Land Rover celebrated the production of the one millionth Discovery yesterday, calling in a group of renowned explorers who have all used the vehicle in their past adventures.

Ray Mears, Bear Grylls, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Monty Halls and Ben Saunders were all present at the launch, toasting the iconic off-roader before it embarked on an epic 8,000 mile fund-raising expedition to China.

Dubbed the Journey of Discovery, the 4x4 will form part of a three-vehicle convoy travelling through more than a dozen countries across Europe and Central Asia. The expedition aims to raise £1 million for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), in what Land Rover says is its most ambitious fundraising project ever.  

The fund-raising challenge follows in the tyre tracks of The First Overland Expedition of 1955, in which a team in Series 1 Land Rovers set out from Birmingham to Beijing: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZcHKpl1pSs&w=500&h=284]