Land Rover Legends: Part Two
Mike Foster spent much of his life exploring the vast deserts of northern Africa, and led many crossings of the inhospitable Sahara and the Ténéré in Series II and III Land Rovers. In 1969, he led a successful factory expedition to test the durability of
Meet Mike Foster, who helped to test the durability of the prototype Velar 100in station wagons
“I had just returned to the UK from Kenya, where I worked as a light aircraft engineer, and I already missed Africa”
Iwell remember my first meeting with Mike Foster. It was in April 2012, at his home on the east coast of Lincolnshire, set rather incongruously among the caravan parks, holiday homes and ice cream parlours that now rather overpower what was once a small coastal village near Skegness.
Every student of Range Rover history knows Mike’s name, and I first came across him back in 1990, when I read a small feature written by him that appeared in an off-road magazine, in which he modestly recounted a little of his involvement in the now-famous durability trials of the original Range Rover. These trials took place in November and December 1969, and involved a double crossing of the Sahara Desert.
Fast forward over 20 years, and I was very keen to meet Mike personally, triggered by my research for the book
Range rover–thefirstfifty, because I was keen to try to tell the real story of the 1969 desert adventure that had become an almost mythical part of the early history of the Range Rover. It took me the best part of a year to track him down, not helped by the fact that Mike doesn’t use the internet, doesn’t do email and avoids texting. In the digital age, he was pretty much off the grid!
Eventually I came across a brief mention of him online, in connection with The 153 Club. This club, so-named after the number of the original Michelin map that covered the Sahara region, was founded in 1978 as a forum for Sahara Desert travellers, but membership has since been extended to include professionals who have lived and worked in northwest Africa. The club maintains a membership that is restricted to just 153 people, so it is a pretty exclusive enclave.
My enquiry to the club secretary confirmed that they did indeed have a member named Mike Foster, who was in fact one of the club’s founders, and she kindly offered to pass on a letter setting out my interest in meeting him. In due course I received a charming letter from Mike in reply, and that was when we arranged to meet in Lincolnshire.
We spent several hours together that afternoon, surrounded by books, pictures, maps and other artefacts reflecting Mike’s love of the desert and its peoples, and I learned everything I could possibly wish to know about the 1969 expedition, and also came away with several beautiful examples of sand roses, the flower-like formations of clusters of gypsum or baryte crystals, which were a generous gift to my gem- and crystal-mad young daughter. But what I hadn’t known before meeting him is that Mike’s interest in and experiences with Land Rovers went considerably deeper than that 1969 jaunt with the two Velar Engineering Prototypes and a 109in One Tonne fitted with a Range Rover engine and gearbox.
Desert driver required
In April 1967, at the age of 28, Mike had responded to a newspaper advertisement requiring drivers in Morocco and Turkey. “I had recently returned to the UK from Kenya, where I had been working for a few years as a light aircraft engineer, and I already missed Africa,” he recalls. After an interview, he was offered the job. His new employer was Minitrek, and little did he know what his five years with the
company would bring.
Minitrek had been founded by two men. At that time, Herbert Sylge was an air traffic controller at Heathrow, and Kenneth Fitzsimons was a student. In 1962 they had bought a Commer minibus and driven it with fare-paying friends to Marrakech, where they planned to sell the vehicle for a profit. They made a loss of £50 but, undeterred, they organised a second trip and, in April 1964, they formed Minitrek Expeditions Limited.
“The company was pioneering in many ways,” says Mike, “offering guided tours to over a dozen exotic and trendy destinations in Europe and North Africa. In late 1967, they extended their itinerary to include Trans-saharan expeditions, and I was retained as their mechanic and second driver on this new route.”
And that is how he found himself on a 1000-milelong repositioning trip, driving one of a pair of Minitrek Series IIA 109 Land Rovers, which arrived at El Golea in Central Algeria on January 31, 1968. For Mike, this first experience of the Sahara was to be etched forever in his memory, and so began a lifelong fascination with the desert and the people that live there.
More expeditions
Minitrek had been using their three Land Rovers extensively on their tour routes in Libya and Morocco, and the two vehicles sitting at El Golea on that first Trans-saharan trip each had around 23,000 miles on the clock. Before leaving London, Mike had attended an intensive course at the Land Rover maintenance facility on the Fulham Road, where the focus was on learning how to keep the company’s vehicles going in areas far from outside assistance.
That first Trans-saharan expedition, with the seven clients who flew in to meet the team at El Golea, was to last 23 days and cover over 3900 miles.
It was considered by both passengers and crew to have been a great success. The two Land Rovers held up well, although as Mike recalls, he was kept busy with a series of radiator leaks, punctures and cracked roof racks and jerry can holders that required welding, as well as the daily round of routine maintenance.
On the strength of that first successful expedition, Mike was promoted to lead Minitrek’s second Trans-saharan tour, and Minitrek itself appeared to be going from strength-tostrength. For the following year, the company planned a total of 95 mostly summer season minibus camping holidays, compared with the previous year’s 65, and it remained unchallenged in this particular field of adventure tourism. Throughout this period, Herb Sylge remained in his fulltime job at Heathrow, while Ken Fitzsimons continued with his university course. Three brand-new Land Rovers were added to the fleet.
The two founders dedicated themselves full-time to the company shortly afterwards, and announced an extension of their intrepid travel offerings to include Lapland, Ethiopia, Tibesti, and a seaborne voyage aboard a 290 tonne schooner to discover the Galapagos Islands, together with a collaboration with an American travel operator to target the US market.
Seven more Land Rovers were purchased, one of which was a 109 Series IIA with a specially-built 14-seater body by R J Searle Ltd of Sunbury-onThames (perhaps better known by the name they adopted later, Carawagon) while the remaining six were 109 Series III vehicles with the new sixcylinder petrol engine, which had come heavilyrecommended by Searle’s sales manager.
Mike remembers that these engines proved to be a source of continual problems, caused primarily by the new Zenith carburettor’s susceptibility to sand contamination, a problem not experienced with the SUS in the four-cylinder Series IIA vehicles. Minitrek’s reports back to the factory at Solihull about these issues led to a series of modifications, and this contact was undoubtedly one of the factors that, in 1969, led the Rover Company to select Minitrek, with its extensive Trans-saharan experience, to lead a Saharan durability trial involving two of the Engineering Prototypes of the company’s new 100in station wagons which, in May 1970, would be introduced to
the world as the Range Rover. Mike had recently been promoted to Sahara Operations Manager, and was appointed to lead the expedition.
In early November 1969, the Minitrek crew drove in convoy with Rover’s 109 V8 One Tonne (affectionately known as Lulubelle) from the UK down to El Golea. The two Velar Engineering Prototypes (numbers 100/5 and 100/6) were loaded into a Carvair aircraft at Southend airport, and arrived at El Golea via Algiers on the November 10.
Rover engineers and a three-man Pathé film crew accompanied the Velars. The Rover team was led by Assistant Chief Engineer Philip Crowther, with Assistant Project Engineer John Orgill. The Engine Development department was represented by John Biddle, while Experimental Department fitter Alf Davies and Rover mileage driver Dennis Patstone were driving Lulubelle. John Biddle returned to the UK when the team reached Tamanrasset, and in his place Alan Jeffrey from Transmission Development joined the team.
The Pathé News team was led by director John Davis with cameraman Bill Jordan and assistant Vic Hughes, and the final films were produced by Michael Forlong, who was sufficiently impressed with the car that he later became the proud owner of the first of the pre-production vehicles, YVB 151H. The Minitrek team, led by Mike Foster, included Ken Slavin and Jane Blackmore, together with Hazel Fitzsimons, the wife of Minitrek co-founder Ken Fitzsimons.
Velars in disguise
These trials were to be divided into two distinct phases. The first of these would focus on testing the new vehicles on a wide range of challenging terrain and the second, while continuing the evaluation of the Velars on rough desert tracks and difficult ground, would also provide the opportunity to plan a route for the anticipated media and dealer launch of the production Range Rover, which was at that time scheduled for December 1970 and was expected to be in Morocco. At the same time, the Pathé News crew would take footage of the vehicles in action for use in two promotional films that were to be produced to support the launch.
The first leg of the expedition would take the vehicles south from El Golea via In Salah to Tamanrasset and then across the border into Niger and on to Agadez. From there the team would head east across the wilderness of the Ténéré desert to Bilma before heading north, back into Algeria, finishing at Ghardaia where they would meet Geof Miller, the lead engineer on the Range Rover development programme, and his assistant Roger Crathorne, to commence the second leg west into Morocco.
Both Velars were fitted with roof racks and decals on the doors and tailgate reading Minitrek Expeditions, and it was hoped the Minitrek logos would make the convoy look like just another holiday trek, albeit with two slightly unusual vehicles!
To protect further the identity of the two prototype Range Rovers, the scuttle badges and Land Rover oval badges on the tailgates were taped over and 100/6 carried VELAR lettering on its bonnet and tailgate, created using the smaller design of boot letters from the Rover P6 saloon, although these were replaced by production-style RANGE ROVER lettering during the filming of the sequences that were later used in the two promotional films,
Saharasouth and Acarforallreasons. The decision was taken to run 100/5 with 7.5x16 Michelin XS tyres, which were at that time expected to be offered as an option on production Range Rovers, although in the end the company did not offer tyres of this size on the vehicle.
Mike remembers that, amazingly, no police or customs officers had checked the Carvair aircraft group into the country at Algiers airport and in those days there was no customs post at El Golea, so effectively the entire party and the Velars were in the country illegally! Mike decided to take a chance and proceed as though nothing was wrong.
Interestingly, within 24 hours of the arrival of the vehicles in El Golea, the Rover public relations department at Lode Lane received a call from Peugeot in France asking about the two new Land Rovers on test in Algeria. As Geof Miller later commented: “So much for all the secrecy, Velar badging and all.”
After final preparations in El Golea, on November 11, 100/5, 100/6 and the support vehicles set off south, on the
first phase of the expedition. The following morning, up on the Tademait plateau, corrugations and dust-filled potholes on the track revealed a minor snag with both Velars. The continuous body distortion led to the upper tailgates popping open. Slide bolts were fitted as a temporary modification.
At Tadjemout, the Minitrek Land Rover rolled to a halt with a broken LT lead and a burnt-out condenser. By Arak, the roof rack on 100/5 had begun to come apart and luggage had to be stowed in the other vehicles.
After three days and 675 miles the convoy arrived at Tamanrasset where, at an altitude of 4500 feet and even higher in the surrounding Hoggar Mountains, John Biddle was to conduct carburettor tests. After gaining customs clearance the team departed on November 18 for the 540mile drive to Agadez in Niger. Soon after leaving Tamanrasset, 100/5’s Boge self-levelling strut failed and further luggage needed to be removed and placed in the other vehicles. Later, Lulubelle suffered a snapped brake line.
Another day, another desert
Agadez was the starting point for the crossing of the Ténéré desert, 400 miles of trackless wilderness, and the team took on a Tuareg guide named Rhossey who would lead them across the shifting sands. On November 23, some 1500 miles into the trip as the vehicles were crossing the desert, the bracket between the Boge leveling unit and the rear axle on 100/6 failed as a result of sub-standard welding. The rear propshaft was removed and the vehicle was run with frontwheel drive only. To gain maximum traction, 100/6 was fitted with the 7.5 Michelin XS tyres from 100/5, and donated its 205x16 tyres to the other vehicle.
At Fort Dirkou, the rear axle on 100/6 was removed, checked and the bracketry re-welded with the help of an obliging French officer. 100/5 was also inspected closely and found to have similar cracks, so the brackets were re-welded as a precautionary measure. These repairs held and no further trouble was experienced.
On November 25 the Velars took on the high dunes of the eastern edge of the Grand Erg de Bilma and, according to Mike Foster, they performed spectacularly. Bill, John and Vic got the shots they needed, before the group turned north and back towards Algeria. The three-day crossing of the northern Ténéré via Chirfa and Djanet was accomplished without further incident, and Alan Jeffrey and the film crew eventually flew back to the UK.
However, on the day they were due to depart from Djanet, the scheduled flight never arrived so they were obliged to wait and meanwhile, on December 1, the remaining team drove north to Ghardaia, arriving there at 8.00 am on December 3, having driven the final 830 miles in 24 hours. They headed straight for the airport and arrived just as the delayed flight from Djanet was landing. “Several passengers got off to stretch their legs,” Mike recalls, “including the film crew who were not amused that the expedition had arrived at Ghardaia before they had!” John Orgill joined Alan and the film crew on the flight at Ghardaia and departed for the UK. The first leg of the expedition had taken 22 days and the vehicles had covered over 3330 miles.
It was from Ghardaia in Northern Algeria that the second leg of the expedition was to begin. This was to be routed through Morocco and, once there, Geof Miller and Roger Crathorne were to reconnoitre the demonstration route through the desert and mountain areas south of Marrakech, the plan being that this route would form the basis of the media and dealer launch of the Range Rover. Mike, his work done, flew home to the UK.
Geof and Roger flew to Ghardaia and arrived a few days before the remaining team members returned from Niger to meet them. Geof, Roger, Ken Slavin, Philip Crowther, Dennis Patstone, Alf Davies, Hazel Fitzsimons and Jane Blackmore then headed south through El Golea before turning west to Timimoun and Figuig on the Moroccan border, evaluating tyres, dampers and brakes and measuring transmission and engine oil temperatures along the way.
Arriving at the border post at Figuig in the afternoon, the tensions then prevailing between Algeria and Morocco became clear when the Algerian guards announced the border was closed for the day. After parking up, Geof and Ken decided to approach the guards to ask them if it would be possible to cross that evening, only to find themselves walking backwards to the vehicles at the point of a rifle barrel. Obliged to camp overnight, the party was allowed
“Geof and Ken found themselves walking backwards at the point of a rifle barrel”
across the border the following morning and had to negotiate their way through a minefield, making them all particularly grateful that they had not attempted it in the dark the evening before!
In mid-december, while heading for Marrakech, the petrol tank on 100/5 sprang a leak from a failed spot weld. This was repaired on the roadside with chewing gum, and later re-sealed in Marrakech with Araldite. Having reached Marrakech, Geof, Roger and a local guide used 100/6 to reconnoitre the route in the Atlas Mountains for the press and dealer launch and sample the food at a mountaintop French restaurant, complete with outdoor swimming pool, where the journalists would be entertained. According to Geof it was a superb route and a super restaurant, but Geof and Roger heard a few days later that the event in Morocco had been cancelled and the launch would now take place in June 1970, earlier than originally intended, with the press event being held in the rather less exotic surroundings of Cornwall, while the dealer launch would be at Solihull.
Mike and his team could be justifiably proud of the role they played in the successful outcome of the Velar durability trials, in what was in many ways a peculiarly British adventure. But dark clouds were forming on the horizon for Minitrek.
Collapse of Minitrek
Rapid expansion seemed to be the name of the game, and large bank loans were obtained to pay for more staff and 18 new four-cylinder 109 Series IIIS. But other players were entering the market, and Mike remembers a sequence of negative media coverage on the BBC’S Holiday 1971 programme and in Private Eye magazine that did the company no good at all. A change of title to Minitrek Travels failed to halt the decline, and the company finally ceased trading in 1973.
In 1974, Mike fulfilled a long-standing promise he had made to himself, and joined an azalai salt caravan, mounted on a camel rather than a Land Rover, for the crossing of the Ténéré Desert in Niger, from Agadez to Bilma.
After a working as a driver for a company in Kingstonupon-thames, Mike spent time in light aircraft engineering until he couldn’t ignore his passion any longer. “I found the call of the desert too strong,” he says, “so I began operating my own small company, Exploration Sahara, leading adventure and semi-scientific expeditions with two longwheelbase Land Rovers, and this continued until many regions of the Sahara became dangerous no-go zones.”
When Mike and I first met in April 2012, he was astonished to discover that one of the Velars that took part in the 1969 double-crossing of the Sahara was still alive and well, and it was a great pleasure to reunite him with 100/6 a few weeks later at a media event.
The reunion was all the more special because Geof Miller and Roger Crathorne were also at the event. It was the first time the three of them had seen each other since December 1969, when Mike handed over the two Velars to Geof and Roger at Ghardaia in central Algeria.
In his retirement, Mike’s hobby is writing: magazine articles, a novella entitled Walk Out, and other pieces drawn from his journals and the route notes he made during the 36 Land Rover expeditions he led into and across the Sahara between 1968 and 1986, all of which were made in the days before satellite navigation, GPS, and mobile phones. In fact, just as Mike likes it – off the grid.