Transcaucasian Expedition Defender 110
The Defender 110 provided under the 2016 Royal Geographical Society Land Rover Bursary for the Transcaucasian Expedition, which set out to map a long-distance hiking trail through the Caucasus of Georgia and Armenia — modelled on the polar bursary Defenders' pattern as a red hard top on triangular track units with a jerrycan-laden roof rack, rectangular bull-bar spot lamps and a large winch.
History
The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Land Rover Bursary has lent a fully equipped Defender 110 each year since 2010 to an expedition combining geographical research with public engagement; the Land Rover Heritage Collection's account of far-flung Defenders illustrates the tradition with Sir Ranulph Fiennes' tracked Defender three miles out on the sea ice in 2013. The 2016 bursary went to the Transcaucasian Expedition, whose team used the Defender as a mobile base while surveying and mapping the first sections of the Transcaucasian Trail, a long-distance hiking route across the mountains of Georgia and Armenia. The bursary Defenders shared a specification of red 110 with snorkel, roof rack, expedition boxes, spot lamps and winch; the Transcaucasian vehicle itself is not pictured in the source.
The registry's model follows the queue's brief: a red Defender 110 hard top on four track units, a roof rack of jerrycans with four round lamps at the front, a bull bar with two rectangular spot lamps and a large winch, bonnet spare, snorkel and RGS lettering.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Land Rover (Defender 110 hard top, 2.2 L Puma)
- Manufactured
- 2016 RGS Land Rover Bursary vehicle
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- Land Rover / Royal Geographical Society (bursary expedition fit; track units after the polar bursary Defenders)
- Engine type
- Ford/Land Rover 2.2 L Puma turbo-diesel (Defender of 2016; not stated in the source)
- Production run
- 1 (one bursary vehicle per year)
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- United Kingdom
- Status
- unknown
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Model line
- Defender
- Wheels
- 0
- Nominal wheelbase
- 110″
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
Sources & citations
Researched sources
- To far-flung places and back again — Land Rover Heritage Collection (the RGS Land Rover Bursary Defenders; photograph of Sir Ranulph Fiennes with a tracked Defender on the sea ice) ↗ — Land Rover Heritage Collection (accessed 2026-09-11)
Catalogue references
- https://www.lrheritagecollection.org.uk/to-far-flung-places-and-back-again/ https://www.lrheritagecollection.org.uk/to-far-flung-places-and-back-again/ ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-11T11:01:19.445Z · status: researched