Bowler Wildcat

Infobox Automobile


name = Wildcat
manufacturer = Bowler
class = Rally Vehicle
layout = All Wheel Drive

The Bowler Wildcat is an off-road vehicle originally made by Bowler Offroad, based on the Land Rover Defender. The Wildcat has been entered in various off-road rally raids, most notably the Dakar Rally.

The manufacturing rights to the Wildcat were sold by Bowler to Qt Services in December 2007, to provide support to existing Wildcat owners while Bowler concentrated on production of their newer vehicle, the Bowler Nemesis.

Design and Construction

The Wildcat has a tubular space frame construction that incorporates a roll cage as an integral part of the frame structure. The body panels are made of glass-reinforced plastic.

The suspension system uses Land Rover Discovery beam axles front and rear. The front axles are located by radius rods and a Panhard rod. The rear axle is located by trailing arms and Watt's linkage.

Bowler originally offered the Wildcat with a choice of 4, 4.6 or 5 litre displacement V-8 engines in several levels of engine tuning, or a 2.5 litre turbo diesel.

An optional feature offered by Bowler was a lift device that could lift the vehicle past the lowest travel of the front and rear suspension. The lift was intended to be used to assist in digging the vehicle out of soft ground or to facilitate changing a wheel. The lift device consisted of a large steel plate on a hinged sub-frame attached to the underside of the vehicle frame between the front and rear axles. The lift was lowered by a hydraulic ram that was controlled from inside the vehicle. The lift plate also served to protect the underside of vehicle when raised.

Top Gear test

Richard Hammond of the British automotive program Top Gear tested the Bowler, and exclaimed "I am a driving god!", due to the Bowler's speed and handling on the rough terrain. This outcry from Richard gave opportunity for co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May to make fun of him. The show's racing driver, The Stig, took the Bowler to a time of 1:39.4 on the test track, making it the fourth slowest car tested, but still a remarkable time given its off-road tyres and tall stance.

The Wildcat appeared again in the fifth series where it was raced against 16 year old mountain boarder Tom Kirkman at the Greenman Mountainboard centre in Wales. Kirkman had beaten a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII Group N rally car but the Bowler's offroad tyres and strong build allowed it to tackle the obstacles and eventually defeated him.

External links

* [http://www.qtservices.co.uk/Wildcat.asp Wildcat page at Qt Services website]
* [http://www.bowler-offroad.com/ Bowler Offroad website] www.hymec.net (Manufacturer of various wildcat components-JR)

References