I touched down in Austin, Texas, after two taxi rides and two flights from my home base in Mexico, where I had left my family and my Classic Land Rover Defender 130 waiting. For the last week, I had been preparing for the Land Rover TReK Media event, refreshing my handheld compass, winch, and recovery skills, as well as learning how to read a rally roadbook. As a near lifelong Land Rover driver, this was to be one of my closest brushes with Land Rover corporate, and my wife had waved me goodbye with strict instructions to make a good impression and bring home the crown. The star of the event was to be the new Land Rover Defender 130, a vehicle whose predecessor has carried my family and me across continents for more than a decade.
For those who don’t know, the Land Rover TReK is a two-day adventure off-road competition, open to US and Canada Land Rover retailers, inspired by the Camel Trophy, and includes qualifying trials and finals. Using the all-new Defender 130, this event challenges retail staff to demonstrate their expertise in off-road driving, navigation, and teamwork. These teams engage in head-to-head team and group challenges using identically (Lucky 8 Off Road) customized 2023 Land Rover Defenders during the regional trials. The champions from each competition wave will advance to the TReK Finals, where the overall winner will be determined. The media event follows the retailer event and allows journalists to get to know the Defender.
But, before I could get my old overlander hands on the new 130, I first had to travel to the hotel, then catch a bus with my new journalist friends and competitors to the Hidden Falls Adventure Park an hour from Austin. During the drive, I chatted with old and new friends. I fell silent as I listened to journos talking about driving Ferraris and Lamborghinis in Italy, other supercars I had never heard of, motorcycles I wouldn’t dare to ride, and the untold glory of the old Mitsubishi Montero. We disembarked at the adventure park, were greeted by the Land Rover TReK staff led by the towering and experienced Sean Gorman (listen to Scott Brady’s interview with Sean here, Sean is a regular contributor to Overland Journal), briefed, fed some good old Texan BBQ, introduced to the TReK Defender 130, and told to get to bed early—the next day would be exhausting (we had set up our Kelty tents and sleeping gear in a dry field before dinner). Oh, and watch out for the rattlers; they sound like a golf course sprinkler, in case you were wondering.
With the sleepy teams assembled for breakfast at 6:00 a.m., we received further briefing before the day’s excitement began. We had been split into teams of three or four the night before, and my team, “MC and the Hammers,” (don’t ask), were the first group to spontaneously assemble that morning, and we were the first team to hike out to find an “idol” which would earn us the key to our Defender. We hiked 4,000 feet, deciphering clues and coordinates, and were the first to find the idol but second to reach the Defenders parked atop a hill. Slightly out of breath, I jumped behind the wheel and shouted, “Seatbelts!” (driving without seatbelts would result in a penalty) before engaging low range and hill descent control and heading to the first challenge.
The Defender 130 is understood to be the most off-road competent and balanced of the new Defenders (also available as a 90 and 110), and our matte-black-wrapped Lucky 8 Off Road Defender 130, equipped with a winch and MaxTrax barely broke a sweat. However, we were about to sweat. The first challenge included winching a blue barrel onto a small trailer, which needed to be hitched to the Defender and then driven around a bumpy course as fast as possible without the unsecured barrel falling off the trailer; we weren’t allowed to support the barrel manually. The myriad cameras built into the Defender made reversing and hitch placement a simple task; using a tree protector and snatch block, we winched the barrel up and onto the trailer. In the excitement, I stepped over the winch line (an infraction that could result in a penalty), realized my mistake with the loud help of a teammate, and slipped, falling hard, a half scorpion with one leg bent at an angle under my body. Just walk it off, my wife whispered in my ear. To balance and level the trailer, we deflated the rear airbags, removed the MaxTrax from the roof rack, and placed them in the deepest ruts on the track. Mission accomplished, dusty, and thirsty, we jumped into the Defender and received a near-flawless score.
We then drove the Defender to the other side of the course to complete further challenges. We would soon learn how competent the Defender truly is. With spotters spread across a long, steep, and severely rutted track, our young but experienced driver engaged rock crawl mode on the touch screen and expertly drove the Defender up the precarious track, across deep gulches and up steep steps. The Land Rover made easy work of the terrain, which would have given my old Defender 130 a bit of a headache. By the time we reached the tire change challenge, the team was working like a well-oiled machine, and we all had learned a new respect for the new Defender.
As the clock ticked down, MC and the Hammers sliced through the challenges, building a fire to burn a string, improvising a stretcher to carry a “wounded” teammate, driving blindfolded around a course, navigating the Defender through tight obstacles, lassoing a plastic cow head after skiing wooden planks to and fro and winching a log back and forth, with precision. At precisely 2:27 p.m., all teams had to convene at the finishing point, and the Hammers arrived dusty and confident with a minute to spare.
At dinner, back at the hotel after a shower and a cold one, the results were announced. The Hammers came a very close second to the reigning, returning champions, and we were proud of ourselves. But the event wasn’t about winning or losing; it was about getting to know the new Defender 130. The vehicle had proven to be comfortable and capable, and accommodating while transporting four large men and a huge amount of gear (our luggage and camping gear) across challenging terrain without faltering. The interior of the Defender is a good place to be, and the controls are user-friendly and logical. If anything, I learned that the Defender lives up to the off-road pedigree of its predecessor while offering luxury reminiscent of the vaunted Discovery and earlier Range Rovers.
The Defender never let us down, and I am sure that I didn’t let my wife down; maybe they will invite me back for another crack at the TReK crown next year.
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