Yamaha Scorpio Zui Tracker by Verve Moto

Matzker, lord of the Landy

Desert rally, exploration, race track or just city driving? At Matzker, in Cologne, Land Rovers can be modified for almost any imaginable purpose. We visited ‘Mr. Landy’ in our uprated Land Rover Defender 90 ‘Automatic’ – and presented him with a problem…

A passion for British purity

The lord of the Land Rover demands just one attribute for his faithful companion: it must be The Best. CEO Amadeus Matzker has built his company’s reputation on this premise for decades – using his passion, know-how and driving ambition to develop perfect solutions for the British SUV. “When no one else can help, Matzker can,” we said to ourselves as we took the 400km route from Hamburg to Cologne in a Land Rover Defender 90. Our Landy has just had a performance upgrade and a conversion to automatic: a wonderful combination, if it works. Unfortunately, in the mid-rev range the engine is vibrating uncomfortably and the gearchanges of the Discovery-derived automatic transmission are not optimal for our Defender.

Mr. Matzker joins us in the Defender’s cabin for a test drive. “The purist Brit has always been my passion,” he says, raving about the fact that the Defender – in contrast to its modern relatives – is still an endless playground of potential modifications and improvements. We consult the oracle about the problems we’ve encountered with our Defender, and Matzker confirms that the transmission is creating the vibrations where it comes too close to a body panel. The ‘faulty’ gearchange, meanwhile, is a matter of opinion…

Conversions for all causes

Our Defender’s mods are small fry compared with a Defender 90 in the Matzker workshop… a Landy that is fast turning into a super-sports car. The chassis has been replaced by a lightweight aluminium construction and in front sits a 5.2-litre Rover V8, enough to make the Defender fly. “What’s more,” adds Matzker, “we’ve modified the suspension with components we’ve developed ourselves. Whether you take it on the race track, off-road or in the city, you’ll get superior handling from this Defender,” he assures us.

And Matzker should know, since he regularly takes part in international desert rallies – most recently the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2014, where Matzker’s team was among 48 starters and finished 13th overall – and 9^th in class. The 2300km dune rally, considered an extreme rally of its kind, is for Amadeus Matzker the perfect way to recover from the stresses of working for a living. Other ‘leisure’ activities include private expeditions, such as a 16,000km tour  in four and a half weeks, travelling across Africa in an expedition Landy built by – of course – Matzker. No wonder that, despite his overflowing order books, Amadeus Matzker is known for keeping a cool head.

Photos: Jan Richter

Tailored modifications enable Matzker to combine modern technology with the singular appeal of the Land Rover Defender, and he always has a range of new cars and used vehicles in stock. Take a look at Matzker’s current fleet on Classic Driver.

MATT’S CX500

One great by-product of the current explosion of shed built customs is that there are now even more people to hang out with, ride bikes, talk bikes and share a beer with.  Matt is one such guy that seems to have life dialled in, he lives in Bude, Cornwall with his wife and six year old son. He surfs, has built this bike, wants to start flat track racing and would love to be on the spanners as a permanent occupation, which is an idea supported by his son, who with just half a dozen years under his tiny belt, wants a custom bike of his own. Good lad! Sitting on this 1980 CX500 will have to do for now.

Matt is, for the time being anyway, a panel beater and sprayer so we know the finish will be good in the flesh. You know the drill by now, grind the welds, de-tab, chop and loop the tail, hide the battery and wiring. This prerequisite process was carried out by Matt who is pretty handy with a welding torch.

The seat pan was fashioned from 3mm UPVC and covered with a good thick piece of foam and stitched brown leather. The natural hump of the CX’s subframe makes a completely flat Brat seat a tricky fabrication but in my opinion the hump works well and balances out the heft of the V-twin motor.

The MotoBat gel battery now hides low down beneath the transmission; their warranty department is very efficient should you manage to melt one. I’m sure Matt’s is fine but CL77 boiled one when the reg/rec vibrated itself off.

Standard shocks have been replaced with Konis, which look better and combat bouncy squashiness, definitely a good thing on Cornwall’s narrow country roads. Smaller, sportier foot pegs for the rider but pillions look elsewhere, this is solo steed.

Heat-wrapped headers meet a modified stubby silencer pinched from Honda’s big brother, the GL, or Goldwing as many know it. Not much in the way of decibel killing there then. Pod filters on re-jetted carbs improve forward shove and acoustics.

Properly prepped and gloss black painted frame, swingarm, carbs, shaft drive unit and wheels contrast against the silver engine cases. Rocker covers are satin, which is the right thing to do just below the metalic blue and Old English White fuel tank.

Up front the bars are modified Ace-style with a CR250 clutch lever, the front brake lever and master cylinder is from a CBR125. Tyres are Maxxis, I could guess the tread pattern if they were more off road spec but I’ll leave you to work out what these are.

Details are a little bit light on this build as Matt has already sold it to pay and make way for other projects. a ’75 Bonneville, ’88 CD250 and another CX500 await treatment.

If you’re lucky enough to live in Cornwall and fancy pre-buying any of Matt’s next builds get in touch by emailMattwoodgates@yahoo.com.

the Bike Shed

Rallye Monte-Carlo 2015 : Monaco-Gap-Monaco

La 83e édition du Rallye Monte-Carlo s’élancera de la Principauté de Monaco jeudi 22 janvier 2015 pour prendre la direction des Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, des Hautes-Alpes et de l’Isère avant retour à Monaco et une arrivée dimanche 25 janvier après un passage dans le Col du Turini.

A tout juste six mois de la 83^e édition du Rallye Monte-Carlo, l’Automobile Club de Monaco a dévoilé les grandes lignes du parcours 2015 renouvelé à 75% par rapport à la précédente édition.

Après un Shakedown programmé comme l’an passé à Châteauvieux (6 km au sud de Gap) jeudi 22 janvier au matin, les concurrents gagneront la Principauté de Monaco pour la cérémonie de départ Place du Casino de Monte-Carlo. Un décor fastueux et glamour pour lancer le Championnat du monde des Rallyes FIA 2015.

Les concurrents disputeront dans la foulée, de nuit, deux épreuves spéciales mythiques : Entrevaux-Rouaine (21,31 km) et Norante-Digne-les-Bains via le Col du Corobin (19,68 km) avant de rallier Gap.

Vendredi 23 janvier, direction l’Isère pour une boucle inédite de trois spéciales : La Salle-en-Beaumont-Corps (15,84 km), Aspres-lès-Corps-Chauffayer (26,08 km) et Les Costes-Saint-Julien-en-Champsaur (25,40 km), près du village natal de Sébastien Ogier.

La 3^e (et très longue) journée de course (samedi 24 janvier) débutera du côté du Lac de Serre-Ponçon avec Prunières-Embrun (19,93 km), avant deux juges de paix, Lardier-et-Valença-Faye (51,66 km) et Sisteron-Thoard (36,85 km). Les concurrents redescendront ensuite vers Monaco.

Pas de Nuit du Turini cette année, mais le célèbre Col du Turini en version longue dimanche matin avec La Bollène-Vésubie-Sospel (31,66 km), puis une Power Stage restant à définir en fonction du règlement 2015. Autre nouveauté : le Rallye Monte-Carlo 2015 se pliera au Rally2.