Discourse13

Discourse 13 - Page 1

Worcestershire Treasure HuntDiscovery Concours d’Elegance

Beaulieu 4x4 ShowMcMillan 4x4 Challenge

www.discoveryownersclub.com

THE MAGAZINE OF THE DISCOVERY OWNERS CLUB Number 13 - August/September 2003

Worcestershire Treasure HuntDiscovery Concours d’Elegance

Beaulieu 4x4 ShowMcMillan 4x4 Challenge

Italian Tour with a TD5Greenlaning for Absolute BeginnersDiscovery Workshop

Italian Tour with a TD5Greenlaning for Absolute BeginnersDiscovery Workshop


The Small Print

The Small PrintFor the purposes of this notice, �Discovery Owners Club� and �Club� are interchangeableand assumed to mean the same thing.

Discourse ArticlesThe Club reserves the right to edit or refuse articles received from members.Viewsexpressed by members contributing to this magazine are those of that member and maynot necessarily be those of the Club. Every effort is made to verify the contents ofmember�s articles, but the Club can not accept responsibility for the veracity of itscontent.

Caveat EmptorEvery effort is made to ensure advertisements are bona fide. The Club can not acceptresponsibility for the quality of goods or services advertised. The moral is �buyer beware�.

Public Liability InsuranceThe Club has Public Liability Insurance for registered Club events of a non-competitivenature. Cover is provided for full Club members, their spouse or partner and childrenresiding at the same address. Family members as defined in the Club rules travelling ina separate vehicle are also covered. Road traffic accident risks are not covered by theClub�s Public Liability Insurance. It is the responsibility of the member to ensure thatthey have proper and legal Insurance cover for themselves and the vehicle from leavinghome until returning home.

Club EventsActivities in particular but not excluding off-roading and green-laning are undertakensolely at the participants� own risk. Vehicles should be suitably insured and prepared forthe undertaken activity. Participation in any Club organised event is on the understandingand acceptance that safety is the responsibility of the participant.

Green LanesAll �green lanes� are highways as defined by the Highways Act 1980. Green laning eventsrequire the same level of insurance, road tax, MOT and driver�s licence as normal roads.

Association of Rover ClubsThe Club is a non-competitive member of the Association of Rover Clubs (ARC), anorganisation bringing together all member Land Rover clubs for organising events (bothcompetitive and non-competitive) and providing many essential services to member clubs.

GLASSThe Discovery Owners Club is a member of GLASS (Green Lane Association). GLASSis a national rights of way user group representing the interests of motor car users onunsurfaced minor highways or �green lanes� in England and Wales. GLASS promotesresponsible off-roading and the Club endorses this.

Club Web Sitewww.discoveryownersclub.com is the Club�s website address.

Back IssuesTwo ways for members to obtain Discourse back issues:

Printed copies at £2.50 ea together with a self addressed A4 envelope stamped at 41pence,or CD-ROM at £2.00 including postage (this would have all back issues).

Cheques should be made payable to �Discovery Owners Club� and sent with your orderto the Membership Secretary.

Advertising in DiscourseAdvertising space will be available in future issues of Discourse. Advertisements can bewhole page, half page and quarter page in either black and white or full colour.

Suppliers and dealers wishing to advertise in Discourse should contact Kevin Beel for aRate Card and details of space available.

Small Ads for DOC MembersMembers can place small ads for Discovery stuff in Discourse for free.

However, if you have a cottage to let or anything else that would bring in some income,then you�ll also be able to advertise in the small ads section but will be expected to makea contribution to the production costs of Discourse.

Complimenatry Show TicketsFrom time to time, the Club receives complimentary tickets to shows the club is attending.The Club�s policy is to make these tickets available to those members willing to help onthe Club stand during the vent. If you are willing to help at the event on the Club standand/or allow your vehicle to be displayed, please contact the Club�s event organiser(listed in What�s On) whose decision on the distribution of those tickets shall be final.Surplus tickets shall either be destryoed or returned to the event organiseres.

Data ProtectionThe Club recognises its responsibilities under the Data 1998 Protection Act. TheMembership Secretary is the Club�s Data Controller. The membership database of currentand past members shall be for the Club�s exclusive use and shall not be made available toany third party. Elected Officers of the Club (Committee members and LSRs) mayrequest member information having shown good reason. If an ordinary member requestscontact information of another member, this shall be done through a committee memberwho shall contact the meber asking permission for their detail to be made known to therequesting member.

Committee MeetingsUnder the rules of the club, members may attend, but not participate at committeemeetings. If you plan to come along, please let the Club Secretary know in advance.The planned date for the next committee meeting is:

If you have something you want raised at committee, please let a committee member know.

AcknowledgementsFront cover photograph �It�s all downhill from here� by Alan Smart.

Back cover photograph �Where�s everyone going?� by Lee Jones.

In This IssueLand Rover News 4Letters of Resignation 6Model Review 7Discovery Workshop 8Italian Tour with a TD5 10Beaulieu 4x4 Show 12Worcestershire Treasure Hunt 13McMillan 4x4 Challenge 14Discovery Concourse d’Elegance 16Class of ‘93 18Disaster! 19Stand and Deliver! 19Greenlaning for Absolute Beginners 22G490WAC 23Down Your Way 25What’s On - Tim Arnold 26Calendar and Contacts 26Regional Meets 27


Your Committee

Your Committee

Post Vacant

Chairman9 Lindisfarne Way, East Hunsbury, Northampton,NN4 0WG. Tel: 07768 366 157,Email: [email protected]

Gary TredwellVice Chairman, Central Southern LSR21 Wick Close, Peachcroft, Abingdon, Oxon,OX14 2NQ. Tel: 01235 520240,Email: [email protected]

Kevin BeelClub Secretary, Home Counties Nth. LSR25 Pembroke Road, Baldock, Herts, SG7 6DBTel: 01462 893886, Mobile: 07905 836636,Email: [email protected]

Ros PalmerTreasurer31 Stanley Street, Brighouse, West Yorkshire,HD6 1SX. Tel: 01484 384883,Email: [email protected]

Post VacantMembership Secretary, Sth. Staffs LSR73 Tottenham Crescent, Kingstanding,Birmingham,B44 0ST. Tel: 0121 603 3632, Mobile: 07299031,Email: [email protected]

Tim ArnoldEvents Co-ordinator, Sussex LSR9 Sunstar Lane, Polegate, East Sussex, BN26 5HSTel: 01323 489003, Mobile: 07801 292024,Email: [email protected]

Post VacantHistory Officer, Editor, Wessex LSRThe Bales, Cow Lane, Kimpton, Andover,Hampshire,SP11 8NY. Tel: 01264 772851, Fax: 01264773Email: [email protected]

Sean PearceClub Shop Officer5 Dodlee Lane, Longwood, Huddersfield, Yorkshire,HD3 4TZ Tel: 01484 644764, Mobile: 07703 534453Email: [email protected]

Jim LawPublicity & Press Officer1 Vulcan Close, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 4LZTel: 01227 264747, Mobile: 07944 836 177,Email: [email protected]

Chris GorvinCamping & Caravanning Officer16 Kurtus, Dosthill, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B77 1NXMobile: 07774 963577Email: [email protected]

Dyfed BowenMember Representitive116-118 Church Lane, Charnock Richard, Chorley,Lancashire, PR7 5NA Mobile: 07866 495084Email: [email protected]

Kim HollingsNorth West LSR15 Knowsley Crescent, Offerton, Stockport, Cheshire,SK1 4JB. Tel: 0161 480 7096,Email: [email protected]

Paul WalkerNorth Worcs LSR17 Ditchford Close, Hunt End, Redditch, B97 5XTTel: 01527 404103, Mobile: 07939 411995,Email: [email protected]

George GloverNorthants LSR158 Malcolm Drive, Duston, Northampton, NN5 5NH.Tel: 01604 582252, Mobile: 07721 559456Email: [email protected]

John PattonYorkshire LSR43 Mountain Ash, Rooley Moor, Rochdale,OL12 7JD.Mobile: 07748 502200From the Editor’s Keyboard

Sadly, this will be my last edition of Discourse as Editor. As you will see on the page above, there are a number of gaps in the committee as there have been three recent resignations,including mine. Neil Brownlee, Lee Jones and myself are standing down and Nick Brooker who developed the style and layout of the magazine you are now reading, is also standingdown. You can read our letters that set out our reasons to the membership on page six. I would like to put on record my thanks for their enormous contribution to the club and they willbe sorely missed. We originally set out with Discourse issue 9 to provide you with a high quality magazine for less than £2 delivered. This involved an enormous amount of work behindthe scenes to put together the magazine. It typically it takes about 70 hours per edition. All this work gives the printer a �print ready� copy which is where the cost savings come from.I hope our successors can provide a similar service to you, the membership. We have also brought in paid advertising to help with some of the production costs and the magazine is widelydistributed in Land Rover circles. I would like to thank all the contributors and advertisers for their support over the last five editions and I wish the club well for the future. However,in my opinion, for the club to be successful, it has to change, be more professional and get more members involved in its running. If not, there will be no club. On a similar note of apathy,two major shows have taken place since we last went to press, the LRW Show at Eastnor and the LRE Show at Billing. Unfortunately no one could be bothered to write a few wordsor send me some pictures, so those of you, who like me, couldn�t attend, you�ll just have to guess how the show went. Stay in touch: [email protected]


G4 Fleet for Sale

Want to buy a piece of Land Rover history? The Camel TrophyLand Rovers have become sought after collectors� items andthere�s no reason to think the G4 Challenge ones won�t either.Vehicles for sale are the 4.6 litre V8 Discoverys used in thefinal week in the USA, the 4.4 litre Range Rovers from Australia,the Td5 Defender 110s and the 2.5 litre V6 Freelanders. Allare finished in Tangiers Orange.

All are �standard� vehicles but have lots of extra equipment likeroof racks, winches, underbody protection and snorkels. They�venot had the easiest of lives but are low mileage and have beenmeticulously maintained by Land Rover�s own technicians.

�I�m sure they�ll be very sought after,� commented RogerCrathorne, manager of Land Rover�s technical communications,� The Vehicles are well prepared and ideal for anyone interestedin taking them on an expedition; or even if they like the image

Factory Tours Restart

Land Rover has announced that factory tours are to restart.Three levels of tour are proposed: gold, silver and bronze.The bronze package will take visitors on a three-hour tour ofthe factory through the press shop, body assembly and paintand then on to see either Range Rover or Freelander assembled.Two tours a day are planned and there will be a VIP lunch anda chance to see the Home of the Legend premises.

The silver package will include a chance fore an off-roaddemonstration drive around Solihull�s famous jungle track andthe gold package adds the chance to add a half-day hands-onoff-road driving as well.

Provisional prices are: bronze £50, silver £100 and thegold is £170.

Do it (safely) in a Land Rover

According to the Department of Transport study, Risk ofDriver Injury, if you�re going to have an accident, have it in aLand Rover! The Defender came out top with a mere 1% riskof fatality or serious injury and a 27% risk of any injury. TheDiscovery�s figures were 1% and 31%. The Classic Range Roverwas also in the top ten.

The study looks at accident statistics taking into account180,000 realistic accidents. Worst of all? The old Mini with a9% risk of fatality/serious injury and a whopping 78% risk ofany injury.

As I�ve always said, if you drive a Land Rover the car in frontis a crumple zone!

Land Rover News

Rimmer’s Catalogue now on CD

The Rimmer Bros. Parts and Accessories catalogue is nowavailable on CD. It covers Discovery, Range Rover andFreelander models, the V8 engine as well as Triumph and RoverSD1 models. You will need Adobe Acrobat reader on your PCbut it�s on the CD if you haven�t already installed. it.

Union to Challenge Job Shift

Ford are planning to switch the Freelander production toHalewood where it would be built alongside the Premier AutoGroups (PAG) other best seller, the Jaguar X series. This wouldmean the loss of about 1,000 jobs at Solihull. The engineeringunion, Amicus is panning to oppose the plan and has askedFord to think again.

Meanwhile Land Rover has announced a further £200Minvestment at Solihull to build the multi-vehicle platform forits other off-roaders.

Amicus has some support from a very strange quarter. TheBishop of Birmingham, the Rt Rev John Sentamu is askingthe Government to intervene to save the West Midland�smanufacturing heritage.


Land Rover News

Land Rover Auction Results

Last time we told you that the Heritage Centre at Gaydonwas planning to aution off some of their vehicles. Theauction was held 29th June and it produced some interest-ing results! The guide prices are in brackets.

1970 Range Rover rolling chassis £2,600 (£500 - 1,000)bought by the Range Rover Register

1982 Range Rover Wood & Pickett, commissioned byHarrods with intention to provide a bespoke vehicle andliveried in their corporate colours £5,500 (£3,000 - 5,000)

1986 Land Rover 100, Swiss Army prototype, petrol, auto£8,000 (£3,000 - 5,000)

1987 Land Rover 90 rolling chassis £2,600 (£3,000 - 5,000)

1993 Land Rover Discovery V8, sectioned �cutaway�vehicle £5,200 (£1,000 - 2,000)

1998

Land Rover Discovery V8i ES, last of phase one Land RoverDiscoverys, 44 miles £16,000 (£15,000 - 20,000)

1999 Land Rover Freelander, sectioned �cutaway� vehicle £2,900(£600 � 1000) bought by Rimmer Bros.

2001 Range Rover P38A 4.6 NAS, last 38A model off line, 120miles £29,500 (£30,000 - 40,000)

Looking at the prices the cutaway vehicles, there�s obviously amarket for incomplete Land Rovers!

Land Rover is ‘the Greatest Car of All Time’

The Land Rover, originally built in 1948 and known since 1990as the Land Rover Defender, has been named �the greatest carof all time� by BBC TV�s Top Gear. Top Gear viewers wereasked to vote by telephone for nine vehicles short-listed bythe show�s team of experts, and following nine weeks of closelycontested competition, the Land Rover beat its rivals to theaccolade with 29 percent of the vote.

Co-presenter on the show, Richard Hammond, whochampioned the Land Rover cause, said: �I knew it was a winnerfrom the outset. The Land Rover has all the elements of aninvention worthy of the �greatest of all time� accolade -function, design, durability, engineering supremacy and soul.�

Matthew Taylor, Land Rover�s managing director, added: �TheLand Rover is a motoring icon, noted for its good work aroundthe world. Nearly two million have been sold during its 55years, two-thirds of which are still in use today. Owners ofthe vehicles and employees of the company around the worldshould be very proud of this accolade, bestowed upon us by avery tough group of critics - the viewers of BBC�s Top Gear.�

The current range of Land Rovers - Range Rover, Discovery,Freelander and Defender - can each trace their roots back tothe original Land Rover of 1948 - the vehicle that establishedthe company. Over 3.25 million Land Rover vehicles have beensold since then, 1.8 million of which were the original LandRover shape and its successor, the Defender - making it themost successful product in the company�s history.


Letters

Neil Brownlee

It is with deep regret that I stand down from my appointed post asChairman. In the last few months my enjoyment of the club, as amember, and as Chairman has been marred by an element of theclub that will only support your decisions if they match their own.As a team player I found it difficult to propose and act on issueswhen I knew others would simply ignore and disregard them.Attendance at shows was one of my favourite activities, meeting themembers, my friends and seeing all the different types of Land Rovers,but recently that too has become something I have been excludedfrom, thanks to a gang element.

I wish the club every success in the future, and hope to see people atshows and events.

Lee Jones

Sadly I have made the decision to stand down from a job which Ienjoyed doing for what was a fine club. Please don�t take my commentto heart as the majority of members still make the DOC a great clubfor meeting friends. But as sure as eggs are eggs, you always have asmall minority that wish to spoil the enjoyment of others with theirpoor conduct.

I will be honest with you all, I resigned earlier this year as I felt Icouldn�t trust some of the team that were dealing with member�sinterests, and not there to pursue what they thought the club shouldbe. At the last committee meeting I was given the assurance that thewhole committee would work together as a team, sadly it didn�t takelong for the trust I had given them to be broken. As some of theremaining committee feels the club should follow the old dream ofhaving the booziest, most loutish club in the 4x4 world and not aclub that reflects the majority of genuine members, I made thedecision to resign. I want no part in ruining the good name theDOC had gained over the past twelve months.

I would like to express thanks to Alan Smart and Nick Brooker whobetween them bought this newsletter into the 21st century, theirsuccessors have a hard act to follow. Also thanks to Neil Brownleewho contributed a lot to the DOC behind the scenes.

Nick Brooker

It is with regret that I have to withdraw my services as Publisher ofyour Club magazine.

Although not a committee member, during the last year I�ve freelycontributed many hours of my professional time and effort to raisethe profile of the Club by producing a flyer, redesigning andpublishing the Club�s magazine and developing a simple to operateClub accounting spreadsheet.

However, over the past nine months I�ve seen so many capableCommittee members forced to resign that it now seems to have lostits potential to be run in a professional manner and to properly expandinto what I believed would become an international car marque clubwith full manufacturer�s recognition.

For the club to survive, I believe that it is time for more ordinaryClub Members to take an active interest in the Club�s management.As a matter of urgency, in order to maintain the membership, thosecommittee members that are regularly failing in their duties andresponsibilities should be forced to resign and give way to memberswho have at least some professional capability and integrity.

Over the past few months, the Club has in my opinion been broughtinto disrepute by the actions of one or more of these committeemembers. With the Chairman�s resignation, I now believe that theclub no longer has a competent leadership and there is little point inrenewing the membership.

However, should twenty or more ordinary members wish to call anSpecial General Meeting of the Discovery Owner�s Club with thepurpose of dissolving the current Committee,I would be pleased tobe considered for the position of Club Treasurer and once againtake on the responsibility of publishing the Club�s magazine.

Alan Smart

My reasons for resigning are from a sense of frustration and sheerdisbelief at the petty, mindless attitude of some committee membersand ordinary members. We promote ourselves as a family-orientedclub but there are those who seem to want to offend by use ofinappropriate language and behaviour at public events. The days ofthe boozy, blokes only motor clubs are long gone (thank goodness)and the club has to look to a wider audience for membership if it isto prosper. Discovery was promoted as a life-style vehicle and theclub has to cater for all those different life-styles, from the caravannerto the serious off-roader.

On a similar topic there�s the forum. Lately it seems to have becomehost to open warfare. When I started in motor sport and car clubsover thirty year�s ago, if I had a beef I had three options: wait for thenext meeting to make my point, telephone an official or get out mytrusty Remington typewriter and write a letter. On the forum it�s ohtoo easy to submit a post full of emotion only to upset and offendothers to the point they resign from the club or no longer wish tocome to events. After all, this is meant to be a hobby, something wedo for enjoyment.

Then there are those who just want to sit on the side and throwrocks. They don�t want to help, just criticise. It�s a pity they can�tchannel their energies into doing something useful for the club. Alsothere are those who think that their �contribution� is to turn up to aweekend show, stand around and drink beer. The club has to be runthe other 363 days of the year.

I was elected to the first full committee in March 2001 and I hoped Icould bring together my motor club (Land Rover and non-Land Rover)and my business experience to help fast-track the club through allthe growing pains. I was wrong. In recent months I have tried tohelp to club onto a more business like footing to ensure we staysolvent and legal and provide a better service to you, the membershipwhich should be the committee�s main objective. At this has beenlike pulling teeth and I always felt the majority of the committee justcouldn�t be bothered.


Model Review

From the Editor’s ToyBoxThe radio controlledDefender is a bigboy�s toy! The lightswork, the doorsopen and close,there�s horns but I�mnot so sure aboutthe engine soundeffect. It soundsmore like a Yorkdiesel from a Transit!You can turn off thesound effects.

The well mademodel by Halsall is very realistic withgood attention to detail. The batterypack takes an initial twelve hours to charge (but onlysix hours for subsequent charges) gives about 30-40minutes running time. It has high and low ranges and real four wheel drive! We managed to get it to climb a 38 degree slope inlow range. The steering lock is about as good as the real thing. There are some really nice touches like the reversing light comeson when you go backwards and as you steer the indicators work.

At about £60 it appears to be quite good value compared with other radio controlled model. I suggest all big children start theirChristmas lists now!


Discovery Workshop

From Oily Brakes to Green BrakesAlex Drummond

I�d been due to change the brake pads anyway as the wearindicator had just started illuminating on braking. Then, Inoticed a marked pull to the right on braking which isuncharacteristic for mine as I�ve not long overhauledthe callipers with new pistons and seals and refreshedthe fluid. So, a quick look underneath confirmed mysuspicions � the hub oil seal on the nearside wheel hadstarted leaking. You can see from the photo what thislooks like, and its one of those jobs thatreally can�t be delayed. The oil comes outof the hub, onto the brake disk and ontothe pads. By the time you can see it thepads are well soaked in oil that is asomewhat undesirable situation.

So, the job: make sure they supply the correcthub seal for your model. There are differentones and the last time I did this job they sentthe wrong ones which fitted but had failed bya couple of thousand miles. Co-incidentally,if oil gets on the pads you have to throw themaway, there is no cleaning them.

With the axle jacked up and on standsremove the wheel. You also need to drainthe axle oil because when you remove thehalf shaft it will pour out which is a fag.For the un-technical among you, the halfshaft is the black thing with the five boltsin the centre of the wheel that transmitsthe power from the diff in the middleof the axle to the wheel hub. With thebolts removed you may find the last guyfixed it with silicone so you have to knockand prise it until the thing becomes loose.The half shaft itself is something likethree foot long so if you�ve parked tooclose to the garage wall you will be stuffedat this point.

Assuming you�ve left enough room, slidethe shaft out and expect a bit of oil withit. You can inspect the splines at thispoint as they can be prone to wear.Assuming all it well, set it asidesomewhere clean. Before you can get thehub off you need the brake calliper out of the way. The pipehas an 11mm union, which if you undo allows you to removethe calliper completely which gives you more room. If theunion is likely to be seized or you can do it carefully, you canundo the 16mm bolts securing the calliper to the axle and liftit to the side, securing it with wire or string but leaving it

attached. If you sheer the union or twist the pipe undoing ityou are stuffed, if you leave it attached but are heavy handedand kink the pipe you are stuffed; so go steady here.

To remove the nuts that secure the hub you need a special boxspanner (available for about a tenner from various LR partsplaces). As you need to torque it up I suggest you either get

one with a socket end or do as Idid and weld a cross bar and oldsocket to the back to give you ahalf inch drive (as per photo).With the nuts removed and thewasher and spacer set aside inthe correct order and orientationyou can then pull off the hub.Pulling the seal out is probablybest achieved with a car tyreleaver or very large screwdriver

pivoted against a bar whichsits over the hole. It�s a bitof a fiddle getting somethingunderneath to hook it outbut once it starts coming youare sorted. Now thechallenge. How tothoroughly degrease the huband disk assembly withoutgetting degreaser in the outerbearing. I stuff the hole withclean rag and work carefully.The disk has to be squeakyclean as you can�t afford anytraces of oil remaining.

All cleaned and dried, packthe two bearings with greaseand tap the new seal intoposition using a soft ended

drift, making sure you don�t hit thevulnerable seal lip with protrudesabove the seal shoulder. Degrease thedisk shroud and brake calliper beforeyou put it back together and witheverything nice and clean you can put

it all back together again.

Applying the correct loading to the bearingsis something that has a close tolerance. Thepermissible end float is between 0.013 and0.1mm. If you use a dial gauge you will see

how fine this tolerance is and conclude that it cannot be doneaccurately by hand. OK, you might get away with it by hand,or indeed, you might be the guy who never uses a dial gaugeand who wonders why he gets through a set of bearings everyyear. I use the dial gauge, fixing it to the disk and placing thetip of the device against the end of the shaft.


Discovery Workshop

Here�s a tip, leave the tolerance on the generous side at first,because when you put the lock nut on to full torque it closesup. The idea is that you end up with the specified tolerance.If you use silicone to seal the end of the half shaft onto thehub, be careful not to get it in the bolt holes. If you do itmakes the bolts really difficult to get out next time. I also sticka dab of my trusty copper grease on the threads to help themon their way. With the calliper refitted, new shoes in and thewhole lot bled through it only remains to fill the axle with oiland the jobs done.

Going gently it was a couple of hours work and asides fromthe special tools needed its not that difficult a job. And thegreen stuff ?

Given that the brakes on the Discovery are to stopping whatthe headlamps are to illumination (they didn�t raid the Sherpafor the brakes as well did they?) I decided to give the EBC�Green stuff � pads a go. These are a �road-sports� pad, you getgreen ones for the front and kevlars on the back. They are agood deal dearer, £70 for the full set against a normal £30 butI have found them well responsive. The brake test at the MOTwas interesting as on the first attempt the needles cleared 1200,and on the second attempt the fronts took the machine offthe end of the scale! I haven�t fully tried them in the wet yetbut so far the results are most encouraging.

Next job? � changing the lock on the passenger side, you know,the one that has the spring that breaks.

Fifteen Minute Job

Alan Smart

Steering a bit stiff ? Does your Discovery not always followthe course you want it to? Does your Discovery wander onfast roads? Before you start changing major components havea look at the steering shaft under the bonnet. The universaljoints (UJs) have a habit of seizing.

Jack up the front of the vehicle so both front wheels are clearof the ground and then rotate the steering wheel so that theend of spider of the UJ is pointing upwards. Spray liberallywith WD40. See how much rusty goo flows out! Rotate theshaft the expose the next part of the spider and repeat. In all

there are four �legs� on each of the UJs. Once the WD40 hasdone its work, dribble in some automatic transmission fluid(that�s the stuff you also use in the power steering) into each�leg�. Lower the vehicle and test drive.

There, doesn�t that feel better? How�s the wallet feel?

Five Minute JobAlan Smart

Do you get a �clonk� from the rear of your Discovery everytime you go over a bump? Before you start worrying aboutexpensive suspension jobs, check that the rear door is correctlyadjusted. To do this shut the door and grab the handle, then,in the direction of the door opening and closing, push andpull the door with all your might! Don�t accidentally push thedoor release as you could end up in a heap on the ground asthe door flies open! If you get that characteristic �clonk, clonk�,then you�ve found the problem.

To fix it you�ll need a pencil, a small hammer and an 8mm Allenkey. With the door open, mark round the large washer with thepencil. This gives you your starting point, as the adjustment isquite fine. If you overdo it you will need to get back to where youstarted otherwise you�ll be there all day. Slacken the striker a quarterturn only and tap it forwards about a millimetre only. Retighten.Shut the door and repeat the pushing and pulling. If the noise isstill there, repeat the operation.

I explained this to a delighted Discovery owner last year on acampsite. His Discovery had been in and out of the maindealer so many times and they had failed to find the noise. Hefixed the problem there and then. Five minutes? It willprobably take you longer to find the right size Allen key.


Member’s Story

Siena by TD5 + CaravanTerry Ryan

50 Litres of Diesel cost £26.71 in France, £31.69 in Italy and£40.95 in Britain. Mobil 1 engine oil is around £4 per litre inFrance and Main Dealer price here, is over £7 per litre � are webeing ripped off, or what !!

We have just returned from a month�s touring inFrance and Italy with the TD5 and caravan. Overallaverage fuel consumption was 24.92mpg.Within that, the TD5 can return between26 and 31 mpg. solo and 20 to 26 mpgtowing. In both cases, it depends uponspeed, hills and traffic.

The trip started from our homein Preston and the first leg wasacross France to the Alps, withnight stops at the CaravanClubs sites at Elvaston Castle,Nottingham and Brook FarmDover. The Ferry to Calais wasat 06.15 am, to gain advantageof the low rates offered tocaravanners at unsocial hours. In midApril it was almost empty. Thefirst night in France was at thehome of French friends wholive near Amiens and when weleft next day, there werehangover effects !! The nextnight was in the Champagnecountry and the site was FREEbecause it is a Municipal siteand the Council hadn�t finalised the arrangements for handlingmoney. The next night was near Macon in Burgundy at a siterun by an English couple and it was their first day of openingfor this season. There were only two vans on it. The weather,by the way, was gorgeous. Next night saw us at our destination� Morzine in the French Alps on the Wednesday before Easter.

We stayed there a week and managed to get two days skiing,before the hot sunshine melted the snow and closed the season.The Alps are turning themselves into all season holiday spotsby opening walking trails, adventure trips, guided climbing,rafting, mountain biking (go up in a ski tele-cabine and cycledown the ski runs, if you have the bottle!). We settled forwalks and picnics in hot sun and with stunning views.

After Easter, the TD5�s bonnet was pointed to Italy. First stepis get on the motorway to the Mont Blanc tunnel. This is nowopen again after the disastrous fire and although still a narrowsingle tunnel with one lane each way, it is much better lit thanbefore, with light coloured walls, frequent control traffic lights

and a strict 50 kph speed limit. Lorries with sensitive loads areescorted by vans with yellow flashing lights front and backand all traffic must keep a marked distance (chevrons at 150mintervals) behind the one in front. Nevertheless, we were gladto get the 11km of it behind us. On the Italian side, it wasbright weather but cooler � well it would be with Mont Blancright above us.

The motorways of Northern Italy are fairly quiet and goodprogress was made towards theMediterranean at Genoa. Byfollowing a criss-cross route ofmotorways, it is possible to passbetween Milan and Turinwithout getting too close toeither. The last few miles downto Genoa are down a steep,narrow gorge with manytunnels and sharp turns withbikers, Ferraris and Porchestrying to find how fast they cando it. Just before Genoa, turnleft on to the coastal motorwayrunning along the Med towardsLivorno and eventually, Rome.This section needsconcentration, because beingthe main route from the Southof France, it carries heavytraffic and winds around and

through many tunnels, until the landflattens out after about 50 miles. In spiteof this, the hills go right to the coast andend in cliffs, rather like parts of Cornwall.

Levanto, on the coast, was the next stop for a fewdays. It is apleasant little resort and from it, the tourist can buya rail ticket to go to the Cinque Terre. This is a series of fivevillages, either perched on a cliff ledge or tucked into a tinybay. For centuries, the only access was by pack horse. A railway,mostly through tunnels, was put in about 100 years ago andnow all are accessible. The railway goes between Levanto andLa Spezia and in between, are the five villages where one canget on and off the train as you wish. Keen types, go to oneend and walk the cliffs through all five, but it is strenuous andcan be very hot! The train only takes five minutes or so, betweeneach village and older types (like us) just walked the pathbetween two of them.

Whilst staying at Levanto, a day trip was made to Lucca, alovely old town and well worth visiting. There is a Park andRide there and when ready to return to the TD5, we could notsee where the Park and Ride bus stopped. Trying my littleItalian, I asked a Policeman. He replied in English with a heavyScottish accent. Gobsmacked, we found he came fromGlasgow.


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Just down the road from Levanto, is Carrara, source of themagnificent white marble. There is a huge white slash in themountains, left by centuries of quarrying. Michaelangelopersonally went to the quarries to select the blocks of marbleused for his sculptures. There must be enough marble, left inthose mountains to keep the artists and building industrysupplied for centuries yet. A little further is Pisa, but as wehave been several times before, we left it out of this trip. Godown the coast a little way from Levanto and pick up themotorway, which turns inland to Florence.

Italian motorway service stations are far too small, both in thecar park and the cafeteria. Luck was on our side and we founda place to park and bought sandwiches to eat back at the TD5.It was hot, so we stood beside the Discovery. Next to us anItalian and three passengers got into his car and before starting,he stuck his mobile phone to his ear and started jabbering.With the other hand, he started the car, buckled the belt, threwit in reverse and backed out without looking. An incoming carhad spotted his reversing lights and placed himself ready totake the slot. The Italian backed into the waiting car and wewatched in amusement, as there was lots of shouting and armwaving. The gist of it seemed to be that the Italian was blamingthe incoming car for running into him. We heard the incomingdriver speaking in English and he was struggling to keep upwith the four Italians. During a short lull in the verbal battle, Iwent across and offered him my name and address as a witnessand wrote it down for him. When the Italians saw this theyrounded on me and the driver kept saying �Non e giusto (that�snot fair � or something similar)�. I have not been photographedso much since I was a baby and there is the rear end of aDiscovery TD5 with clearly showing licence plate on a numberof their snaps. Afterwards, the incoming driver (British) cameover and he and his wife were on holiday in a hired car and hewas expecting to pay for the (slight) damage to the car. I haven�theard anything since, so I suppose it is all over.

A stopping place was found between Florence and Siena, witha bus stop to Florence outside the gate. A car is hard work inFlorence. A few days were spent in Florence and SanGimigniano (remember the film, Tea with Mussolini). We thenmoved on a few miles to Siena, much smaller than Florence,but quite enchanting. A day trip to Arrezzo was well worthwhile. A school friend of one of our daughters has marriedan Italian chef and they recently emigrated to near Siena, toopen a restaurant. The village is Mensano and we went tolook them up. Imagine a picture-postcard hilltop village inTuscany over 1,000 years old and little changed. The restaurantis still being worked on and should open mid-June. Big, boldstep for a young couple with a baby and little money, but theyhave guts and commitment and we hope they make a go of it.

Siena is noted for the Palio; the twice yearly (July and August),wild horserace around the central piazza and the medieval dressof the parades. St. Catherine is the patron saint of Siena andto celebrate her feast day, there was a big parade on May 4th,

through the streets in medieval style with the flag waving anddrums, plus of course the hot sunshine.

Next day it was heading back home, largely following the sameroute as coming out. The distance covered in a day with thecaravan can vary according to how much is on motorway andif mountains need to be crossed. I find a good day onmotorways can be 300 miles (one tankfull on the TD5) and aneasy day around half that. Motorway cruising with the van is acomfortable 65mph at around 2,400 rpm.

As older people, touring with a van, especially in Europe,requires real reliability. We experienced the possibilities ofdisaster, last year in France. We were following another caravanoutfit (towed by a Honda CRV) on a busy motorway aroundLyon, when one of his caravan tyres exploded. We stopped tohelp change the wheel and I can tell you, it is not funny to dothat with container lorries passing six feet away at 60 mph. Ashis caravan rocked, we could hear the chassis squeaking as itmoved on the jack head. Don�t get me started on the lack ofquality and user friendliness of caravans � it is a long list.

On 31st July, the TD5 with be three years old and it has nowjust reached 40,000 miles. It has done five, one month caravanholidays, four of them into Europe. Fuel consumption is goodas above. Tyre wear is fantastically low and all four are littlemore than half worn. One has been replaced due to a puncturein an unrepairable spot. Nothing else has been replaced and ithas had schedule main dealer servicing (at 12,000 mile intervals),plus an additional oil and rotary filter change every 6,000. Nooil is need on topping up between changes, even when crossingmountains in hot weather. Temperature always remains rocksteady normal. It is a GS model and the ACE really keeps itlevel on bends and improves stability when towing. The climatecontrol is wonderful in hot weather and doesn�t seem to havemuch effect on power and consumption.

Is the Series II the best Discovery yet ? � I think so. Would Ihave another ? � definitely. Should I sell it now and stay up todate, or keep it because it is so good and risk a possiblebreakdown on a future holiday as time and mileage mount ?What do you think ? What am I saying ?? Should there becongratulations on doing 40,000 trouble-free miles on a newcar ? If so, then Land Rover has a serious credibility problemwhere users and potential customers have such low expectationsof their vehicles. Strange things happen. I had just reachedthis point in the story, when the phone rang. It was LakelandLand Rover at Coniston, where I bought the car and have hadit serviced. �We see your car is nearly three years old and wehave a special offer on new Discoverys � are you interested ?�.They know the car and quoted me a price on the phone. Ithought about it for a few days and tested their price against anew Mercedes, Volvo and a nearly new bigger, Mercedes. Ineach case, the Lakeland price was best. So I did it.

On 31st May, I brought home a new, silver TD5 GS 5 seatmanual with climate control and ACE and other acronyms.


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Lakeland transferred my towbar, electrics and sidesteps fromthe old one (included in the price) and they fitted body sidemouldings and a soft front A bar (extras). They supplied andI fitted, rear lamp guards (more decorative than protective).The cherished number from the last one is now beingtransferred. It had 4 miles on when I first tried it and now has250. First impressions are that it is much the same as before,but feels smoother and quieter. Time will tell if it is as reliable.

Land Rover are offering a free day off-road tuition to buyersof a new Discovery and I am looking forward to that � not inthis car of course � it is much too precious. We may head forFrance again with the caravan in September and if anyone isinterested, I will report on that.

Beaulieu 4x4 ShowAlan Smart

Their slogan is �Have a Beaulieuful day� and we did. The sunshone and it was glorious and hot. Stefan Tapp had negotiateda plum site right next to the arena. Saturday started early withthe arrival of George Glover with the trailer loaded with themarquee and shop goodies. The theme of the stand was thejuxtaposition of the off-roaders in the supermarket car parkand the �shinies� in an off-road situation. This theme wasobviously a bit too subtle as we�re sure it went over people�sheads! Subtlety, I was once told, is like a naked woman rollingdown a hill; sometimes you see it, sometimes you don�t!

Supermarket goodies were begged, borrowed and I�m not goingmake comment on the source of the trolley! A trolley parkwas made from the tubing out of the middle of new carpetsand signs were begged from Iceland. Many thanks to the localmanager who personally delivered them to Stefan�s house onFriday night. Unfortunately the show organisers objected toIceland�s name being displayed so we had to blank it out. Janetand I had been saving the packaging from all our shopping sowe could make up shopping bags in the backs of the six off-roaders. The plastic milk bottles had white emulsion paint inthem! The six �shinies� were stood up on logs with the exceptionof my pre-production five door which Stefan gave pride ofplace too. It did attract a lot of attention and I spent a lot oftime discussing it with passers-by. Its previous owner alsocame to see it. As we were short of �shinies� even my tattyblack Discovery got pressed into service.

The show ground had been laid out with commercial traderson one side of the arena and clubs on the other. Most of theclubs I spoke to would have preferred the stands to have beenmixed as the traders� side always seemed busier. This was thefirst time the show had been run over a weekend as opposedto a single day. The general feeling was that attendance wasdown on last year but that may have been due to the weatheror that we were competing against the Goodwood Festival ofSpeed just half an hour along the M27. (That�s half an hour tojoin the back of the queue from what I heard!)

Not surprisingly we didn�t sell any fleeces or jackets as thetemperatures soared into the eighties. We did sign up six newmembers and handed out so many application forms we ranout. Forms for Abingdon also went well.

The event arena was a bit of a misnomer as most of the timeit was an empty, roped off space. We saw the birds of prey flytwice each day and Hampshire Fire and Rescue did a displayand then had a fun session for the children that involved mostof the getting wet! We suggested a tug-a-Discovery competitionbetween the clubs but the organisers were not keen. Evenafter George had negotiated the loan of a G4 Discovery topull. We have lots of feedback for the organisers!


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Many thanks to Tim Arnold (not forgetting Ben and Sam),Darren and Roz Burgess, Neil Rowe, Paul Unwin, JamesFerguson, Ian Hollard, Paul Sutton and not forgetting theirrepressible George Glover, for all their help and the loan oftheir vehicles. Thanks also to Stefan for doing all the organising.We would have had some pictures but somehow I neglected toput a film in the camera�.. See you there next year?

Worcestershire Group Treasure HuntJanice and Graham Blackwell

The morning of Saturday 14th June began warm but overcast.We were due at the start point of OS139 954 746 at 9.45, wewere late as usual. We knew the co-ordinates were at a lay-byso I found them on the map and off we set. We managed tomiss it! Not a good start, but we backtracked and found sixDiscoverys hiding in a lay-by behind a bank of trees.

Nick had already started the briefing, and as we were the lastto arrive, we were the last to start. The general idea was thatwe would follow a set of map references. Between each mapreference there was one or more clues, they might be beforeor at the map reference. So if we arrived at the map referenceand still couldn�t answer the clue, then we had missed itsomewhere. Nick noted the mileage of each vehicle � thewinners would be those with the least amount of miles travelledand most clues answered correctly.

One by one each team departed, there was some consternationwhen one team turned left out of the lay-by when all the othershad turned right! Eventually we were given the instructionsand clue sheet to study before starting. I swear when I firstlooked at them they were in Greek! But having gazed numblyat them for a few minutes, a few words began to translatethemselves into English � perhaps we would be able to takepart after all. There was only one clue between the start point andthe next map reference � easy peasy � or so we thought. We turnedright out of the lay-by and then first left, the first clue was; �creaturesof a sett might live here�, so it was obviously connected to badgers.We stopped at every driveway and peered at the houses, we turnedback and peered the other way, we turned back and peered moreclosely, we met Discoverys coming up behind us, Discoverys comingtowards us and Discoverys lurking around every corner. At thispoint we had our first major domestic of the day (these arecompulsory in our family on treasure hunts, usually accompaniedby lots of shouting, swearing, jumping out of the car and stompingoff up the road!) so we stopped, re-read the instructions � ah! Nowwe understood, and immediately found the answer to the first clue.

Once I had written the answer we set off for the next mapreference. I always think three index fingers would be usefulhere, one for the map reference of where you are coming from,one for the map reference of where you are going and one totrace along the stretch of road you are actually on. The clues

were interesting and took us through parts of our localcountryside we had never been before. Once we had got intothe stride of it and I could look further down the clues andmap references, some of them could be answered off the mapi.e. No. 5 was; �after he burnt the cakes, were they throwndown here�. There is a village called Alfred�s Well, so we didn�tneed to go slow looking for the answer, it was there on themap, so we picked up speed and headed for the next mapreference. It was an ideal day, warm but not too hot, and it wasvery pleasant driving slowly through the countryside,occasionally hopping out to get a phone number, date or name.

Nick and Eve had put in a red herring question; we found outlater it was No. 17 � How many beehives at the honeybee.This is a pub (which we have promised ourselves we will returnto when it�s open) called the Honeybee and it is decoratedwith beehives of every description. In an attempt to answerthe question, we counted them once, then re-counted themand came to a different answer. Apparently the original beehivesin a field had disappeared when Nick and Eve went roundchecking their clues prior to the day, so it became the red herring.

Nick and Eve did a checkpoint about half way through, tocheck we weren�t all lost I would imagine! We went throughWorms Ash, Alfred�s Well, Dodford, Fockbury, Purshull Green;a very odd place where we went up a track in the middle ofnowhere, with a farm and industrial units along it, but at theend was a lovely lake with a beautiful cottage on the oppositeshore. At Elmley Lovett there was a place called Beech ElmFarm, it had a large pool adjacent to the farm buildings withwater lilies, reeds, two hippopotami and three crocodiles in it!

The next map reference saw us moving onto OS 150 and wewent through Doverdale, Lineholt, and Holt fleet, where wesaw a Discovery turn left instead of right, they hadn�t gonewrong, they had just spotted a pub and fancied a quick pint (oras it turned out � not so quick!!) Then onto Martley,Doddenham and Knightwick where the old station had beenturned into a private dwelling. After Alfrick we had a lovelylong ride up a track signed �not suitable for cars� � but it wasmost definitely suitable for Land Rovers! Then we went ontoStorridge, Cradley, Colwall, Welland and finally to the finishon Castlemorton Common. We arrived at the finish to begreeted by Nick and Eve and only one other Discovery!

Only one clue to go, No. 36 Where do Moby Lines Go? � Wediscussed, argued, agreed, and disagreed, oh heck! We just didn�tknow. We had a little help � �It wouldn�t be here, if we all weren�there � That�s Help? Eventually after another small domestic wethrew in the towel and gave our papers in for marking.

After a while two more teams arrived, but the three remainingteams didn�t finish, in fact one gave his papers in on 8th July!

All in all a brilliant day, especially as we won, receiving twobottles of wine and six bottles of beer. Oh and also theprivilege of writing this article!

(For those of you dying to know Moby Lines go to Elba � theclue was a sticker on Nick and Eve�s Landrover).


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McMillan 4x4 ChallengeRos Palmer

Friday 7th March 2003

It�s 6.30am. The alarm is not due to go off until 8am but weare both wide awake. Excited at the prospect of the weekendahead, but also a bit apprehensive, not really knowing what toexpect. We get up and start to pack everything we mightpossibly need. I make twenty rounds of sandwiches whilstAndrew goes off to fill upwith diesel. The car gets isannual wash and scrub up.Despite being up early, westil l manage to be latesetting off. No surprisethere then to anyone whoknows us!!

We drive down to Herefordat an average speed of 30mph and arrive at theHereford Travel Inn at 4pm.There are already quite a few 4x4�sin the car park that look likethey are also on the event.After checking in we headfor the bar to see if we canspot any fellowcompetitors. It�s difficultto tell who they areamongst the regularcustomers but we stand outin our Camel Trophyfleeces so it�s not longbefore someoneapproaches us. We meet acouple, Malcolm and Linda, fromShropshire in a Nissan Patrol andjoin them for a drink. Soon Julianand Victoria from the FreelanderClub arrive with our maps and we all spend a verypleasant evening together. We have our last decentmeal for 2 days and retire to bed early to get a goodnight�s sleep before the big event.

Saturday 8th March

Someone banging on one of the bedroom doors wakes usabruptly at 4.30am. Not what you need when you�re going tobe up for 48 hours!! Eventually someone lets them in. Great,lets get back to sleep. 4.45am, knock, knock, knock again!! Allgoes quiet and we manage to get back off to sleep.

We�re up at 6.30am and ready for the off at 7.30am. Breakfastisn�t served until 8am so we have to make do with hard boiled

eggs I�ve brought with me! We head off down the A4103 tothe Toyota main dealer who has kindly donated his car park asa starting point and is also entering the event. On arrival thevehicles are scrutineered and we get our first set of instructions.The organisers give a driver/navigator pep talk and tell us aboveall to enjoy ourselves. We intend to. The press are there, mainlybecause Charlie Dimmock, of Ground Force fame is navigatinga team! Good on her, I say! Some army guys who are enteringin a military Defender are handing out free maps.

Having never done anything like this before, I really didn�t knowwhat to expect. When I looked at the first set of instructions

I wanted to go home! Not one to be defeated, Ipersevered and with a bit of help from our Freelanderfriends things started to make sense. Our first task

was to navigate right back up toWest Yorkshire to the Off Roadcourse at Tong, Bradford, callingat various check points on the

way and gettingevidence that wehad done so, inthe form ofphotographs anda n s w e r i n gquestions aboutwhat we had seen.We couldn�tbelieve it; we hadspent six hoursthe day beforedriving down

from West Yorkshireto Hereford and nowwe had to drive all theway back. Not onlythat, we had to be thereby 3pm!!

At 10am we started toleave at one-minuteintervals. As we wereNo 9 it wasn�t longbefore we were off.The first place we hadto drive through was

Shakespeare�s birthplace (that was the clue) so off we went.The first photograph that had to be taken was of a �RoadClosed� sign which appeared to have been removed from thechequered sign at the said junction. Organised chaos ensuedas about eight 4x4�s were abandoned at the junction whilst thedrivers took photos of the navigator in front of the sign. Itwas then time to head up north by the quickest means possible.A1M or M69/A1 was the choice we had to make. There didn�tlook to be much in it on the map but fortunately we tookVictoria�s advice and went straight to the A1M. We found out


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later that the M69 was down to one lane and the people whohad gone that way were sat in traffic for ages. The Freelanderleft us on the motorway. They got bored with sticking to 60/65mph and forged ahead. A slight detour for a photo atLoudham and we came back to home territory. The nextquestion was to name the famous landmark on the skyline atthe meeting point at the Brickworks just off J27 of the M62.Being locals we could answer that without being there. Gettinga bit cocky and having been to Tong many times before weheaded off there. Half a mile down the road I suddenly realisedwe had to pick up further instructions at the Brickworks! Aboutturn! We met up with everyone else and collected ourinstructions. We have to go round the course and write downnumbers attached to trees etc as we come to them. The coursewas somewhat muddy due to all the rain but still relativelytame. The fun out of the way it was back on the road to headfor New York (that�s the one near Patley Bridge not across theAtlantic!). On the way out of New York we came across afellow DOC member, Mick Caswell (Mick No1) and hisnavigator Chris, also Mick�s son James and his driver (MickNo2) and two other teams, all debating the next photo checkpoint which was a holiday park sign. I had an idea where itmight be so a convoy was born! Off we went towards Ripon.Sure enough just past Studley Royal was a holiday park. Herewe go again. Polaroids at the ready boys! A mad dash back onto the A1 and the toilet. The other two teams carried on leavinga convoy of three which were to continue together almost tothe end. On to our next two locations, Toronto and Quebec.They are to the west of Bishop Aukland and Durhamrespectively. Our job was to photograph a crewmember bythe �Welcome to� sign. What on earth the residents of thesesmall villages must have thought as throughout the afternoon4x4�s kept screeching to a halt outside their houses!! Onwardto the rendezvous point at Washington services for a breakand to pick up the instructions for the rest of the Challenge.We are pleased to see we aren�t the last to arrive by a long shot.It�s 9pm Saturday night and we can�t set off again until 1am.

Instructions and maps in hand we go into the services and geta coffee and another and another, just to wash down theproplus!! The place is full of our fellow challengers plottingroutes, including Charlie Dimmock. I get my maps laid out onthe table and look at the co-ordinates I�ve been given and startplotting. Several other teams come and ask my advice! I mustlook like a professional! I haven�t the heart to tell them it�s myfirst time!!

Sunday 9th March

1am seems to take an age to arrive. A lot of people have roomin their vehicles to get their heads down, or if you�re the armyguys you just sleep under the vehicle! No such luxury for us.Just more coffee and proplus!

At last it�s 1am and the convoy picks up where it left off. Upthe A1 again and then off on to the A697. We cross the border

into Scotland at 2.30am at Coldstream and all dive out to takethe �Welcome to� photo. It�s not a requirement but it seemslike a good idea at the time!! We leave the A697 now and haveto go across country to Abbey St Batham. Trying to find theshortest route we use some B roads. I�m sure the countrysidewould have been beautiful had it not been pitch black!! As wecross the Black Adder river I spot a country park on the mapand come up with a cunning plan!! Just call me Baldrick! Weturn into the entrance of the country park but it looks likesomeone�s driveway so we have second thoughts. Just as weare turning round a Range Rover on the event turns in andgoes right in. We give it a few moments to see if he comes outbut he doesn�t so one for all and off we go in! On the map it�sa straight road all the way through and out just below ourdestination. Well I�ll never trust a map again! We�ve only gone100 yards when we come to a T junction. Which way? Eanymeany! Right. Another 100 yards, another T junction and sothis went on for 20 minutes. We were totally lost! We thoughtwe were going to end up there until daylight and had almostlost the will to live when miraculously we spotted a white vanpassing the end of the track we were on. We deduced this wasa proper road and headed for it. It turned out to be the roadwe wanted to be on. Definitely more by luck than management!!We arrived on the road to Abbey St Batham to be met everyfew yards by our fellow competitors, some driving, someforaging about in the undergrowth! We didn�t know why butwe were about to find out. It was a long and winding road butwe eventually found the checkpoint in a field at the top of thehill. We checked in at 3.15am and had 30 minutes to decipherthe next set of instructions. I plotted the route from the co-ordinates, the objective being to follow the route and writedown numbers allegedly strategically positioned along the way!At 3.45am we set off in search of numbers, whilst reading themap, feeling extremely tired and dying for the loo!!!

Numbers��..mmmmmmmm��.can�t see any! We are outthere with torches, looking all over but for the first few gridreferences we can�t see anything. Eventually we find one. �Wheyhey�! Feeling invigorated again we press on but again thenumbers are elusive. We begin to think the people ahead of ushave nabbed them!! Anyway, numbers or no numbers we carryon to the end of the night navigation just outside Dalkeith.Next stop California (I wish!). Round the outskirts ofEdinburgh up towards Falkirk, photo shoot at California. Offto Moscow next. We�re really travelling the world this weekend!!Down to the other side of Glasgow to Moscow for anotherphoto. We then head down the A76 coming off at High Enochfor some forestry driving, again spotting numbers on the way.We do better this time in daylight! On across some hills andthrough another forest to a place called Ae. Down toLochmaben to spot a statue of Burns, then it�s a quick dash onto the motorway at Lockerbie. Andrew goes into a panic whenI tell him �next stop Gretna�!! At the services at Gretna we getfurther instructions, the frst of which is to drive down the M6to J34 at 60mph. Even this proves to be difficult as we have a


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ferocious head wind working against us! At J34 we turn offfor Caton and meet up in a tiny car park by the river. A fifteenminute break and we are off again. This is the final exerciseand we are determined not to be last!

We set off at break neck speeds, throwing the Camel roundcountry lanes. We are just about to take a left hand turn whenwe spot our friends Malcolm and Linda in their Nissan beingtowed out of a ditch by the lads in the Defender, or should Isay trying! It isn�t moving so we double up and the Camel doesits business. By now Mick No2 is running on vapours so theconvoy disbands finally so Mick and Mick can find a fuel station.We continue, racing against the Nissan and Defender. We areon a mission to beat them. Up hill and down dale we go,writing down the answers to various clues on the way. We aretaking no prisoners and as the Defender guys are studying theirmap, we overtake them and on to the next clue. We even havetime to stop for a brief chat with another Camel Discoveryowner who we are amazed to see coming towards us. It turnsout he lives in the area. Malcolm and Linda are not far behindus and are impressed by the way Andrew throws the Camelround corners. So impressed in fact that they nickname himTwo Wheels Tommy!!

It comes to the final clue and we just can�t spot it, deciding toleave it we head out of Grimsargh and head back to the M6.We spot a 90 on the event at the side of the road and stop tosee if they are OK. They�re trying to work out where the finalcheckpoint is. We trade them the last clue for the checkpointand off we go to Charnock Richard Services to check in andget directions to the hotel. We are pleased to learn that thereare about ten vehicles still to come in behind us including theNissan and Defender. We did it!! A quick intake of caffeine isneeded before we travel the few miles to the hotel just outsideWarrington. Would you believe it, we�ve been driving for 36hours and on the last stretch we hit standing traffic!! Just whenyou want to relax before dinner! Ah well, I guess we�ll justhave to pop some more proplus. We finally reach the hotel at6pm. By the time we�ve handed all our sheets in and checkedin, it�s 6.45pm before we get to our room and we have to bedown for pre dinner drinks at 7.30pm. Quick shower andchange and down we go. We meet up with our convoy andMalcolm and Linda and after drinks go in for dinner. Thewinners are announced, well what can I say, they�re driving aDiscovery of course! There is also an auction and with thatand everyone�s sponsorship the event has raised over £20,000for Macmillan Cancer Relief. After dinner we retire to the barand before we know it its 1am in the morning. We�ve been upfor 43 hours, driven the best part of 1,000 miles and it�s reallystarting to show. We say goodnight and retire to bed for somewell-earned sleep.

It had been a thoroughly enjoyable yet testing weekend andone that we will be back to take part in again next year.

We would like to say a huge �Thank You� to everyone whosponsored us and helped to make a difference.

Concours d’EleganceChris Gorvin

No, it�s not a dirty word - 99% of Discovery owners in oneform or another have a secret harbouring, that they would wina prize for there vehicle being judge the best, even if it is justfor the size of their winch!

This year at the Abingdon 4x4 Festival there is going to be aConcours d�Elegance. We are not looking for perfection, sothose who have taken part in one make club competitions neednot rush for their toothpicks. You may laugh, toothpicks arevery useful for getting in corners and, together with thetoothbrush, make short work of buffing up tyre tread withshoe polish. They�re mad, I hear you cry, lock them away. Wellhold on; these boys have only taken to extremes the weekendcar wash in the same way as the Paris Dakar guys take thehumble greenlaning.

OK, so some of you guys and galls want to try the concours.At Abingdon the intention is for anyone who wants to entercan. You do not have to have a spotless machine or a brandnew one either. I have a cunning plan that takes age and mileageinto account as well, so owners of a 150,000 mile 93 modelwill have as much chance as a 50 mile 03.

What I have tried to do is to indicate what my fellow judgesand I will be looking for. Please bear in mind that none of usare professional concours judges, but our decision will be final.So what will the judges looking for? I have adopted (cribbed)the judging form from my days in 1980s and 90s entering MGs.

Firstly you will be required to give your name, registration andclass you are entering. There are four classes to enter.

Class 1 Discovery Condition � this is open to any DiscoverySeries 1 in original or near original condition. Non-factory extraswill be marked down.

Class 2 Discovery condition� this is open to any DiscoverySeries 2 in original or near original condition. None factoryextras will be marked down.

Class 3 Discovery Modified � Again open to any Discovery ofany age, if you have 10� lifts and multiple roll cages, or neonlights and chromed wheels this is the one for you.

Class 4 Non Discovery, modified or condition. We have anumber of Shoguns, Vitaras and Jeeps etc. coming, this is theone for these guys.

Class 5 Best of Show � one overall award, first place only, therest of the classes have prizes for first second and third

You will need to have booked in by 11am, and when judgingstarts (1.30pm) you need to be with your vehicle � we will givea more accurate approximation of the time on the day. Oh


Concorse d’Elegance

and by the way, you cannot trailer your pride and joy to theshow.

How are the marks allocated?

Exterior: 320 marks

Paintwork should ideally be first class, free of scratches (haha!) and with no visible poor repair work, panel gaps aroundthe doors, tailgate and bonnet should be even. First inspectionshould be done with the doors closed. Further checks willlook and the operation of doorsetc. (120 marks)

All bright work or black finishincluding bumpers, roof racks,tow hitches etc. for finish,fitment odd colouring, etc. (50marks)

Condition of underside of thevehicle, we will refrain fromdonning white gloves, andwiping our hands on theunderside of the arches to see if anydust has gathered. Mainly because wewould like our hands still attached toour arm at the end of it! You get thegist, we are not looking for polishedcopper brake pipe etc., but the cleanerthe underside and the fewer theoil leaks etc. will have benefits.(70 marks)

Condition of wheels and tyres,obvious what we are looking forhere. A tip, if you have time,take the wheels off and cleanthe reverse, an easy few marksto be gained here, most judgesused to prefer a satin lookrather than the gloss of someproducts. The spare will alsoget done here, and you will beasked to remove your spare wheel cover. In fact this can be leftoff and judged off the vehicle. (40 marks)

Condition of glass including sunroofs. � Glass polish is betterthan the quick clean stuff here, make sure you remember theinside of the alpine windows. (40 marks)

Interior: 350 marks

First is to look for the general appearance as a whole entitybefore moving on to the trim panels. (70 marks)

The roof lining and internal sunroof surrounds is next. (30marks)

Seats, all 7 in some cases, again rips, saggy squabs and markswill be marked down. (60 marks)

Carpets, similar to he seats, but please take the floor mats out(40 marks)

Dashboard � no messy wiring, clean appearance, no screw holes,missing pedal rubbers, etc. Note: GPS, and or phone hardwarewill be included in the overall dashboard, and will not effectthe mark for originality. (100 marks)

Boot area, including condition of trimpanels, spare wheel mounting and spare

wheel cover. I am not going toinclude tools; jack etc., howeverany item visible will be includedin the overall mark. Please emptyall your stuff, picnic, kids toys etc.out before, or as the judges get toyou, as it will save time. (50 marks)

Engine compartment:230 marks

This is split into 6 areas

Engine block, head,rocker cover (30 marks)

Exhaust manifold andexhaust pipe (30 marks)

Fluid systems � brake,clutch, injection system,PAS, air con etc. (70marks)

Electrical system, wiring andalternator (40 marks)

Rubber hoses and control cables(20 marks)

Sheet metalwork: bulkhead, underbonnet, inner wings (40 marks)

Mechanical 100 marks (functional) � yes, we are going to checkthing work

We will check the following; all get 10 marks for working.

Wipers, horns, headlamps, side lamps, tail lamps, numberplatelamps, stop lamps, reversing lamps, fog lamps and directionindicators.

All that should give a grand total out of 1000 points. Myguess is the winners will get somewhere between 500 and 600points, which is great and something the owner who he or shewill be may be justifiable proud off.

Anyone who enters will get their judging forms back, and


Member Story

hopefully in 2004 will come back for more even cleaner. As aword of encouragement, in the early nineties, I took a 3 yearold MG Maestro, which was used daily to go on a 20 mileround trip to work. Across to the MG rally on Jersey and alongwith a concours field of some 50 other MG or various typesand vintages back to 1930 motors, came away with not onlybest in class but also best of show. Yes it took a lot of hardwork but it can be done if you are mad enough.

Now for equalizer! On a full blown concours event vehicle age andmileage are irrelevant, as all competitors are trying achieve the samelevel of competence, for Abingdon the vast majority of folks willuse their Discoverys on a daily basis, so those running older motorswill be at a disadvantage. So you get 5 marks for every year old youDiscovery is to a max of 10 years old i.e. 1993, and you get 1 pointfor every 1,000 mile you have done to a max of 100,000 miles, thiscould give you an extra 150 points. OK, there you have it. Get outthe polish and get to it.

If anyone has any question on the concours or would like tohelp out with setting the area up at Abingdon over the weekend,please drop me an e-mail [email protected] of ring on 07774963577.

Class of ’93Alan Smart

It�s been a fairly uneventful couple of months with the fleet.The only real drama was the One-Ten started to smell of diesel.Much peering underneath and under the bonnet didn�t showany obvious leaks until the day that I filled it up. There wasthis wet smear down one side of the tank. With a full tank Isuspected the seal around the submersed pump. On Discoveryand Range Rover there�s a hatch in the rear floor to access itbut on the One-Ten it�s a tank out job. I decided that I wouldonly fill it to half full until I could get round to doing it. It wasstill leaking when the low fuel warning light was on. The One-Ten has a steel tank unlike the Discovery and it has corrodedthrough between the tank and carrier which acts as a doubleskin. A few phone calls revealed tanks were in short supply.Newbury 4x4 sourced a galvanised tank and were willing to fitit for a reasonable fee but he couldn�t take it for a week so it

had to sit there with a bucket underneath. I hate messing aboutwith diesel; I never seem to get rid of the smell and my handsseem to peel for weeks afterwards. I was impressed with theirattention to detail; all new hose clips and nuts and bolts. Thetow bar bolts that had been replaced were even the correctgrade.

I have finally cured the rear light saga by running a newindependent wire from the under bonnet loom to the rear andthen cutting out the old loom. It may seem a bit drastic but it�ssolved the problem. Obviously somewhere the wire has chaffedinside the chassis. I suppose I had better expect other circuitsto play up at some point.

After 100,000 miles the Range Rover was starting to wallowand all four shock absorbers were leaking. New springs andshock absorbers were fitted all round from Rimmers who dospring and shock absorber sets both standard and up-rated(don�t forget to ask for your DOC discount). Now it doesn�twallow so much round corners or find the bump stops as often.It even drives better in a straight line. It�s amazing what youget used to with components that �fail� slowly over many years- you just compensate.

Tim Arnold covered this job in Discourse 8 when he did a2inch lift. I found the quickest way to �undo� the bottommountings on the rears was an angle grinder! Unfortunatelythe fronts are not so accessible but a large pair of stilsons onthe lower part of the shock absorber body solved the problem.I�m glad I bought a new pair of spring retainers (part number572087) as I sheared studs off both sides despite a good soakingwith Plus Gas the night before. These have imperial threadsso make sure you have some UNF nuts ready.

The amount of panel corrosion on my black Discovery wasstarting to cause me some concern until I saw this month�sLRO feature on buying a cheap Discovery. On mine the bottomof the aluminium door skin of the passenger door has nowcompletely corroded through leaving it detached from the steelframe that is in good condition. The driver�s door isn�t muchbetter. I know what I�m looking for at the next Sodbury SortOut! The main steel frame seems to be OK, which must bedue to the amount of Waxoyl that was pumped into it on itssecond birthday, but other areas of the paint work need someattention. The LRO featured vehicles has some real structuralrust so maybe mine�s not that bad after all. There are howeversome stone chips and off-road scratches that are starting tobubble and I have to deal with them before they turn into realproblems.

The pre-production five door is running faultlessly but I needto get the off-side sill done before its MoT in September. Theonly worry is the power steering pump is getting noisy. I�mstill on the look out for some blue trim and a set of the originalpattern Goodyear Wranglers. If you have some you want topart with, give me a call.


Stand and Deliver!Alan Smart

The problem with many tools sold by high street stores is theyare not man enough for the average Land Rover. I needed anew pair of axle stands as my old pair was, well, old, and didn�thave the lift or the strength to support a Land Rover.

Machine Mart to the rescue.Their excellent catalogue andwebsite is very helpful andthey have a verycomprehensive range. Isettled on a pair of their 6tonne stands (CAX-6TBC)with a closed height of400mm with a maximumheight of 615mm. Theyhave a ratchet mechanisminstead of the pin and holesystem that makes them veryeasy to use with a wide jaw

that allows either the axle or chassis members to site on itsafely. At £23.44 they represent very good value for money.

If you don�t need that amount of lift, there�s a pair of 3 tonnestands (300/430mm) at £15.22.

Disaster!Stefan Tapp

This is a friend of Stefan Tapp in his 1997 Discovery Tdi ES.This is what happens when your wheels aren�t pointing straightahead when driving in ruts! The ruts shallowed out and hisDiscovery lurched up a bank to the left and very slowly flippedhim on his side whilst driving a byway on the ridgeway! Damage?A 50 pence-size dent above the filler cap, Will he ever be ableto live it down? Never!!


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Recent Events

Greenlaning for Absolute BeginnersJohn S. Batchelor

Not so long ago I was one of the members who had notventured farther off tarmac than a green field used as a carpark. My first real go at greenlaning was a club outing toSalisbury Plain organised by Steve Goodfellow. I approachedthis with some trepidation, but thanks to following some ofour club experts over lanes chosen to be easy for beginners, Ifound that I had thoroughly enjoyed it and had neither gotstuck nor damaged my 300 Tdi. I then had a go at a local off-road site, trying the easy route laid out by the organisers andagain didn�t get stuck and did enjoy it. However the bug reallybit after I was lucky enough to get an invite from my localMain Dealer to go on a Land.Rover course at Eastnor Castle.That was a real eye opener; chance to drive everything from aFreelander to a 4.6 HSE Range Rover (which I DID get stuck!)while a instructor sat beside you and explained how to attemptwhat you considered impossible, but wasn�t!!

From there on I�ve gradually got more confident, and possiblymore competent, to the point that I�m now happy to lead otherpeople over some of the lanes I�ve explored in S. Wales. Withthis enjoyment in mind, I offer a few thoughts to otherbeginners who may be thinking of dipping their toes (and theirDiscovery) into this particular pool of water.

Preparation: firstly, no matter which Discovery you drive, evenin showroom condition it is capable of far more than you willbelieve possible, provided it is driven with a degree of commonsense. You do not need to spend a small fortune modifying itbefore going green laning. Don�t bother at this stage with raisedsuspension, oversize tyres, loads of under body protection anda winch! Those may come later when and if you feel you reallyneed and can afford them.

Initially all you need are four things; namely recovery pointsfront and rear, a decent towrope, bridle and shackles, wadingplugs and a spade. Front recovery points can be Jate rings or,perhaps better, Jackall combined recovery eyes and hi lift jackingpoints. Rear recovery points can be a good tow bar or Jaterings. Get a 6 metre x 12 tonne breaking strain towrope, ashort bridle to go between the recovery points and certifiedshackles. DON�T buy cheap gear; if you have to use these in aserious extraction the forces involved are immense and a gearfailure could kill someone, so only buy tested gear fromreputable sources and look after it. Keep ropes free of oil,clean off mud and store out of sunlight. Also, when buying atowrope, don�t buy a KERR (Kinetic Energy Recovery Rope),buy a normal �dead� rope; KERR recoveries are not techniquesfor beginners and involve even higher stresses on gear andvehicles. The wading plugs keep the mud and water out of thedrain holes in the timing belt case on 200 and 300 engines andthe bell-housing on manual gearboxes; V8�s, TD5�s and auto�shave no holes to be blocked up. However, if you drive a V8

then you need to waterproof the distributor with a rubberglove and silicone sealer and carry a (big) can of WD 40. Thespade can be an ex Army short shaft, pointed type.

What else do you need to do? Well make sure your vehicle isin sound condition with no mechanical or electrical defects;miles from anywhere is not the place for it to die on you. Atthis beginners level I would suggest you can get away withnormal road biased tyres (I�m still on Michelin XPC�s), but agood All Terrain pattern such as BFG�s could be a sound choicewhen next time comes to replace them. Remember, for mostof us our tarmac mileage and drivability is more importantthan off road performance, and Mud Terrains tyres are generallynot so good on wet tarmac. Similarly, when it�s time to replacedampers then fit some De Carbons (my choice), Bilsteins orOld Man Emus but don�t lift the vehicle on raised suspensionunless you are willing to accept a deterioration in tarmachandling. I�ve now also fitted a front diff guard, but that wasmore because I got it cheap than because I felt it really necessaryat this level! A hi-lift jack or an air jack is a good idea, thoughnot essential for your early trips. Finally take food and non-alcoholic drinks, a First Aid kit and warm waterproof clothingwith you; you probably won�t need them but if you do�.you�llbe glad to have them!!

Where to go: get a map of your area and learn how to read it.The Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger series are theminimum you should use and the 1:25,000 Explorer series area better choice. Make sure it�s an up to date edition as well.Look down the side or across the top or bottom of the mapuntil you find the �Public Rights of Way� display and thereyou will find the symbols for Footpath (dots), Bridleway(dashes), Road Used as Public Path or RUPP (dot and dashalternating on Landranger or side by side on Explorer) and,best of all, Byway open to all traffic BOAT (crosses). All ofthese will be in Red on a Landranger and Green on an Explorermap. You should not drive a footpath or a bridleway,irrespective of how inviting it may look or how many otheridiots you see using it. Don�t do it, we 4 x 4 drivers get morethan enough bad publicity, even when it�s not warranted. Youcan legally drive a BOAT and may or may not be able to drivea RUPP or the white Unclassified Country Roads (UCR�s) thatyou will also find on the map. To get the definite informationon the latter two, you need to make the acquaintance of yourlocal council Rights of Way officer who will have a copy ofthe Definitive Rights of Way map that he should allow you toinspect. Alternatively, check with someone else in DOC fromyour area or join GLASS and check with their local RoW officer.Remember also that these are still public highways with all theusual laws applying, even if there is no tarmac in sight.

From the map you ought to be able to find some routes nearyou that look interesting. Note well how steep the rises andfalls may be, what streams or rivers you may have to cross andhow boggy the terrain may be; then choose a suitable day. Foryour early learning I�d strongly suggest avoiding anywhere that


Recent Events / Discovery History

might be wet if the weather either has been or is raining hard.

Now find yourself a like-minded companion driver. DON�Tbe tempted to go off alone in your Discovery, at least until youhave a good deal of experience. One vehicle can get stuckmiles from assistance; at least with two of them you have areasonable chance of retreat even if you cannot recover thestuck one. Best of all, go with a couple of other vehicles andat least one experienced driver to guide you.

Terrain & technique: this is the bit where experience comesinto play. It�s also the bit most beginners are keen to learn,sometimes without having taken on board the stuff above.Probably the safest way to learn how to tackle various surfacesis at an off-road centre, with an instructor if possible. Failingthat, read as many books or magazine articles as you can andthen go out as a passenger with a more experienced driver andsee how obstacles are tackled. For books I can recommend�The Land Rover Experience� by Tom Sheppard as excellent.Also worth while is the video �How to drive off-road� fromLand Rover Owner International magazine, together with theirregular articles by Vince Cobley.

As soon as you get off the tarmac, get into low range so as toreduce speed and increase your control of the car but don�tlock the centre diff on a Series 1 Disco until you can see slipperyground ahead. You will find that technique largely comes downto reading the track ahead and planning where to place thevehicle to minimise chances of getting stuck or of damagingsomething. If in doubt get out and inspect the next 50 yardson foot before driving it. This is especially true where water isinvolved, either as a ford or as a boggy bit. But remember it isalso true when climbing a hill; you need to know what�s overthat blind crest ahead. Don�t blithely put your Disco into thoseruts unless you know how deep they get or you�ll only find outwhen you�re bellied out. And if you are in ruts more than afew inches deep then don�t try to steer out until they shallow;you�ll risk damage to the sidewalls of your tyres and, even worse,the car may suddenly climb out and shoot off down the hillside(saw the results of this at Eastnor Castle). If in doubt backout and try again straddling the ruts.

Drive as slowly as possible, hence the Low Range, but as fastas necessary to keep your momentum. You are there to enjoythe scenery, not taking part in a Comp Safari!! In particular, ifyou come to a really soft piece of track consider if you cancross it without churning it up. Diff lock will be necessary inSeries 1 Discos and speed and momentum may be the answer,but it may also just leave you further into the mire, makingextraction even more difficult. Remember, we need to improveour relations with walkers and horse riders, otherwise we aregoing to see this recreation banned in the future. It is better toturn back and go somewhere else than to leave a morass toannoy non-motorised users of the road.

I hope all that I�ve written does not sound off-putting becausemy intention was to encourage newcomers to this side of

Discovery ownership. Green laning is in my opinion awonderful way to see the countryside, particularly if like meyou can no longer walk so far as you could in your youth, andyou own one of the best machines made for the job. Especiallygo out and have a go on some of the trips that Club membersorganise. If they have made the effort to plan out a route thensupport them, otherwise they won�t bother again! In particular,support Gary Tredwell�s efforts at our annual Abingdon festival;even as a marshall you will learn a lot about how to tacklevarious obstacles (or how NOT to, as the case may be), andyou can get expert advice as well.

Have fun, be careful and get hooked! Then write about it toDiscourse!

G490WAC

Alan Smart

Member David �Harry� Harris from Norfolk has recently boughtG490WAC which was rescued from the scrapyard! Davidcontacted me to ask about the vehicle. It turns out to be theearliest of the 1989 Plymouth launch vehicles known to theclub having the Special Development Vehicle number SDV05.

Previously this honour was held by former chairman JohnCapewell whose G486WAC is SDV06 (the vehicles were notregistered in SDV number order). It�s V8 powered finished inMistral, a bluey-grey Micatallic finish.

Harry tells me his Land Rover nut friend Steve Read rescuedthe vehicle three years ago, it having been stolen and recovered.The locks were damaged and there was some minor bodydamage. He restored it for his father-in-law who wasn�t reallyinterested in the history of the vehicle. It�s now done 99,000miles and Harry says he finds any excuse to drive it.

All we need to do is find G451WAC which is SDV04 and theearliest according to my records (unless you know otherwise!)


Letter to the EditorI�ve just joined DOC at LRW show and enjoyed reading Discourse 12 and lookforward to future editions. Whilst reading it, on page 24 I spotted the photo ofthe �project� car.

About a week before the show I saw two in convoy in Evesham. On the 1 Julywhile driving to work I spotted a third. This was left-hand drive, travelling at agood speed so I only got a quick look, but I�m sure they�re one and the same.With the disguise work, it would be hard to say it was much different to thephoto, but it did seem to have a flatter roofline more like a Range Rover. Theyall seemed to be travelling on a similar route. Is it possible they were going toEastnor Castle or similar for testing?

Bill Jones.


Down Your Way

North Worcester & South MidlandsPaul Walker

My, what a busy couple of months that�s been. In the lastissue of Discourse, John Fancote gave a report on the point topoint that was held way back in February. Then the groupattended the AGM at Gaydon; nice Convoy of twleveDiscoverys down the M40. April saw the group move its venuefor the meetings as we had now out grown the corner -sectionof the pub. A frantic search of the local drinking holes turnedup only three possibles out of nearly 80 pubs! We tried a pubjust down the road, April�s meet was OK. We had the sectionof pub that could curtained off from the mass rabble.However, when the group turned up to hold our May meetingthe landlady had forgotten to close this section ready for us, itwas full of students !! So we tried to hold the meet in themiddle of a noisy pub.......Never again was the verdict fromthe group. So back to square one. New venue required !

This turned out to be a lucky strike for me as I had had dealingswith the pub over the road from our original pub, This newpub has been used to hold DOC committee meetings and isquite a nice sized room. After bartering with the landlord, theroom was ours, for one night a month and it�s FREE!

So since June the Worcs group now has its meet in a nice largeroom, we can now hear ourselves talk and at least we can allnow park on the car park. The one main failure of the firstpub was that it had no car park. Anyway back to the group�sactivities: May saw a large number of the group visit theHeritage Day at Gaydon. May 17/18 saw a couple of the groupplus some other members Green laning on Exmoor. D12 page21. May 25th found the group out and about on the greenlanes of the Cotswolds, this beening known at Cots II, Cots Iwas done last year, Cots I ( the return) is set for October thisyear. June 14th found the group holding yet another treasurehunt. This one was organised by Nick & Eve Evetts. A greatday was had by all. Me? I had to work that day but have madearrangments to do the hunt soon, with a couple of the othermembers who could�nt make it.

Then it was the LRW show at the end of June, which I thoughtwas a bit of a let down on lasat years show.......enough said.

So to future events for the Worcs & south Midlands section.August has some of the group on a mystery walk around theblack country.....Dudley & Sandwell for those that don�t know.Also on this day there is the open invite to the DOCmembership of a green lane trip around the Cotswolds.

September sees a weekend in Wales laning and doing the touristbit over on the west coast. Then there�s Abingdon.

For next year we have plans afoot for a laning trip aroundBristol & Bath, A weekend to Yorkshire to hold our secondphoto hunt contest, which we might tie in with a trip to the

new FreightLiner depot near Leeds. A trip on NGLD back tothe Cotswolds to help clear a lane is planned for March 2004.

Cotswolds lanes II ( the return) is on the cards, and the biggestevent yet will be a convoy to Berlin in Germany to visit Holger.If you are interested in going on this trip to Berlin, please e-mail Paul Jones [email protected]

East SussexDamian Bunn

The DOC East Sussex group has recently started activities in,wait for it East Sussex. As a fairly small membership area, inmaybe the smallest in the country we are striving to get a regularmeet and events going.

Currently we meet with the Hastings & District Land Rover Club,at the Black Horse, Telham on the second Sunday of the month.

If you are into off-roading we have a contact for use of a 70acre site not far from Battle, Alas at this stage it is invite only,but we are working to get our own, DOC access.

There are a few lanes in the area, none of any real note, andthe Hastings & District LR Club are very heavily involved withthese, maintaining and clearing. Oh did I forget to mentionthat the Sunday meet is also the regional Glass meet.

We are working on a web page to keep locals up to date, but ifyou would like to get more active in your area please feel freeto drop in to the Sunday meet or contact Tim Arnold (detailsat the front of Discourse) or Damian Bunn (01424 813673 /[email protected]) for more information.

WessexAlan Smart

Like many regional meetings, we are struggling to establish acritical mass. It�s a Catch 22 � to run an event you need enoughpeople, to get the people in you need an event! My initialthoughts are a treasure hunt, always a good stand by.

Our monthly pub meets have as few as four people but lastmonth we excelled ourselves with eleven. If we can continueat this rate plus a couple from those locals who signed up atBeaulieu we should be on our way.

Finally a date for your diary: New Year�s Day will see the annualdrive across Salisbury Plain including the village of Imber thatwas requisitioned by the Military during WW2 and neverreturned. It�s only open a few days a year and this is one ofthem. It�s well worth the drive.


Events

What’s On - Tim Arnold

Detling Off-Road Weekend 16-17th August

The Kent and South East section invites all members to joinus at Penny Spring Farm, Detling, Nr Maidstone. For thosewith further to travel we are camping Saturday night and willbe getting together around the barbecue

Langley Farm 13th & 14th September

The Yorkshire Land Rover Owners & Rover Owners Club will beholding their Annual 4x4 Event at Langley Farm, Scissett nearHuddersfield. This will be the Event�s 22nd year, and includes anoff-road course of over a mile long, trade stands, auto jumble, vehicleline up and family entertainments. This year sees the weddingblessing of two club members at the Farm.

Camping is available from Friday 12th September, and the Clubwelcomes all makes of 4x4�s to take part in the fun.

Further details from Muck Moses - Camping and caravanbookings Tel: 0113 2860586.

E-mail: [email protected]

Camping w/e pre-book £25 per unit - on the day £30

Day visitors £5 per person or £10 per car

Off-road course £10 per driver per day - paid on the day

Trade auto-jumble: Sarah & Jon Ackroyd Tel: 01274566672(after 6pm).

Auto jumble - £10 per day or £15 per 2 days - PLUS entry fee

Trade stands - 5m x 10m = £50 - 10m x 10m = £100

Sponsorship flags £100 - contact Rosie Makinson

Abingdon 4x4 Festival 27th – 28th September

The club is in its third year of running this event in conjunctionwith the Rotary Club of Abingdon. As well as the off-roadcourse there�s caravanning and camping with all the socialisingthat goes on, trade stands and the DOC stand. There will alsobe the first Concours d�Elegance event. Organiser GarryTredwell (01235 520240) promises that this year�s event will beeven bigger and better than last year�s.

For more details speak to Garry especially if you can help beforethe event or during the weekend.

Marshals Wanted!

Have you ever fancied being a marshal? No, not the sort thatwears a tin star and a low-slung holster. We�re talking aboutthe ones who ensure the smooth running of an off-road event!

As we�re sure you all know, every year the DOC hosts theAbingdon 4x4 Festival, which is centered on an off-road course

in excess of two miles long. This year the event, on the 27th &28th September, is going to be bigger than ever and to makethe course work we need volunteer marshals. No experienceor special equipment is necessary � only the commitment ofsome time over the two days that the course will be open.Tasks will include managing traffic, offering advice andencouragement and maintaining safety, and all with a grandstandview of the action. As an incentive all volunteer marshals willreceive free entry to the event (worth up to £50.00 for thewhole weekend) and the eternal gratitude of the eventorganizers!

If you would like to give it a go and be part of the biggestevent on the Club calendar then please contact the Clerk ofthe Course, Darren Burgess, on 01344 445820 or [email protected].

UK Rhino Charge 4th October

Our own Tim Arnold is planning to take part in this event thatcaters for all levels of off-road skills from novices to the moreexperienced. Any Shiny driver who would like to join me asnavigator give me a call. The site is the 1,500 acre deer park atPippingford in Sussex. All proceeds from the event go to RhinoArk in Kenya in support of conservation. More details fromTim Arnold.

Guide Dogs for the Blind Classic Car “Wool Church”Run 19th October

This new event is a 110 mile drive through the Gloucestershire andOxfordshire countryside with a difference. You get a blind navigatorwith a Braille roadbook! There will be a �normal� book just in caseyou get lost. The event that is open to all classic vehicle ownersplans to not only raise money but also to give blind and partiallysighted people the chance to actively take part in these sorts ofevents. Further details from Alan Smart.

2003 Calendar and Contacts16th August � Mystery Tour, Yorkshire

Contact John Patton

16-17th August � Detling Off Road WeekendContact Tim Arnold

22-25th August - Caravan/Camping WeekendContact Kim Hollins 0161 480 7096 or 07831 541245

23rd August - Cotswold LanesContact Paul Walker

23-25th August � Town and Country Festival,Stoneleigh featuring ARC All Rover Weekend

30-31st August - Hational 4x4 Show, Trentahm GardensConatct Tim Arnold


Events

6-7th September - LRO Show, Peterborough:Conatcat Chris Gorvin. 07774 963577

6-7th September � Major�s Memorial Trial, EastnorConatct Alan Smart

13-14th September - Langley FarmConatct Chris Mullen 01274 634166

13-14th September � Dunsfold Collection Open weekend01483 200567

27-28th September - Abingdon 4x4 FestivalConatct Garry Tredwell

Date TBA � Green Lane Weekend, YorkshireConatct John Patton

4th Oct - UK Rhino Charge, Pippingford Park, Sussex:Conatct Tim Arnold

5th October - London to Brighton Land Rover RunTim Arnold or send SAE to 10 Middlesex Road,Mitcham, Surrey, CR4 1QP for entry form

19th October � Blind Navigators� Classic Car Runin aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind (Gloucester &Oxfordshire)Conatct Alan Smart

25th October � Old Sodbury�s SortoutNewbury Showground. More details from 01454323109 or www.oldsodburysortout.co.uk

Regional MeetsCentral Southern

Location: The Packhorse, Milton Hill, nr Abingdon, Oxford.When: Third Wednesday of each monthTime: 7:30 pm onwards

Contact: Garry Tredwell. Tel: 01235 520240, 07802 495658

East SussexLocation: The Horseshoe Inn, Windmill Hill, nr. Hailsham.

When: Second Sunday of each monthTime: 12:30 pm onwards

Contact: Tim Arnold. Tel: 01323 489003

Home Counties NorthLocation: George IV PH, London Road, Baldock, Herts.

When: Third Tuesday of each month

Time: 8:00 pm onwards

Contact: Kevin Beel. Tel: 01462 893886

Kent

Location: Black Lion, Southfleet.When: First Wednesday of each month.Time: 7:30 pm onwards

Contact: Don Hoaglin. Tel: 01474 707531

NorthamptonLocation: Billing Quays, Northampton, (nr Aquadrome).

When: First Thursday of each month.Time: 7:30 pm onwards

Contact: George Glover. Tel: 01604 582252, 07721 559456

North West / ManchesterLocation: The Railway PH, 1 Avenue Street, Portwood, Stockport.

When: Second Wednesday of each monthTime: 8:00 pm onwards

Contact: Kim Hollings. Tel: 0161 480 7096, 07831 541245

North Worcs / South MidlandsLocation: The White Hart PH, Evesham Road, Redditch, Worcs.

When: Second Tuesday of each monthTime: 8:00 pm onwards

Contact: Paul Walker. Tel: 01527 404103, 07939 411995

South Staffs / North BirminghamLocation: Moxull Hall Hotel, Holly Lane, Wishaw,

nr Sutton Coldfield, B76 9PD.When: Last Thursday of each monthTime: 7:30 pm onwards

Location: The White Hart PH, Wolverhampton Rd, CannockWhen: Second Thursday of each monthTime: 7:30 pm onwards

Contact: Lee Jones. Tel: 0121 603 3632

WalesLocation: The Felin Fach Griffin PH, Hay on Wye.

When: First Sunday of each monthTime: 1:00 pm onwards

Contact: Gerard Brooks. Tel: 02920 757459, 07977 545790

WessexLocation: The Rack & Manger, Crawley, Hampshire.

When: Second Wednesday of each monthTime: 7:30 pm onwards

Contact: Alan Smart. Tel: 01264 772851

West of EnglandLocation: The Wheatsheaf PH, High Street, Winterbourne,

South Gloucestershire.When: Last Friday of each monthTime: 8:00 pm onwards

Contact: Post Vacant. Tel: Neil Brownlee.

YorkshireLocation: George & Dragon PH, Apperley Bridge, Bradford.

When: Last Friday of each month.Time: 8:00 pm onwards

Contact: John Patton. Tel: 07748 502200

Location: Sir Jacks PH, Bawtry Road, Bramley, Rotherham.When: First Sunday of each month.Time: 12:00 noon onwards

Contact: Martin Thomas. Tel: 07985 736021

If you would like to form yor own Local Section of the Discovery OwnersClub in any area not covered in those listed above, contact any member ofthe Committee who will be pleased to advise and assist you.

© Copyright 2002, 2003. The design and layout, use of typestyles, all artwork produced andsource files created in the production of this publication are the copyright of Nick Broker, theMicroArt Studio and Focus Technical Communications Limited. No element of it may becopied in full or part in any form without the express written premission so to do.


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