Land Rovers and Off Road Driving

If you had asked me a few years ago if I would have been interested in off  road driving, I’m sure my answer would have been no. This changed in 2001 through a variety of circumstances. David, because of his ME qualified for Disability Living Allowance. We decided to spend some of the money on a second vehicle, so that Cath could drive him about when I was away at work. Due to a quirk of what was available at the time we ended up, in January 2001, with a 1966 Series 2a Land Rover.

 

With a vehicle like that, it had to be used and we looked for opportunities. Due to good fortune in web searches we ended up joining Yorkshire Off Road Club. On 17th June we attended our first event, a driving day and ideal for beginners. In the afternoon an informal trial was organised, and we were now addicted.

 

     

 

David was an enthusiastic participant, but was looking forward to the day he could drive in a trial himself. Meanwhile we also had the opportunity to drive some of Yorkshire’s green lanes. For those that would decry this intrusion of vehicles into the countryside, I would point out that for our children, both suffering from ME, it opened up a wild environment that otherwise would have been completely denied to them.

 

Since then we have been regularly involved in YORC events. Details and lots of pictures can be found on their website. The most significant of these was our trip to Belgium in September 2002. You can read my full story with pictures here, but meanwhile here’s one picture of our 2a on the Belgian trials section.

 

 

Shortly before the Belgium trip I decided to opt out of the company car scheme, and so we acquired our second Solihull product, a 1993 Range Rover 4.2 LSE. This has been my everyday business transport ever since, with the fuel costs reduced by converting to LPG. The conversion was done by RPI Engineering in Norfolk, and John and I had a very pleasant trip down to pick it up in January 2002, when we managed a boat trip on the Norfolk Broads in near freezing conditions.

 

Since then, things have moved on. David now has his own car, and does not need the 2a for day to day transport. He is however, an enthusiastic trailer and it allows him to participate in sport despite his ME. With this more limited use, the vehicle has gone through changes and now is in truck cab configuration and fitted with a roll cage. The 205 All Terrain tyres have been replaced with 235/85 R16 mud terrain. It still doesn’t stop us getting stuck though.

 

 

The latest addition to the fleet is a 1979 ex-military Series 3. It’s a long wheelbase 24 volt model, and it hasn’t run since 1997, when the army disposed of it. It’s David’s project and it’s making progress. More on this and the Range Rover will follow later.

 

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