The Camel Trophy was an event that included a long list of things I love, from Land Rovers and off-road driving to continent crossing and driving through large, fast moving rivers. Although I’m not entirely sure how much I love that last one.
The competition started in 1980 and ran until 2000 when cigarette advertising was becoming less acceptable in motorsport. It seems a shame that it ended so abruptly, I’d love to see some company pick up the reins and put together a similar competition – perhaps also opening it up to other marques as a sort of world series event between 4×4 manufacturers.
The film above covers the 1988 Camel Trophy, it took place in Sulawesi, Indonesia and the vehicle of choice was the Land Rover One Ten – the precursor to the modern Land Rover Defender. The film runs just over 1 hour and makes great viewing – just be warned, after you watch it you’ll be trawling through eBay Motors looking at Land Rovers for sale in your area.

Related Posts

A Short History of the Porsche 934 The Porsche 934 was a development of the Turbo 911 (the 930) for Group 4 racing – hence the name 934. Porsche built approximately 400 examples of the 934 for two years between 1976 and 1977, with some variation in specifications over the two years of production. The…
Read More

In 1967 each member of The Beatles was gifted a Mini wby their manager Brian Epstein, a larger than life character who had seen the band performing a lunchtime gig at The Cavern Club and decided on the spot to become their manager. He became an integral part of The Beatles, and many years later…
Read More

The 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 Lightweight (or more correctly 1963½), is a factory-built racing special that’s revered for being exceptionally quick down the quarter mile, and so rare that most have never actually seen one in person.
Read More

A Short History of the Dodge Power Wagon The Dodge Power Wagon was introduced in 1946 shortly after the end of WWII as the more refined civilian version of their tough-as-nails Dodge WC series 4×4 military trucks. During the war the Dodge WC had been equipped as everything from weapons platforms to ambulances, there were 38 variations…
Read More

The Tojeiro-Butterworth AJB is a bit of a historical anomaly, it’s the only one that was ever built, and it’s fitted with the unusual air-cooled, flat-four AJB engine. The intials AJB belong to Archibald James Butterworth, a visionary engineer, inventor, and designer, who was a successful and active racer in England until he suffered a…
Read More

This 10 minute films shows the process of building an engine from scratch, including the casting process, machining, final assembly, and the completed motorcycle’s first test ride. It’s an interesting look into how motorcycle (and car) engines were painstakingly built back in the early days of motoring, every step of the process involved highly-skilled machinists,…
Read More