The car that Sebastien Loeb used in the Dakar has its street version that very few will be able to buy

Generally, urban versions of racing cars, those vehicles that are made for use on the street, are usually domesticated in terms of technical and comfort: a racing car doesn't need to be smooth and an urban one doesn't have to be so fast.

A track, moreover, does not have undulations or slopes like those found in cities or routes, so they allow heights or clears from the ground, which make them even more effective, but with sports purposes only.

In the case of a rally car, none of that applies, because it is exactly the other way around. The rally car is designed for jumping, going over rocks and deep potholes and has a power curve that favors acceleration over smooth riding. Imagining a Dakar car for the streets is even more extreme, and it seems more difficult to adapt.

The category of prototypes that run the most demanding race in the world, has shown in recent years, cars much more voluminous than their predecessors. From Volkswagen's Touareg or Roby Gordon's Hummer in the South American Dakars onwards, the regulation of the highest class of vehicles participating in the Raids has allowed them to be developed at such a level that in the 2022 edition the Audi RS Q e-tron debuted, which everyone calls “the UFO”, as the maximum expression of a large car.

But he's not the only one. In England, the company Prodrive, historically linked to the management of Subaru in the World Rally Championship, developed two years ago a prototype called BRX Hunter T1, which was designed without any car base, but as a model specifically designed for racing the Dakar. The car has that name, which means Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) because it was precisely the royalty of that Middle Eastern country that made part of the development of the project possible with its funding.

The funding not only included the racing team that put three cars on the start line in Saudi Arabia for Sebastien Loeb, Nani Roma and Argentina's Orly Terranova, but also the construction of the street version of the Hunter, which will be limited to 25 units.

This version could be seen circulating on the streets of London a few days ago, which caught the attention of locals and strangers from the car world, not only because of its size for traffic, but also because of its color, since, unlike the cars of the Dakar, this Hunter is not red but sand color.

The car is not that long, it is 4.6 meters, it is not even that high, because its roof is 1.85 meters from the floor, but it is remarkably wide, which makes it somewhat difficult to ride in a city, since it measures 2.3 meters from mirror to mirror.

Mechanically, the engine that drives it is a 3.5-liter Ford V6 with dual turbocharger, capable of delivering 600 hp, more than the 400 hp of the “racing” version, limited by regulations. And although it is in the front position, when removing the horn of a Hunter, it is unlikely to find it, since what you see is the intercooler and the impeller is entering the cabin. In fact, part of it remains between the two seats of its crew members so far back that it has been placed.

In that cabin there are some noise isolations, because between the sound of the engine inside, and the three differentials, having a conversation is not easy. The racing car has a gear lever, but the street car has cams behind the wheel. The sequential gearbox is a six-speed Sadev with hydraulic drive on all four wheels, a power distribution of 50:50 and front, middle and rear differentials with independent locking. In terms of performance, the Hunter is capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in less than 4 seconds and reaching a top speed of 300 km/h.

The exterior view highlights the absence of the large rear spoiler of the racing car, which is not in the street version, as well as the two spare wheels used to race a Dakar and whose accommodation between the crew's back and rear train, are used as air inlets for the Urban Hunter. The spare tire goes under the trunk.

The car is truly impressive, and so is its price, since each unit is worth $2.25 million, no less.

KEEP READING