Expedition Tech talk
Ross Holgate is Kingsley’s son and is responsible for all the logistics and vehicles on the expedition. Ross has been going on African adventures with his father all his life. He spoke to us about how the new Defenders have coped so far
What spec new Defenders are you using on this expedition?
The Holgate’s Land Rover-sponsored Defender 110s are P400 S models while Mike Nixon is in his personal Defender 110 D300 Dynamic X. It would have been nice if they were all diesels, but we need to make the best of what we have.
Why did you not go for the D300?
These are 2020 models and in South Africa we only had the D240 and P400 options at the time, so the advice they gave us was that the D240 would not like the unhealthy diesel you find in some parts of Africa. It was out of our hands really.
What did you change? Wheels? Tyres?
What is wonderful about the Land Rovers we have used since we changed from old Defenders to the latest Discovery and now the new Defender, is that we have generally kept them stock standard. No adjustments to the suspension.
What we did do for this trip is put 18-inch rims and Cooper Tires ST Max 275/70 R18 rubber on which have made a massive difference. Standard tyres are not adequate for our expedition purposes. Land Rover put spotlights, bull bar, Warn winch and the snorkel on for us.
You carry a lot of weight on the roof. How did this affect handling/performance?
We always carry way over the recommended weight up there because we have to carry more than one spare tyre, humanitarian gear, extra fuel and water. One bale of 75 mosquito nets weighs about 75kg. [Pat: When the Discovery 3 came out in South Africa I took hundreds of mosquito nets up to northern Mozambique for Kingsley. I can concur they are rather heavy and bulky.]
How did you set up the vehicles?
For this expedition we have added Alu-cab rooftop tents and 270-degree awnings. They are our rooftop hotel for around 250 days, so we wanted something that would keep us dry, warm and comfy. The cost of accommodation is crippling so we had to look at other alternatives. The Alu Cab system allows you to load extra stuff onto the tent, but you can only add as much as you can physically lift. Our tents come with their own ladders so we took off the Land Rover side-ladders and put a bracket there that can take a jerrycan.
Another adjustment to the rear was a rack over the rear-mounted spare tyre so that we can carry a gas bottle, water, fuel, litter or charcoal. You just need to remember the door needs to be able to handle that extra weight.
I don’t think the extra weight affected the performance of the vehicle. You just need to be aware that your vehicle is very high so you need to take care if passing under trees.
What spares did you take?
No fuel filters as you can’t access the fuel filter. We took spare piping for the air suspension. Some joiners, air filters, oil filters. Every 10,000km we replaced them all. We were operating in extremely hot and dusty environments
Describe some of the challenges you faced
In the past you would not dream of doing an expedition like this in a petrol vehicle. The small motorbike as a form of transport or taxi has changed this. There is so much more petrol available now. That said, the quality in both South and North Sudan was not that great and this seriously affected performance. At times we would even have to go into low-ratio to stop the coughing and spluttering. This also massively increased consumption. All of that changed once in Egypt and the fuel improved.
How different is the new Defender to the new Disco that you previously used?
African expeditions throw it all at you: heat, rain, flooding, rocks, mud, ruts and dust. These Defenders have been absolutely phenomenal. I have done 82,000kms in mine. We own all types of Land Rovers from Series Is to these, and all of them are capable. No matter which one you take you will make it on expeditions.
You have done many expeditions in the newest Land Rovers money can buy. What advice would you give owners thinking about using theirs for an expedition?
I have heard all the jokes about electronics, but we have done a lot of our expeditions in the latest Land Rovers and I think we have shown that they are capable and reliable.
The great thing about the new Defender is that it looks the part. Once you put on the roof rack, winches, spots and bull bar, then even more so. We love the feel of the new Defender, too. As for the latest Discovery, maybe not so. You don’t want to arrive in the poor countries and villages in something flash. Having said that, I did 137,000km in the latest Discovery and it was without a doubt one of the greatest expedition vehicles we have ever had.