Geof Miller, ARC Press & Publicity Brandlehow, Wolverton, Stratford-on-Avon CV37 0HF Tel: (+44) 1789 73 1669

Admin

Use of Land Rover/Rover Logos

You may have heard rumours or distorted stories about the Rover Group "clamping down" on Clubs' use of Company logos and trademarks.

The actual situation is that the Rover Group has for some time been seeking to protect its trademarks and logos and as part of this exercise, they have sought the co-operation of the ARC to regularise the situation relating to ARC and Club insignia. This means that the whole situation is being reviewed, even though some Clubs may have written approval from many years ago.

To this end, the Company has asked to see all insignia in use by the clubs, for re-appraisal and re-approval. There is no particular threat in this request, they wish to make sure that no-one is abusing or mis-representing their trademarks.

All that is currently required, is that the ARC assemble examples of all club logos, and submit them to the Company for appraisal. The Company accepts the ARC as a responsible body through whom it can deal with all Club matters, though non-ARC clubs could encounter difficulties in the future.

This has distinct advantages to us as consumers, in that anything with the Company logo on it can be relied upon as GENUINE, and therefore made to a set standard. If you buy a shirt, a jacket, a propshaft or a wheel with a Rover or Land Rover logo on it, it should be genuine and not an imitation item.

ARC News Editor

Following the AGM on Saturday 13th March the post of ARC News Editor is now established separately from that of Press & Publicity Officer. The new Editor is Paul Barton, whose contact details are:- 26 Summerhill Grange, Summerhill Lane, Lindfield, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 1RQ. Tel.01444 452120 (before 9 p.m. please), e-mail address available soon. The new Press & Publicity Officer is Nick Chinery residing at 11 Main Street, Broughton Astley, Leicester, LE9 6RE. Tel. 01455 285304, and on e-mail at lrnick@x-stream.co.uk

This is my last ARC News, so I shall hand over the Editorial Suite to Paul, and the executive 4.6 HSE Autobiography to Nick, and let my word processor cool down, whilst I rebuild the kitchen for 'er indoors. Best wishes to all.

EVENTS

Staffs. & Shrops. LRC --- Interclub Event --- 31st Apr. to 3rd May

Allan Dawson-"a very harassed Comp. Secretary" has written to say that this event, originally planned for Blithbury, then changed to Rocester (as reported in ARC News 25), is now back at Blithbury again. Contact Allan on 01538 387348, or e-mail allan_dawson@compuserve.com, or contact Von Bayliss on 01782 330923.

Heritage Motor Centre --- Land Rover Marque Day --- 2nd May

"The Run" is now known as the Heritage Motor Centre Run. Vehicles will assemble at the Medical Centre car park at the Land Rover factory at Lode Lane gate from 7.30a.m. onwards, and will be flagged away from 9.00 a.m. in groups based on model type, eg Series I, S II, S III, Range Rover, Discovery, etc. Pre-booking is essential, and applications will be treated on a first come-first served basis. Entry forms were circulated with ARC News 25, these should be returned to Chris Savidge asap. If you need further entry forms, photocopies may be used, or contact Chris or myself. The entry fee is confirmed at £5. Last year's runners should submit entry forms if they wish to enter again this year. Upon receipt of your entry form, you will receive any updated information relating to the event independent of that available in ARC News. Please do not send money now, this will be required when the entry list is finalised. Route maps and route cards will be supplied to all crews.

All occupants of "Run" vehicles will gain free access to the HMC. Clubs who wish to have Club vehicle displays will be allowed 10 vehicles free entry, plus any others at the usual Club discount i.e. driver free and passengers at £1 discount. Vehicles on "The Run" will be required to line up in the Southern Arena upon arrival at HMC. Club static displays will be separate from these.

Clubs wishing to have vehicle displays must pre-book with Jane Roche at the HMC on 01926 641188. Clubs may only sell Club regalia from their display stands, and only to Club members. Anyone wishing to organise a trade stand, or autojumble stand, should also contact Jane as soon as possible.

The Heritage Motor Centre will be open from 10.00a.m. and will have continuous displays and activities as outlined in ARC News 25. Caravanning / camping could be made available if there is sufficient requirement, please let Chris know if you wish to do so.

Stop Press

The cavalcade, upon arrival at Gaydon, will be directed into the Gaydon Design and Engineering Centre (GDEC) in order to re-group and drive a circuit of some of the Proving Ground test tracks.. This will be a unique opportunity to see some of the test facilities rarely seen by the public, and will be strictly controlled. A group photo will be arranged at a suitable location. The cavalcade will then cross directly from the Proving Ground into HMC grounds via the private access gateway, and line up on the Southern Arena.

Yorkshire ROC --- National Rally --- 28th / 31st May

Chris Savidge has put a lot of effort into expanding the Concours classes, and trophies, available at this years 'National', but there are, as yet, no entries. If you wish to enter (either Car or Land Rover) get your entry off asap, or contact Chris Savidge for more information on 0115 926 7716

Mid Lincs Rover Club --- Annual Rally --- Sunday 4th July

This small but enthusiastic non-ARC club are inviting members of Rover Car clubs or Land Rover clubs to their Annual Rally at the East Kirkby Aviation Museum (home of the Lancaster bomber) on the A155 near Spilsby, Lincs. Entry is a mere £3. For more detail, or an entry form, contact :- Bryan Leggate, The Old Smithy, Old Bolingbroke, Spilsby, Lincs. PE23 4HG, Tel. 01790 763344

TELEVISION STARDOM

Channel 4 is making a new series of the programme "Scrapheap", and Dale Wright is looking for teams of three people to take part in the series. You must be skilled at putting together sophisticated machinery, and not afraid of getting your hands dirty. Sounds ideal for a team of trials vehicle builders, or Classics restorers! If you fancy a real challenge, and TV stardom, contact Dale on 0171 887 7577, or Jackie on 0171 887 7587.

LAND ROVER COMPETITION

The remainder of this newsletter is concerned solely with Land Rover off road competition. If you are a Car Club member or a Non-Competitive Land Rover member, and have no interest in it, please accept our apologies.

Competition Regulations

Further clarifications of rules have been received from the Scrutineering Committee, as listed below:-

1. Definition of the word "manufacturer" in the rules. "Manufacturer" is intended to identify Land Rover Ltd. or any company contracted by Land Rover to build or assemble their vehicles or components.
2. The Competition Vehicle log-books have spaces on the back to make notes and comments relating to scrutineering failures, warnings or "near misses". The Scrutineering Group has discussed the possibility of adding extra pages to the log-book but hesitate to do so until the existing space is used. The log-book will need be to replaced when these spaces are full. Scrutineers should make use of this rarely used facility when they have something to report. This information will then be visible next time the vehicle is scrutineered, possibly not by the same person.
3. Where an event requires Competition Vehicle log-books, the organising club should retain the log-books until the end of the event in order to note any damage that may have occurred during the event. Otherwise, a competitor could take a damaged vehicle away and repair it with no note on the log-book or no re-logging in the case of roll-cage damage. Repairs to a roll-cage that do not change its design will need one re-inspection.
4. Rule clarification to state that the requirements of B.3.1. also apply to C.4. ARC rules currently make no reference to the number of leaves on leaf springs for Special Class vehicles. This is allowing competitors to use 2 and 3-leaf springs, including parabolic types, on Special Class vehicles. The Committee's view is that the 5-leaf rule that currently applies only to Standard Class should apply to the Special class as well. Vehicles already fitted with springs with less than 5 leaves in the set, such as parabolic springs, may have additional leaves added to bring the number up to 5. In the case of 101's, two leaves is the minimum for all classes.
5. RTV rule E.1. should be applied fully and correctly. The rule mentions the requirement for a full set of hood frames / sticks, and it means just that. The main hoop of a roll-bar or roll-cage is not an acceptable substitute for the first hood frame. Furthermore, the windscreen shall be a Land Rover windscreen attached by its correct mountings. A windscreen set into the front hoop is not acceptable.
6. The countersink / chamfer angles on the wheel nuts and the mating part on the wheels should match.

VEHICLE COMPETITION POLICY - UPDATE

During the latter half of 1996 the ARC Council released the Vehicle Competition Future Policy Directive, setting out plans to direct the focus of Rover Club vehicle competition towards standard factory built vehicles, and to restrain further extremism of modified class vehicles.

The Scrutineering Committee were charged with the task of producing new vehicle regulations to achieve these ends, and they presented a set of draft regulations for Production Standard Vehicles by September 1997, initially intended only for coil sprung vehicles, and to cover RTV Trial and Comp. Safari vehicles only.

Following an early brief discussion in Council, the workload created by the 50th Year Events, notably the International Rally at Eastnor, delayed further deliberations until late 1998.

In the meantime, the Scrutineering Committee had made minor modifications, and had reached the conclusion that their earlier worries about applying the regulations to leaf sprung vehicles, were unfounded.

As a result, a 'Provisional' set of Production Standard Vehicle Regulations covering all Land Rover models has now been issued to all Clubs for comment and exploratory use throughout 1999, to be used alongside existing regulations, for RTV Trials and Comp. Safari events.

The next stage in the programme of change is the creation of regulations for Modified Production Standard Vehicles, and a set of draft regulations will be passed to the Council in the coming months. A third stage, covering 'Specials', or a variation of the MSA 'Prototype' class, will be considered at a future date, yet to be determined. These later stages will include a comprehensive re-appraisal of the fuel injection issue.

The Council's initial target for full implementation of the new regulations was "by the year 2002". It is still hoped to meet this target, in the meantime it should be made clear that the delays incurred during 1998 were due to Council work load, and are in no way attributable to the Scrutineering Committee.

Enclosed herewith is a copy of the new Production Standard Vehicle Regulations, which are much more user friendly than anything available hitherto. If you have any questions, contact your Club scrutineering representative, or any of the Scrutineering Committee listed in the leaflet, they will be only too pleased to clear up any worries.

It is hoped that these new regulations, particularly as applied to RTV Trials, will encourage more members with basic vehicles, as built by Land Rover, to take part in relatively simple 'trialling for fun'. If you have never entered before, you can of course start with a Beginners Trial, also sometimes known as a 'Novices Trial', or a 'Showroom Vehicle Trial', or a 'Tyro Trial'. Whatever the title, these are all run under MSA 'Tyro Trial' rules, where the severity of ground contours, slopes, etc. is strictly controlled. If your Club doesn't organise such trials, then talk to your Committee. You can also see what is involved, before having a go yourself, by marshalling at your local Club events.

Last Updated:
30/12/2005