LAND ROVERS TO LE MANS
The £1k Challenge Tomcat wasn’t the only CCW car at Le Mans – Theo went in an ancient Landie
Smacking about the Continent has become a tradition for this brace of SI Landies. My mate Ben ( blackpaw4x4.co.uk) built 722 UYE with long-distance cruising in mind, using a 1949 chassis, Series II gearbox, 2.0-litre petrol engine and zero cosmetic renovation. His mate Mike from the Camel Trophy Club liked it so much he commissioned Ben to build another. The result is a matched pair, rock-solid beneath and as reliable as anything, but dripping with patina.
Our destination for 2018 THEO would be the Le FORDMans
Classic, SAG- with friend Patrick joining the gang, thereby recreating the team from our Alpine jaunt ( CCW, 13 Sep 2017).
Bags loaded, door tops off, coffee swigged and we were all set. UYE, however, was not. The handbrake linkage had lost a split pin and dropped a bolt. Fortunately Ben located a new pin, and an hour later we were queuing for the Pride of Hull, nattering with the drivers of Morgans, Triumph TRs and Aston Martins.
Driving to the Le Mans Classic is almost as good as being there; British-registered exotica overtook us every few minutes and we were cheered and ‘papped’ every few miles. Confusingly, giving two fingers has friendly connotations in France, as we discovered when an old Datsun rammed with young French dudes clattered by.
We’d set aside two days for the journey, and avoided the toll roads to make the most of the drive. Visions of rural France went racing by; a dusty Renault 5 poking out of a barn; a half-naked gent seemingly made from leather attending to his vegetable patch; tractors hauling hay; crickets and sunshine; poppies and sunflowers... Eventually we found a picturesque town in which to set up camp, and spent the evening scoffing pizza.
Day two began with wiping 20w/40 from the inside of the windscreen. Oil spatters under the car at speed and whips through the open tailgate before smearing a fine mist on the windows… and the back of your head.
YXG gave us a fright as we approached Le Mans, when a death-rattle suddenly clattered from the radiator fan. Fortunately the fan had scraped only the radiator cowl, due to the loss of a couple of bolts on the radiator panel. Ben sprang to action, and we were motoring again.
As for the Le Mans Classic itself – it is a simply awesome experience. Noisy, vast, diverse, intense, scorchingly hot and marred only by the woeful facilities given to ‘peasant class’ campers like us. Fortunately Mike and Ben were well prepared, with an awning and a decent fridge run off a 100w solar panel. Land Rover fans often came to say ‘hello’, including a jovial expat in another weather-beaten Series I.
The final day of our retreat to Blighty saw us hammering through the French countryside. The stubby 80in wheelbases make early Series Is surprisingly manoeuvrable – well twitchy – but they lean heroically when loaded with camping gear. You’ve got to be on the ball to make progress – conserving momentum is key.
France wooed us with its luscious greenery, and once over the Belgian border a sweet mustiness of freshly cut hay wafted through the cab. Finally, a week after leaving the UK, we were back on the ferry to Hull plotting next year’s expedition. My vote is for Scandinavia…