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 Land Rover Celebrates 50 Years at Eastnor Castle
Land Rover is celebrating 50 years of using the Eastnor Castle estate in Herefordshire as its centre for off road testing and development. Tucked away in rural Herefordshire, this historic piece of English countryside is still an important tool in the research and development of new Land Rovers as well as offering a completely unique Land Rover driving experience to members of the public.
In 1961, Land Rover first chose the 5000 acre Eastnor Castle estate located near Ledbury, Herefordshire to assess the off-road credentials of their vehicles. Half a century on, the tradition continues, with Eastnor playing a pivotal role in the research and development of Land Rover's outstanding all-round capability and class-leading off road performance.
As well as the cars themselves, Eastnor has been instrumental in developing an impressive collection of Land Rover technologies; such as Anti-lock Brakes, Adjustable Air Suspension, Electronic Traction Control, Hill Descent Control and Terrain Response® – many of which were world firsts in the 4x4 sector.
The tradition of testing all Land Rover models at Eastnor continues to this day. The Range Rover Evoque was the most recent model to complete its off-road apprenticeship and a large part of the Evoque’s technology, including MagneRide™, was proven on the estate, where ride dampers were tested extensively.
Terrain Response® offers drivers optimal vehicle set-up (electronic and mechanical), and performance, under a variety of off-road conditions.
Whether driving in mud, ruts, rocks, sand, grass, gravel or snow, Terrain Response® has the appropriate setting, and will optimise ride height, engine torque Response®, Hill Decent Control, Electronic Traction Control and transmission settings, ensuring a safe and controlled passage across any terrain. The Eastnor estate provides the ultimate test for all these conditions and is instrumental in the continuing development of this technology.
 Eastnor has been used as not only an ideal off-road engineering ground, but since 1989, as an off-road learning centre for the emergency services, explorers, humanitarian societies such as the British Red Cross and, more recently, the general public.
Customers and fans of the brand can now book drive experience days to hone their on and off-road driving skills with tuition from a team of highly qualified Land Rover Experience instructors. Eastnor is one of over 30 centres around the world, and hosts over five and a half thousand visitors every year participating in half or full days, beginner and intermediate training as well as exciting night drives. Over a third of these visitors have travelled from overseas, keen to experience Land Rover in its heartland.
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Mud Runner - No Rain But Still Loads of Glorious Mud!
Mud Runner Classic, the 10km off road run at Eastnor Castle, took place on Sunday 16th October and even in the current dry conditions the muddy swamps were numerous and very thick!
There was also a Junior race of 5 km for children aged 5-15 years which was a tough but fun course filled with challenging mud troughs and obstacles. 200 children took part this year and appeared to love every minute of it!
The main race had a record number of entries and the atmosphere was fantastic with a large number of spectators to cheer the runners around the course.
What inspired many of the runners was the amazing achievement of the first wheelchair competitor for Mud Runner.Rick Rodger’s, from South East London, is a disabled athlete who showed how a team of determined people and an off road wheelchair (The Mountain Trike) can overcome just about any obstacle!
Rick described the day as a blur of adrenalin fuelled madness! Accompanied by the wheelchair designer Ed Elias and a team of his friends they put the Mountain Trike through its toughest test to date and it survived! Rick said that the highlight of the day was coming down the river bed with everyone cheering on the banks as the finish line came into view (finish time was 3:39:46). Ed is also looking for more people willing to compete in future Mud Runner events on the Mountain Trike.
Men’s Results Female Results
James Bingham - 55:46 Roz Viner - 1:06:59
John Pullen - 55:49 Niki Morgan - 1:08:20
Colin Brearly - 57:54 Holly Blount - 1:09:17
Junior Boys Results Junior Girls Results
James Southall - 19:43 Sophie Beckingham - 23:12
Joshua Matthews - 20:07 Hattie Barnett - 24:44
Jacob Payne - 21:44 Briony Bishop - 25:38
For further information: www.mudrunner.co.uk
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RED OR BLACK?
Award winning duo Ant & Dec host a brand new TV event for ITV1, giving ordinary people across the UK the chance to become millionaires.
Over the course of a wee, seven people will face a life-defining moment as they are offered the chance to walk away with one million pounds. To win, all they need is luck on their side and to successfully choose the correct outcome, Red or Black? Guess wrong and they walk away with nothing.
The event kicked off at Wembley earlier this summer, which was transformed into the Red or Black? arena. Presenters Ant & Dec presided over a host of spectacular stunts which saw world records broken and included one man's giant leap from over 11 metres into a tiny paddling pool, two professional motor cross drivers' attempt to limbo at 19 feet above the ground and an extraordinary hurdling challenge conducted on the roof of moving cars.
The lucky contestants who made it through the arena continued the Red or Black? experience at one of a number of locations around the country. Once again, all they needed to do was guess the outcome in more incredible challenges.
Filmed in some of the UK's most iconic and famous landmarks, Red or Black? followed in the footsteps of Harry Potter at Alnwick Castle, fired The Hoff to a great height at Battersea Power Station, and challenged US Open winner Rory McIlroy and world number two Lee Westwood to get the ultimate hole in one at Eastnor Castle.
The show which features Eastnor Castle will be transmitted on ITV1 on Sunday 4th September.
The show is split into two sections each night, and the filming at Eastnor will largely feature in the first of these sections. The second section, later that same evening, will feature some references to the location, but will be largely studio based.
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Sports Day comes to Eastnor!
For the Bank Holiday Weekend
EastnorCastle is hosting a fun family event for the Bank Holiday weekend on Sunday 28th and Monday 29th August with 'Wacky Races and Teddy Bear's Picnic' on the Valley Lawn.
New host 'Thomas Trilby' will be entertaining the family in a wacky way and getting everyone to take part in traditional races - such as the egg and spoon, three legged and sack races there will also be prizes to be won!
Also if you bring along your teddies and a picnic you can enjoy a tale down in the woods with local storyteller Cat Wetherall.
The Castle General Manager David Littlewood says "This is a great Bank Holiday weekend event and fantastic fun for all the family! We are also very excited to announce that we have a new on-line booking system where you can now purchase discounted tickets before you arrive at the castle".
Along with the castle's usual attractions of the knight's maze, adventure playground, ice-cream parlour, shop and tea room there will be a fabulous local pig roast available in the castle courtyard.
Castle and Grounds admission applies and gates open at 11am until 4pm.
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Emergency Services at Eastnor
Sunday 5th June
Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Services (H&WFRS) will be joining colleagues from other local emergency services this weekend at Eastnor Castle.
The event will take place between 11am and 4.30pm on Sunday 5th June. Representatives from West Mercia Police, the Army, St Johns Ambulance, County Air Ambulance, Mercia Accident Rescue Service (MARS) and Severn Area Rescue Association will also be attending, setting up a series of displays for visitors to enjoy and learn more about the work the various agencies are called to respond to.
For its part, H&WFRS is planning a series of activties throughout the day including a rescue demonstration on the lake by the water rescue team and a display of the equipment and vehicles used by the Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) team, who are also hoping to bring along their rescue dog.
The Aerial Ladder Platform will also be displayed along with some of the 4x4 vehicles used by H&WFRS, including the new Defender 130 off-road firefighting vehicle. The Community Fire Safety team will be taking along the smoke tent and will be on hand to offer general fire safety advice.
Watch Commander Nick Browning from H&WFRS said: "With the range of vehicles and equipment on display from both the Fire Service and the other emergency services, this promises to be a fun filled family day and we hope lots of people will come along to the event to enjoy the activities on offer."
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ICEBREAKER
Sunday 7th February 2011
 Mud Runner 'Icebreaker' was billed as a 'Severe Winter Duathlon', and it really lived up to its description as participants took on the brutal terrain on Eastnor Castle Estate. Icebreaker is the third in the increasingly popular series of Mud Runner races involving am 8km run, a 20km bike ride, finishing with a further 3km run.
The race stretched out over large areas of the estate often on the tracks used by Land Rover to test their vehicles. The run incorprated the useal muddy troughs that have become associated with Mud Runner but it was the bike section that really pushed the riders to their limits. Deep ruts, extreme ascents and descents, a relentless section of muddy, cloggy tracks made the biking extremely challenging.
With amazing spirit the competitors still found it in themselves to create a great atmosphere and have a lot of fun even though most of them claimed it was the toughest race they had ever done.
The top three men and third place female are all local competitors and have completed in Mud Runner challenges in the past but the unanimous verdict was that this was the most demanding to date!
Sara and Georgina (pictured) placed 1st and 2nd are new to Mud Runner but Sara has competed in two Olympic Games as a cyclist and still described it as 'relentless and brutal!'
For further race information and results visit www.mudrunner.co.uk
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