Desert Warrior by Rally Raid UK

After racing a Bowler Wildcat, Paul thought he could build a better vehicle for desert racing and rally raids through places like Morocco, so he did. The off-road racer at the bottom of the page is the first one he built (eg the prototype) which has just returned from Morocco. The Desert Warrior at the top of the page (below), powered by a BMW 3 litre engine, was driven by Paul and Mark Round to 8th in the diesel class and 28th overall in the 2004 Paris-Dakar Rally with Rally Raid UK.

The Desert Warrior is constructed on a purpose built chassis made from 3" tubing, not a donor chassis like the Tomcat. The design of the chassis means that things like the fuel tank can be mounted lower down than in a Bowler Wildcat and the centre of gravity is lower. This makes the Desert Warrior more stable than a Bowler Wildcat.

The Desert Warrior also has a longer wheelbase at 106 inches than the Bowler Wildcat or Range Rover/Tomcat at 100 inches. This makes it more stable at speed when racing in the desert, in a straight line, but harder to turn. This makes it less suitable for me as I intend to use my off-roader around a busy city.

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Paul is now arranging for all the parts to be made by experts in their fields eg. the body by a GRP expert. He will then be putting together a kit of parts so that other people can build their own Desert Warrior.

For more details and photos of Rally Raid UK’s rally raid and Dakar successes, try (http://gallery.rallyraid.co.uk/gallery/index.asp).