As the dust settles after the 2022 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia and the world’s finest rally drivers prepare for the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and the Kazakhstan Rally, veteran rally driver Nani Roma is graced with a short period of calm. But there is little downtime for someone who pushes it as hard as this. Nor does the team that stands behind this formidable driver get much time to rest. They work hard at optimizing his Prodrive Hunter T1, trying to figure out how well it performed during the Dakar.
We take a look at the vehicle which made use of biofuels in a bid to show how the world of rallying might take a turn towards a more sustainable future. As Nani Roma goes green for rally raid, here are six big reasons to love the Prodrive Hunter T1.
- The vehicle runs on a second-generation biofuel which has been derived from waste products. These usually come from food waste, the by-products from the crops we must harvest to feed the planet. The team claims that the vehicle sees an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions while offering the same performance as a vehicle powered by petrol. The team Tweeted during Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally that 20 tonnes of CO2 emissions had been saved so far as a result of their efforts with biofuel. “This is the future for the planet”, says Nani.
- It was tested on a tank training ground in Dorset, UK, proving its hardcore and durable credentials. The British Army tank training site at Bovington hosted the Prodrive Hunter T1 on early test runs because the site was thought to offer terrain as close as the United Kingdom could possibly offer to that of the rally raid events in the Middle East and Central Asia. Footage of Nani Roma artfully driving the car through terrain better suited to armoured tanks is a testament to the level of driving required for these rally raid events.
- Last year the vehicle was plagued by punctures caused by the tough terrain and conditions through which its 32-inch tires passed. They switched this year to a massive 37-inch tyre with spares tucked away into the side of the vehicle. It is now a formidable machine that can pass through all sorts of terrain. The rally raid calendar this year has some difficult stops on the way and so the team had to do everything they could to prepare for the unknown.
- It is piloted by a veteran. This year was Nani Roma’s 26th Dakar Rally, proving how experienced he is. In fact, he is one of only three people in the world to have won the Dakar on both a motorbike and in a car. He won on a bike back in 2004 and in a car in 2014. Much has changed with the event since then, the routes pass through different countries entirely, but he still has the same fighting spirit. “It’s amazing to be competitive after 26 years”.
- The Monster Energy driver is pushing the development of this wide, 2.3m wide in fact, vehicle, which has changed a lot since its first rally in 2021. Every panel was redesigned and the suspension upgraded after the crew learnt a lot from what went wrong with the car in the first Dakar Rally they entered. With this car we are seeing the evolution of rally raid from event to event. What’s next is anyone’s guess.
- The new windscreen, 150mm higher up the car than before, has been designed with dunes in mind. As the drivers reach the top of a dune and need to spot their exit point it is crucial that they can see what is going on around them. This can be difficult in a vehicle design which places the drivers quite deep into the cockpit because of how far back the engine comes. The raised windscreen offers greater visibility and is another adjustment pioneered through experience out in the dunes. The car is now specialized for exactly the type of terrain on offer in Abu Dhabi.
The Prodrive Hunter T1 is set to have an interesting year racing out in the dunes. We will wait and see how Nani Roma does this year in terms of rankings, what is certain though, is the car he drives will continue to improve year on year.