1997 Land Rover Defender V8 – Semi-Rally spec
Give it some grunt! We check out Alistair Crighton’s bored out V8 Defender
By Imthishan Giado
Watch our video review of this V8 Defender by click below now
Another Defender? Seems like yesterday we reviewed Manuel’s magnificent overlanding 180bhp TD5. Hold on – this one’s different.
Now owned by celebrated Dubai-based curmudgeon Alistair Crighton, this 1998 Land Rover 110 was first owned by a man who planned on rallying it. He went to rallies. He worked on rallies. But he never actually entered it in an event.
Didn’t stop him from building it into a rally car. Investing more than 300,000 dirhams (including the cost of the car) this 110 is built to go fast – very fast.
Under the hood is a custom John Eales Rover V8 bored out from 3.9 to 4.5 litres and putting out a very healthy estimated 260bhp. The interior has been stripped out, features a custom dashboard – which cost 16k! – functioning A/C, cobra racing seats, a Safety Devices rollcage. Suspension is suitably exotic: heavy duty King springs at every corner backed by eight – yes, eight – Koni Raid shocks.
What’s it like to drive? The V8 makes a magnificent noise, the medium-weight clutch is easy to deal with, the LT77 gearbox has a positive shift but most importantly, the entire truck works. It’s far quicker than a 110 has any right to be on road, easily outpacing sluggish modern diesel Defenders (with the exception of Manuel’s tuned-up D90). The steering is traditional – meaning little feel and armfuls of lock – but the weighting is good, while the suspension corners surprisingly hard.
Offroad, the car has bags of torque and the ground clearance to go anywhere. We didn’t go hard enough to really test the suspension, but I have little doubt that it’s capable of pulling some serious speed on the flats.
I’ve never really liked Defenders, but I’ve now driven two in quick succession that are really quite convincing. This or a kitted-out Wrangler? The hardest of choices.
