The New McRae Enduro at The Rally Show - Chatsworth
Jun 09, 2008
The all-new McRae Enduro, developed for Dakar by rally ace Alister McRae, is taking part in The Rally Show – Chatsworth this weekend. Designed purely to compete in the world’s toughest endurance rallies, the car will be driven at Chatsworth on a series of demonstration runs by Alister’s father Jimmy, five times British Rally Champion, who has also played a key role in the development programme.
Customer cars are now being built for the 2009 Dakar, to be held for the first time in its 30-year history in South America. Famous for strength-sapping sand dunes and extreme terrain, the organisers promise more of the same in Argentina and Chile – plus high altitude. The event starts on January 2 in Buenos Aires on Argentina’s Atlantic coast. It then loops south into Patagonia and across to, and over, the Andes Mountains. In Chile it follows the Pacific coastline, heading north, and finally returns to Buenos Aires via Argentina’s Atacama desert and the town of Cordoba. In all, a gruelling 6,000 miles over 16 days and some of the world’s highest and most demanding tracks and in high mid-summer temperatures.
A new concept targeting top amateur drivers, the McRae Enduro will compete in a new FIA class that fits between existing classes for prototypes and production-based vehicles. In simple terms the McRae Enduro combines a bespoke lightweight tubular steel chassis and suspension, with production-sourced engine and driveline. The result is a rally car with outstanding dynamics, twinned with reliable and durable major components.
Considerable emphasis has been put on controlling costs – a rare quality in the world of motorsport. The production-sourced V6 diesel motor is good example. Unlike many petrol equivalents, frequent rebuilds will not be necessary. The front-mounted engine is the Ford 2.7-litre V6 turbo diesel which with electronic management changes produces 220PS / 520Nm. The engine is mated to a production-sourced 6-speed ZF manual gearbox which drives all four wheels via upgraded production-sourced differentials.
Development of the McRae Enduro will continue throughout 2008 in readiness for participation on Dakar 2009 and later this summer the team’s test schedules takes them to the Middle East for the final ‘desert’ test session.
“The McRae Enduro, is a clean-sheet design. From the start our emphasis has been to deliver an extremely strong and reliable vehicle that is fun and rewarding to drive. It combines a lightweight spaceframe chassis, normally only found in the expensive prototype class, with a modern production turbo-diesel engine and driveline. This combination offers new levels of performance and safety with affordable purchase and maintenance costs.”
Alister McRae
McRae Enduro wins ‘ Idea of the Year’ award
The McRae Enduro rally car won the ‘Idea of the Year’ at the Autocar Awards ceremony in London.
The honour was announced by Chas Hallett, Autocar’s editor, at a ceremony in Westminster to an audience of 480 motor industry leaders and celebrities from around the world. Christopher Bibb the commercial director for the McRae Enduro operation, based in Essex, accepted the award.
“It was a great privilege to collect this award at a ceremony attended by so many leading lights of the global automotive industry”, commented Christopher Bibb. “Everybody in our team believes that the McRae Enduro is right for the time, will set new standards and will become a successful formula within Cross-Country. For an independent and authorative source, like Autocar, to applaud our ‘idea’ is a massive endorsement and has given us enormous encouragement”
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