The School Run – UK to The Gambia

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Britcar

Our team of 5 men and one women are fundraising for an event named ‘The School Run’ which will see 3 Series Land Rover Ambulances bought with our own, personal funds be driven from the UK to The Gambia in Africa.
Each vehicle will be filled with school equipment and medical supplies on this 4000 mile journey!

We have donated 100.00 pounds sterling towards this great cause !

Find More Information by Clicking Here

The Shifting Sands Expedition

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Britcar

In the wake of the Arab Spring, two intrepid women set out to experience and document everyday life in North Africa and the Near East, some of the most rapidly evolving

regions in the world.

Their aim? To break down inter-cultural prejudice by bringing into focus the personal lives and stories of individuals in these areas, adding a new layer of information to the picture generally portrayed in the mainstream media.

In March, Anne-Laure Carruth and Lucy Engleheart will leave their jobs and secure lives behind them to drive their vintage Land Rover into the unknown.

Logistically, their challenge is impressive. Circumnavigating the Mediterranean with five months on the road they will have to contend with the rapidly evolving cultural and political situations of a vast and diverse region, learning a language with a new script and complex regional variations. They must become comfortable with unfamiliar environments, both physical and bureaucratic, in a society that is traditionally seen as male dominated. Pitting their wits against the sand and extreme heat of the desert, they will drive long distances over hugely varied terrain in a vintage Series IIA Land Rover that they will repair and maintain themselves, relying on only their own experience and ingenuity to

get out of trouble. Their trip will be unpredictable and how they adapt to changing circumstances is key.

Linked by a love of maps, Anne-Laure and Lucy will use their journey to create their own pictorial and topological maps through the stories they encounter, recording the human face of the region. Their maps will interweave the stories of the people they meet with their own, offering an original and per sonal narrative of experiences to sit alongside existing media perspectives.

Throughout their expedition they will gather stories of everyday life in North Africa and the Near East which will form the backbone of their maps. They will regularly upload glimpses of daily life on the road in the form of writing, sketching and photographs. On their return they will refine their data into a series of engaging, beautiful, even experimental maps that characterise their journey, culminating in a UK exhibition of their work and speaking tour.

Their undertaking is ambitious but they are determined individuals and seasoned travellers, used to pushing themselves to the limits and operating in challenging environments. Lucy is an experienced expedition leader, overland truck driver and bush mechanic who was one of the first team to raft the unnavigated Rio Grande in Bolivia with the Scientific Exploration Society. Multilingual Anne-Laure trained in architecture and is also a published artist. She co-founded the Exhibition Collective, aimed

at building a network of artists and organising creative workshops, and was ship’s artist on a trans-Atlantic voyage on the tall ship Tenacious.

Anne-Laure and Lucy have worked hard to build a support network of links and collaborations allowing them to benefit from the experience of others. They maintain that the strength of their expedition

lies in their ability to combine the knowledge that they have with their capacity to gain access to the knowledge that they don’t have.

They hope their adventures will inspire people to discover more about North Africa and the Near East and to encourage others to pursue their own projects, expeditions and dreams. Their progress will be documented via Facebook, Twitter and at www.shifting-sands.com

CHARITY LAND ROVER RUN 2014 POEM

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Britcar

CHARITY LAND ROVER RUN 2014

Old Landies are thinking of France now –

Our Charity run in May.

The planning has started already,

We mean to enjoy the day.

This is our fifth anniversary,

We’ve made 20 Grand so far.

Every year the amount is growing

Let’s keep on raising the bar!

We give all we make to charity,

A different one each run.

The focus is normally children –

We think they deserve some fun.

We all like our holidays, don’t we?

We think of them as our right.

But if you’ve got cystic fibrosis

Life is an unceasing fight.

You have probably heard of “CF”

But don’t know what is implied.

Hospitals, medicines, and diets,

Life up and down like the tide.

It’s a struggle to get up some days,

Breathing can be quite a feat,

And you get lots of indigestion –

There’s so much that you can’t eat.

Cystic Fibrosis Holiday Fund

Is our Charity this year.

It gives patients and carers a break;

A memory to hold dear.

There are sponsorship forms for drivers,

An online site to donate,

We’ll be asking the public for help

Let’s hope the response is GREAT!

Mike Cooper.

2B or not 2B, The Series 2B Forward Control Restoration Part 1

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Britcar

Since buying the Forward Control 2B two years ago, we have been asked frequently what has happened to it, well, just over a year ago it was moved undercover into our Ipswich Depot where it sat untouched for another 8 months.

Finally in October we bit the bullet and started on a full rebuild program, and bit by bit the vehicle was dismantled down to a running chassis, the vehicle was up and running prior to dismantling so we knew that the major components worked after a fashion.The chassis proved to be extensively corroded to the point that after careful consideration it was deemed to be beyond repair, and so a new chassis is now on order with Richards Chassis.

Whilst we await the delivery of the new chassis our attention has turned to the engine and box, over the last week we have stripped the engine to its component form, the block and crank have been passed over to the capable hands of Pat Segar of Seager Engineering, in Ipswich, an old friend with many years’ experience in the reconditioning trade, we are awaiting his report on what is required. Whilst the engine was very clean inside there is evidence of wear on the crank although I am hoping we can get away with a hone and new rings for the pistons.

The Carburettor and Distributor have been sent away to be reconditioned, new replacements are impossible to find now which is a shame.Rather than tackle the gearbox ourselves we sent this away complete to Colin Whitehouse, the renowned Series Gearbox specialist to be completely stripped chemically cleaned and rebuilt So now we are awaiting the return of the engine so that we can rebuild it and have it ready to drop straight into the chassis when it arrives, our next task will be to strip and overhaul both axles prior to the return of the chassis too.I will keep the blog up to date as to how progress goes with this project, good news and bad, in the meantime if anyone reading this happens to have any 6 cylinder engine parts especially a water pump, and any Forward control 2B parts I would be glad to hear from you.

Duncan Mansfield

Forward Control Chassis – www.richardschassis.co.uk

P Seager Engineering – www.seager-engineering.com

R Whitehouse & Son (Gearbox Rebuilder’s) – 01384 221 304