THE DIRTY 130
IT was so effortless, I almost barely noticed. We’re on a main road in the Welsh borders, in evening commuter traffic. On an extended incline one lane briefly becomes two. We move to the outside lane and accelerate, then accelerate some more. Commuters get picked off as progress becomes beyond what you might be accustomed to. There is no wince-inducing harshness from an over-stretched engine, laying a smoke trail like the Red Arrows as gears are snatched one after another. Instead there’s just a steady, relentless push, in one gear, until we are at quite a lick. Yet we aren’t in a sports car, we’re in a Defender 130, on huge tyres, powered by a highly tuned BMW straight-six diesel.
To explain, we have to rewind slightly. The driver is Dave Lea, and the vehicle is a creative collaboration between his two businesses, 4x4 Fabrication and Mahker. Dave’s YouTube videos give the neat synopsis: “It all started while working on
