Afritrex - The Team
The Landrover
The question: How do you get around an entire continent whose infrastructure is as underdeveloped and challenging as Africa’s, in relative comfort and safety in one calendar year?
The answer: The Explorer’s choice, the Land Rover Defender 110. For years the Land Rover has been a proven workhorse throughout the world since it was introduced to the UK’s farmers as the Series 1 back in 1948 (even the name, Series 1 seemed a statement of intended longevity).
Our version is more refined, more economical and hopefully more reliable than this early example but has the same primary characteristic; a stoic determination to get you from A to B no matter what stands in the way; desert, river or just 20,000 miles of corrugated African road.
C79 JOA or The Colonel he’s more affectionately known was bought from a typical second-hand car dealer (who for the sake of their reputation will remain anonymous) back in July 2005. “Will he get us back to Winchester (50 miles)?” seemed a ridiculous question to ask and one that merited the condescension of: “He’d cross the bloody Sahara without a splutter”.
Five miles down the road, as smoke from the exhaust blotted out the world behind she gave one final show for the crowd and slipped out of our realm. The stress of lugging her angular two tonne bulk finally took its toll on the old girl as she gracefully expired, her final resting place, the side of the dual carriageway.
With my mind preoccupied the hole in my wallet and a certain 30,000 miles journey to come, the orange undertaker strapped her down and carted her off.
Despite the lesions to the vessels in my forehead, it has since proved a lucky break, forcing us in to the extensive work that has led to her breaking out of the cocoon and preparing her for the journey ahead, a journey which would define the best of Land Rovers.
Model: 110 Defender Station Wagon
Year: 1986
Engine: 300Tdi Diesel
Current Mileage: 154,000 miles
Fuel capacity: 80Ltrs + 40Ltrs spare
Fuel consumption: 13l/100km (23miles/g) on the road
Chassis
Traditionally a weak spot on most Landies this needs to be the area that’s hard as nails, not such an issue on the tarmac, but when we hit the craters and axle twisting boulders of rural Africa we need to have confidence in the part which keeps the entire boat afloat. We were lucky enough to find an example which needed very little work but still one of the first jobs was to strip it down, treat the areas of concern and coat it in litres of the same paint they use for the chassis’s of Dennis fire engines; if its good enough for them….it’ll be good enough for us!
Engine
When we bought our Landie we knew the power-plant was in need of replacement, so out went 2.5 litres of pipe chugging rust as old as the vehicle itself, and in with The New. Well, not quite. Take The New, rip out the computers, black boxes and anything which you can’t fix yourself with a spoon and a big stick and you’re left with a serviceable, reliable workhorse. The 300TDi fits all of these characteristics, offering more power, better reliability and improved economy than the standard lump. So in it went – sounds simple, doesn’t it?...
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