It's now exactly a year since we decided to create Difflock.com. During that time we've often asked ourselves "why?" but we're glad we stuck with it and we hope you are too.

Following on from our recent Reader's Survey we've made a few changes to the site and introduced more of the features you asked for. We now have an Off-Road Motorsport section that will cover all the events, competitions and developments in the sport both nationally and internationally. We've added a section devoted entirely to Military 4x4s and we will be featuring some pretty amazing machinery in the coming months.

Our recently introduced Expedition Section is set to grow and improve as we add more of the information you will need before planning an Overland Trip, including Country Specific 'Tour Guides' and on-line maps. We are also currently putting together a comprehensive Off-Road Driving section that we hope will be of use to everyone regardless of your level of experience.

We now have more contributors than ever covering all aspects of 4x4 ownership and we've got some others coming aboard shortly. We are all total 4x4 and off-road enthusiasts and we hope that if we're interested in a subject then you will be too.

Our aim is to create a web site that becomes the FIRST place people think of when they are searching for 4x4 and off-road related information on the internet. We are also committed to delivering all this to you FREE. This may mean things take a little longer as resources are obviously limited but we hope you will stick with us.

Regarding Advertising we recently stopped publishing adverts on the site, randomly placing adverts on every page gives little reward to the advertisers and just seems to annoy you , the readers. This has obviously further limited our resources and budgets but we have plans to introduce a system that will both benefit our much needed sponsors as well as limit the disruption to your enjoyment of the site.

THIS MONTH'S ISSUE:

2002 Range Rover - We were very fortunate to spy the new model range rover undergoing road-tests near Birmingham recently. Our photos were taken with a digital camera that did not like being used whilst driving along so we've 'digitally enhanced' the pictures somewhat to show you exactly what the new model will look like when it's launched next March. You may have also seen our pictures published in other magazines. So rare are good quality photos of this new model that we had publishers falling over each other to get their hands on them.

SmarTruck - Take an 'everyday' Ford F350 and pack it with all the electronic gadgets you can get your hands on, add a few 'defence' systems and you get a superbly versatile vehicle that James Bond would be proud of

60 Jeep Years - In 1941 the US military put together the idea of creating a small, reliable and hard-as-nails vehicle that would serve their troops in defence situations around the world. What came from that was the Jeep, not exactly as we know it today, it went through quite a few revisions over those 60 years but although the current Grand Cherokees might look totally different to the 1941 'Quad' they both come from the same drawing boards.

PLUS:

Isuzu Concepts

New Vehicles: Landrover Defender 147

Past Masters: Mahindra Jeep, Daihatsu Fourtrak, Toyota Landcruiser LWB

Projects: 110 and Trailer

NEXT MONTH's ISSUE:

We are putting together a 'Special Edition' for July all about LPG. What it is, what the benefits are, how much it costs, what the benefits are etc. We also have some good case studies to show you vehicles that have already been done. In association with our sister-web site www.MileageCalculator.co.uk we aim to give you all the details you will need to make an informed decision about whether the technology will benefit you.

And it's not just for the Petrol Heads amongst you, we have something that will also be of interest to oil burners too!

FORTHCOMING EVENTS:

With the country gradually getting back to normal and previously restricted areas being opened up again we've got some pretty exciting events to look forward to over the next few months.

We hope to attend most of the events scheduled and we will also have a trade stand at many of them, so please stop by and have a chat with us if you can. These are the events we are currently committed to; Oxfordshire-Clearout, Beaulieu 4x4 Show, Billing 2001 Land Rover Enthusiast Show, Land Rover World Show, National 4x4 Show, Land Rover Owner Show, the Rhino Challenge and the Old Sodbury Sortout. We may visit many more than these but so many have been rescheduled that some of them now clash with each other.

Please feel free to contact us about anything on the web site, or if there's something you would like to see that we have not yet covered, just let us know and we'll see what we can do.

That's all for now, see you soon!

Simon Ward-Hastelow
Publisher, Difflock.com