Bob Cooke – contributor

I did say, didn’t I, that I wasn’t going to let Ivor loose in the Hotchkiss again, on account of his somewhat over-enthusiastic manner with the gearstick and the accelerator? Still, I’m a soft touch, so when he turned up at Boxgrove Pit again looking apologetic and promising not to do anything daft I relented, especially as he’d brought his nine-year old son Hayden along.

Nigel Fryatt – contributor

Bring it on, we’re ready! That was the (slightly exaggerated) thought that crossed my mind driving away from Kwik Fit in Caterham with our new Continental ContiCrossContact winter tyres fitted. As you can read in the Winter Driving feature on p74, we have decided to test out ‘winter tyres’ on our RAV4 and so went along to our nearest Kwik Fit to get the job done.

The reason for deciding to fit winter tyres to your 4×4 is covered in detail in the feature, but you only have to compare the tread patterns on the tyres to see that there is a significant difference; the grooves are significantly wider and the sipes (the tread on the edges of the tyres) are more numerous. It all bodes well for a winter of getting the maximum benefit from owning a 4×4.

Shion Scudamore – contributor

The autumn house restoration work, a fine trip down to Portugal to do a week’s Enduro riding, and unprecedented surf conditions here on Anglesey have done little to move the TM project for the fast approaching MoT.

The light welding on my Discovery also proved to be a bit more than anticipated as once the needle gun was wielded increasingly larger holes appeared. Getting on with the long overdue rot treatment revealed most brake pipes were beyond saving, not great on an ABS Discovery, and the rear callipers were due an overhaul. The bottom line was I got a few lower cab panels welded on the Bedford, but have hardly started the cab floor where most of the tin worm damage resides. The pressure water system is slowly coming together; I have fitted an accumulator to give a nice even flow as the main use will be on an external shower head for post-surf trip washdowns. The Propex heater should keep the shivers at bay while changing as well. The lack of recent use has taken its toll on the alternator – the warning light is glowing so that will need a fix before too long. I have a 140amp replacement in the wings but it depends if I can physically fit it in the chassis.

Hils Everitt – editor

Our Jimny continues to clock up the miles and has been enjoying lots of smiles and generally positive comments from all who come across our cute little silver machine. It has only ventured off-road once or twice and we hope to get out and about a bit more before Suzuki demands it back, but, in the meantime, on the road it has provided good consumption figures for lots of motorway miles and been a life saver when my Grand Cherokee has been off the road.

I was sitting in the hairdressers recently been tousled by Dan who, on my recommendation, bought a VW Tiguan for transporting his new young family, and he is always interested in what 4×4 I have sitting on my driveway.

Hils Everitt – editor

Our Jimny has clocked up plenty  of road miles on various trips to  magazine shoots. One was up  to Derbyshire to meet a 4×4 on  the opposite end of the scale – Bowler’s  new Nemesis EXR, see last month’s issue –  then a trip to north Wales, to hook up with  contributors Wayne in his Defender Td5 90  and Toby in his 1945 Jeep, was a real test of  its on-road mettle.

Plenty has been said in the past about Suzuki’s rather under-damped suspension and lack of steering feedback, but it is a budget  4×4 and has excellent off-road credentials so  it will never receive too much criticism in our  books Cruising on the motorway you feel okay until the bad weather sets in and you have to share the tarmac with huge lorries. On the way back from one job in the dark, the heavens opened, the wind whipped up to a frenzy on the M40 and it was hellish every time  me and the little grey SZ4 overtook a container  lorry. This is where you really have to cling on as the Jimny is swept aside by the force of the lorries and the visibility is pretty awful which doesn’t really induce a feeling of total safety.

Bob Cooke – contributor

It was meant to be me giving Derek a masterclass on how to drive a moderately capable four-wheel drive over fairly serious  terrain. It began with Derek putting my nose out of joint.

“It’ll never get up there,” I said, pointing to the steep climb up the bank at the far end of the Boxgrove Pit off-road site. “I mean it’ll make the climb, but with its long wheelbase it’ll scrape its underside as it goes over the top which might damage the exhaust or the catalyst, which we certainly don’t want to do.”

Derek has a keen sense of spatial awareness. He looked at the slope, then turned his gaze on the Rodeo pick-up and said: “It’ll get over easily.” He grinned and climbed into the Denver’s leather-and-chrome-trimmed cab, booted the Rodeo up the slope  and cleared the top with centimetres to spare.

Garry Stuart – freelance photographer

The last month has been jam-packed with events that needed to be covered. In addition to the packed weekend schedules, the Terrano, Stella and I, together with two nephews and a bridesmaid, had to make a midweek trip to the Irish Republic where I had the honour of photographing my brother Michael’s marriage to Paula. Leaving from my hometown port of Holyhead we sailed with Stena Line to the port of Dublin. The last time I had made this crossing was way back in 1978 with Stella riding pillion on my Honda 400/4 motorbike. On both of these trips we were headed for roughly the same destination, Roscommon, on the banks of the meandering Shannon River.

The wedding was at Kilronan Castle, quite a grand venue for a Stuart wedding, and one which offered plenty of opportunity for some great wedding pics – I don’t always take pictures of massive challenge 4x4s in rip-roaring action. A brief recce of the area on the day before the wedding in the Terrano saw me exploring a few locations around the banks of the lake next to Kilronan Castle.

Ann Lockley – contributor

After three months dead in the driveway trying to find a replacement transmission, Kelsey is finally running again! Thank you Dixon Strachan of Rock Island Rovers for the transmission and Jason Coakley of Simoes Automotive for organizing the install. And a big apology to Norbert Simoes, owner and poor soul who did most of the work for what I gather was a nightmare of a swap. I hear ‘Kels’ is banned from rolling into the shop ever again.

Barely a week after she rolled out of the garage, Jason and I took her to Squamish, BC, 40 miles north of Vancouver, to compete in the Northwest Challenge. NWC is an annual event, shared between the Pacifi c Coast Rover Club and the Rover-Landers of BC that swaps locations each year between Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. The challenge is a series of 10 timed off-road driving, navigation and potential survival tasks that pit driver and co-driver teams against each other.

Louise Limb – contributor

At first it was just a vague feeling that all wasn’t completely well. I mean, I’ve grown accustomed to the regular foibles; to never leaving my keys in the car just in case it decides to lock itself when I’m not looking, or to ensuring, conversely, that nothing prevents the doors from locking, as the slightest piece of paper or fold of waterproof coat slipping over the threshold of the rear door will result in a big fat nothing in response to me earnestly zapping it with my key. I discovered that one after weeks of bafflement at the non compliance of the hardware (the Grand) in refusing to obey the control of the little button on the key fob, and felt a warm glow of achievement when I cleared the base of the door frame of carrier bags and other detritus and it all clicked and clunked, the hazards flashing a friendly, reassuring orange. I could always put the key in the locks and turn them, but why should I? If I wanted that I’d have an old Land Rover and all the bits of old twine that would inevitably accompany its door closing rituals.

Hils Everitt – editor

It’s been a while since my Grand has graced the pages of the magazine. That’s because it’s been subject to a fair amount of repair, spending some quality time in the garage. The last instalment, regular readers may remember, was when I noticed that it was feeling particularly sluggish – ie felt as if it was not firing on all cylinders.

My mate, who owns a garage and does all my servicing etc, thought it could be the turbo – a look under the bonnet didn’t reveal anything obviously untoward and his computer wasn’t picking up any faults. Now a new turbo was something that I wanted to be sure about; after all, having recently shelled out a huge wad of cash for a recon Mercedes auto ‘box last year I wasn’t going to part with any more money lightly. I left it for a while and only used the Grand for short journeys as I was in full denial and just didn’t want to come to terms with the idea of a new turbo!

But on one particular journey things just weren’t right and I was now getting a sensation of fumes inside the Jeep and looking under the bonnet could finally see what the problem was.