CAMEL TROPHY VEHICLES - LAND ROVER DISCOVERY

EL VEHICULO MAS VECES USADO 

Land Rover Discovery en versiones 200 y 300 TDI excepto Mongolia 97	Land Rover Discovery 300 TDI usado en Mongolia 97

Vemos las 2 modalidades del vehículo Land Rover Discovery utilizado. La primera es la usada en sus 2 variantes 200 TDI y 300 TDI en todas las ediciones en las que participo. La segunda modalidad es la llamada RAFT UNIT utilizada en Mongolia 97 donde los equipos transportaban una canoa y 2 bicicletas. En Mongolia 97 cada equipo tenía además un vehículo de apoyo.

Some of you might need a reminder on what the Camel Trophy was all about. Imagine taking a small fleet of identical, basically stock, expedition-prepped vehicles to areas of the world where “road” is a loosely defined term. A course is plotted across 1,000-2000 miles of the most desolate and hospitable terrain and unreasonable daily mileage goals are demanded.

El motor Tdi tiene fama mundial por su durabilidad, economia y potencia. Con sus 195 lbs-ft de potencia es capaz de mover el Discovery totalmente cargado en cualquier terron. Sin carga es un vehiculo rápido y agil. The Land Rover Tdi engine is noted worldwide for durability, economy and a lot of torque. Even with 195 lbs-ft of torque on tap at 1800 rpms, it struggled to haul the bulk of the loaded Discovery over hostile terrain. Empty, it’s pretty sprightly and offers around 30 mpg.

Todos los Discovery iban provistor de un motor diesel de 4 cilindros cuya única modificación era un snorkel. Los vehiculos llevaban muelles reforzados, ejes de 4 piñones con diferenciales reforzados abiertos y otros refuerzos que variaban segun el modelo. El equipamiento especial incluia barras antivuelco interiores, baca reforzada, defensa delantera, protector de barra de direccion y cubre deposito, soporte de para winch Superwinch Ox o Warn, puntos de remolque delanteros y traseros, 2 extintores, 8 faros auxiliares, ordenador Terratrip (mas tarde se incorporo el GPS) y neumáticos Michelin XCL.

All were powered by a four-cylinder diesel engine whose only mod was a snorkel. The vehicles were prepped with mostly off-the-shelf Land Rover parts, consisting mainly of heavy-duty springs, HD four-pinion axles with open differentials and a few other HD goodies that varied according to model. Special equipment included a full internal roll cage, roof racks, front brush guard, engine and fuel tank skidplates, winch mounts for the Superwinch Ox or Warn winches, front and rear towing points, two fire extinguishers, eight auxiliary driving lights, Terra-Trip navigation computers (later GPS units were also incorporated) and Michelin XCL mud tires.

Modificaciones a los vehículos de serie para transformación en Camel Trophy

Estas modificaciones se aplican a todos los Discovery salvo los de la edición de Mongolia 97.

These modifications apply to all vehicles including those used on the Mongolia 1997 event, although the Mongolia '97 have some specific features not present on other Camel Trophy Discoverys, which are noted.

• Modified chassis
• Rear bumper has cut out notch, for 5t tow hitch
• Front bumper end-caps sawn off underneath
• Electric-window switches changed to operate roofrack lamps
• Radiator grille sawn to accept Husky or Warn winch
• (M97: Lamp to illuminate winch mounted behind radiator grille)
• Heavy-duty battery master switch
• Front bumper sawn to accept Husky or Warn winch
• V8 90 4-pinion diffs
• Cut-back rear wheelarches
• 24-spline rear halfshafts
• Modified rear spare-wheel-carrier
• 6-point Safety Devices roofrack bolted onto rollcage, fitted with aluminium sand ladders, felling axe, shovel, pickaxe, 2x Hella driving lamps, 2x Hella fog lamps, sandglow cover and tool lashing straps
• (M97: Tools carried in the vehicle, no sand ladders carried, no axe, no pickaxe, no tool straps. Roofrack specifically designed to carry Perception kayak)
• Front manual windows, rear electrics
• Radio replaced with Land Rover voltmeter and socket for hand searchlamp
• Land Rover waterproof seat covers
• Land Rover rubber mats
• Rear load/dog guard fitted to rollcage
• Rear Camel Trophy lampguards
• Matt black bonnet to prevent reflections from rack lamps
• (M97: Blue anti-reflection panel, with large flag decal)
• 2x bonnet retaining pins
• Camel Trophy bullbar with rectangular Hella driving lamps and winch-control socket
• 10,500 lb Superwinch Camel Trophy Husky electric winch or Warn XD9000
• Dural steering guard
• 2x 3.5-ton towing hitches on front bumper
• Raised air intake (snorkel) and axle breathers
• Bush wires to deflect foliage and branches away from the windscreen
• Rear-door-mounted roof rack access ladder
• Rear roofrack-mounted worklamp
• Rear chassis-mounted 5 ton towing hitch
• Aluminium fuel tank guard
• Additional spare wheels
• 15ft & 30ft tow ropes
• Airbag exhaust jack
• Terratrip
• Vehicle speed monitor
• Garmin GPS
• Vehicle compass
• Lucas flexible map lamp
• VHF radio
• (M97: Also satellite phone)
• Handheld searchlamp
• Heavy-duty handheld Superwinch or Warn winch control
• 2x fire extinguishers
• 2x 22-litre water cans (black NATO plastic 20l jerrycans)
• 2x 22-litre fuel cans (green NATO steel 20l jerrycans)
• 2x waterproof aluminium food boxes
• 1x waterproof aluminium spare parts box
• Toolkit
• 4x Peli 1600 expedition cases
• Heavy-duty steel towing bar
• Michelin XCL or XZL tyres on Land Rover Defender steel rims
• (M97: BFGoodrich Mud-Terrains on Land Rover XS alloys)
• Interior grab-handles removed and blanked off
• Modified sunvisors

This is an article written by David Hatherill from Camel Trophy Owners Club published with his authorization

Mongolia ‘97 300 Tdi Series Defenders

By David Hatherill

Mechanically the Mongolia ‘97 Defenders are more or less identical to their predecessors, but cosmetically they were a new departure. The event itself had turned into more of a lifestyle event and the vehicle evolved to reflect this.

The drivetrain is similar to the Kalimantan ‘96 Defenders which feature a rear anti roll bar and modified rear tank guard, which for Camel Trophy is 10mm thick, as opposed to the Safety Devices standard of 8mm. They appear to be fitted with the later 24 spline 2 pinion final drive in the front axle with the heavier duty 24 spline half shafts. (Earlier vehicles had 4 pinion final drives.) Unlike the Mongolia Discoveries, the Defender engine is not fitted with EGR. The vehicle is also fitted with a NAS spec. digital odometer with a magnetic pick up on the gearbox where the speedo cable would normally be present. The fuel gauge and temp gauge are similarly NAS spec. The reason for this is that until 1997 Camel vehicles were fitted with a Terra trip unit, whereas the Mongolia vehicles were fitted with a Pacer Unit which was specially made for Camel Trophy ‘97. This unit is connected to the digital speedometer and does not require a separate pick up.

Outwardly the vehicles appeared very different being fitted with deep dish (XS) alloy wheels and B F Goodrich 235/85 R 16 Mud Terrain tyres. The vehicles were equipped with the proven Superwinch Husky unit and other normal Camel Trophy extras.

Sponsorship decals were much more prevalent being positioned just about everywhere and a green and white mountain range stripe stretched along the bottom of the doors and wings with the Mongolia ‘97 script superimposed. Although the “One Life, Live It” slogan had been adopted for the event, this was not to appear on the vehicles until the Tierra del Fuego event the following year. Sponsorship decals were positioned as follows. Shell sticker at front of front wing side panel, Lee Cougan sticker over the top of the front wheel arch, and Perception Kayak sticker above Tdi sticker. The front door featured a slightly smaller sized Camel Trophy logo in Green, but positioned slightly higher up the door. No convoy number was present on the doors. The rear side door featured a small Singapore Airlines sticker on the flat panel under the window, and the rear quarter panel featured a Sony Betacam sticker half way along on the curved section. Landrover Ovals were placed at the bottom of the panel, and the Camel Adventure Wear decals were placed on the front sliding windows. Large Mongolian wavy flags were positioned on the rear sliding windows overlapping with the bodywork.

Following the event the majority of vehicles were used for the Tierra del Fuego international selection trials in Sweden , whilst others were used for the Tierra del Fuego pre-scout. A number of changes were made to the vehicles, which were to affect their appearance greatly. The alloy wheels were removed and replaced with 6.5L x 16 Heavy Duty steel rims fitted with 7.50 R 16 Michelin XZL tyres. This was as a direct result of a very considerable number of failures of the alloy wheels on the event. Following a change in sponsorship the Husky winches were replaced with the Warn 8274-50, which had previously been used on all the 1980’s events. For selection trials the vehicles had the original decals removed and new ones applied reflecting the change in sponsorship, although the positioning is subtly different from that seen on the ‘98 event. New positions are as follows: Front wing plain with exception of Warn W on top front of side panel. Camel Adventure Wear stickers on rear sliding window, and a Shell logo fitted adjacent to the fuel filler. On the flat area above the curve of the quarter panel were fitted three decals. To the rear was fitted a Lee Cougan sticker, A Sony sticker was fitted in the centre, and towards the front a Scott sticker, but without the USA suffix. It is in this condition that the majority of the vehicles were discharged from Camel service. Interestingly, although the Mongolia mountain freeze was removed from the bottom of the doors, the Mongolia Convoy plate remained on the bonnet. This is more amazing since generic metal CT 98 plates were made. A number of the vehicles remained in Camel service, and some were used as support vehicles on the ‘98 event too. Retirement was not gentle and easy for them: The majority being used at Eastnor Castle for events such as Global Challenge.

Following the ‘98 pre-scout one of the vehicles was sprayed silver along with some other trial liveries on a Freelander and Disco, although this vehicle was subsequently resprayed Sandglow.  

1997 was to be the last year with full heavy duty spec Defenders. The subsequent Tierra del Fuego event Defenders were far more standard with standard suspension and wheels. The ‘98 vehicles were also produced in greater numbers since each team had a 110 support vehicle.  

All Mongolian spec Defenders have a Pxxx KAC registration and had the colour listed on the V5 as brown, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear.

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