In 1979 many great things happened; not only was I born but also the inaugural Paris-Dakar was won by a V8 Range Rover Classic. No one remembers it as early Dakar races were really about the bikes, but true desert racing was born when a French man piloted one of Solihull’s finest luxury wagons across the 10,000km from France ro Senegal.
So flash forward to 2025 and I have decided to build my first race car, a homage to the original Dakar winner. Roger the Range Rover Rally Car is currently coming alive under the banner of Guincho Racing a newly formed Rally race team of which I am lucky enough to be one of the drivers. The concept of Guincho Racing is simple, can a pair of complete amateurs take part in a professional long distance Rally Raid competition and not totally embarrass ourselves. Simple.
We have joined a race called “AFRICA ECO RACE” and will be taking part in this epic adventure in January 2026, but first – We needed a race car. The Range Rover V8 was a luxury motor in its day but with genuine off road and racing pedigree it seemed like an amazing base model to build our car from. We started by stripping it back, removing its interior and cutting out anything that we felt was unnecessary. Electric mirrors, clock, stereo, cup holders, Air conditioning, heating, switch panels, carpets, rear seats, central console, auxiliary wiring, door cards, headliners all came out to give us an almost bare frame to work with.
We then took stock and checked the regulations for AFRICA ECO RACE to see what we needed to pass scrutineering.
- FIA Roll Cage
- FIA Seats
- Fire Extinguishers
- 500km of fuel
- Water
- Sand boards
- Radios
- Stella 3 Comms devices
Rather ambitiously we then decided the best way to build a car to take on over 10,000 miles of rally racing was to build with longevity, and reliability in mind and the best way we could think of making something last forever was to know how to fix it, so we made of list of what we should do ourselves and it was terrifying.
- Suspension upgrade
- Propshaft, axel and steering upgrades to suit new suspension
- Track widening and anti roll bar installation
- Brake discs, pads, and lines upgrade
- Under body protecion
- Transfer box sump extension
- Racing electrical system (Cut offs, rocker switches, simplification)
- Coolant hose upgrade
- Induction box and snorkel installation
- Tow points and off road bumper installation
- Additional fuel tank capacity
Having done something similar to Ventura in 2023 I knew some of the requirements, but really this was to become the largest mechanical undertaking of my life.
Phase 1 is now complete, the running gear works is now under going testing on the road and the majority of the interior is stripped out. Phase 2 is race car development, seats, roll cages and instruments. The challenge is huge, it seems to be never ending and time is running out fast.
