A Tribute to Dan Evans
Everyone at Motorsport UK is deeply saddened by the passing of Dan Evans, Chair of the Cross Country Committee, and member of the Technical Committee and Motor Sports Council. Dan passed away on 26th September and will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
Dan was born in Bradford and from an early age his passion was for Land Rovers and motorsport. Wanting to work rather than go to university he started in the family wholesale waste and scrap business. Then, after building a roll cage for his own Land Rover, friends started to ask him to build one for theirs. He left the family business to concentrate on building and preparing competition vehicles full-time in 2000, setting up Evans 4×4, which then changed its name to Protection and Performance in 2003.
Protection and Performance quickly became the market leaders in supplying 4×4 and off-road roll cages and for other motorsport applications. Including leading car manufacturers, government agencies and individuals around the world, including many special and interesting projects. If you’ve watched Top Gear ‘Stars in a Reasonably-Priced Car’ then you will have seen a P&P cage along with many special projects for filming and stunt cars for major cinema blockbusters. One of Dan’s proudest achievements was as part of the 2008 crossing of the Bering Sea from Uelen in Russia to Wales Alaska in an amphibious Land Rover which he helped develop and build.
His motorsport activities were mostly in Cross Country as a competitor in Comp Safari’s with Northern Off Road Club and the All Wheel Drive Club. He was also a regular competitor in the Hill Rallies and at Baja GB, once even entering on a motorbike. Dan also enjoyed the French Tout Terrain championship events entering the Rallye Des Cimes at 19, his highest finish with wife Kim as co-driving was 4th. Recently he’d been involved with Autotest and road rallies, including as a radio marshal, and was in the process of preparing a 4×4 as a rally cross country recovery unit. He joined Motorsport UK’s Cross Country Committee in 2010, bringing his experience and technical knowledge to the committee. He was appointed Chairman in 2019 along with appointment to Council and the Technical Committee.
Dan Evans 1969 – 2021.