Watch It Now: Amazing ’87 Camel Trophy Madagascar Run
When Men Drove Range Rovers
by Imthishan Giado
You’re all probably a bit too young for this, but many moons, Land Rover took its poshest SUV into the harshest terrain imaginable. Thanks to the glory of the internet, you can now find out how they got on (hint: it was messy).
Real offroaders will know all about the Camel Trophy, an absolutely mental competition held from 1980 to 2000 to test man and machine against everything God could throw at them.
For most of the run, Land Rovers were exclusively used and I’m not just talking about Defenders – even the Freelander had to compete in the Camel Trophy and prove its worth. Out of thousands of aspiring entrants, only a handful of two-man teams were picked to compete, each representing a different country, thrown into a mud meat grinder of the world’s harshest terrain, with only their wits and a map to get them through to the finish. Sort of like an Amazing Race episode, but with cigarette advertising.
What you’re about to see in its entirety is the ’87 run through Madagascar, when they used Series III Range Rovers, as usual with minimum modifications. A bull bar, roll cage, some mud tyres – that was about all you were given, to get through every surface imaginable. Interestingly, these cars weren’t V8s – they were equipped with then-new 2.4-litre VM diesel engines and manual gearboxes.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
