YEEEEE HAAA!

Off-road rallying is motorsport at its most extreme, and the Prodrive Hunter and Bowler Defender are two different ways to travel absurdly quickly across the toughest terrain. We strap ourselves in…

- RICHARD MEADEN & HENRY CATCHPOLE

THIS IS THE PRODRIVE HUNTER. BUILT to battle the rigours of international rally raid events, it is arguably the final piece of the puzzle for one of the most successful and celebrated names in world motorsport. With decades of success at the highest levels of world rallying, touring cars, Le Mans and F1 (via David Richards’ management of the BAR Grand Prix team at the turn of the millennium), the Hunter has overall Dakar victory squarely in its sights.

Driven by Sébastien Loeb and Dakar veteran Nani Roma, the Hunter and the BRX team (backed by Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund) made their debut in this year’s event, and while it was not without incident (Loeb eventually retired), Roma secured 5th overall – the best-ever result for a new team and vehicle on its maiden Dakar. Now, in arguably its toughest test yet, the Hunter is being driven by a handful of motoring journalists…

You really have to stand next to this machine to appreciate its scale. At 4.5m long, almost 2m high and weighing 1850kg dry, it dwarfs regular competition cars. Built around a bespoke tensile steel tubular structure, the front end cradles a 400bhp/678Nm 3.5-litre Ford EcoBoost V6 engine. Behind the tight two-seat cockpit are mounted spare wheels and a colossal fuel tank that can hold up to 500 litres of petrol.