Occasionally called "The Olympics of 4x4", Camel Trophy was an off-road vehicle oriented competition that was held annually between 1980 and 2000, and it was best known for its use of

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

vehicles over challenging terrain. The event took its name from its main sponsor, the

Camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

cigarette brand. Camel Trophy Land Rover Defender 110

Vehicles

Camel Trophy originated in 1980 with three Jeep-equipped German teams exploring the Amazon Basin. After that first event, the organisers turned to Land Rover for support and over the course of the next twenty years, all of the Land Rover vehicle range were used.

Range Rover Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

Land Rover Series III The Land Rover series I, II, and III (commonly referred to as ''series'' Land Rovers, to distinguish them from later models) are compact British off-road vehicles, produced by the Rover Company since 1948, and later by British Leyland. Though ...

, Land Rover 90, Land Rover 110,

Land Rover Defender The Land Rover Defender (initially introduced as the Land Rover 110 / One Ten, and in 1984 joined by the Land Rover 90 / Ninety, plus the new, extra-length Land Rover 127 in 1985) is a series of British off-road cars and pickup trucks. They c ...

Land Rover Discovery Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...

, and

Freelander The Land Rover Freelander is a compact luxury crossover SUV that was manufactured and marketed by Land Rover from 1997 to 2015. The second generation was sold from 2007 to 2015 in North America and the Middle East as the LR2 and in Europe as the ...

vehicles all appeared in the distinctive "sandglow" colour scheme. The cars were heavily modified by Land Rover Special Vehicles with a range of expedition, recovery, and safety equipment, including: * Safety Devices

roll cage A roll cage is a specially engineered and constructed frame built in (or sometimes around, in which case it is known as an exo cage) the passenger compartment of a vehicle to protect its occupants from being injured or killed in an accident, pa ...

s * Under body protection and steering guards * Modified electrical systems *

Winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attache ...

es * Dixon Bate tow hitches and recovery points * Mantec snorkels * Transmission breathers *

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...

XCL or

BF Goodrich BFGoodrich is an American tire company. Originally part of the industrial conglomerate Goodrich Corporation, it was acquired in 1990 (along with Uniroyal, then The Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company) by the French tire maker Michelin. BFGoodrich w ...

Mud Terrain tyres * Upgraded

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...

and

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

components * Auxiliary fuel tanks *

Webasto Webasto SE is a company based in Stockdorf, Germany which makes sunroofs, electric-car chargers and air-conditioning systems. Holger Engelmann is the CEO of the company. History Coronavirus outbreak Webasto owns 11 locations in China, in ...

fuel burning heaters * Brownchurch / Safety Devices roof racks *

Hella ''Hella'' is an American slang term that originated in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is used as an intensifying adverb such as in "hella bad" or "hella good" and was eventually added to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' in 2002. It is possibl ...

driving, spot, fog, convoy and work lamps * Brownchurch Bull bars and bush wires * Flag poles * Event plaques, decals and sponsor logos (including Camel Trophy Adventure Wear/Bags/Boots/Watches, Lee Cougan, Perception, Sony, Scott USA, Safety Devices, Land Rover, Fjällräven, Warn, Malaysia Airlines, Superwinch, Royal Dutch Shell, Shell, Avon) * Expedition tools, Jerry cans, Pelican cases, Zarges boxes, high lift or New Concept air jacks, sand ladders, axes, ropes, drawbars, spades. * Garmin, Terratrip and other navigation and communication equipment Generally speaking, except for support and specialist vehicles, the Land Rovers were only used for one event. Some competitors purchased their vehicles and many remained in the host country. Consequently, those vehicles that returned to the United Kingdom were highly sought after as they were low mileage - but they were "Camel Trophy miles". They were stripped of most of their equipment by Land Rover before they were released and restoring the vehicles to their original condition is expensive and time-consuming.

List of events and vehicles used

Event results

Over the 18-year period in which the Camel Trophy featured Land Rover vehicles, Italian teams ultimately won the Camel Trophy three times - in 1982, 1984, and 1987. Teams from the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Turkey all won the Camel Trophy twice.

Camel Trophy's successor: the "G4 Challenge"

In 2003, competitors representing sixteen nations helped Land Rover fill the gap left after the demise of Camel Trophy. Surprisingly, the inaugural Land Rover

G4 Challenge The Land Rover G4 Challenge is a global adventure competition, and as the successor to the Camel Trophy it has Off-roading, off-road driving at its core. As of the cancelled 2008/2009 event, the G4 Challenge was to be run in support of the Intern ...

contained many of the elements of Camel Trophy 1998, which Land Rover had reportedly been disappointed with. The "ultimate global adventure" was a test of skill, stamina, and mental agility in four separate stages, each in a different time zone. The prize was a top-of-the-range

. The winner Rudi Thoelen declined a Range Rover, and opted for two Defenders instead. The 2006 Land Rover G4 Challenge promised to be tougher than the inaugural event and delivered a more vehicle-based focus. The competitors, working in bi-national teams faced thousands of miles of vehicle-based activity in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. The 2008-9 G4 Challenge, supporting the Red Cross and based in Mongolia, was cancelled in December 2008 in the middle of the selection stages due to the current global economic downturn. Land Rover were forced to end the event as a cost saving-measure to allow them to focus on product launches in 2009.

References

External links

Camel Trophy Club
Camel Trophy Club intends to keep the Camel Trophy spirit alive!
Camel Trophy Club photographic archive
Hundreds of thousands of images available from Camel Trophy Club
Camel Trophy Club video channel
YouTube is a good source of free-to-view Camel Trophy footage and the Camel Trophy Club channel includes exclusive interviews with Camel Trophy people.
Camel Trophy Shop
Camel Trophy memorabilia
Camel Trophy Forever - Brazil
Photos, events, history, hobbies, articles ...
Camel Trophy Portugal
Photos, articles, vehicle replicas and events

Re-release of the Camel Trophy events from 1990 to 1998 on DVD

Camel Trophy Info - list of event results and vehicles used
Camel Trophy Boats
Sale of the original camel trophy boats used in the 2000 event. Good photos and info.
Camel Trophy Netherlands
A group of Camel trophy enthusiasts from the Netherlands.
Camel Trophy Adventures - Bulgaria
Camel Trophy Adventure Holidays in Bulgaria.
Onze Defender Blog
Private blog in Dutch {{Authority control Land Rover Off-road racing

Vehicles

List of events and vehicles used

Event results

Camel Trophy's successor: the "G4 Challenge"

See also

References

External links