Description
Build Number 012, the twelfth car produced for the Bowler Defender Championship. This is the last of the first years cars.
£75, 000 Plus Vat, Vat Qualifying
Road registered rally car, that can be used on public roads.
Only 318 Miles from New. Owned By Williams Stobart, who has had a number of rally cars in both Eddie Stobart & WS Transportation Livery. The vehicle is the lowest mileage example available and probably in existence. Raced once by Mark Higgins who won the British Rally Championship 3 times. Amongst many other achievements below. He has also been the stunt driver for a few James Bond films including Quantum of Solace.
British Rally Champion: Higgins has won the British Rally Championship three times (1997, 2005, 2006).
Manx Rally: He is a five-time winner of the Manx Rally. (Eddie Stobart Sponsored Vehicles)
Other International Rallies: He has also won over 50 international rallies worldwide.
British Championship Individual Events: He has won all British Championship individual events.
Time Attack Record: In 2016, he set a new lap record around the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course, driving a Subaru WRX-STI Time Attack car.
British Historic Rally Championship: In 2024, he competed in the British historic rally championship, driving a David Appleby Engineering TR7 and placing second due to a shoulder injury.
We are delighted to offer, Bowler Defender - build number 012, the twelfth car produced for the Championship and the twelfth Bowler Defender produced for retail, all confirmed by the Bowler chassis plate and the relevant documentation that accompanies the car. Fully prepared and ready to race in the Bowler UK championships.
#012 was ordered at the beginning of 2021 as part of the Bowler Defender Challenge and, at the time of purchase, was equipped with all the possible options from Bowler including Rally Package One and Rally Package Two. It took part in one round of the 2022 Championship. The vehicle was maintained by Bowler throughout its life, not that it has needed much given its very low mileage.
The vehicle is eligible to enter the 2025 Bowler Owners Uk Defender Rally Series & European Series by M&C Projects, this includes 4 Uk events and 4 European events. The vehicle can join mid way through the season, and support and guidance can be offered for anybody looking to get into rallying. This is also the best value Bowler Defender of its type on the market today. With a massive saving from the price new, these vehicle's were around £140, 000 including vat. One of only 30 Bowler Defender Rally vehicles ever made. Given over 250, 000 new defenders are now on the roads around the world, this is a rare vehicle. Certainly to be a future collectors piece.
Since its inception in 1985, Bowler Motors has developed a worldwide reputation in the arena of design and construction of Land Rover-based off-road vehicles. Led by the company?s inspirational founder, Drew Bowler, until his untimely death in 2016, the company grew from a nascent workforce of just eight to the present group of 35 highly-skilled engineers. Initially focussing on the preparation of cars for British off-road events, the company?s ambitions expanded rapidly to encompass participation in events including the Dakar Rally, Morocco Desert Challenge and Spanish Baja and, for the past two decades, their cars have formed the backbone of many Rally Raid events across the globe.
In late 2019, Jaguar Land Rover acquired Bowler to add to their Special Vehicle Operations Division, and there were those who were worried that Bowler may become a rather watered-down wing of the larger company, however that has not been the case with Bowler, still enjoying a pleasing level of independence with the bonus of now having access to some of the extensive test and development facilities of JLR. A good example of Bowler/ JLR's positive thinking was the announcement in 2021 of the Bowler Defender Championship, a new one-make rally series to promote the Defender and allow customers to take part in rallying in a cost-controlled environment.
The 'Challenge' cars were based on a standard car which was taken off the production line and hand-finished by a specialist team at Bowler. The 2-litre Ingenium petrol four-cylinder engine (296bhp and 295lb/ ft of torque) and the 8-speed automatic transmission both remained largely untouched in order to achieve identical performance in the competing cars. To this they added:
Structural body and chassis
- Monocoque bracing - minimises body movement and supports underbody protection
- Full internal roll-cage integrated with body and linking suspension mounts
- Internal spare wheel mount integrated to roll cage
- Additional front recovery points
- Rally-spec gearbox cross member
- Stiffened gearbox mounts
- Strengthened engine mounts
- Braced front and rear subframes
- Front suspension turret brace
- Rear turret brace
- Strengthened radiator mounts
- Adapted chassis and subframe mounts
- Rally jacking points
Performance
- Improved cooling - auxiliary radiators removed and increased airflow to main radiator
- Increased transmission cooling capacity
- Sports exhaust system
- Bowler 18? wheels with increased strength
- BF Goodrich AT tyres
- Bespoke suspension design with modified subframes, new springs and unique turrets for increased stiffness
- Bespoke Fox dampers
- Race steering wheel with quick release boss
- Side air intake covers
- High level air intake
- Front upper wishbone revised to reflect new ride height geometry
Electrical/ systems
- ECU system integration with race box
- ABS/ DSC - rally control modifications
- New integrated wiring harness for new components
- New rally-spec facia
- Navigator control unit for lights/ washer/ horn
- Rally system integration with JLR safety systems
- Adapted body control unit
Regulatory
- High-level rear marker lights
- Alpine, door and rear windows replaced with polycarbonate
- Race sports seats with specific race seat mounts
- Six-point race harness
- Integrated and hand-held fire suppression
- Electrical cut-off switches - internal and external
- Complete removal of all airbag systems
Styling
- Front bumper adapted to take new underbody protection
- Bowler front grille with increased air flow
- Rear roof spoiler with extended profile and integrated additional reversing lights
- Front and rear wing shields to meet new underbody protection
- Wheel arch extensions utilising accessory fitment
- Door lowers - protection pieces on shortened doors
- Team livery
Function
- Additional bonnet-mounted windscreen washers - to deal with rally levels of water splash
- Front driving lights for increased night driving illumination
- Rally-spec mud flaps
- Full underbody protection system - 6mm aluminium reinforced design
- New gear shift position - optimised to sports seats
- Column-mounted gear shift paddles - unique to Bowler
- Passenger foot rest
- Rear door manual release mechanism
- Wheel arch lines - increased strength to meet rally requirements
Any enquires please call on the details below or the details below.
