STORMING START TO DEFENDER CHALLENGE BY BOWLER

BY: Mike Goodbun from LRO

Five Defender Challenge by Bowler crews took on 55 miles of rain-lashed Mid-Wales rally stages yesterday, with Edd Cobley/Allan Jackson leading the way.

At the start of the Mid-Wales 55-Mile Stages in Newtown, Powys, all the Bowler team wanted was to see all five Land Rovers back safely to the finish. Some of the competitors in the first round of this LRO-supported championship had only collected their Bowler-prepared Defender 90s in the days before the event, with drivers that had never set foot on a rally stage, and co-drivers who’d never used a rally tripmeter before. As learning curves go, it would be a steep and slippery one for them.

Lining-up in torrential rain were experienced rally men Edd Cobley and Allan Jackson in car number 301, Richard Hayward/Matt Lister in no.302 (the actual 90 that features on our April 2014 issue cover), ex-Camel Trophy contestant Damien Taft with cousin Simon making his navigator debut in no.303, Stephen Richards/Kevin Handley in no.304 and Andrew Wicklow/Simon Armstrong in no.305.

After the first two stages at Pikes Peak and Myherin, everyone was buzzing with excitement as they came in to the Sweet Lamb service area, where keen spectators included Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond. Damien Taft told us: ‘It’s awesome, a total adrenaline rush. I think I held my breath throughout all of the first stage!’

Cobley and Jackson’s experience showed, being more than four minutes faster than the others over the first two stages, although they had some ‘navigation issues’ approaching a couple of hairpins in sixth gear. Edd was working the brakes hardest too: ‘It’s smiles all the way from me,’ he said. ‘It’s fun catching some of the Mk2 Ford Escorts I tell you!’

Two stages at Sweet Lamb and Hafren followed, but Richard Hayward/Matt Lister had an off near the end of the Hafren South stage and parked their 90 in a ditch against a tree. Although the crew was unharmed, the Defender suffered a dented front wing, smashed alpine light and transmission damage. It looked like they’d have to start the final stage without a fully-functioning clutch, but the time lost getting out of the ditch meant they were over their time allocation and weren’t allowed to continue the rally.

At the finish, Cobley and Jackson were almost 12 minutes clear of the Tafts in second-place, with Andrew Wicklow/Simon Armstrong less than a minute further back in third. Edd Cobley was delighted with the result: ‘There were a few interesting moments on some of the hairpins but we had a really good day. I think we surprised a fair few people by nipping at people’s heels on the stage. In these wet conditions the Defender was in its element.’

Defender Challenge by Bowler – round 1
Mid-Wales 55-Mile Stages

1 Edd Cobley/Allan Jackson – 66min 16.5sec

2 Damien Taft/Simon Taft – 78min 13.5sec

3 Andrew Wicklow/Simon Armstrong – 79min 5.9sec

4 Stephen Richards/Kevin Handley – 96min 58.9sec

5 Richard Hayward/Matt Lister – DNF

Full results here

Next up is the Somerset Stages in Minehead on April 12, where more Defenders are due to join the action. See bowlermotorsport.com for more details.

Land Rover Owner International is proud to be the official media partner of the 2014 Defender Challenge by Bowler.

KINGSTON CUSTOMS CXL500

CX500 customs are popping up all over the place at the moment, but the vast majority of them tend to be head down, bum up, cafe racers.  In fact, Dirk and his crew at Kingston Customs in Germany have already blown us away withone such CX earlier in the year.  So, when a customer approached Kingston with the brief that he needed an ultra reliable, everyday bike that he could ride off road, the CXL 500 idea was born.

Now, we have no idea if the story behind the origins of this project is true or not, but what the heck we like it, so we’ll tell it.  The owner of this bike has horses.  In the summer, he used to ride down to the stables on a cafe racer and the horses used to become restless in the paddock.  One day a horse whisperer told him that it was the aggressive riding position on the bike that made the horses edgy and fearful.  And so the brief for an upright, off-road, less horse aggravating bike was born.  Apparently.

As Honda had built a CX 500 and an XL 500, it was obvious to Dirk that he needed to build a Honda CXL 500 Scrambler.  So a ’79 model bike was stripped completely and the frame was glass bead blasted and modified, before being painted.  Kingston themselves then handmade the seat, the battery box, the front and rear aluminium mudguards, the radiator grill and the 2 into 1 exhaust manifold.

They also treated the engine to some thermo-sensitive coating, fitted some K&N’s, and married up a Speed Products exhaust pipe to the aforementioned manifolds.  The result is a perfectly decent, and totally useable 50hp.

The luxurious looking paintwork was clearly influenced by old Honda Enduro bikes from the seventies.  In fact, the level of finish on this build is so damn good that the bike itself looks like it could have been in the official Honda line up in 1979.  But we’ve come to expect that from Kingston.  Great, original ideas, executed flawlessly.

We wouldn’t be surprised if this particular build divides opinion.  But then we also wouldn’t be surprised if Dirk and his gang deliberately build bikes that challenge conventional thinking and court a little controversy.  And anyway, the horses obviously like it, so who cares.  Thanks to Dennis Zetlitz for the great photos, and thanks to Dirk for once again sharing his jaw dropping (and horse calming) work with us in The Shed. 

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Road Movies: Haunting classic car imagery by Nicolas Dhervillers

Young French artist and photographer Nicolas Dhervillers was commissioned to produce imagery for the recent Festival Automobile International in Paris. As you can see in our gallery, he uses eerie, deserted backdrops to bring the beauty of his chosen subjects to the fore...

Dhervillers' project, entitled 'Road Movies', sees the carefully selected classics deployed in settings dripping with atmosphere. The works hint at an underlying story much like a movie still would – with the cars invariably functioning as getaway vehicles, objects of beauty, or even cannon-fodder for gun-toting cowboys.

Further information about Nicolas Dhervillers' work can be found at nicolasdhervillers.com.

You can find thousands of beautiful classic cars for sale in the Classic Driver Market.