The wonderfully named Butterstone Loch is the new venue for Land Rover Experience Scotland. Based in the Perthshire Highlands, the new centre is more spacious and offers highly scenic driving routes across the nearby private estates. That means that beside the specially built obstacle course, swamp and rock crawl area, drivers will be able to experience some wonderful scenic drives across land that you could not otherwise visit. LRE’s new lodge in Scotland is based in an area of Special Scientific Interest, and rich in wildlife. The lodge has conference facilities for up to 50 people. Despite being wonderfully remote, the lodge is only 15 minutes from Dunkeld village and the main A9 north-south route, making it just over an hour from Edinburgh airport. The new director and lead instructor is Will Cox, joining Beverley Lodge and Graham Clark. Well worth a visit.
Monthly Archives: August 2013
Hils at Large – Tour de Force
Our columnist has been away enjoying the delights of Corsica – following the Tour de France, and marvelling at the variety of 4x4s…
I’ve been rather fixated with two–wheel drives lately. Before you gasp in horror and mutter: ‘What on earth are you thinking, Hils?’ I mean those of the purely manpower variety.
Professional cycling has gripped me in the last year or so: the amazing Mark Cavendish winning the road race World
Champion’s jersey in 2011; Bradley Wiggins triumphing in the 2012 Tour de France, and then the subsequent Olympic UK masterclass on the track and Sir Brad once again on the road in the time trial. I was gutted that ‘Cav’ missed out on the Olympic road race and failed to secure the green jersey in last year’s TdF.
Get a FREE 4×4 T-shirt
Why don’t you send in details and a few pictures of your 4×4? We are always looking for readers’ 4×4 to feature in the magazine. We will send a FREE 4×4 T-shirt and beanie hat to each published story. What’s in Your 4×4 Life? We want to hear about your vehicle, old or new, modified or standard. Send some pictures and words to the editor on 4×[email protected].
October 2013 Issue Editor’s Blog
October 2013 Issue of 4×4 Magazine
It’s all the Range Rover’s fault. How ironic that the issue when we decide to look at budget 4x4s, with a target price of £2500, that Bentley should announce the company is to build the ‘most luxurious and most powerful SUV ever’. Now for many, £2500 is a reasonable amount for a 4×4, especially for those lucky enough to have it as a second ‘hobby’ vehicle that they can enjoy at the weekends but not have to use on a daily basis. We think we have made some good suggestions of where to spend your money (see page 26) but would like to hear from you if you have some better suggestions! Of course, as we were putting this ‘bargain budget’ issue to press, we then heard from Bentley that the company is going to invest £800m on the build of a brand new SUV.
Now, I appreciate that this is an ‘investment’ and is not actually a large pile of newly printed Jane Austen tenners in boxes and handed over to that Canadian chap at the Bank of England, but which ever way you look at it, Eight Hundred Million Pounds is a lot of dosh. Why would a marque, with absolutely zero history and heritage of 4×4, suddenly decide to build an SUV? Surely it can only be that the bigwigs at Bentley were getting a little concerned at all the glamorous motor shows around the world when those financially favoured Chinese, Indian and Russian businessmen were walking passed the Bentley stand and rushing to the JLR display to put their markers down on getting a new Range Rover, and perhaps a couple of Evoques while I’ve got my cheque book out…
Soft top ICON from Nene
As the sun finally arrives at the 4×4 Magazine offices, we have had details of a new version of Nene Overland’s ICON Defender. The bespoke built Land Rover has proved quite a success, and we see no reason why this open-topped version won’t follow that trend. The roll bar can be painted matching colours to the body, and Nene has a number of mohair soft tops in a wide range of colours. You can order a full kit direct from www.4x4lifestyleshop.com or call the guys up and have a chat to see what they can do to meet your requirements. The Lifestyle website is excellent – easy to spend a lot of time looking at what’s on offer! Call Nene on 01733 380687.
Website: www.defendericon.com
GREAT WALL OF CULTURE
THE UK’S CITY of Culture this year is Derry-Londonderry and the official vehicle partner for all the support events is Great Wall. Two Steed SE pick-ups will be used by the organisers as logistical support, which will range from “transporting drum kits and amplifiers to marketing materials and key personnel, media and VIPs” to events around the city. The marketing and promotion behind the Great Wall is obviously an excellent way to get a new brand known, and the working pick-up market in Ireland is a significant one. The vehicle’s six-year anti-perforation warranty, three-year paint warranty, three-year roadside assistance and free service pick-up and drop-off, plus the recently announced six-year/125,000 mile warranty on all Steeds should appeal to prospective buyers. To find out more about what’s happening during the Derry-Londonderry 2013 UK City of Culture festivities, visit www.cityofculture2013.com
Dedicated winch rope
With increasingly powerful Challenge vehicle winches more and more common, it seems that some believe that winch rope has not kept pace. The guys at First Four Off Road have answered this problem with the new COMP-Line Challenge winch rope. This Dyneema rope starts life as a 17mm diameter rope, but then goes through a serious of heating and stretching that reduces the diameter to 13mm, but maintains the strength characteristics. Tests have shown that this new rope now has a consistent break load of no less than 19.66 tonnes, claimed to be more than enough for even the most powerful 4×4 Challenge winches. Ropes can be made up to any length, at a price of £15.78 per metre (including VAT) and the company also has a full range of plain ropes.
Website: www.firstfour.co.uk
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