Tråd: Land Rover Defender Udfordring appellerer til lænestol eventyrere

Bowler Motorsport har skabt en Forsvarer egnet til at tage på den hårdeste rally udfordringer i en ny skræddersyet serie. Efter at have haft en gå, kan vi se appellen. Ive brugt mange en lørdag aften, glas-i-hånd, i betragtning af, hvilken form for racing club Id dykke ned i, hvis Lotto tal kom op.
Ive aldrig overvejet at samle, selv, endsige rally raiding. Jeg har kørt rally biler på løse overflader et par gange, men ikke nær så godt som legitimation have ønsket at. Id har brug for nogen til at tage mig sammen lidt til at gå denne rute.
Da det viser sig, Bowler Motorsport ville være den perfekte mennesker. Jeg mødte Trak Bowler og et par medlemmer af hans team i sidste uge, før du kører den nye Land Rover Defender Udfordring rally raid bil. En pænere, mere nede-på-jorden, ligesindede gruppe af mennesker, youll simpelthen aldrig støder på – forudsat at du kan lide at rode i hurtige biler, selvfølgelig, og ikke har noget imod at få ordentligt fast i.
Forsvarer Udfordring kom, Trak siger, som en direkte følge af en bestemt kunde. Dette var en fyr whod netop gjort en transatlantisk boat race, og hvem der er næste klør var at have en revne i Dakar rally raid. Han havde ingen uddannelse eller erfaring i at samle på alle, men har haft midlerne og engagement. Han ville have en bil, en vis støtte, og et fornuftigt program til at få ham klar.
Han er typisk for den type af kunde, hvem der er kommet frem siden, siger Trak. Disse fyre arent 21-årige adrenalin junkies. De ejer deres egne virksomheder, de har kendt en smule sjov og spænding i livet, og theyre tilmelding så meget for eventyr og den sociale side af, hvad der var at gøre som noget.
Der description – plus en køretur i en bil, som du kunne have endeløs underholdning på hjul af – temmelig meget det samme overbevist mig om appellen af denne serie. Og når det kommer til Dakar, Bowlers fik en anden historie at skærpe appetitten.
For nogen tid siden, en Bowler i Dakar rekvireret fra ørkenen. Mærkeligt, hans første ord var ikke Ive brudt ned. Han forklarede, at et let fly vil ankomme på de hold, der inden for en time. Drew var at sikre, at en ingeniør, en differentieret og en vogn jack blev afsendt til bestyrelsen, at flyet. Og uden at vide, hvem den pilot, hvor flyet skulle komme fra, hvordan det ville finde den pågældende bil, eller hvor det ville lande, når det gjorde, Drew gjorde, hvad han blev bedt om.
Når hans ingeniør vendte tilbage flere timer senere, forklarede han, at han havde blevet bedt om at tage kontrollen over flyet, efter at piloten havde fundet vores helt, og til at flyve lavt over bilen, tre eller fire gange. På den sidste pass, skal piloten blot kastede udskiftning diff og donkraften ud af flyet. Et stykke tid senere, den konkurrent, der ankom til dette checkpoint med en fast bil, chalking noget mere alvorligt end et par strafpoint for forsinkelse.
Det var ikke lovligt, men der skete længe nok siden, at det okay at fortælle dig, lo Bowler.
Du spekulerer på, hvor mange flere historier, der også kan lide, at man kan komme ud omkring en paddock lejrbål på en rally-raid. Mere end noget andet, du ønsker at være en del af et. Bowlers Land Rover Defender Udfordring, der giver dig en nem måde. Hvad der sker efter det, jeg formoder, er op til dig.

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.