Visiting the Land Rover Billing Show
For those who own a Land Rover or like the legendary vehicles knows that the Billing Show is the place to go. Every year, in the summer, Land Rover Monthly organizes a huge meeting where all the Landy enthusiasts gather to chat, buy Land Rover parts, gear, fill their cars with stickers or just admire other cars. Because of the fact that this year the brand marks its 60th anniversary and also because the brand has been acquired by the Indian giant Tata, the attendance at this years event has surpassed any previous numbers, 350 additional places had to be provided as compared to last year.
This year, between 18 and 20 of July, the 230 acre Billing Aquadrome was packed, places being sold in a nearby camping area as well, due to the huge number of owners wishing to take part in the event. In this period of the year Land Rovers scattered around Europe are brought back by their owners to the country where they were built. On the area around Dunkerque and Calais various models of Ambulance Land Rover 110, Radio Interceptor Land Rover Series 2 or 101 Forward Control with Dutch, Swiss, German or Belgian license plates could be seen patiently waiting for the ferry to pass over to Great Britain for the much-awaited show.
The huge show area was divided in two zones, camping area, which accommodated a few thousand Landy lovers, their cars, dogs and tents and another part, smaller but more important, the exhibition area where companies like Devon 4x4, Twisted Performance, Ashcroft Transmissions, Hannibal, Exmoor Trim, Land Rover Official Clothing, Discovery Breakers, Land Rover Experience, Michelin, BFGoodrich, Gigglepin and many more set up huge tents with car parts and accessories at various discounts for any model of Land Rover ever built. In front of most company tents one could find at least one truck with various modifications, ranging from your average Old Man Emu 2 lifting kit plus a set of MT tires, to extreme buggies with 6000 pounds for one axle alone, that hardly resembled a Land Rover.
In a discussion with Simon Buck of Devon 4x4 who stated the following:
"I think that a lot of off road rigs are now transformed into extreme buggies by people. I have nothing against them, don't get me wrong, but I think that the off road world will go in two directions: one will be that of the very modified off road buggies and the other one, that of the off road cars that are recognisable."
One of the most interesting places to be throughout the three days of the festival was, without a doubt, the Main Arena, where extreme class cars driven by professionals would present the latest kits available for moding your Landy, in action.
The action consisted of multiple parts where drivers had to balance their cars and present various positions that an extreme class car would be faced with in normal competition situation. Obviously most of you wont be doing this with your trucks, but this is just to show you what you can do with a Landy, if you really wanted to, said the presenter of the show.
Apart from the modified cars, without doubt another point of interest for everybody were the rarities, Land Rovers that people only talk about and few have actually seen or owned, like the Series One Fire Trucks, Ambulances, Tomb Rider Edition Land Rover Defender, Camel Trophy and G4 Challenge Land Rover Defender, Discovery, Freelander and Range Rovers, LAzalai Camper/Expedition 130 and various Ex-Mod, Ex-Military or Anniversary vehicles. To most of the visitors disappointment the most famous Land Rover of all, HUE 166 didnt show up for the procession, but was supported by the Land Rover Series One and Two Clubs to hold up the old vehicles flag up. Despite the weather, which proved to be as English as it gets, everybody had a good time admiring other cars and getting parts for their own pride and joy.
