state of the art technology. We’re thrilled to stock their 4x4 portfolio.’

Unigrip really needs to be experienced to be appreciated. Silverline 4x4 stocks Unigrip tyres in 14 different sizes, which plays a vital role in the full tyre coverage it offers for each and every visiting motorist.

For further information about Silverline 4x4 and its extensive tyre range, including Unigrip, pay a visit to www.silverlinewheels-tyres.com/ unigrip-4x4-tyres/

Unigrip tyre sizes 255/60R18 112H 275/40R20 106H 275/45R20 110H 255/55R20 110H 255/70R15 112T 265/75R16 116S 245/70R17 114T 235/55R18 100H 255/55R19 111H LT315/75R16 127Q LT265/70R17 121Q 33X12.50R15 108Q LT315/75R16 127Q 33X12.50R15 108Q.

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DRIVEN

DACIA DUSTER 115 DCI 4X4 Dacia’s budget-priced SUV has always been great value for money, but it took time to grow into a great vehicle. With the latest range of model updates, however, it has become exactly that

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WE’VE ALWAYS BEEN FANS OF THE DUSTER, but our support for Dacia’s ‘shockingly affordable’ SUV has for much of the time been qualified. A no-frills 4x4 created using time-served Nissan technology and built to suit everyday pockets sounds just about as close to perfect as a vehicle can get, but there were ways in which the original model didn’t quite hit the spot.

When the current second-generation Duster came out, it was a step change forward for the brand. And late last year, Dacia gave it a facelift which moved it on once more. The result was a class win in our 4x4 of the Year awards – one which recognises that while 4x4 models starts at £19,645, some five and a half grand above the base-speccer, the value for money it represents comes first and foremost from simply being a very good vehicle.

On the surface, the revisions are slight. On the outside, the Duster has been modestly restyled; inside, the facia has been tweaked to suit a new infotainment system which was added as part of general improvements to its equipment list.

What the latter means is that at the bottom of a three-strong line-up, Essential models now give you roof bars, DAB, cruise and air-con. They start at £13,995, a price which gets you one with a a bi-fuel engine (no small matter now we’ve all started to wonder how long it’s going to be before fuel hits two pounds a litre) – however this trim level isn’t available with four-wheel drive.

For what we’d call the real thing, you’re limited to one engine (a 1.5-litre diesel with 115bhp and 192lbf.ft) and two specs, Comfort and Prestige. These add alloy wheels and an 8.0” touchscreen with smartphone mirroring and a reversing camera, with the latter also adding heated seats, front parking sensors, bigger alloys and sat-nav for your £20,845.

What you don’t get on 4x4 models is automatic transmission. This is available only with the range-topping petrol engine, but if you want four-wheel drive you get a six-speed manual. It’s a nice one, though, with a light clutch and smooth, precise changes, so that’s not a problem.

Smoothness is indeed a virtue the Duster offers in every area. It’s not in Lexus or Mercedes territory, but it deals very competently with every kind of surface. Scruffy, broken tarmac and the patches and pot-holes of urban life rarely upset it and almost never come through harshly, and nor do pattery corrugations or lumpy backroads. It settles nicely on the motorway, too.

Similarly, in terms of handling the Duster doesn’t try to paint a big, silly grin all over your face. Instead, you appreciate the honest abilities it certainly does have; predictable steering and body control, good grip and suspension that allows you to enjoy palming it around in town and, to a very respectable extent, chucking it at the corners on an entertaining B-road. Of course, nothing with a 115bhp diesel engine is ever going to come across as sporty, but it’s perfectly willing and more up for it than you might expect. And mainly, of course, what this all means is that in any everyday driving situation it’s as positive and responsive as you could reasonably ask for.

Being a middle-aged Nissan underneath is no bad thing off-road, either.

The hardware is well proven for its competence and reliability alike and the vehicle’s design combines solid ground clearance with the ability to shrug off the sort of knocks and scrapes that are part of life away from the tarmac.

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DRIVEN

It doesn’t have low range, but all 4x4 models are equipped with hill descent control which to some extent makes up for that. And as we all know, anyway, 99% of real-world off-roading is done in high box.

That’s the sort of stuff the Duster will gobble up. Over the last few percent of the off-road spectrum, it might not live with the likes of a Wrangler or Land Cruiser – but the rest of the way, it’s every bit as good as those more hardcore vehicles. And on grotty, bumpy trails, as often as not its light weight and independent suspension will make it more agile than those kind of vehicles.

Last year we ran a story about Dusters that are used by mountain rescue

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services in Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia – and for life-and-death duties like that, you don’t exactly settle for a vehicle just because a manufacturer gave you one for free.

Once again, here, the Duster gets the balance right. It’s not the definitive off-roader – but whatever your version of that might be, the Duster will be just as good most of the time. Likewise on the road, there are SUVs that are faster, smoother, more agile, more refined and so on… but at every turn, the Duster gets so close that for the vast majority of SUV buyers, you might as well be driving something twice as expensive.

It’s the same story in the cabin, too. No, of course it’s not like a Range Rover. It’s not trying to be. Instead, it has a neat, functional layout carried off using materials that are tough and sturdy and a design that’s clean and easy to use. Many manufacturers down the years have gone for this air of functional simplicity; few have managed to make it feel like part of their SUVs’ nature the way Dacia has. It is, to use a phrase borrowed from the ghastly lexicon of lifestyle coaching, a vehicle that’s very comfortable with what it is.

And what it is, most emphatically, is much more than just a cheap 4x4.

Yes, it is cheap, at least by the standards of other new SUVs. But if you see it as nothing more than that, you’re letting the cliché blind you to a truth that’s pretty evident. As we said a couple of paragraphs back, there are times when you might as well be in something twice as expensive – and that fact, much more than just its price, is what defines the Duster as a 4x4 that’s very well worthy of your consideration.

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Happy Anniversary

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4x4 magazine turns forty this month, so what better time than to let loose in an off-road created to celebrate another big birthday – Jeep’s Wrangler 80th Anniversary Words and Pictures: Alan Kidd WE’RE IN THE MOOD FOR ANNIVERSARIES. This month, 4x4 magazine is 40 years old, having first seen the light of day back in the spring of 1982.

Back then, we carried an article by Brian Hartley on the CJ7 Renegade he had just test driven. You can find a re-run of it immediately after this review of that vehicle’s descendant – the JL Wrangler Unlimited. And because we’re in the mood for anniversaries, the model we’ve tested is the Wrangler 80th Anniversary.

Yes, we’ve been going for half as long as Jeep. More or less, at least. The forerunner of all modern off-roaders was born in 1941, so it turned 80 last year, but the vehicle the company created to celebrate is still on sale and that’s good enough for us. Our 40th, Jeep’s 80th, and a nicely timed old road test to refer back and chuckle at how much times have changed.

Right? Mainly, right. Brian’s CJ7 had a 4.2-litre straight-six and a 3-speed auto box – a combination which, he reported, made it deceptively quick. The box was smooth and the engine never needed to spin past about 2500rpm.

The 2.0-litre GME unit in the Wrangler is a bit different. Its 272bhp comes in at a giddy 5250rpm and even the full 295lbf. ft of torque isn’t fully yours until the engine is spinning at 3000rpm.

It’s not deceptively quick, either.

It’s just quick. Kick it down from any speed at all and the Wrangler leaps forward with an eagerness that makes a mockery of its two-tonne mass. And there’s a huge similarity in the smoothness of the gearbox, which is a delight – albeit this one’s an 8-speeder. Just imagine that CJ7’s old 3-speed unit trying to cope with something that redlines at 6500rpm…

Anyway, Brian’s tale of his adventures aboard the CJ7 included reference to a number of individual moments, so here’s one of mine.

You buy a Wrangler because it’s fun, obviously, and you buy a 4-door because you’ve got a family, so it stands to reason that if it’s a 4-door Wrangler you’ve got it because your kids are going to find it fun.

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Left: The Sky Power Top is a £2200 option, but you don’t half get a lot of fresh air for your money. With all the windows down, it’s about as open to the elements as a car can get without being a full-on cabrio Right: The idea of a Wrangler with a 2.0-litre petrol engine sounded like anathema when it first came out, but we have to confess that having driven them several times, it suits the vehicle down to the ground. All the same, they do a Wrangler in America with a 6.4-litre V8 engine, and when such a thing exists in the world it’s hard not to yearn

And they did. Splashing through the local ford on the way to school with all the windows open: fun.

Arriving at school with the Sky Power Top open: fun. Asking Daddy to press the ‘make it skid’ button then take off with the rear wheels howling and the tail snapping from side to side: funnnnn.

Just for the record, Daddy agreed wholeheartedly that this was indeed

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all good fun. In fact, he might even have done some of it for his own entertainment even when his kids weren’t in the car. Hard to say. He might also have taken the Wrangler laning and brought it back liberally splashed with mud, which contrasted remarkably well with its Sarge Green paint finish.

This colour is an £875 option on some models but a no-coster on the

40th Anniversary. Which is nice.

You can also have this particular Wrangler in white, black or metallic grey, however the funkier hues like Nacho, Hydro and Snazzberry are reserved for other models.

The Sky Power Top is an option, too, adding £2200 to the price. Not cheap, but if you like fresh air you do get a whole lot of that for your money – it’s basically a full-length,

full-width fabric roof which retracts the entire way to expose all those on board to the elements in all their hopefully sunny glory. Wind the windows down too and it’s almost like being on board a yacht – lovely, though for the record a plaintive ‘it’s getting cold now Daddy’ came from the back after a few minutes, even at town speeds during the balmy days we got at the end of March.

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So, that’s something that the 80th Anniversary model doesn’t have as standard. What then does it give you? A metallic grey grille, headlight and fog light bezels is the answer, along with unique 18” two-tone alloys, LED headlamps, a body-coloured hard-top and various badges on the front arches, rear swing gate and, inside, stitched into the black leather seats. The cabin

also features a leather-clad dash and Berber floor mats.

The 80th Anniversary lists at £55,800 in 4-door form, which puts it alongside the Rubicon at the top of the Wrangler range. This of course means you also get all the equipment that’s standard on other models, such as cruise and climate, a strong list of safety kit and an impressive suite of infotainment kit including a premium stereo and powerful 8.4” touch-screen media system with reversing camera and sat-nav. Utterly bizarrely, all Wranglers come equipped as standard with everything you need if you wish to smoke while driving, too. We’ll settle for just lighting up the rear wheels, thanks.

So it’s a Wrangler like other Wrangler but not like the Rubicon (which has a slew of specialised off-road kit which to us makes it the natural choice), however there’s something a little different to the way it presents itself and everyone who sat in it liked it. We got a lot of glances on the road, too – way more, interestingly, than when we covered the

same beat aboard a bright yellow one. Make of that what you will.

Anyway, around town it’s surprisingly easy to drive for such a big, long lump of a thing. You sit so high up that visibility is never, ever a problem and in typical Jeep style, the steering is so light you can palm it round the tightest corners while hardly moving at all. Whereas Brian’s CJ7 had steering so light it was hard to keep in its lane on the motorway, however, the intervening four decades have taught Jeep that finesse is nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to power assistance and cruising in the Wrangler is a nicely settled affair. You do get a feeling of enormous momentum as you’re bowling along, which can be alarming as you bear down on slower traffic, but there’s a fairly obvious solution to that.

So, back to the laning we were talking about earlier. The 80th Anniversary might not have the same level of hardcore off-road kit as the Rubicon, but it’s still a very serious off-roader whose ability to clamber over extreme terrain is the stuff of

legends. We’d very definitely choose the 3-door model for this, but it’s not like the Unlimited is lacking in ground clearance – and while 255/70R18s sound to us like they want to be tyres when they grow up, they’re still 32” tall and high enough in profile to have some idea of which way is forward when the going gets slick. The Bridgestone Dueler H/T is very much a tarmac-biased pattern, though – not that there’s anything wrong with that, but in our minds a Wrangler doesn’t look right unless it’s on a mud-terrain.

Of course, the Wrangler’s live axles flex well on the way over uneven ground, making it comfortable and tractable in equal measure. Ours came with an optional limited-slip rear diff, too, which for £400 might help keep all your drive from disappearing out of one wheel in some situations. We think it’s best suited to the sort of set-up we’re dealing with here, keeping road-biased tyres in check on sloppy, wet ground rather than trying to cope with giant axle-twisters that lift your wheels two feet in the air. The latter is a job

‘All Wranglers come equipped as standard with everything you need if you want to smoke while driving.

We’ll settle for just lighting up the rear wheels, thanks’

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for fully fledged lockers of whatever kidney, but there were times when we like to think we could feel our truck’s wheels being managed by the subtle touch of the LSD. Something we definitely did notice, a number of times, was that if you’re in a deep ford and realise you’ve not given it enough, getting on the gas doesn’t appear to do anything. It certainly wasn’t interesting

in kicking down, which is odd as it’s normally absolutely gung-ho to do exactly that. There was a point where Daddy thought he was about to replicate Uncle Brian’s impression of a shipwreck, which you’ll see in a couple of pages’ time, but without anything as straightforward as freewheeling hubs to blame – however despite not picking up revs, the 2.0-litre engine kept its cool and

we pushed on through without any apparent risk of coming to grief.

On the subject of grief, when Brian tested the CJ7 back in 1982 he got 14mpg around town and off-road, and 24mpg at a steady 70mph on the motorway. Thankfully, the modern Wrangler does manage better than that, but it’s not hard to get it into the low twenties and would take incredibly gentle

treatment to ease it into the thirties.

The quoted figure for combined fuel consumption is 25.2mpg, which we found about right over the course of our week with the vehicle, so in real-world terms things have improved a bit, but definitely not been turned upside down, since the time when petrol cost about 35p a litre.

So the Wrangler is not cheap to buy and it’s not cheap to run, but

The 80th Anniversary package is largely about styling, with a metallic grey grille mesh, headlight and fog light bezels featuring along with LED lights. Obviously this is rather easier to see when they’re not covered in a layer of mud. The vehicle also gets its own 18” two-tone alloys, and if you look carefully there’s an 80th Anniversary badge on that wheelarch there

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KDL GROUP (UK) LIMITED

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The cabin is well laid out and comprehensively equipped, not because it’s an 80th Anniversary Wrangler but because it’s simply a Wrangler. The seats are trimmed in black leather with their own special badging, and the same material covers the upper portion of the dashboard.

There’s a definite sense of occasion in here – though again, that’s standard Wrangler stuff, not least because you sit so magnificently high up

something else has changed in the last forty years too. Even as recently as the mid-noughties, they were worth sweeties on the used market – but somewhere along the line, people started to realise that they actually make a great investment and now they hold their money almost as well as a Land Rover Defender. That’s the only comparison

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we’re going to make here, because we don’t want to start any trouble, but if you’re looking for somewhere to invest your money there are few safer places on four wheels.

As you’ll see, Brian concluded that the CJ7 was great on the motorway and for any kind of off-road track work, but limited as a workhorse and cross-country vehicle. The advent of

the long-wheelbase 5-door Wrangler has put paid to the first of those concerns, and it’s better in the latter sense too – though Brian observed that ‘a bit of judicious customising’ would help and generations of Wrangler owners since then have proved him absolutely right.

Most of all, forty years ago Brian’s final word on the CJ7 Renegade was

that it ‘brought out the bandit’ in him. And yes, absolutely, the Wrangler is a vehicle that stokes your ego and makes you want to show off. When did a test car last tempt me into pulling a smoky burnout just for the hell of it, or blowing a sky-high rooster on the way out of a pond? If I’m honest, it was probably the last time I drove a Wrangler.

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82 19 CE SIN

ARCHIVE STORIES FROM THE FIRST YEAR OF OVERLANDER 4X4

Jeep Renegade CJ7

by Brian Hartley

You probably didn’t know that the CJ part of CJ7 stood for Civilian Jeep. Well anyway I didn’t, but I decided to bone up on my somewhat scanty knowledge of Jeeps before setting off to the wilds of Suffolk and that is one of the many interesting snippets I discovered.

Others included the controversy surrounding the name Jeep. Did it derive from the initials GP (meaning General Purpose) or was it due to a scrounging character in Popeye cartoons known as Jeep.

Even more important, who is the originator of the Jeep? The Bantam Company, Ford or Willys?

In fact, the history of the original Jeep deserves an article and investigation of its own, but what is for sure is that it was the definitive forerunner of all present day light utility 4x4 vehicles.

I had been invited by the Challacombe Carriage Company, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, to test the Jeep Renegade CJ7 automatic. A mission I accepted with haste and enthusiasm, I might add!

Due to one false start and a tight editorial deadline, I ended up scooting off down to Suffolk at 5.30am one beautiful spring morning, notebook in hand, to meet Nick Challacombe of the aforementioned Carriage Company. To be honest, Monday was a bad day for Nick. It was one of ‘those’ Monday mornings; the Renegade demon-

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strator was having to be brought in on a trailer due to a switch failure, so while Nick dashed off on an errand of mercy I had a browse round and a cup of coffee.

Carriage Company somehow hadn’t seemed to be a fit title for a 4wd specialists to me and I had

a mental image of a rather snooty establishment that would have had a pink fit if one of their vehicles ever went near a mud hole. But the nature of the goodies in the smart showroom soon dispelled that image. There was a complete range of goods from wheels, roll bars, winches and rack

The rear quarters grow on you in time. Swing-way wheel carrier was easy to operate

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jacks right through to books, jackets and CBs, as well as genuine Jeep spares.

On Nick’s return, I found out some of the background to the Jeep’s existence in the UK. The present importers, Tozer Kelmsley and Milbourne, who took over importing Jeeps when American Motor Corporation pulled out in 1978, are due to finish their contract this year and as the French firm of Renault now owns a 49% chunk of AMC, there is some speculation as to what will happen with the Jeep in export markets. That, however, is a problem for the future; as of now, Challacombes are doing very nicely with 50% of all UK Jeep registrations in the last six months being sold by them – despite the fact, or perhaps because of it, that Nick only formed his company in 1980.

All purchasers of Jeeps at the premises are taken on an off-road instructional course in a local quarry. And this isn’t just to show them how to operate the 4-wheel drive lever!

First impressions By this time, my demonstrator was ready and the Sales Manager, Fred Cutler, took me for a familiarisation run in the Sun Yellow Jeep. By now I was well behind schedule, so for me it was a fast hike back up to Yorkshire, despite the fact that the Renegade had only 850 miles on the clock.

First impressions are not necessarily the best impressions, but within 20 miles three things had been indelibly seared into this memory of mine.

The incredible overall silence of the Jeep, the comfort, and the fact that the steering needed a touch like a midwife’s hand if you didn’t want to go waltzing with the heavies in the next lane.

Fording well!

While negotiating a long, sweeping right-hander at somewhere close to the legal limit, a set of potholes and good old British bumps set off a reaction that damn near put paid to this old ticker of mine for good. This was despite the fact that Fred had already warned me about the supersensitive steering and I’d already got into the technique of driving with just thumb and forefinger on the ultra-small wheel instead of my more usual beefy mitt.

The whole of the 215-mile journey was completed at a speed of just over the, ahem, legal-ish limit for English motorways and returned just over 16 mpg. During the course of the test, I covered

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High sills make for dry wading just over 650 miles, all of it either high-speed motorway work, around town or off-road driving; the worst mpg I got was 14, being used round town and off-road, and the best was 24 on a steady 70mph down the length of the M1. Being such a busy little beaver, I never had a chance to try the Jeep at something like a steady pace but I have no doubt that on a decent run at steady speeds, 26-28mpg should be attainable. Even round town, less lead-like tootsies than mine should be getting 18mpg.

These figures particularly impressed me as the engine under the Renegade’s bonnet was a mighty 4.2-litre 6-pot which had a heart as big as a bus and power to spare. The acceleration was deceptive; the silky smoothness of the 3-speed auto box convinced your senses that nothing very startling was happening, while the speedo was convincing the local bobby that a word to the wise was necessary!

Because of the massive reserves of this big engine, the tacho never went above 2500rpm unless you were in a really aggressive mood and put the auto on to manual control through the gears. To be honest, this didn’t improve acceleration times over much but it certainly made the engine sound busy as well as helping throw fuel away faster!

The brakes were superb at all times, the fully power assisted disc/drum set-up never once fading, biting or squealing throughout the test – though the same could not be said of the gear selector, which was not adjusted properly, causing some embarrassment on more than one occasion and tending to jump out of reverse on the off-road testing.

The interior is spartan to say the least with an absolute minimum of controls, and the few that had been provided were stuck where they landed.

Ammeter, fuel, oil pressure, temperature and speedo took care of the instrumentation while the dash mounted switches for the wipers/ washers, lights and heater are quaintly oldfashioned but usable nonetheless. After many years of Land Rover ownership, none of this caused me any real annoyance at all – in fact it was like home from home.

Muscle Machine The front seats were high backed and covered in a crinkle finish plastic which, whether by accident or design I don’t know, stopped you from sliding up and down over rough ground. They were also highly comfortable on any sort of going. The passenger seat folded forward to allow access to the forward facing rear seat, which is an optional extra on this model.

Space was very limited in all respects. There’s a tiny glovebox which lived up to its name as one glove is all you’d ever get in it, and a tiny area behind the rear seat for soft luggage.

The incredible hush inside the Jeep is a credit to the engine and transmission designers as the carpet is no more than a semi-effective decoration and there is more bare painted steel evident than the local steel stockholders. But at 80mph, the most noise you will hear is a muted whoosh.

The doors fit well, are noise free and easily detachable by just lifting them off, which I did with

Posing again, but the CJ7 Renegade is made for it

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relish on several occasions. The polycarbonate top is a bolt-on affair which looks a reasonably easy job to tackle but I wouldn’t think it would stand being removed regularly without a bit of repair work. Again, the top helped towards the low noise levels by reducing drumming to a minimum.

I must congratulate the designer of the door pull handle for managing to extract maximum pain for minimum effort. Top marks!

The underbonnet was spacious, the Jeep’s long snout leaving ample room for even this huge muscle machine, the venerable 6-pot being weighed down, like all American engines, with anti pollution control to the point of being buried ‘neath a conglomeration of tubes, ducting and compressor pumps, all seemingly weighted towards the passenger side. This plumber’s nightmare apart, there is ample room to work and any competent mechanic would find nothing to be afraid of under here.

The choke is automatic, which was unique in my experience in that it actually worked, one stab of the throttle pedal on a morning ensuring a first time rumble into life, and electronic ignition is fitted as standard.

The underside is reminiscent of the old WW2 Jeeps with a ladder type chassis, semi-elliptic leaf springs with rubber interleaves, forward-facing front-mounted shackles on the front springs, open universal joints on the front axle, a massive skid plate under the transmission and 12-gallon petrol tank and an anti-roll bar on the front axle.

The all-steel body has wax injection rustproofing; my particular vehicle had more than its fair share of wax protecting the interior parts, too, and an excellent paint finish with matching stripes and extrovert lettering down each side of the bonnet.

I had used the vehicle for three days before I got the chance to go off-road, and I can best sum up my feelings for the motor for road use by saying that it was an eye catcher of the first order – a real ‘poser’s’ motor. Even my much revered ancient mother remarked ‘what a nice looking car, and much more comfy than your other one!’

From its white coach-lined spoked wheels and fat Wrangler tyres, to its flamboyant stripes and

laid-back seats, it was an all-American Jeep and proud of it. With the doors off and a sunny day, even I felt ten years younger. And the urge just to use a bit of that extra power to promote a bit of head turning wheel screech from those fat tyres was just too much to resist… if only I was ten years younger instead of just feeling it!

A Good Flyer Off-Road?

First, let me make it clear that I’m a stick stirrer by nature. I’ve only ever once before driven an automatic cross country, all the rest of my experience being with manual boxes, and throughout my off-road testing I never really felt happy with the auto box.

The tyres could be summed up very simply. Absolutely ace on soft sand, gravel or dry surfaces, the extra floatation and power from the engine sending the motor powering up soft, shaly banks with ease, but on wet grass or muddy surfaces you were struggling!

The auto box gave me a few more grey hairs when I just failed to crest a particularly long, very steep slope and I wasn’t able to get reverse in time to come back down under power; the motor then stalled and I made the further discovery that rear-wheel-only handbrakes merely promote danger in such a situation, by which time I had slid, slithered and bumped back to the bottom of the hill. I did eventually master a quick flick into reverse in such a situation but engine braking is not of the best with this set-up and I never felt really confident again tackling really steep hills.

The Renegade is a good flyer but a lousy lander, due to the weight of the engine, so I refrained from any spirited hill cresting, and the 93.5” wheelbase and low profile tyres soon had me hung up on the transmission skid plate – I now realised why it was so strongly made!

On hard, steep slopes where traction was plentiful and a foot-down approach wasn’t necessary, the Jeep would climb house sides, the engine growling like a hungry lion as it just piled in the power and the auto setting off smoothly as it trickled the power down to the ground.

Note the steering box bottom plate, which can just about be seen immediately below the ‘R’ of the number plate, already stuffed with earth The power steering box is slung very low under the front bumper and I clouted it a couple of times. In really rough country I wouldn’t rate its chances of survival very highly at all, and having your steering box forcibly removed would not make for happy motoring!

The huge, beefy mirror arms proved to have only a cosmetic strength, when the driver’s side parted company from the motor when grabbed by a hawthorn bush that hit me in self-defence.

By now, I was learning the Jeep’s limitations and my forward progress was improving as I learned to make allowance for the lengthy wheelbase and low ground clearance and take advantage of the power reserves of the engine. But steep hill descents were still very much of a hit or miss affair and that’s no joke when you’re driving over £9000 worth of someone else’s motor.

Due to the exceptionally dry conditions and a lack of time to take to the hills and peat bogs that abound in the Pennines, I never got the chance to try my Renegade’s performance in any really deep clag, but an educated guess tells me that it would be okay with its wide boots and powerhouse engine, my only reservations being the excess nose weight.

Well Waterproofed

Now, where is reverse…?

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After five or six hours of general off-road work and picture posing, I took to the local river for a bit of fording. This is a good way of finding the chinks in the waterproofing, getting good piccies, having a whale of a time and amusing the small boys who always spectate!

On approaching the local ford, as all good four-wheelers do, your ace 4wd reporter here engaged his hubs, selected high range 4wd, locked the auto into 1st and went slowly through to test the depth and conditions… promptly coming to a dead halt in the deepest bit with a lack of traction. Low range 4wd and 2nd gear was selected – to no avail.

My computer-like brain rapidly went through the possibilities, until the embarrassing truth finally dawned like a wet West Yorkshire morning. In my haste to drive into the deep bits, I had actually disengaged the standard fitment freewheeling hubs!

No-one on the bank was in any hurry to wade in and do the honours, so to my eternal embarrass-

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ment I had to clamber out of the window, shuffle along the bonnet and engage my hubs. In future, I shall engage brain and hopefully spare myself an awful lot of egg on my face!

With 4wd now engaged, everything went like clockwork and I got my own back on those who laughed at me by splashing them all at great speed! The engine never fluffed once despite being drowned out several times and the body proved to be totally leak-proof. The high sills, which had claimed several acres of my ankle skin on the first two days, proved worth their weight in gold as it was quite feasible to go fording with the doors off and still not get wet – great spectator appeal if nothing else.

Renegade in Soho Friday night found me and the Renegade in Soho, visiting friends. And even the London crowds, who are used to seeing all manner of exotic machinery, took time to glance at this smooth boulevard cruiser. A quick picture session early Saturday morning outside Maggie’s Factory was followed by a fast run back to Challacombes through the narrow country lanes, where a heavy downpour gave me a last-minute chance to find out that the Wrangler tyres, which behaved impeccably in the dry, had some dirty habits in the wet when pushed too hard. I’m talking about MUCH too hard, though!

My conclusions? The Renegade is a motorway cruiser of the highest order, with power and handling to put many high-powered cars to shame and looks to make any driver feel special. Other than for heavy duty towing work, which it would

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Well bogged in soft soil, but the power, smooth auto and big tyres pulled the Jeep back out Below: Always engage freewheeling hubs before entering off-road conditions. Colour would show the blushing bonce better make mincemeat of, it is not a working motor due to its severely limited room, but it carries four people in style and comfort.

Off-road, I would happily take it anywhere green roading, and on any sort of track however rugged. But for out and out cross-country trackless motoring it does have limitations with its vulnerable steering box, low ground clearance,

long wheelbase and heavy nose weight, at least some of which could be overcome with a bit of judicious customising.

Overall, I like the Renegade. Being a workhorse is alright, I suppose, but we all have a bit of ego in us somewhere and if this motor couldn’t bring it out then you just ain’t got no soul, brother. My Renegade certainly brought the bandit out in me!

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46 | MAY 2022

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Inching Ahead The great days of hybrid building may be in the past, but the 100” Defender remains the best thing Land Rover never made. For a true enthusiast, then, such a vehicle still makes complete sense – even if it does take a deceptive amount of work to create on Words: Gary Noskill Pictures: Steve Taylor

W

hen I was a kid, I used to imagine what it would be like to be able to build anything I wanted. If I hankered after a new bike, for example, I’d dream of spending the afternoon in the garage and knocking one up. On occasions I’d even get as far as trying to build something before realising, after hours spent fiddling, that I didn’t have any of the right tools for the job and that even if I did, I’d have no idea of what to do with them.

So I’ve always been somewhat in awe of people who do possess these abilities.

I remember when my neighbour decided his house was too small and set about constructing a new one in the garden with more bedrooms and a bigger kitchen.

I could see the project taking shape from my bathroom window and would spend hours every day sat on the toilet, staring in wonderment at his ambitious project.

Eventually it was finished and I realised that I was living next door to the embodiment of my dream. My neighbour had decided he wanted a new home so, rather than going down the conventional route of visiting estate agents and moving, he went ahead and built one. Just the way he wanted.

It’s a similar story with Jonathan Fearn. He found himself wanting a Land Rover to suit his job as a tree surgeon, which meant one big enough to carry his tools but small enough to manoeuvre between trees.

There was no shortage of 90s and 110s ready and willing to take up the mantle. But the former didn’t have enough loadspace – and the latter were too bulky to get around in the orchards where he plied his trade.

So he did the obvious thing and built one, with a 100” wheelbase that would give him the best of both worlds.

Now, back in the early days of 90s and 110s, few people could actually afford one (a state of affairs that’s come back around, but that’s another story). So in a classic case of supply and demand, they started building their own.

Range Rover chassis were cheap and plentiful, Series II and III bodies and panels were practically worthless – and so putting them together became the poor-but-resourceful man’s way of creating a Defender.

4x4 3.5pp Fearn.indd 47

As you can imagine, these varied wildly in everything from their purpose and their design to the quality of everything from their paintwork to their welding. The best were, and still are, a case study in how good a Land Rover can be.

The worst were, well, not.

Either way, b ack in the 1980s and 1990s the hybrid scene was absolutely colossal. Every lane trip, every playday, every trial and every comp safari would be crawling with them. People used them as everyday cars, work trucks, the lot. For the best part of two decades after the original 90 and 110 were first brought to life, it may feasibly not be an exaggeration to say that the majority of coil-sprung Land Rovers in enthusiast hands were actually hybrids.

Having said that, Jonathan’s 100” is unusual in that its wheelbase is not one Solihull ever used for the Defender. Most hybrids were 88s, with a smattering of 80s for hardcore trialling.

Yet people often say the 100” Defender is the best vehicle Land Rover never made. And while many of the everyday, competition-focused hybrids have long since been battered to death, a disproportionate number of these more grown-up examples of the breed have survived into old age.

So we’d argue that such a vehicle now counts as a historical marker in the Land Rover story, just as surely as a rarity from beyond the factory gate. And Jonathan’s would be a good example to look at.

He built it in the early noughties, which means that he had to get it through the SVA test.

Introduced in 2001 and nowadays known as the IVA, this covers safety characteristics, emissions, interior design elements and adherence to construction and use regulations, among other things. It’s kind of similar to the test all new massproduced vehicles undergo in order to receive Type Approval; it’s often credited (somewhat unfairly) with sounding the death knell for hybrid building – though as Jonathan demonstrated very effectively, if you were doing it properly you had nothing to fear.

What the test did do was significantly raise the level of preparation needed to register a hybrid.

This put a lot of people off pursuing their own builds – though in many cases, those were the people whose Land Rovers you wouldn’t want to see coming in your direction, so perhaps it was not such a bad idea after all.

‘Any vehicle built or radically modified after 2001 needs to undergo the test,’ explains Jonathan. ‘It is hard work but I reckon it must be a positive thing. After all, it gives a sure-fire way of ensuring that your vehicle doesn’t pose a threat to you or other road users.’

It’s hard to know whether the demise of hybrid building was down to the introduction of the SVA/IVA or the drop in 90s’ and 110s’ values.

Both happened at around the same time, so it’s probably a combination of the two – though the subsequent skyrocketing rise in what Defenders are worth hasn’t been accompanied by a resurgence in hybrids, which you can make of what you will.

Anyway, back to Jonathan. The phrase ‘make of it what you will’ in this case referred to a 110 chassis, and what he made of it was a 100”. The ‘classic’ hybrid, if such a thing, was a Range Rover with Series panels, so this one was a bit out of the ordinary, but a lot of the engineering was the same. Starting with a Rangey would mean not having to shorten it, but what you gain there you lose in having to replace the rear crossmember.

‘I actually think it’s as difficult to fit a Defender body to a Range Rover as it is to shorten a 110,’ Jonathan told us. ‘The bodywork outriggers on the Range Rover are in the wrong place, so you’d need to weld regardless.

‘Besides, I’ve probably got a stronger chassis as a result!’

He’s not joking. While the chassis was going back together, he sleeved it internally with steel box before welding it up then adding more plates around the outside. Then he punched holes through the chassis and spot-welded them to make the assembly stronger than ever.

Enough welding now? Not likely. Did we mention that as well as a work truck, his Land Rover was to be an off-road toy? We did now.

So he bobtailed it, cutting 6” from the rear to create a truck with the right balance of load space, manoeuvrability and, well, even more manoeuvrability. The 110 was a fine thing but with the best will in the world it was a bit of a bus compared to the 90; with half the difference taken out of its wheelbase and a rear overhang much more in keeping with the latter vehicle, we’re very much looking at the best of both worlds here.

A common theme among tales of hybrid builds is that you can very quickly get them to the point

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where they look close to complete but then it takes forever to do the little jobs to finish them off. For Jonathan, however, who built the truck on his driveway and in a friend’s barn, once the welding was done the rest of it flew together.

Well, mainly. He was adamant that it was to be powered by a 200Tdi engine, seeing this as ‘much stronger than the 300Tdi or 2.5 Turbo-Diesel,’ and few would disagree that it’s a superb choice. But like most people building their own Landies back then, he got one from a Discovery.

‘There are a lot of early Discoverys around that are completely rotten,’ he remarked. ‘But their engines are sweet as the day they left the factory. Defenders of that era, on the other hand, are more often than not still going strong.’ Many years have passed since we did our interview, and there are a lot less Tdi Discos left now, but the number of Defenders from back then that have been scrapped rather than rebuilt can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand.

What this means, anyway, is that he now needed to do all the usual work in order to make the Disco engine fit – turbo, oil filter, you know the drill. So it’s a big job, albeit more time-consuming than particularly challenging if you’re good with the spanners. Which Jonathan very clearly is, and he professed to be delighted with the results.

The engine is mated to a standard LT77 manual gearbox, behind which Jonathan fitted the transfer case from a 110 – chosen because it has lower ratios in first and second than one from the 90. This comes in particularly useful when the vehicle is towing heavy loads, not least because the nature of its job means doing so in tough offroad conditions.

Talking of shifting heavy loads, up front there’s a PTO-driven Fairey winch. This is very

much the opposite of the competition winches people buy for unbelievable amounts of money to give them an edge in challenge events – it’s slow but extremely strong and can be used all day without overheating, making it perfect for heavy-duty forestry work.

The nature of the vehicle’s job meant it was always going to need mud-terrain tyres, but Jonathan also had to spec it with a lot of road miles in mind – around 25,000 a year, give or take. The answer? Rather than trying to avoid the inevitable, he decided to roll with the punches and fit a set of 235x85R16 Colway remoulds.

‘Whatever tyres I use will wear quickly on the road,’ he commented. ’So I may as well keep costs as low as possible by using the remoulds, even if that means I have to replace them more regularly.’

In actual fact, he told us he had found that the Colways weren’t wearing significantly faster rate than more expensive tyres – and, no small matter, by using remoulds he was happy to be doing his bit for the environment.

Which, to be fair, he already was by the very fact of driving an old Landy. There can, after all, be very few better ways of reducing your carbon footprint than by keeping an old vehicle alive, and turning it into something you can use every day, decades after lesser designs have been scrapped.

And like every good Land Rover, Jonathan’s hybrid was built to last. Not just as a pampered classic, either, but as a traditional tool. He fitted it with a heavy-duty steering guard and fabricated his own jackable sills from 2” box, and rather than tarting it up with a fancy colour scheme he handpainted its shortened 110 bodywork in NATO green which he could touch up whenever the inevitable tree scrapes leave it looking tatty.

Jonathan also told us that he likes to change his shock absorbers regularly, which explains why he kept them standard when speccing the truck. They were mated with +1.5” heavy-duty Bearmach springs – not to turn it into a big monster of a thing, but simply to counteract the weight of that winch.

Elsewhere, the suspension was rebuilt using polyurethane bushes throughout and the power steering that came with the 200Tdi engine was pressed back into service to help keep that front winch bumper from routinely molesting the contents of other people’s orchards. Jonathan told us he reckoned his truck had a better turning

circle than it would if he’d based it on a Range Rover, which we’re not going to argue with when he has that other great benefit of building your own Land Rover on his side – to wit, knowing every nut and bolt in intimate detail.

There’s another benefit of doing it your own way, too, of course. As Jonathan put it when we spoke to him, this Land Rover cost him a significant amount to build – but nothing like as much as he would have laid out on buying a second-hand Defender and speccing it up to the same level.

Of course, he wouldn’t have had the nightmare of dealing with the SVA test. But then, he wouldn’t have had the satisfaction of getting it through the SVA test. It all depends on the value you place on your own time – and, of course, on how confident you are in your own skills.

And, of course, it depends on whether the Land Rover you really want actually exists at all. Which brings us back to where we started – and reminds us of why, in its own left-field way, this one-off machine is a classic example of what made the Land Rover scene so vibrant.

One of the favourite statistics all Land Rover fans like to trot out is that 75% of all the vehicles the company has ever made throughout its history are still on the road today. The actual number may change from person to person (hey, it’s a statistic, it’s not meant to be accurate) but the point behind it is sound.

And if you know anything about Land Rovers, you know that the reason for the vehicle’s phenomenal durability is that down through the years, resourceful individuals like Jonathan have been fixing, adapting, rebuilding and sometimes cannibalising them as ways of keeping them alive. Alive and, in this case, thriving.

And that community of fans, with their sleeves rolled up and spanners at the ready, is every bit as big a part of Land Rover’s heritage as the vehicles themselves. If you want a true, real-world representation of what made Land Rover great, this unique home-made work wagon is as good as it gets.

‘A a lot of early Discoverys are completely rotten. But their engines are sweet as the day they left the factory’ 48 | MAY 2022

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The 200Tdi engine has achieved legendary status and Jonathan chose it without any hesitation, firmly believing that it’s much stronger than the earlier 2.5 Turbo-Diesel and also the 300Tdi that replaced it. This particular example started life beneath the bonnet of a Discovery, which saved a lot of pain when buying it but added plenty when it came to installing it

The engine is a 200Tdi from one of the very many early Discoverys that had already rusted themselves into an early grave by the time Jonathan came to build his hybrid. It was a lot of work to fit, but well worth all the effort to get what he considered to be a far superior unit to those that came both before and after it. The front bumper is solid but not showy, and the PTO-driven mechanical Fairey winch on it is the kind that will pull and pull all day long, slowly but very surely, rather than the sort of blindingly fast comp job you see on a different kind of modified Land Rover. Steep cable tells a certain story here, too – as does the number plate, whose Q prefix says the vehicle’s age or identity is in doubt (or to put it another way, that the DVLA doesn’t fancy putting in the effort it would take to properly understand its history)

4x4 3.5pp Fearn.indd 49

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19

Toyota Land Cruiser VX

As Overlander 4x4 approached its 10th birthday, Toyota launched what was to become one of the most legendary 4x4s of all time. Thirty years later, the 80-Series Land Cruiser VX is still possibly the best vehicle we’ve ever driven

S

erious off-roaders in Britain tend to regard the Solihull faith as the only one, pointing out the range of vehicles Land Rover builds which are all designed to go seriously off-road.

Yet at the risk of heresy, what does that range actually cover?

50 | MAY 2022

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There’s the Defender, in various wheelbases.

There’s the Range Rover, and there’s the Discovery. All are serious off-roaders, in that they have ladder chassis, low range and live axles. But with Discoverys and Range Rovers edging closer together as they push against the ceiling of image

and price, it is stretching the point to say there is something there for everyone.

Toyota, on the other hand, now has four distinct vehicles that cover a huge spectrum, from the fun and funky RAV4 up to the wonderful monster that is the Land Cruiser VX. The VX is £10,000 less than the top version of the new Range Rover, and it represents a formidable opposition.

If I had a choice between the brilliant 2.5-litre BMW turbo-diesel in the Range Rover and the 4.2-litre turbo-diesel in the VX, I’d take the latter.

If I needed to carry seven people, there would be no contest since the Range Rover only carries five (though the Discovery does have two more pews in the back). Both can come with leather, air-con and all the extras, although there is no denying that it is the Range Rover that carries the cachet.

But however far ahead Land Rover’s flagship may be in that regard, Toyota leads by at least the same distance on build quality.

So it’s well built. Is it particularly powerful?

No. The engine may be huge, but it only puts out 165bhp at 3600rpm, although the 265lbf.ft of torque at a paltry 1800rpm that goes with it is pretty damn impressive.

4x4 06/04/2022 12:42

Above left: The 1HD-T turbo-diesel is big, truck-like, lovely to listen to, lovely to look and at big, again. It’s not interested in being thrashed – it takes 16.6 seconds to get from 0-60mph, but when it hits 2000rpm and all its torque is singing out, it feels like it would do that even if you lashed it to a mountain Above right: This is the VX manual model, which costs about £5000 less than the auto. You get fabric seats rather than leather and have to make do without air-con, but mainly what you’re losing out on is one of the best self-shifters the world has ever seen You feel it and hear it, a gradual rise in growl off tickover, with 1200rpm giving you enough to be comfortably up and running. By 2000rpm, it feels powerful enough to shift a main battle tank, but all this militates against top-end surge. A 0-60 time of 16.6 seconds speaks volumes here; the Land Cruiser is not fast, but when you’re behind the wheel it feels very much as if towing 3500kg would slow it down not a jot.

There’s a manual version too, which speeds things up to a positively scintillating 15.8 seconds. You save around £5000 (£32,129 plays £37,277) but you lose all that leather (and there’s lots) as well as air-conditioning and what is a superb automatic gearbox.

We’d certainly spend the extra money. Revving out the 4.2-litre diesel is pointless; better to let the auto box shift for itself rather than holding it in a gear. It knows what it is doing and is perfectly suited to the power pulses of what is a pretty large, truck-sized engine.

Top speed is about 104mph and you can certainly cruise on the motorway at any speed you feel is prudent or even risky. The indirect-injected diesel noise is never the clatter you get in other applications (the Tdi springs to mind); instead, it remains a muted roar that is thoroughly pleasant and a joy to hear.

At speed it hums away to itself, with some noise coming from the massive 275/70R16 Dunlop Grandtreks and a minimal amount of wind noise. You are cosseted in a sumptuous world of leather and carpeted trim, the gearbox switching up through its three speeds and into and overdrive fourth which you can switch out.

Off-road, the auto box doesn’t make life difficult. That’s because this is not some big machine into which the manufacturer has shoved a whole load of marketing gimmicks; no, this is a comprehensive and balanced whole.

4x4 2pp Land Cruiser VX.indd 51

Switch into low box and the viscous-controlled centre diff is automatically locked. The efficient ABS is also locked out at the same time. As you trundle through the goo, you have the option of cross-axle diff locks on the front and the rear, operated by a knob on the fascia. You can hold the gearbox in either normal or sport mode, keep it locked in low low and generally fine-tune it to whatever conditions you are traversing. You get to make a lot of decisions.

The ride, on solid or rough ground, is excellent indeed, with long-travel coil springs all round, live axles, anti-roll bars and hydraulic dampers. This combination provides plenty of wheel travel that is gently but firmly controlled, allowing you to ease along over varied terrain, while the auto box helps to keep that weight under control even on quite steep descents.

The tyres allow some sliding around in slimy mud but thinner tyres would look a bit stupid under those bulbous arches. Getting one of these sliding sideways on a small side-slope remains

an experience I am keen to forget, however – at times like that, the first thing you notice is the vehicle’s weight.

Back on the highway, the Land Cruiser is easier to control – no surprises there. The tyres come into their own on fast bends, even though the suspension does a surprisingly good job of not loading them up by wallowing around.

The steering is speed sensitive, weighting up as the speeds rise, which helps you forget again about the bulk you’re controlling. It is incredibly easy to manoeuvre around the place, assuming you have a parking space big enough and the confidence to swing about in something that looks as if it needs an HGV licence to drive.

This is quite a truck. It hasn’t been out of the top two of the last three of this magazine’s 4x4 of the Year awards. You get comfortable accommodation for seven, the best build quality around, a big, torquey engine and a balanced package to back it up. This Land Cruiser hard to miss – and even harder to beat.

MAY 2022 | 51

06/04/2022 12:42

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14/01/2022 21:05

RED RAW CHILLY PEOPLE When 4x4 magazine was 21 years old, Ford launched the Maverick – and marked the Words: Gary Martin Pictures: Ford

O

ne day in 1993, the phone rang in the Ford press garage.

There’s nothing unusual in that – but when Paul Wilson answered it, it definitely wasn’t the average call.

Paul was one of Ford’s technical team – and working with press vehicles meant he had the sort of specialist knowledge that the company’s big bosses were about to find very valuable.

‘It was Colin Dobinson, director of Ford Motorsport,’ he explains.

‘He was asking questions about our experience preparing half a dozen Mondeos for the London to Sydney

54 | MAY 2022

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Rally, since we were the only people who had done anything off-road with them.

‘He just said Ford was going to do something – but I had no idea what it would involve!’

What it would involve was driving from London to New York in a convoy of Mondeos and Mavericks.

Someone had come up with the idea of going through the newly dug Channel Tunnel, which was still some way from being opened, and using an tracked vehicle called an Arktos to get across the semi-frozen Bering Strait between Russia and Alaska, making it sort-of overland the whole way.

That apart, it was all about the distance – but the big challenge was clearly going to be to get the vehicles across the endless wilderness of Siberia.

Oh, and they were doing it in winter. Madness? If so, a necessary madness if you want to stand any chance of the Bering Strait being well enough frozen to get across.

Preparing the vehicles was relatively simple. Paul’s team fitted underbody shields and 3Kw Eberspacher truck heaters – because at minus 60 degrees, the factory heating systems would be unable to warm their cabins beyond the front seats. Additional jacking

points were added for high-lifts, fuel and brake lines were run inside the vehicles to protect them from the cold and the Mavericks each had a Superwinch fitted. ’That’s basically all we did’, says Paul. ’For the Mondeos, we increased the ride height by fitting adjustable spring platforms, but the suspension itself remained standard.’ The Mavericks were, in this regard, completely stock.

Vehicle preparation may not have been a major task, but as the event itself progressed things began to get more difficult. It had all started easily enough, the main problem on the way from London

4x4 07/04/2022 14:16

occasion by embarking on an expedition in the face of the world’s gnarliest winter

to Moscow being to keep up with the hectic schedule demanded by live television broadcasts. The expedition was televised under the rather bizarre title of The Big Race, which suggests that the mood of the room in a marketing consultancy somewhere was less in touch with reality than the organisers were when they arranged for ten Ural trucks to support their vehicles.

With these heavies looking after them, the six Mavericks and two Mondeos cruised their way deep into Russia with their studded Michelin tyres allowing good progress on the hard-packed snow. The Urals carried food and

4x4 Ford Siberia.indd 55

spares and provided sleeping accommodation each night.

‘The only real problem up to this point’, says Paul, ’was fatigue and boredom. But we were always aware that things would change when we got to the centre of Russia at Usk-Kut.’ This is where the world’s coldest temperature was recorded a bracing minus 71.2 degrees.

‘When it’s that cold, strange things happen. Most of the time, there’s no air movement and as you walk along, your breath freezes and hangs there like a mist. If you get several people talking, you get this fog around them.

‘When you start driving in a convoy, the same thing happens. It became quite dangerous, bearing in mind the road conditions were now bad. It was like driving in the worst fog you’ve ever seen, but if we stopped and walked three feet away from the vehicle it was totally clear.’

As always when you’re offroading, at times the going is quite smooth and easy and you can yomp along confidently – but then at other times you’re slowed almost to a crawl. ‘Our speed was varying all the time,’ agrees Paul. ‘One minute, we might make it up to 50mph, and then at times we’d be lucky to average 15.

The roads were undulating and very bumpy, and the constant thumpthump actually got quite arduous.

‘We had to concentrate all the time, not just for hours but for days and days. It seemed to be neverending. I had been away from home

for five or six weeks by this time, and it just went on and on. We were only managing something like 200 kilometres a day, and that was starting at seven in the morning and finishing very late, sometimes even into the small hours.’ There’s endurance, and then there’s this.

Just as there’s cold, and then there’s this. ‘We had five trucks to sleep in,’ explains Paul. ‘But it was better to get to a town or a village where a welcoming party would come to meet us. Our most important need was to find what the Russians call the “warm box,” a garage into which they put all their machinery, as they didn’t leave anything out overnight. This is where I could work on the cars.

‘But before we could do this, we had to go through the same rituals.

The people had a great need to bond with newcomers and so when we arrived, as the chief mechanic they always wanted to entertain me.

‘This involved vodka, which I tried to keep away from, or hot sweet tea which was the next thing and not too bad. You had to have raw fish or a particular delicacy – which I only had twice – of raw pig fat.

These cubes of white pig fat were something special to them. It didn’t stay in my stomach too long!’

Hard to know who got the worse deal out of this, really, the human or the pig. At least Paul was able to recover afterwards by retreating to his warm box once the formalities were over.

‘They would have a fire inside, heating water that ran in huge pipes around the walls, and this usually warmed the place up to about freezing,’ he explained. ‘That felt quite warm by now, and we could work in our thermals and overalls.

‘We had to do lots of oil changes, because the fuel we were using was just awful – 76 octane most of the time. We also had to change spark plugs regularly because the electrodes were being destroyed.

‘When we took the old plugs out and put them down, they disappeared immediately. Our old ones were still better than what the Russians had.’

If you look for Usk-Kut on a map, you’ll see that it’s a fairly normal looking town a couple of hundred miles north of Lake Baikal and east of Krasnoyarsk. It has shops, cafes, residential blocks, busy streets; not exactly the stuff of extreme travel.

But take a look around it on Google Maps and you’ll see a telling pattern of blue lines that says this is where the Street View car stopped on its journey east. Once you pass UskKut, the game changes.

And sure enough, it did. ’After Usk-Kut, we never saw another car on the road,’ explains Paul. ‘The only things were 6x6 trucks or military vehicles.

To give you an idea of scale here, the itinerary set out for the expedition saw the vehicles pass Usk-Kut in Week 4. That’s Week 4 out of a total of 15.

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07/04/2022 14:16

It would be plainly ridiculous to suggest that a vehicle in this predicament should do anything other than sit there waiting for summer. But being buried in snow was just an everyday part of the job for the Mavericks – and not always just when they were parked up, either. This is a climate in which strange things happen to people and vehicles alike – manufacturers talk about extreme weather testing, but there’s a reason why, as you push further east into Siberia, you stop seeing any other cars on the road

‘Everything here has two windscreens,’ Paul explains. ‘These work like double glazing so that they don’t freeze up with your breath, so you can at least see where you are going.

‘Think about your deep freeze.

That only works down to minus 20, maybe 25 degrees, so it would be considerably warmer in there than it was in Siberia. The wind chill factor got to minus 90 degrees. I got frost nip on both cheeks, which was like severe sunburn and very tender. It was one step away from frostbite, and that was just from the time it took me to climb on to the roof of the truck to put some fuel in the vehicle.

‘People don’t realise quite how extreme it all was – I think because the television coverage tended to trivialise it.

‘Most company car testing is done down to minus 35 degrees.

Beyond this point, the cold affects everything on the vehicle. So if we knew that overnight the temperature was only going to be down to minus 30 degrees, we would switch the vehicles off but leave the Eberspacher heaters running to keep the contents warm.

‘When it got colder, we also left the engines running, and we’d notice in the morning that there would be a little pool where condensation from the exhaust had dripped, frozen and

created a stalagmite. One night, this grew so high that it actually froze over the end of the exhaust and stalled the Mondeo.

‘We had guards with us all the time, and they were meant to come and tell me if a vehicle stopped, but this one night the guard had gone to sleep or something and I didn’t find out until the morning. I went rushing out and changed the batteries to see if it would start, but it would only just turn over. I had no way of knowing how long the vehicle had been sitting there not running, but it must have been quite a while because the power steering fluid had frozen and I couldn’t turn the wheel. When I tried to select a gear, I couldn’t.

‘The Russians suggested we towed it to jump start it. That took about four kilometres, and eventually it came to life, first one cylinder then two, three, four.

‘The poly belt that drives the power steering pump, alternator and water pump had also frozen to the pulleys, so when it started some of its V-grooves simply broke off. All the spare belts we had taken had mysteriously disappeared, which was an occupational hazard up there, but at least it ran, which was something of an achievement after sitting overnight in such a bitterly cold place.

‘Another problem, which was shown on television, was that we broke driveshafts. When it was really cold, the rubber gaiters around the ends of the shafts just shattered and fell to pieces.

‘The problem was that we couldn’t see this because the area was packed with ice and snow – the whole underside of all the vehicles were permanently like this, but it hadn’t proved a problem. We couldn’t clear it because that would have meant literally chiselling away at springs and dampers. But with the rubber gaiters gone, the UJ filled up with snow and ice and broke.

‘To save the other vehicles, when we got to our next warm box we hacked away all the snow, packed the area with grease, wrapped black plastic bags around the whole lot

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07/04/2022 14:16

‘We had to concentrate all the time, not just for hours but for days and days. We were only managing something like 200 kilometres a day, and that was starting at seven in the morning and finishing in the small hours’ and cable-tied them on. The grease kept the snow out and, provided we kept changing the bags every day, there were no other problems.’

World-leading car manufacturing multinational meets farmer-fix engineering, with total success…

It’s difficult to describe the experience of actually driving through Siberia, because so much of it is just non-stop bleakness.

Exhaustion becomes a way of life, of course, but in addition to this for much of the time you don’t find yourself enjoying the beauty of untouched nature – just concentrating on what’s in front

4x4 Ford Siberia.indd 57

of your bonnet, which in winter is always white, white and more white.

‘I had actually thought the whole expedition would be fairly straightforward,’ admits Paul. ‘It wasn’t until the last fortnight in Siberia that we began to get worried.

‘We were in Messhmidt, heading for Uelen, which is on the Bering Strait, and a little place further south called Lavresen which is as far east in Russia that you can actually go. The decision had to be made whether to go to Uelen or Lavresen, but that wasn’t so easy because nobody had driven along that route in winter.

‘There were no roads, nothing. No trees, no scrub, no rocks, just barren snow. We had to rely on the GPS to work out our position.

‘We had a local guide who left the main convoy for a settlement some 25 kilometres away to check the conditions. On his way, he found an Inuit settlement who told him they believed there was a blizzard coming. So he came rushing back and said we must move now, without delay. When there’s a blizzard in Siberia, you just lock yourself in and sit the thing out – but we had to meet the Arktos to attempt the Bering Strait crossing.

‘So although it was 2am and we had been driving all day, we had to set off straight away.

‘We shackled two Mavericks to one of the trucks, not for traction but so we didn’t get lost. You couldn’t see the vehicle in front, so we had to be linked together. It was the middle of the night and the wind was blowing hard already.

‘We got going but soon the heater packed up in the truck. Then one of the Mavericks stopped because snow blew up the exhaust, froze solid and stopped the engine. So we had to get into the truck and wait the blizzard out.

MAY 2022 | 57

07/04/2022 14:16

Above left: A warm box sounds like one of those things we all aspire to spending more time enjoying. But the name is a bit of a cruel joke, because the combination of a roaring fire and pipework carrying the heat from it all around you succeeds in warming these garages up to about freezing. By the time you’ve climbed down into that inspection pit, you’ve got permafrost about 18 inches to your left and right. Still, at least when you’re down there no-one will be forcing you to eat chunks of raw pig fat…

Above right: It’s not until you realise what this actually is that you see the true horror of it. Condensation dripping from the exhaust pipe had frozen into a kind of toxic stalactite, which eventually blocked the pipe completely and stalled the engine – which had been left running to prevent it from freezing solid. Cue a jump-start covering several miles which finally brought the engine back to life one cylinder at a time, totalling the serpentine belt in the process as it was still frozen to its pulleys ‘It died down after two days, and by now it was frustrating because we knew we were so close. We decided that six of us should tie ourselves together and walk ahead of the convoy, checking the route ahead. Then the trucks would move up until we could see properly.

‘We only drove using the GPS and our NASA maps at this time, for probably the last 1000 kilometres.

During this period, the Mavericks’ engine compartments were permanently full of snow. It just blew everywhere on the vehicles, even with all the windows and doors shut.

You can’t imagine how windy it is –

how people live in these conditions is beyond me.’

The concept of inching ahead like this for 1000 kilometres might scramble your brain a little, but this might just about illustrate the mindboggling scale of the journey. Would you set out to travel from Penzance to Aberdeen in the sort of white-out we might get in Britain once every century, only ten times worse? Of course not. But when you’ve already done about 14,000 kilometres and there’s no way of turning back? No question. Not that it’s like they had a choice – especially as salvation was waiting when they finally reached

the coast, in the shape of the Arktos that would bear a chosen selection of vehicles across the icy sea.

It’s hard to describe an Arktos.

Made in Canada, as are so many of the best things, it’s kind of like two tracked flat-beds, running in tandem and connected together by a huge articulated pivot. And it’s big.

‘The Arktos was always going to be a problem,’ explains Paul, ‘because we had to use a Hercules to fly it into Russia. It was squeezed into the aircraft with two inches to spare on either side. ‘It’s actually like two Churchill tanks joined together with an articulated arm in the middle. Both ends are powered and the rear had an additional water propulsion unit.

So you’ve spent several months driving through the worst conditions you can imagine, you’ve survived murderous weather, you’ve avoided death at the hands of bears and bandits and at long, sweet last you’ve arrived at the coast. Now you can relax in the knowledge that your worries are behind you, right?

Not you can’t, at least not when bureaucracy has the chance to sink its teeth into your plans.

The Hercules had to make three attempts to fly into Russia because the authorities wouldn’t give it permission to land. Since it was bringing the Arktos in, and would be carrying out whatever vehicles and people couldn’t fit on it, after battling through such unimaginable conditions there was nothing for it but to wait.

Eventually, the man with the red tape at last ran out of forms to fill in and the Hercules was graciously allowed in to land. Which, in a little settlement clinging to the edge of a frozen world, brought the whole place to a standstill. But the main thing was that the crossing was still on.

‘The plan was for only a few members of the expedition to go in the Arktos,’ explains Paul, ‘because of the danger of crossing the Bering Strait – no-one had ever driven across it in anything. Much as I wanted to go, I had to travel in the

Vehicles shackled to the back of a support truck to prevent them getting lost in the white-out, engine bays completely full of snow, six people tied together out front feeling the way on foot. Your expedition is definitely into the endgame once it’s got like this

58 | MAY 2022

Ford Siberia.indd 58

4x4 07/04/2022 14:41

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Ilkeston, Derbyshire, DE7 8EF MAY 2022 | 59 JANUARY 2021 | 73

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06/04/2022 07/04/2022 17:22 14:17

These aren’t meant to be before-and-after pictures, but they definitely tell that sort of story. Ford’s Paul Wilson admits that before the expedition, he expected it to be a fairly straightforward affair – but that as the convoy got deeper and deeper into Siberia, he became increasingly worried. Needless to say, exhaustion was a major factor too, as was the relentless cold – at 47 degrees below freezing, you learn things you never knew about yourself Hercules with the two Mavericks and fly to Alaska to meet up with the other vehicles that had already been flown there. The guys in the Arktos were supposed to cross the Bering Strait and then use skidoos in Alaska, because the most northern tip is just impossible for any kind of wheeled vehicle.

‘So I drove one of the Mavericks into the Hercules and spent the next couple of days hopping from town to town into Alaska and getting the correct customs clearances – which was a complete joke. Having got all that way across Russia, having driven through all that snow and ice, we suddenly hit American bureaucracy because we didn’t have the correct paperwork to be allowed into the country.’

4x4 Ford Siberia.indd 61

More bureaucracy. But then came the news that filling in forms was the least of the team’s worries.

Paul was by now in the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, while some 700 miles to the west the Arktos was battling with the Bering Strait. But it lost. The huge vehicle had hit a rock and thrown off one of its tracks; not in itself the end of all hope but, in conjunction with various other hiccups, enough to convince the team that they had no choice but to abandon this element of the expedition.

It wasn’t until 2008 that the Strait was finally conquered by a motor vehicle, when Steve Burgess and the late Dan Evans crossed it aboard a Land Rover 110 prepared

by Protection and Performance and

fitted with sponsons to make it fully amphibious. But Ford’s team did at least set one record by crossing Alaska by skidoo, something else which had never been done before.

Paul and his crew, meanwhile, had been servicing the vehicles before the convoy was reunited for one final 4500-mile leg from Fairbanks to New York – where the Overland Challenge finally reached its end outside the United Nations building.

The event may not have achieved its ultimate objective but what the vehicles, and indeed the whole team, had been through was little short of staggering.

It’s said that travel changes people, and many an overlander could tell you stories of their own experiences that bear this out. Few,

though, can have been in situations as extreme as Paul Wilson.

‘I had two weeks off after the event’, he recalls, ‘and then I went back to Ford for debriefing. The first day I went to work, my car didn’t have any petrol in it and I didn’t have my wallet. For all that time, I hadn’t had to worry about such simple things. Even after I had been back in the UK for months, I still hadn’t got back into a proper routine.

‘No, we didn’t have a real life-ordeath situation, but it certainly put a lot of things into perspective. There were things I might have worried about before – but now they just don’t seem to matter any more.

Some important things in my life have certainly changed because of the Overland Challenge.’

MAY 2022 | 61

07/04/2022 14:17

82 SIN

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19

ARCHIVE STORIES FROM THE FIRST YEAR OF OVERLANDER 4X4

Green Roading You Take the High Road and I’ll Take the Green Road

by Mike Hallett

If you enjoy ‘off-road’ driving but cannot afford to either compete in the various events that are organised or drive the sometimes long distances involved just to spectate, then perhaps the answer is to take to the Green Roads.

Green Roads or, more correctly, Roads Used as Public Paths (RUPPs) are ancient rights of way, some dating back to Roman times and even earlier, that criss-cross the countryside. They were the lines of communication and trade between the then centres of population and commerce.

Over the years, as the pattern of industry changed, the usefulness of many of these ‘highways’ declined. New roads were laid down and subsequently brought up to date to withstand the demands of modern traffic.

Thousands of miles of the old roads remain.

Most of them no longer go to or from anywhere of importance to the community as a whole and, as a result, have fallen into disuse except for occasional agricultural traffic, horse riders and a rambler or two.

Some of these roads are heavily overgrown now. Others are wide open grassy tracks, their surface conditions varying with the weather and the number of tractors that use them. Between them, they provide a tremendous variety of ‘offroad’ driving conditions.

The beauty of Green Roads, though (as well as being in the eye of the beholder), lies also in the fact that within a thirty mile radius of most people’s homes there are many miles of interesting, and sometimes testing, cross-country motoring to be had.

Now for the ‘finger wagging’ bit. Green Roads are public rights of way and therefore any vehicles using them should fulfil the requirements of the law as should any vehicle using a public highway.

Vehicle and driver must be road legal.

A good deal of common sense also needs to be applied when Green Roading. particularly with regard to other users and the landowner or farmer. For example, it is not a good idea to go blasting up and down a length of track in your Range Rover just because there is a nice muddy bit.

It can be very helpful if you show exaggerated consideration for walkers, horse riders and stock.

Try to resist creeping up behind that tractor driver who is obviously counting his sheep in the adjoining field as he trundles along. Hit the air horns at twelve paces and you might well end up mounted on his buck rake.

Which brings me to another point. Green Roading can take you to some pretty out of the way

62 | MAY 2022

1p Green Roading.indd 62

places. If you are on your own and your transfer box drops out, it’s a long and lonely walk home.

Then, when you have finally persuaded your mate to do a recovery job with his wagon, you get back to find not only your mag-alloys (complete with Fat Herbies) missing, but that much loved macho hydraulic winch, the freewheel hubs and worst of all your All Wheel Drive Club sticker telling the world how off-roaders do ‘it’ has vanished too.

Far better if you go out in a group of two or three wagons. But don’t overdo it. Convoys of assorted Land Rovers tend to create the wrong impression, light the fires of resentment and, rightly or wrongly, attract the sort of attention that we Green Roaders can do without. We are, after all, a minority group.

Right then! Things you might like to toss in the back of your dream machine for those ‘just in case’ situations. Two shovels (you don’t want to be the only one working, do you?), a bowsaw, an axe and a good rope. Those are the basics, but you could add one or two luxuries – like a power winch and a chain saw – then you’re ready for anything. Including bankruptcy in my case.

Choice of rope is obviously up to the individual.

Personally, I don’t like nylon snatch ropes – all

that stored up energy worries me and if your rear chassis member is like some I’ve seen on road going vehicles, somebody could well end up with a NATO hook stuffed where a monkey hesitates to secrete its nuts.

It is unlikely that you will get into a situation where a steady pull can’t cope (he said, tongue in cheek) and for this a good polypropylene rope works wonders. It’s easy to maintain, too.

To avoid losing the Green Road, which can happen if it is overgrown, you will need a good map of the area you are intending to explore. It is also worth having one along to settle any arguments that might arise as to whether the right of way exists. Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Pathfinder Series are superb but because of the scale you may well need several adjacent sheets if you are expecting to go any distance.

Finally, enjoy yourself. But please do not go where you should not, or do anything that could stir up opinion against Green Roading and those of us who enjoy it. If there are voluntary restrictions, such as on the Ridgeway, then abide by them. Somebody had to do some pretty hard negotiating to stop vehicles being totally banned from that one.

4x4 06/04/2022 12:46

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32086 (68) 4x4 (full).indd 1

*

05/04/2022 16:57

ROADBOOK

THE PILGRIMS’ WAY

Tight and tricky but very scenic laning on Britain’s oldest trunk road USING OUR ROADBOOKS Our roadbooks guide you through the countryside on a mixture of surfaced and unsurfaced roads.

The tracks we use are public rights of way, either Byways Open to All Traffic or Unclassified County Roads, all commonly referred to as green lanes.

NAVIGATION

We’ve deliberately made it as easy as possible to follow the route, using a mixture of instructions, tulip diagrams and grid references. We normally only include junctions at which you have to make a turning or don’t have right of way, so stay on the main road or continue straight ahead unless we tell you otherwise.

You’ll find a guide to using grid references on the legend of any OS map. Our aim is for you to be able to do the route without maps, whether paper or online, but you should certainly take a set with you.

SAFETY

The notes on thee pages advise you of how suitable the route is for your vehicle. These are just guidelines, however. We’ll warn you of any hazards or difficult sections, but the nature of any green lane can change quickly. Wet weather can make a huge difference to the conditions underfoot, and what’s wide open in winter can be tightly enclosed and scratchy in summer.

The responsibility is yours!

Our roadbooks are designed to be safe to drive in a solo vehicle. We do recommend travelling in tandem wherever possible, however. The risk of getting stuck can be greater than it appears – and even the most capable of vehicles can break down miles from anywhere.

RESPONSIBILITY

Irresponsible driving is a big issue on green lanes. In particular, you must always stay on the right of way. Never drive off it to ‘play’ on the verges or surrounding land, even if you can see that someone else has; doing so is illegal and can be tremendously damaging.

This kind of illegal off-roading is a key reason why green lanes get closed. If you see others doing this, they are NOT your friends. They’re criminals, and you are their victim.

If it’s safe to do so, film them in the act and pass it to the police.

64 | MAY 2022

10pp Roadbook May 22.indd 64

Elsewhere, let common sense and courtesy prevail. Keep your speed down, be ready to pull over for others and show the world that we are decent people just like them.

ANTIS

Anti-4x4 bigotry does exist, but it’s less common than you’d think. By and large, it’s limited to organisations who just want to get the countryside all to themselves.

These organisations are beyond being reasoned with, but it’s rare to encounter real hostility even from their rank-and-file members. If you’re friendly towards the people with whom you share the countryside, the vast majority will respond in kind. There are always bad apples, but no more so than anywhere else.

Likewise, most local residents will accept your presence if you’re driving sensibly. What suspicion you do encounter is likely to be from farmers worried that you’re there to steal from them, so be ready to offer a word of reassurance. Once satisfied that you’re not after their quad bikes, their mood will lighten.

DO…

• Keep your speed right down • Pull over to let walkers, bikers and horse riders pass

• Leave gates as you found them • Scrupulously obey all closure and voluntary restraint notices

• Ensure you have a right to be

there. We research the routes on our roadbooks very carefully, but the status of any route can change without notice Be prepared to turn back if the route is blocked, even illegally If you find an illegal obstruction, notify the local authority Stick absolutely scrupulously to the right of way Always remember that you are an ambassador for all 4x4 drivers

• • • •

DON’T…

• Go in large convoys: instead, split into smaller groups

• Drop litter. Why not carry a bin bag pick up other people’s instead?

• Go back to drive the fun bits, such as mud or fords, again

• Cause a noise nuisance, particularly after dark

• Get riled up if someone challenges you. Be firm but polite, stay calm and don’t let them turn it into a fight

4x4 06/04/2022 12:38

ROADBOOK In its current form, 4x4 magazine was created by being amalgamated with Total Off Road – a title which was famous for the green lane roadbooks that we adopted with enthusiasm in 4x4 when the two magazines merged. For our 40th anniversary, which is also the 20th anniversary of TOR, we’ve gone back to the first route the team ever laid out. This uses a quiet set of lanes in East Kent which, appropriately, follow the course of the Old Road, Britain’s first major highway – the route that history now knows as the Pilgrims’ Way

4x4 10pp Roadbook May 22.indd 65

MAY 2022 | 65

06/04/2022 12:38

ROUTE GUIDE

is it suitable?

START FINISH HOW LONG? TERRAIN HAZARDS

TYRES WEATHER

OS MAPS

Hollingbourne (TQ 843 551) Westwell (TQ 989 474) 36.4 miles / 4 hours Farm tracks, woodland and chalky downs Scratching, at times severe; Occasional ruts; Other users; Hazardous junctions, at times with very fast roads Landranger 178 (Thames Estuary) Landranger 189 (Ashford & Romney Marsh)

LOW BOX SOFT-ROADERS SCRATCHING DRIVING DAMAGE

Low profile sizes may struggle Chalk ground slippery after rain and puts up huge dust clouds when dry Not necessary Broadly suitable (with back-up) Inevitable and in places severe Choose your lines with care Panel damage a possibility if you drive carelessly and/or too fast

Step

3

0.05 Step

4

0.1 Step

1

0.0 Step

2

0.05 66 | MAY 2022

10pp Roadbook May 22.indd 66

TQ 843 551

Start outside All Saints Church in Hollingbourne. With the church behind you, pull forward to the end of the short lane and zero your trip as you turn left for the start of the route

TQ 843 552

Step

5

0.65 Step

6

0.8

TQ 837 562

BIG ALLINGTON FARM

4x4 06/04/2022 12:38

Step

13

TQ 844 554

Turn left at the Dirty Habit, back in Hollingbourne again

3.95 Step

14 4.3 Step

7

As you reach the farm, continue ahead on to a track which disappears into the trees and up a steep, bumpy hill

Step

15

0.9

5.25

Step

Step

0.9

5.6

8

Step

9

16

Caution – there’s a hidden tree stump on the right

Dead slow at the side slope, which will lean you into the bushes

SK 814 295

1.8 Step

10 2.2 Step

11 2.25 Step

12 3.0 4x4 10pp Roadbook May 22.indd 67

Hollingbourne

Step 16: This side slope is not too extreme, but it leans you straight into the undergrowth to your right MAY 2022 | 67

06/04/2022 12:38

Step

21 7.9

Doddington Frinsted

Step

22 8.2 Step

23 9.15

ZERO TRIP

Milsted Doddington

112 3

Doddington Lenham

112 4

Step

24 Step 17: This was after a prolonged spell of hot, dry weather.

It wouldn’t take much of the other kind to make the ground very wet and slippery Step

17

It can get sloppy and slippery here in wet weather

1.4 Step

25

5.8

2.25

Step

Step

6.1

2.7

Step

Step

6.2

2.95

Step

Step

18

26 27

19

28

20 7.0 68 | MAY 2022

10pp Roadbook May 22.indd 68

TQ 914 563

The turning on to the track is pretty tight and appears out of nowhere, so keep it slow as you approach.

It’s shortly after an electricity pylon on your right

Frinsted Milsted Doddington

214 4 4

Caution – blind exit

3.2 4x4 06/04/2022 12:38

Step

29

TQ 907 566

Turn left on the track then immediately left again, down what could be a slippery drop in wet weather

3.35 Step

30

It gets a little rutted at the bottom of the hill

3.5 Step

Step

3.7

5.3

Step

Step

4.85

0.7

31 32

4x4 10pp Roadbook May 22.indd 69

33

ZERO TRIP

Hollingbourne

5

34

MAY 2022 | 69

06/04/2022 12:38

Step

Step

1.1

2.3

35 Step

36

39 TQ 894 531

This lane is quite tight and scratchy, with a barned wire fence uncomfortably close to you for some of the way. Fly tipping has been a problem here in the past, too

37 1.85 Step

38 2.1

Step

40 2.4

1.4 Step

After the gate, the track gets much more enclosed and could be slippery in wet conditions

TQ 901 529

This entrace will soon become a beautiful right of way, but access for motor vehicles is restricted to permit holders only. You can get one by emailing prow@kent.gov.uk with your vehicle details and the date you intend to use the lane PILGRIMS WAY

On your left just after the gate is the Lenham Cross, a 200-foot memorial to the fallen of both world wars

Step

41

The junction with the road is blocked off, save for a small opening with a hump for you to drive over

2.7 Step

42

TQ 916 525

2.9 Step

43 3.2 Step

44

TQ 921 523

The track is immediately before the turning into Highbourne Park

3.3 Step

45

Caution – there’s a sharp drop-off into the field to the right

3.4 Step

46

After the farm buildings, as the main track swings off round to the right, take the much less distinct route ahead

4.15 70 | MAY 2022

10pp Roadbook May 22.indd 70

4x4 06/04/2022 12:38

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07/04/2022 20:53

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72 | MAY 2022

4x4 AD Spread.indd 30

4x4 07/04/2022 20:59

Step

47

TQ 940 505

Immediately after the staggered cross-roads, watch out for sleepers placed along the left of the track

Step

52

4.9

0.4

Step

Step

5.9

0.9

48 Step

49

53 Caution –this is a major road and cars come up the hill very fast

54 1.0

Step

Step

6.3

6.45

Stalisfield Church

55

50 51

Stalisfield Church

Step

6.1

Step

Stalisfield Church

THE WYND

ZERO TRIP

4.3

Belmont Throwley Sheldwich

3

4

1 2

Step

56 4.7

Step 44: Turn left when you reach the road, then immediately right again on to the track – which is immediately before the turning into Highbourne Park

4x4 10pp Roadbook May 22.indd 73

JANUARY 2022 | 73

06/04/2022 12:38

Step

63 7.9 Step

Step 67: It looks for a moment as if there’s no track at all as you plunge into the undergrowth. Thankfully, it’s only this tight for a couple of car lengths – and the vegetation is mainly soft enough not to destroy your vehicle

64 8.1

Step

Step

4.95

0.05

Step

Step

5.75

0.4

Step

Step

6.65

0.55

Step

Step

6.95

0.85

57

65

58

66

59

67

61

TQ 996 528

As you drop on to the track, there’s a ditch that will rattle your teeth if you hit it too fast

7.2 Step

62 7.3 74 | MAY 2022

10pp Roadbook May 22.indd 74

PESTED LANE

TR 007 518

At the time of writing, the right of way ahead of here was blocked by a fallen tree. This appears to have been there for a while, as there’s a well established bypass track skirting the adjacent field edge; either way, approach with caution

As the main track head round to the right, continue ahead into a wall of bushes. It’s very tight indeed to start with, but opens out quickly

68

60 Step

ZERO TRIP

Step

69 0.95

Take care as you drop down towards a rutted section; if you’re on standard tyres, it’s worth checking it out on foot before you commit yourself

Molash Challock

1 114

Step

70 1.4 4x4 06/04/2022 12:39

Step

71

Follow the A252 for Maidstone and Charing

Step

77

2.2

0.65

Step

Step

72

78

3.8 Step

73 4.3 Step

74

Gliding Club

TQ 979 498

As the road swings left, take the track headed more or less straight ahead. Note that this one is only open to motor vehicles from 1 May to 30 September each year. To miss it out, continue ahead at Step 73 and take the next left on Pilgrims Way around 1.8 miles later. This will lead you ahead to Step 75

ZERO TRIP

5.3 Step

75

1.2 Step

79 1.3 Step

80 1.75

TQ 967 490

As the road bears left into the quarry, carry on ahead on the larger track

Step

81

0.1

2.0

Step

Step

0.5

2.1

76

4x4 10pp Roadbook May 22.indd 75

Just after the bench on the left, the track starts getting more enclosed

82

WESTWELL

Pull in to the car park at the Wheel Inn in Westwell for the end of the route and some well earned dinner

APRIL 2022 | 75

06/04/2022 12:39

The definitive publication for all enthusiasts of classic Land Rovers

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Land Rover: The Great British Classic celebrates this magnificent heritage by focusing on the best of Land Rover from its early days. A high-quality publication from the makers of 4x4 magazine and The Landy newspaper, it covers a broad spectrum of historical vehicles: not just Series I, II and III Land Rovers from the postwar years, but also the first generations of Range Rovers, Discoverys and Freelanders, as well as the 90s and 110s that were later to become the legendary Defender.

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Published on 29 April, priced £9.99 • Available from WHSmiths and other large newsagents Or buy direct from www.4x4magazineshop.co.uk – with no P&P! Magbook FP ad layout.indd 1

07/04/2022 22:47

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4x4 Classifieds.indd 49

22/04/2021 09:51

MAY 2022 | 77

07/04/2022 23:00

82 19

ARCHIVE STORIES FROM THE FIRST YEAR OF OVERLANDER 4X4

SIN

CE

1st Birthday of Overlander 4x4 Magazine Reflections on the Past Year

by David Bowyer Editor’s note

BY MY RECKONING, I’m the ninth person to have had the privilege of sitting in the 4x4 Editor’s chair. Before me, the helm has been taken by Nigel Fryatt, John Beese, Mike Mallett, Graham Scott, Bob Cooke (rest in peace, mate), David Sutherland, John Carroll and Nigel Fryatt again. But before all of us, the man who launched the magazine and steered it through its first years was none other than David Bowyer.

For most of us in the off-roading world, David needs no introduction at all. He became renowned as a driving instructor then went on to found Goodwinch, not only selling winches but playing an pivotal role in developing the technology behind them.

What follows on these pages is an abridged version of David’s essay from the first anniversary issue of Overlander 4x4. The magazine has changed immeasurably since then, as has the off-road scene and indeed the world in general. But looking through these early issues of what was to become 4x4 magazine, there’s a sense of excitement and pioneering sprit which I hope we’ll never lose. On behalf of all of us who at one time or another have paid the bills from this timeworn old Editor’s chair, thank you David for creating what has become one of the best established motoring magazines in the industry.

Next stop, half a century…

Alan Kidd, Editor

As I write this I have, laid out before me, the first nine issues of Overlander 4x4 and the remainder of the manuscripts for this, our Anniversary Issue. Looking at the fan of mags, what a colourful array they make. And, just think,

it all started from a simple idea the Christmas before last.

It seems appropriate now that the first issue, back in May 1982, carried a superb photograph on its cover of Dave Rae’s Range Rover yumping at one of the Pennine Land Rover Club’s events.

That caption read ‘OK, Houston, we have Lift-Off’ – and, by golly, haven’t we lifted off!

From those small beginnings, we now have readers throughout the length and breadth of not only this little island that I am looking at on my children’s globe, but also in 25 other countries around the world. Now that can’t be bad, can it?

Presumably they all read English, or perhaps they just like the pictures!

Those of you who were early subscribers and received our first couple of issues will know that the success of Overlander has been largely due to linking up with a likeable lad by the name of Brian Hartley, whose enthusiasm to get this magazine

These days, magazine making is pretty much all about doing things with computers. We road-test microchip-laden SUVs, take photos with digital cameras, write on word processing packges, do layouts on Macs then create PDFs which are uploaded electronically to the printer’s server. Compare that to the days when Overlander 4x4 was new: to the left, founding editor David Bowyer is doing paste-ups of the news pages – literally creating layouts using scissors and glue. To the right, the machines on which the magazine was printed back then were very analogue indeed – the Heidelberg press seen here was manufactured continuously from 1923 to 1985 and has continued to serve in traditional print factories around the world ever since

78 | MAY 2022

2pp 1st Year.indd 78

4x4 06/04/2022 12:42

Brian Hartley (above left, with camera) came to Overlander as a former Chairman of the Association of Rover Clubs; he’s seen here with Chris Gregory and Tony Hutchings, two others to have filled that role. Brian was initially the magazine’s Competitions and Sports Editor, but within a year he was promoted to Technical Editor; later, having moved on, his fame grew as the ‘benevolent dictator’ (his words) in charge of Club Off-Road, in which role he devised a new format of competition which was to grow into what we now know as challenge event Mike Hallett (above right) is another former Technical Editor, having taken on the role after Brian and held it for many years – even after Overlander had been sold to publishing giant Link House and changed its name to Off Road and 4 Wheel Drive. Initially, he worked as the magazine’s Sub-Editor – though his knowledge of 4x4s and off-roading always went far beyond just words on a page underway has often left me awestruck. Brian is a chap who accepts all the tasks and challenges given to him and I know for a fact it is often in the small hours of the morning that his creations are born, bashing away on his typewriter producing reams and reams of draft manuscript.

It was while we were producing our first issue that another extraordinary lad came along by the name of Mike Hallett, whose unbounding energies and enthusiasm have helped to create the very magazine you are reading at present. Mike, like Brian, tackles just about anything he is given, but his main role is that of sub-editor. It is he who wields the dreaded red pen to bring to you as accurate an article as possible from the many manuscripts that arrive at our office.

Both Mike and Brian have been equally involved in various ways with the off-road scene for many years now and I am sure that all you readers appreciate the efforts of both of them in the fast growing scene of four-wheel driving.

4x4 2pp 1st Year.indd 79

To list all the contributors from during this first year would be quite a task, for I am bound to forget someone, but thanks to you all for your interesting and varied contributions. I know for a fact that many of you have built reputations for which you are now known far and wide throughout the world.

An Interesting Year Overlander 4x4 has steadily increased its involvement with the off-road scene. This year kicked off with a bang when we were asked by Central Television to produce a number of Land Rovers for a film which was intended to add sparkle to the launch of the new One Ten. This also coincided with the 35th Anniversary of Land Rover. I am sure I have no need to go into any great detail of that event – suffice to say that it proved what tremendous enthusiasm there is among owners for these remarkable vehicles.

From Pen to Post This last year wouldn’t have been possible without the tremendous team spirit that we have, not only here at Overlander 4x4 but also within Standard Press Limited who so ably and efficiently produce our magazine. To each and every one of you, a big thank you – especially Brian Marshall, their Print Manager, who I am sure must curse every time he sees a Land Rover pull up in his car park!

Finally, my appreciation to all the office staff who worked their fingers to the bone in getting these 10 issues out more or less on time. This article would not be complete without a special mention of Tina, my wife, who has had more than her hands full this year in looking after your valued subscriptions and who copes so admirably with enquiries when I am absent on assignments.

To anyone I have forgotten to pay tribute, I offer my sincere apologies.

MAY 2022 | 79

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4x4

NEXT MONTH IN…

Prodrive’s Dakar hero becomes an off-road 4x4 hypercar you can take to the shops Tested: All-new Lexus NX, plus electric laning in Skoda’s Enyaq iV

Plus: Land Rover’s final expedition in the old-shape Defender, and a classic road test from our first year – the day we met the new Lada Niva!

ON SALE: 20th May

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Name Address

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4x4

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Newsagent This magazine is available to your wholesaler through Comag Magazine Marketing, Tavistock Rd, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QE. Tel: 01895 444055 Fax: 01895 433602

80 | MAY 2022

Next Month Mar.indd 80

4x4 06/04/2022 09:52

www.osram.co.uk/ledriving-lights

Light is Adventure OSRAM LEDriving® Working and Driving Lights The OSRAM range of intense LED lights are built to step up to the challenge when the going gets tough. Leave the tarmac behind and see clearly what lies ahead of you off the beat track. The LEDriving ® range of robust and stylish spotlights, reversing lights and lightbars can improve near- and far-field vision whilst enhancing driving performance, even under the most extreme conditions.

Don’t let the darkness spoil your next adventure.

For more information visit: www.osram.co.uk/ledriving-lights or email: automotive@osram.co.uk

Light is OSRAM

THE AWARD-WINNING

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05/04/2022 17:49