The Dakar Rally is one of the most grueling races on the planet. Its 2022 edition saw two cars from the Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) team finish second and fourth overall. A builder behind the competition's cars, Prodrive, is taking these rally cars from competition to daily driving with a four-wheel drive all-terrain hypercar dubbed the Prodrive Hunter.

An Off-Roader Better Than Dakar Rally Cars

In terms of racing pedigree, the BRX rally car is fast, capable, and extreme. Thus, it isn’t surprising if some adventure-loving drivers would want to get their hands on this desert-thriving monster. Prodrive has a great proposition for them -- a hypercar that is faster, more capable, and more extreme than the rally car.

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Prodrive touts the Hunter hypercar as better than the Dakar Rally car. Prodrive borrowed the rally car’s engine, drivetrain and suspension and installed better versions of them on the Hunter. For instance, no thanks to strict competition regulations, the BRX rally car -- with some most-winning Dakar drivers behind its wheels -- has its power shackled. Not bound by those rules with the road car, Prodrive tuned the Hunter’s 3.5-liter twin turbo V6 to deliver more than 600 bhp of output and up to 516 lb-ft of torque.

Various Changes For Greater Levels Of Off-Road Performance

BRX's rally car featured a manual sequential gearbox. Prodrive ditched that original setup and replaced it with a six-speed paddle shift in the Hunter, allowing for a smooth gear change in just milliseconds. With this configuration, the four-wheel-drive Hunter can sprint from nil to 62 mph in less than four seconds and reach a top speed of nearly 186 mph.

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Riding on 8.5J x 172 forged aluminum rims shod with massive 35-inch 12.5-17 off-road rubbers, the Hunter can conquer even rough and harsh terrains thanks to its double wishbone suspension with twin adjustable dampers per wheel. This setup offers 400 mm of travel, compared to 350 mm on the rally car. Six pot racing brake calipers and vented discs provide the stopping power.

Hunter Has An Interior Suitable For Daily Drives

2022 Prodrive Hunter front cabin
Via Prodrive

Featuring a high-strength steel tubular structure and a carbon-fiber composite bodywork, the Prodrive Hunter features an interior meant for daily drives. Protected by an FIA-standard safety cage, the interior features carbon fiber seats, six-point harness, a digital display, as well as a center console with traditional controls. Customers can personalize their Hunters to their preferences.

For those interested in the Hunter, Prodrive is already taking orders at a price of £1.25 million (more than $1.6 million), plus local taxes.

Source: Prodrive