Hello All

Hello everyone, a bit new to the land rover game, but I jumped in the deep end with a really special vehicle...

My brother and I are planning a global expedition, and decided that a Land Rover Defender was obviously the way to go. I wanted something a little special from the start, so I approached Mike Robson, at his Camel Trophy Museum to see if he had anything to offer.

he had two defender 110s. one was a support vehicle from the 1997 event, which I drove, and it was fine, fully equiped, and ready to go on an expedition that afternoon!
I must confess, I wasn't entirely convinced this was the one for me though. Because...

The other 110 was something else altogether. one of the seven wolves built for Sir Ranulph Fiennes transglobe Expedition, which was cancelled when BMW pulled the plug on Land Rover's support.

Despite the fact that the camel had all the equipment already, I decided that it would be better to tailor the wolf for our own needs. So we bought it. It was not being sold by Mike, but by a friend of his who had originally planned on using it for an off road experience center.

We've been working on the wolf for a few months now, and plan to leave on the expedition in Jan 2007.

Here is a link to our website http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com

As we have only just set up our website and are still in the planning stages, any comments or feedback would be hugely appreciated.

Nick

Welcome!

Looks like fun, website looks good, and nice and easy to navigate.

Are you really only taking one vehicle? I wouldn't go green-laning without at least one friend in tow, let alone a trip around the world!

You might want to check out the LR newsgroups as to why not to put the spare wheel on the bonnet! Something I never though about before, but it certainly put me off the idea (should I ever get another Defender!)

Matt

mmaddock said:

You might want to check out the LR newsgroups as to why not to put the spare wheel on the bonnet! Something I never though about before, but it certainly put me off the idea (should I ever get another Defender!)
Matt

Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply,
Did you mean this?
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f31/my-defender-dead-long-live-disco-28746.html?highlight=bonnet+wheel+crash

Indeed!

Something I never really thought about before, but it's not something I'd like coming through the windscreen towards my head, knowing just how heavy they are!

Also a reason I'd be wanting a backup vehicle. I guess it depends on exactly how much "middle of nowhere" or extreme off-roading you are planning on doing!

Matt

I agree, its not something I'd want coming through the windscreen at me either. Though I believe it to be sufficiently secure to permit the trade off against placing it on the roof, where something that is heavy will negatively affect the handling.

We selected the Wolf, for its reliability, and repairability. Also for the extreme robustness inherrent in the design, should help prevent an accident taking too heavy toll on our capability to drive to safety.

http://www.armedforcesrallyteam.co.uk
This website shows what I mean pretty well. wait for the video to load, and notice how they carry on driving afterwards.

I'm sure it's highly unlikely that you'd have such an accident, and I agree the roof isn't the best of options either. Certainly put me off mounting a wheel on the bonnet tho!!

Great video. I love these machines. If you've got a roll-cage then rolling the vehicle really does little mechanical damage. I've seen a Disco that rolled down a hill and still drove onto the back of a recovery truck under its own power! Needless to say it wasn't in a condtion to use on main roads!

Matt

My biggest concerns, with respect to accidents are (in no particular order)

head on collisions with Indian lorry drivers
major punctures where I have to throw the tyre away (solved by carrying 3 spares and a trailer with a potential 2 more)
People taking a dislike (or a liking depending on who you are) to us and our stuff/ shooting at us
rolling the truck and not being able to get it back on its wheels in the middle of nowhere

this is all pretty unlikely though (Indian drivers - we really aren't subtle).

Thanks for your reply
Nick

Nick Boy said:

Hello everyone, a bit new to the land rover game, but I jumped in the deep end with a really special vehicle...

My brother and I are planning a global expedition, and decided that a Land Rover Defender was obviously the way to go. I wanted something a little special from the start, so I approached Mike Robson, at his Camel Trophy Museum to see if he had anything to offer.

he had two defender 110s. one was a support vehicle from the 1997 event, which I drove, and it was fine, fully equiped, and ready to go on an expedition that afternoon!
I must confess, I wasn't entirely convinced this was the one for me though. Because...

The other 110 was something else altogether. one of the seven wolves built for Sir Ranulph Fiennes transglobe Expedition, which was cancelled when BMW pulled the plug on Land Rover's support.
View attachment 452
Despite the fact that the camel had all the equipment already, I decided that it would be better to tailor the wolf for our own needs. So we bought it. It was not being sold by Mike, but by a friend of his who had originally planned on using it for an off road experience center.

We've been working on the wolf for a few months now, and plan to leave on the expedition in Jan 2007.

Here is a link to our website http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com

As we have only just set up our website and are still in the planning stages, any comments or feedback would be hugely appreciated.

Nick

Click to expand...

Good luck, if I were to go on a global expedition with my brother, then the most difficult part of the journey would be refraining from killing him on the way!
he he.

Welcome to the forum Nick Boy, just checked out your web site and it looks pretty good! Easy to view around and some good pics. Good luck with your trip, I'll keep checking back at your web site to see how its coming along.

I'll have to try hard to refrain from killing him myself too! Thank you for the positive feedback guys.

Fishface, where abouts in Bristol you from? you might notice on the "wolf in town" page, was taken in Bristol city centre, bit ambiguious I know, being in front of a brick wall, couldn't include the other one in front of a massage shop
!

I'll try to keep any major updates posted on here as they happen.

Hiya Nick, live up in Stockwood. Picture taken at the back of Welsh Back I believe, (many a night spent staggering back from town!)

UPDATE:
Work has been taking place at a rate of knots and is picking up pace. The first stage of modifications have taken place at TBR, including fitting our 24V husky winch from superwinch, adding a second battery bank to give us 4 Optima yellow top batteries, for failsafe and reliable battery power.
A storage system in the middle and rear of the wolf, and a set of seats for the rear, which I really am impressed with, as the cloth matches the seats in the front, and the frame matches the roll cage in the back!
We have had bomb proof treatment applied to our windows, along with a UV blocking tint, this is to improve the security of the vehicle, and should we accidently drive into a tree limb, should keep the integrity of the glass, and hence keep the elements out.
We have also recieved sponsorship from Alan UK, who have very kindly provided us with a CB radio and some hand held 2 way radios, which are very useful.

We have also been sponsored by Cooper tyres, who have generously given us 9 Discoverer STT radial tyres, which are more than capable of dealing with whatever comes our way!
All this and so much more has happened. In addition to all this, we plan to have a documentary film series produced about the expedition, and are in negotiations with several stations about a contract. The film crew we are taking along are close friends with some of the team members, so it should be easy enough to get along.

We filmed a pilot episode to help our pitch, out on Salisbury plain, which includes testing our trailer, which has a rooftent and full kitchen! Here is a sample from this pilot episode, and more should follow as I get the chance to compress it.

just watched yer pilot video and it seems someone has laready nicked yer trailer

Yes! fortunately, they decided it was too big and returned it before we got back to camp! I love the shim on the video, that was such a slippery section of track, its not that the mud was particularly deep, but it had rained heavily the week before, and the mud was very sticky like clay, and just clogged up in our tyres, though I am overall very impressed with the performance the tyres gave us. So much better than the G90s.

Hi Nick boy It great to see a sense of adventure still remains in some of our young folk I think you and your team are doing a great job Very professional all round . I am looking forward to reading more about your trip.

Time to introduce my brother, I think, he has just posted his introduction to the trip in expeditions forum, http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f15/lone-wolf-transglobal-expedition-2007-a-31160.html#post212695

Say hello, and between us, we will keep you updated on everything, as it progresses.

Nick

The Lone Wolf Transglobal Expedition departed on Tuesday 2nd January 2007, in the first three days of driving, they travelled through France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and are currently in Austria. Go to the Journal page to see the launch

Go to our route page to see the route the team will take

The launch of the expedition marks the culmination of 12 months planning and preparation.




Go to our website to sponsor our charities or follow our progress
Lone Wolf Transglobal Expedition



Nick Moylan

Lone Wolf Transglobal Expedition 2007

Good Luck! I hope it all goes well