Bowler Motorsport has created a Defender fit for taking on the toughest rallying challenges in a new bespoke series. Having had a go, we can see the appeal. Ive spent many a Saturday evening, glass-in-hand, considering which kind of club racing Id dive into if the Lotto numbers came up.
Ive never considered rallying, though, let alone rally raiding. I've driven rally cars on loose surfaces a few times, but not nearly as well as Id have liked to. Id need someone to take me along a bit to go down that route.
As it turns out, Bowler Motorsport would be the perfect people. I met Drew Bowler and a few members of his team last week, before driving the new
Land Rover Defender Challenge rally raid car. A nicer, more down-to-earth, like-minded group of people youll simply never encounter – assuming you like messing about in fast cars, of course, and dont mind getting properly stuck in.
The Defender Challenge came about, Drew says, as a direct result of one particular customer. This was a guy whod just done a transatlantic boat race, and whos next itch was to have a crack at the Dakar rally raid. He had no training or experience of rallying at all, but had the means and the commitment. He wanted a car, some support, and a sensible programme to get him ready.
Hes typical of the type of customer whos come forward since, says Drew. These guys arent 21-year-old adrenaline junkies. They own their own businesses, theyve known a bit of fun and excitement in life, and theyre signing up as much for the adventure and the social side of what were doing as anything.
That description – plus a drive in a car that you could have endless entertainment at the wheel of – pretty much instantly convinced me of the appeal of this series. And when it comes to the Dakar, Bowlers got another story to whet the appetite.
Some time ago, a Bowler at the Dakar radioed in from the desert. Oddly, his first words were not Ive broken down. He simply explained that a light aircraft would be arriving at the teams service location within the hour. Drew was to ensure that an engineer, a differential and a trolley jack were dispatched to board that plane. And without knowing who the pilot was, where the plane had come from, how it would find the car in question or where it would land when it did, Drew did what he was told.
When his engineer returned several hours later, he explained that hed been asked to take the controls of the plane after the pilot had found our hero, and to fly low over the car three or four times. On the last pass, the pilot simply threw the replacement diff and the jack out of the plane. A while later, the competitor arrived at this checkpoint with a fixed car, chalking up nothing more serious than a few penalty points for lateness.
It wasnt legal, but happened long enough ago that its okay to tell you, laughed Bowler.
You wonder how many more stories like that one might come out around a paddock campfire on a rally raid. More than anything, you want to be part of one. Bowlers Land Rover Defender Challenge gives you an easy way in. What happens after that, I suppose, is up to you.
