If you're thinking of doing a trip across Africa, or indeed anywhere else, and would like to hire a vehicle rather than buy then we can help. As you can see from the information below and elsewhere on this site our vehicle is fully tried and tested (of course one can never guarantee that things won't go wrong but that's all part of the adventure). We'll do all we can to help you get away with a vehicle that you can treat as your own but without the expense of building one yourself.
If you'd like further details please contact us at robandac@racafrica.co.uk
So why "Billy"?
We spent a long time trying to think of cool names or African names for our
110 Defender, but in the end they all seemed a bit pretentious, and there was an
old friend of ours that was not up to making the journey, so we decided to take
his spirit along by naming the Land Rover after him...
Why a Land Rover 110 200TDi Defender?
Well, we wanted a large vehicle that was up to the heavy mileage, rough terrain, and was big enough to fit all our stuff in. But, the main benefit of a diesel Land Rover is that they are pretty common in Africa, so any problems that we have on the way (and we are expecting a few!), and we should be able to get the parts without too much hardship.
More about Billy
We went for diesel as it is easy to get everywhere and should be a bit cheaper to run than a petrol engine. We went for a 200TDi engine as they are good engines but with limited electronics, so we should be able to fix whatever goes wrong (with suitable sized hammer). The vehicle we bought already had 151 000 miles on the clock, but with a full service history and no known problems (other than a slight touch of rust in the front doors). So, we haven't had to do much other than a cam belt change and a service before heading off.
When we bought Billy it had 12 seats. So the first job was to remove the centre front seat and replace it with a lockable cubby box (which also houses the radio). Next we removed the rear bench seats and replaced them with a neat wooden structure with a drawer, a few secret holes, and a good base for securing the compressor for the diff locks, the CD player, the inverter, and various other bits and bobs.
Billy was then fitted with:
 | Old Man Emu suspension |
| Chequer plate on bonnet and wings (no self respecting Land Rover should leave home without some) |
| Front and rear ARB diff locks with air line for tyre inflation |
| Extended range 48 litre fuel tank |
| Mantec swing away wheel carrier |
| A bar (that is, a front protection thing, as opposed to a rather fetching cocktail cabinet!) |
| Front and rear light guards |
| Mantec Snorkel |
| Full length Brownchurch roof rack and ladder |
| Extra spare wheel on bonnet |
| Driving lights on the front and four spotlights on roof rack |
| Rear worklamp |
| Underfloor protection (QT diff guards, Rebel steering guard) |
| Sand waffles mounted over the rear windows (rather fine home grown design!) |
| Additional fan on the dash |
| Home made fly screens on all windows |
| Rock sliders |
| Bush wires (home made with parts from B&Q) |
| New doors (with a tad less rust!) |
| Rear window guards |
| Floor safe |
| Wooden drawer and cabinets in rear to house tool chest, CD player, compressor etc. (home made) |
| Various other bits and bobs to make it look good... sorry, I mean, important equipment that we can't live without (!) |
| And finally, a nodding scooby doo on the dashboard to keep us company! |
Billy was then packed into a crate and shipped to South Africa. I hope he arrives in such a good state....