It all started in 1980 with three German teams in Jeeps mucking about... sorry, er... exploring in the Amazon. The organisers thought they may be on to something and approached Land Rover - the Camel Trophy Event began and became an annual event. Camel cigarettes sponsored the first event. From then on there was a joint sponsorship between Worldwide Brands Inc. and Land Rover. The events ran from 1981 to 1998. (There was one last Camel Trophy event in 2000 but this was sponsored by Honda, not Land Rover and was completely different from previous events as the teams competed in RHIB power boats). Most articles I have read describe the Camel Trophy Events as the Olympics of the 4WD.
Teams from all over the world competed in the events which took place, amidst the most inhospitable terrain imaginable, in countries such as Sumatra, Papua New Guinea, Borneo, Siberia, Mongolia (to name but a few).
As the years passed the event evolved, testing not only off-road driving skills but also including many more disciplines such as kayaking, mountain biking and skiing. Teams would be given GPS co-ordinates and have to navigate their way to specified locations. At each location there would be 'tasks' to complete and a certain number of points that could be earned.
Around1993 the questions about environmental impact came to the fore. During this year - possibly to defy critics or possibly to re-affirm their dedication to exploration - while the Camel Trophy teams were in Malaysia, the competitors built an environmental monitoring station in the jungle so biologists could study the flora and fauna in this area which, until then, had been largely unexplored.
Moving swiftly on and definitely not getting into a political or moral debate about environmental impacts at this stage.....
The 1998 event put the, then brand new, Freelander through it's paces. All competing vehicles were Freelanders with Defenders as support vehicles. It is reported that winter sports disciplines played more of a part in this event than off-road driving and, because of this, Land Rover felt that the event was moving away from adventure driving and exploration. Therefore the powers that be at Land Rover decided not to sponsor future events.
There were now many adventurous adrenalin addicts of a certain persuasion feeling a little hard done by and finding themselves in a bit of a void. Land Rover also had a gap to fill in terms of their sponsorship and 'showing off' the capabilities of their vehicles. And so, from the ashes of the Camel Trophy pyre, the Land Rover G4 Challenge was born.