Camel Trophy documentary

[Lorin]

Seriously good viewing. All joking aside, the level of abuse those Landrovers take is very impressive. It is pretty much my dream to complete something like that in the 80. One day.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... JuLs6RkHSo

 

[SpinDrift]

Yes, there are a number of old Camel Throphy videos on YouTube. It is unfortunate that the olny industry that seems to have had the money to support such an event was the tobacco industry and that in this age of PC such sponsorship is no longer acceptable.

 

[Ben]

great documentary.

imagine how much better it could be, and how many more miles could be covered, if rather than using [strikegsg9g5q]weak, poorly built, un-reliable[/strikegsg9g5q] crap lamerovers, they used toyota's!

would be amazing if toyota did something similar using 70 series trucks!

 

[jeepmadmike]

I would have loved to have got one of my entries accepted back in the day!

The landies where cleverly tweaked for the events, always looked fooked after! then silly people paid top money for them

 

[Philip A]

Got Cruisers, and got Landies. Use them both in the bush (as in, cut across the bush and make your own trails, hundreds of kilometers from nowhere).

LC: start, drive, come back, stop. Wash the car. End of story.

LR: start, drive, tinker a bit, drive some more, tinker some more, come back. Unpack the tool box. Get spares. Fix stuff.

But... With the LRs I get to places where I won't get in the LCs with same wheel base. Or, rather, I get through places I'd have to go around in the LCs.

Each has its pros and cons, that's probably why I keep getting both.

 

[Chas]

Look out, incoming,

 

[Ben]

Got Cruisers, and got Landies. Use them both in the bush (as in, cut across the bush and make your own trails, hundreds of kilometers from nowhere).

LC: start, drive, come back, stop. Wash the car. End of story.

LR: start, drive, tinker a bit, drive some more, tinker some more, come back. Unpack the tool box. Get spares. Fix stuff.

But... With the LRs I get to places where I won't get in the LCs with same wheel base. Or, rather, I get through places I'd have to go around in the LCs.

Each has its pros and cons, that's probably why I keep getting both.

what landies and what cruisers are you comparing?

 

[Philip A]

what landies and what cruisers are you comparing?

LC series 70/80 (70 series P-ups, 77, 75, HDJ/HZJ80, even got a short LJ71 auto...), LR SIII/90/110/130/RRC. Always had at least 2 or 3 of the above in my backyard for the past 20 years, and I'm using them for work, not for recreation. These days, average is 10 to 20,000 km/vehicle/year on trails/in the bush.

Not touting or disparaging anyone, just telling how it actually goes.

 

[Rob]

Do any of your LCs have rear and front lockers?

 

[Jimbo4x4]

Interesting, I have driven my LJ78 where similarly prepped 110s couldn't follow But I will agree that LR Defenders, Series, RRC's and disco's are fantastic off road. Personally I think it's a close run thing between a LR and a LC regarding off road capability..

 

[Chris]

I actually have the proper DVD of that. It's a damn good watch. Especially the tree trunk going through the windscreen!

Chris

 

[Brett]

Do any of your LCs have rear and front lockers?

Irrelevant.

Land Rovers don't have axle lockers from the factory so why ask that? Anything with axle lockers is going to outperform a Land Rover without

The thing is, on paper, lot's of different trucks, Land Cruisers included, "should" outperform Land Rovers offroad, but in reality? I don't think so

I concur that Land Cruisers are better build quality, more reliable, superior etc, etc, but offroad performance , you need to be a bit more open minded imho

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

The thing is, on paper, lot's of different trucks, Land Cruisers included, "should" outperform Land Rovers offroad, but in reality? I don't think so :hand

Out of all the LR's I used to go laning with in my old 80 I'm struggling to think of one that was as good off road. In my version of reality the 80 routinely made my mates tricked up TD5 90 with lockers front and back look silly. Guess it just depends what / where you're using them, LR's must be good at something besides breaking down

 

[Chris]

I off road with a lot of LR owners and I have to say that overall the major difference is their lack of mechanical sympathy. Where an LR gets where I can't (rare) it is usually due to an absolute lack of regard for the vehicle and a total balls out attitude. I regularly hear things like 'thrash it til you break it, that's what they are for' If I drove my 80 like I didn't care it would be almost unstoppable. LRs are relatively easy and cheap to repair. Maybe if LCs were too then we'd thrash them to death.

I think that innately the disco is an extremely good machine off road. But so many turn up without even so much as a tow rope, never mind a winch. And why? Well what what would you do if you'd just bought a Disco for £600??? Take a Disco, do a proper job on it with lockers, winches, suspension etc and you are equal to an LC. But when you do the maths, there's little in it. Do up a LR or buy an LC off the shelf.

I don't like LRs simply because I find them them cramped and uncomfortable. Nothing more. If they were comfortable and spacious, I'd be in trouble and there be little room left on my drive.

Chris

 

[Chris]

Sorry, but this is worth seeing I guess. The camera doesn't really show just how steep this is. But unfortunately the following Disco does.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150938734934079

Chris

 

[Chas]

Nice video Chris, I think a lot depends on driver skill . . . . softly softly catchee monkey

 

[Rob]

Do any of your LCs have rear and front lockers?

Irrelevant.

Land Rovers don't have axle lockers from the factory so why ask that? Anything with axle lockers is going to outperform a Land Rover without

Not irrelevant, as if we are comparing a non UK LC which generally do not have lockers than I agree with Philip. However most UK LCs have rear lockers and some even have front lockers, and if Philip is comparing them with LRs then I can't see how an LR with open diffs but better articulation is consistently better offroad than a fully locked LC with less articulation.

Chris's video demonstrates the advantages of factory fitted lockers on an LC really well.

 

[Chris]

Incidentally, I did do the banks on there without the front locker in as well. But I did need a bit of a run at them. It was only with them al locked that I was able to get up on tick over (more or less)

Chris

 

[Julian T]

Nice clip Chris

 

[Philip A]

Do any of your LCs have rear and front lockers?

Irrelevant.

Land Rovers don't have axle lockers from the factory so why ask that? Anything with axle lockers is going to outperform a Land Rover without

Not irrelevant, as if we are comparing a non UK LC which generally do not have lockers than I agree with Philip. However most UK LCs have rear lockers and some even have front lockers, and if Philip is comparing them with LRs then I can't see how an LR with open diffs but better articulation is consistently better offroad than a fully locked LC with less articulation.

Chris's video demonstrates the advantages of factory fitted lockers on an LC really well.

I'm comparing vehicles purchased in East Africa, and running in East Africa. LC pickups don't come with lockers, and most vehicles on the market here are Japanese import without lockers. There are no shops for after-market parts, import duty is around 65% and shipping prices are ridiculous, even to buy simple spare parts is a long story.

Vehicles are run stock, with some home-made steel work (bumpers, etc.). Proper suspensions set you back from $1,500 to $2,500 for springs and shocks, and that's about all we can get here.

We don't run vehicles "till something gives up", because we need to go back home and that's often two or three days away. We don't like to break things, because we can't get the replacement parts. We have to do most of the fixing work ourselves, because there are precious few mechanics around.

Unless you have the limitless spending power of NGO's and other do-gooders, here you can't afford official dealerships because they are priced somewhere between Bentley and Aston in the UK - and they are quite close to useless anyway.

Most people I meet in my line of business spend 100 to 200 days per year in the bush, and they do know a couple of things about how to get in there - and how to come out of there. And, keeping in mind that a '92 80 will set you back $20,000 before you start working on it, these people do have respect for their cars.

So, the point made in the posts quoted above is right: goodies available everywhere in the world, except in the places where they'd be really needed are not included in that comparison...