Tråd: Land Rover Defender utfordring appellerer til lenestol eventyrere

Bowler Motorsport har skapt en forsvarer til å ta på de tøffeste samlingspunkt utfordringene i en ny skreddersydde serie. Har hatt en gå, kan vi se appell. Ive anvendte mange en lørdag kveld, glass i hånd, vurderer hva slags club racing Id dykke inn hvis Lotto tallene kom opp.
Ive aldri vurdert rally, selv, enn si rally raiding. Jeg har kjørt rallybiler på løs overflater et par ganger, men ikke på langt nær samt Id gjerne. IDen trenger noen å ta meg med litt å gå ned denne ruten.
Det viser seg, ville Bowler Motorsport være den perfekte mennesker. Jeg møtte Drew Bowler og noen medlemmer av hans team forrige uke, før du kjører den nye Land Rover Defender Challenge rally raid bil. En bedre, mer down-to-earth, likesinnede gruppe mennesker du bare aldri møte-forutsatt at du som rote rundt i raske biler, selvfølgelig, og ikke tankene å få riktig fast i.
Defender utfordringen kom, Drew sier, som et direkte resultat av en bestemt kunde. Dette var en fyr whod gjort et transatlantisk båt løp, og som har neste klør var å ha en sprekk på Dakar rally raid. Han hadde ingen opplæring eller opplevelsen av rally på alle, men hadde midler og engasjement. Han ønsket en bil, støtte og et fornuftig program for å få ham klar.
HMS typisk for kundetype som har kommet frem siden, sier Drew. Disse gutta ikke 21-åringen adrenalin junkies. De eier sin egen virksomhet, de har kjent litt moro og spenning i livet og de registrerer deg like mye for eventyr og den sosiale siden av hva gjorde som noe.
Denne beskrivelsen- pluss en stasjon i en bil overbevist ha endeløs underholdning på rattet i-ganske mye umiddelbart meg av appell av denne serien. Og når det gjelder Dakar, Bowlers fikk en annen historie å skjerpe appetitten.
En tid siden, radioed en Bowler på Dakar i fra ørkenen. Merkelig, hans første ord var ikke Ive brutt ned. Bare forklarte han at et småfly ville ankommer på servicestedet lag innen en time. Drew var å sikre at en tekniker, en differensial og en tralle jack ble sendt til det flyet. Og uten å vite hvem piloten var der flyet hadde kommet fra, hvordan det ville finne bilen i spørsmålet eller hvor ville det land når det kom Drew gjorde hva han ble fortalt.
Når hans ingeniør tilbake flere timer senere, forklarte han at hed blitt bedt om å ta kontroll over flyet etter pilot hadde funnet vår helt, og flyr lavt over bilen tre eller fire ganger. I siste omgang kastet piloten bare erstatning diff og kontakten ut av flyet. En stund senere konkurrenten ankom dette kontrollpunktet med fast bil, beltet ingenting mer alvorlig enn noen straffepoeng for lateness.
Det var ikke lovlig, men skjedde lenge nok siden at dets OK å fortelle deg, lo Bowler.
Du lurer på hvor mange flere historier som at man kan komme rundt et polstret bål på et rally raid. Mer enn noe, vil du være del av en. Bowlers Land Rover Defender utfordring gir deg en enkel måte. Hva skjer etter at jeg antar, er opp til deg.

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.