British Cross Country Championship – Round 5 at Bovington

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Jim Cresswell

We have just returned from round 5 at Bovington and they played out like this….

Arriving at Bovington camp on the Friday afternoon, the forecasted weather was upon us and we set up service in wind and rain Once the car was passed scrutineering we retired and focused on the day ahead.

Once the car was passed scrutineering we retired and focused upon the coming race as the season is drawing to a close and we needed to finish 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd to maintain our lead in the overall standings. Jim arrived and joined us for the weekend and it was great to have someone from Britcar to come and cheer us on – to be honest, by the end of the weekend he was fully integrated into the team and is welcome back any time…

Saturday started bright and sunny and we set good times across a 6 mile lap that was predominately rolling sand and grit with large amounts of standing water interspersed with gooey sand and very rough forest. We finished day 1 in 1^stplace with a small margin of time.

After heavy rain during the night it was no surprise that the circuit was very very wet on the Sunday, what was a surprise was that on the first corner of the day there was a large noise and the cars handling went very poor. I took a decision to try to complete the rest of the 6 miles as stopping in stage would lose enough time to put our position in jeopardy. Two or three times the car tried to veer suddenly to the right and threatened to take us into the undergrowth, the steering was quite bad and at some points the steering wheel was 180 degrees out just to maintain a straight line.

Once back it became clear that we had sheared off the top of the right hand front damper and this had been flopping about under the wheel arch for the entire lap over all the bumps. Although it cost us about 2 minutes in time, having seen the damage I was quite pleased to have got back to service!

Mongo the mechanic changed out both front struts and replaced them with standard Freelander items, used the best torque wrench really, as these are lower it gave us a dragster style nose down look!

We continued through the day although with the nose down we hit every bump on the track and that slowed us down quite considerably. The worst run was when we had a sudden rainstorm halfway through the lap which reduced already poor conditions to those of extremely hazardous to be racing in with no clear line over obstacles and a flooded track. I have uploaded this to the teams YouTube channel and I have posted a link in the teams FaceBook page.

We pressed on and at the end of the event found that, even though we had lost several minutes due to the suspension issue, we had finished first. Well actually we finished joint 1^st as we had amazingly set exactly the same time as another competitor – however the win went to us as we had set the fastest 1^st lap.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zehvVdS8nWQ[/embedyt]

Fundraising cheque handed over to Parkinson’s UK

Posted on October 10, 2016 by Britcar

Duncan and Sandy Mansfield, and the team at Britcar (Global) Ltd were delighted to present a cheque for £4,077 to Lisa Burns from Parkinson’s UK this week.

The funds were raised during their charity open day on the 3rd September 2016, and online at justgiving.com. Several hundred friends and customers attended the open day, playing games and taking advantage of some very good deals available on the day!

Sandy, who was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s, will be working closely with the local branch of Parkinson’s to decide where the money will be directed.

Britcar are proud to be supporting a charity that makes such a huge difference to the lives of local people.

Open day – Grand Raffle prizes

Posted on August 18, 2016 by Jim Cresswell

Britcar are having an open day on the 3rd September 2016 to promote the move to our new premises, and raise money for Parkinson’s UK. There will be a range of activities on the day, but the headline event is a Grand Raffle with some really rather good prizes.

Our final list of goodies is made up of:

A fantastic 9,000lb T-Max winch
20″ Land Rover child’s mountain bike
Hawkeye diagnostic tool (suitable for home or professional use)
Land Rover factory tour
Meal for two in a local restaurant
£30 Amazon voucher
Scorpion Martial Arts Academy voucher for 3 months’ free training in universal karate / kickboxing / fitness (choose when redeeming your voucher)
Magnum of Champagne

T-MAX OUTBACK SERIES 9,000LB WINCH

5.5HP/12v
Remote control included (cable 3.7m)
Gear Train – Planetary 3 Stage
Gear Ratio – 172.8:1
Clutch – Sliding Ring Gear
Brake – Automatic in-the-drum
Rope – Wire 28.5m x 9.2mm diameter
Fairlead – 4-Way Roller
Recommended Battery – 650CCA min for winching
Weight – 36.5Kgs
Dimensions – 557 x 205 x 160mm
Mounting Pattern – 254 x 114.3mm
Drum Size – 224 x 64mm diameter

Retail value: £308.96 +VAT!

20″ LAND ROVER “CORDONZA” BOY’S MOUNTAIN BIKE

Land Rover no longer produce kids’ bikes, so this could be your last chance to grab one! A lot of ‘brand’ bikes are based on a cheap frame and built with unbranded components, making them a bit of a gamble. This isn’t the case with the Land Rover bikes; they’ve got solid frames and proper, branded components (brakes and gears).

The Cordonza features:

Lightweight 7005 Aluminium frame
Suntour M2025 front suspension forks
Shimano Tourney 6-speed gears
SRAM MRX gripshift
Tektro alloy V-brakes & levers
Alloy rims with Innova 20″ x 2.1″ tyres
Front mudguard

For the full specification of this great kids’ bike, see the full listing on our site.

Retail value: £230.69 +VAT!

HAWKEYE OBD-II FAULT CODE READER

This popular tool connects to the on-board diagnostic port on your vehicle (OBD-II ports only), and allows you view and reset stored fault codes. This Hawkeye prize comes with a J1962 cable (BA5071), zipped protective couch, quick reference guide, and one vehicle type unlock code. Once you’ve unlocked the Hawkeye to work with your vehicle (P38 / Discovery 2 / L322 etc), you’re able to use the tool on other vehicles of the same type. If you need to use it on more vehicle types, further single unlock codes (BA5075) can be purchased separately.

Robust and self-powered hand held unit
No PC / laptop required
Free unlock code for one Land Rover vehicle type
Can be unlocked for additional Land Rover vehicle types
Free updates for future applications
Reads fault codes with descriptions
Live data real-time monitoring
Service reset option
Ideal for DIY enthusiast as well as specialists

Retail value: £236.25 +VAT!

MEAL FOR TWO

This prize is for 2 people to have a free meal in a local restaurant. If you win this prize, we’ll get in touch to discuss the final details and get your meal booked.

LAND ROVER FACTORY TOUR

If you win this prize, we’ll send you and a friend on a guided tour of the Land Rover manufacturing plant at Solihull. This fantastic prize takes you behind the scenes at one of the most high-tech factories in the world. See more information on this amazing prize on the Land Rover website.

We’d like to say a special thanks to all the companies who have generously donated prizes to support our charity open day, we very much appreciate you all!

Christmas and New Year Opening Times

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Jim Cresswell

General opening hours
Our offices will be staffed for the hours shown below through the holiday season:

24th December	09.00 – 13.00
25th December	CLOSED
26th December	CLOSED
27th December	09.00 – 13.00
29th December	09.00 – 17.30
30th December	09.00 – 17.30
31st December	09.00 – 13.00
1st January	CLOSED
2nd January	Open as normal

Non-stocked parts
Our suppliers will be closed from the 24th to the 2nd. Any orders for parts that aren’t held in stock won’t be dispatched until after the 2nd. Orders for stocked parts will be processed and dispatched as normal.

Last shipping day for Christmas – UK and Europe
The last shipping day for UK and Europe for stocked parts is the 23rd December (if shipped by next-day courier service).

The last shipping day for non-stocked parts is the 21st December (if shipped by next-day European courier service).

Thanks for your business!
We’d just like to say thanks for your custom over the past year, and we wish you the very best for the holiday season and the coming year.

New Off road Course in Essex !

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Jim Cresswell

The School Run – UK to The Gambia

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Jim Cresswell

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 Jim Cresswell

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 Jim Cresswell

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.

Charity Classic Land Rover Run from Kent, to Le Touquet, France

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Britcar

Britcar are pleased to announce that this year we have sponsored the vehicle rally plaques for the Classic Land Rover run to Le Touquet, France! Over the last 4 years this event has raised over £20,000 for various chosen charities, this year they chose the Cystic Fibrosis Holiday Fund who help to fund holidays and short breaks for children and young people with Cystic Fibrosis, offering a respite from the disease. They would like to break through the £25,000 barrier to help this amazing charity with their work and help more CF-sufferers enjoy the holiday of a lifetime.

This year’s event will take place on the weekend of 10^th-11^th May, with over 40 Classic Land Rovers booked on the ferry already! For more information on the event or if you would like to donate please visit:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=2014CLR&isTeam=true

Land Rover Discovery 24th Birthday Weekend -12/13th October 2013

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Jim Cresswell

Tim emailed us a few months ago, Asking if we would like to donate a Raffle prize for this years Land Rover Discovery Birthday Weekend

Another year over, the Discovery another year older and the celebrations are well and truly over. Hopefully everyone that attended has got home safely and by now are most probably back at work telling their work mates what a great weekend they have all had, will they understand?

Many many thanks to everyone that turned up and took part, either in their Land Rovers or Family saloons. Yes 3 Discovery’s broke down on their way but not to be put off 2 of their owners were low loaded back home only to come down in their cars, that is dedication. Approx 50 Land Rovers and of course 3 cars took part in the weekends celebrations, and if the cars have problems you can take the car to a body shop to fix any issue like this. Roy Preston and Chris Lowe bringing along their G WACs. Without everyone’s dedication and support the weekend would not be as good as it is if indeed it would happen at all. It has come along way since a few members of the DOC Committee put together its first informal get together to celebrate its 20th.

An amazing £1425 was raised through the sale of Raffle Tickets, Weekend Stickers, Rally Plaques and the Auction. Both the Jubilee Sailing Trust and the National Coast-watch Institution are very greatful for everyone’s generosity. There are still a few Rally Plaques and Stickers available, if you require either please let me know. The Plaques are £7 and the Stickers are £3. Postage will be a couple of quid if buying a plaque.

The website will be updated over the next couple of days, please visit it for the full story and some photos of the weekend.Again many thanks to all those that supported this great weekend and hopefully see you all again next year for the Discovery’s 25th Birthday Weekend.

Tim Newcombe