David Bowyer by David Lovejoy

When David Bowyer asks you over for the afternoon …and offers you tea as well only the criminally sad would say no!

You see, for more years than most of us care to remember David Bowyer has been so actively involved in the world of 4x4 as to be almost of a god like status.

Whether as a leading light in the Landrover Series One world, designing and manufacturing off-road recovery equipment or teaching many hundreds of people what off-road driving is all about. From his base near Zeal Monachorum in Devon, David has had a huge impact on both commercial and recreational off-roading all over the world.

For those of you who have missed out on the ‘Bowyer ‘ experience at Billing and other such shows, first impressions can be somewhat of an anticlimax. One could be forgiven, knowing just a small amount of this man’s history, for expecting a slightly scaled down version of John Bunyan (albeit with a Red V8 90 rather than a blue ox). However the medium height and medium built bearded gentleman who greats you may not be twenty feet tall but the twinkle of merriment in his eye, the wicked sense of humour and that amazing knowledge about the mechanics of off-road soon make you realize that this is someone special.

I pride myself in being fairly knowledgeable about my things 4x4 and as such the chance to spend a short afternoon in the company of Mr Bowyer was a welcome way to past the time. After less than ten minutes and my first cup of tea I felt like the humble ‘Grasshopper’ kneeling at the feet of his Sensei.

David had explained previously that he needed to assemble an order for one of his G10 plus winches. As such he would have to work while we chatted.

Watching the G10 being assembled one realises why it is so successful in the off road Challenge world, as well as being hugely respected by commercial users worldwide. The fact that over three and a half years were spent researching and developing this winch becomes almost insignificant when you compare its construction with other makes (David also services and repairs a number of other manufacturers winches), the ‘G’ series of winches are undoubtedly in another class. Roller bearings, ‘V’ ring seals, multiple grease nipples, cooling fins, heavy duty solenoids and even a bit more cable than the norm all go to make this one hell of a product! Okay so it’s not the cheapest winch on the market. But who wants cheap when you get ‘hand built by the designer’ quality?

It seemed that every topic we discussed had had some form of ‘Bowyer’ input, from magazine publishing to difflocks - understandable when you think that David set up the first off-road driving school (www.davidbowyer.com) in the UK, developed his own brand of off-road recovery equipment (BRB) as well as fighting to bring Green Laning to the fore. He still owns his first Series one but has a quite love affair with his 18-year-old Toyota Landcruiser – which he calls his motorway armchair.

Oh, he makes a good cup of tea as well….

We are pleased to announce that from next month DAVID BOWYER will be writing a series of articles for us covering all areas off Off Road Driving, from Recovery Techniques, Off-Road Equipment, Winches and Driving Techniques.