Of course it isn’t. But it started out by being one. Well, sort of.
Claude Avzard

The RAPTOR has its genesis over three years ago, when another Franco-Ozzie mate of mine and myself were chewing the fat in our villa in Jumeirah and saying how much we both wanted to go on a bike trip around Oz and the Outback.

So Jules and I threw around a few ideas for a couple of purpose-built bikes, to the tune of – “Well, its gotta be propeller-shaft driven and have a large fuel tank, really fat tyres and lots of grunt – but at the same time be light enough to manoeuvre easily and still be able to carry lots of stuff.”

After much huffing and puffing, we realized that this wasn’t going to be practical as we wanted to photograph and film our way around the Outback, make a TV reportage program of our adventures, write and photograph a book on the 25,000 km trip – sponsored by someone with a thick wedge and a mutual interest – and generally have enough room to be able to carry the cameras, tripods, extra fuel, tents and all the other tra-la-la that would be required during our 12 months rampage across Ozzieland. We soon realized, once the beer haze had gently suffused itself away, that a bike of any kind – even a trike – just wasn’t going to cut it, and a bike with a trailer of any description was just going to be too wussy for words.

Then Jules got himself transferred to Doha and his Chinese-Australian better half at last had an opportunity to interdict his dreaming and get him anchored securely into a career path that would make them oodles of dosh.

In the meantime, I however persisted with the concept and came to the conclusion that what I needed was a buggy-styled vehicle that would be really light, have a range of 1000km or so. Crossing the Simpson Trail would still need a fuel drop half-way across, but would nevertheless make the 4,500 km trip across the Nullaboor far more interesting, as I could go up to 300km off the beaten track and still have fuel to spare in safety between police check posts.

So I started looking for buggy manufacturers and came across a company in Queensland who seemed open to my ideas and was prepared to build something to my specifications. It helped that the owner, an ex-Army fellah, had been building four-wheeled gizmos since being knee-high to a grasshopper - one had to, living on the Ozzie outback farms. Many vehicles were jerry-built; cobbled-to-fit from this and that and then patched together, with a string-and-a-prayer, and with repairing techniques that made Frankenstein look like an Elite model at a Paris Fashion Week.

Along with the idea, and my then budget of USD 40,000, I also came up with a reason for the project to exist – a TV series that would be shot in 10 different countries over a five-year period, and presented by a really spunky Dubai-bred, Indian model/TV anchor named Sonia Sebastian. It would be about those kinds of people who live on the edges of our social radars, simply doing their thing the way they wanted. The program concept was called “Just doin’ it…!” and the initial reception I had for the idea was very well received. We would start filming in Australia and continue in India, where the vehicles are all right-hand drive, and then move on to Canada, Ukraine, Russia, UAE, KSA, Turkey, and finally, China.

The “Cahier de Charges”, or specification for our “Urban Assault Vehicle” as it became to be called, predicated that it should be light (700-800kg), have plenty of grunt (a Subaru EJ22, 2.2-litre engine), have a 100 litre fuel tank (mounted in the front), twin heavy-duty 12v batteries (switchable as on a boat), an oversized alternator to charge them, some heavy duty, lockable, alarm-protected stainless steel storage-caissons (behind the front seats), a front-mounted 1000 kg pull winch, a snorkel, and purpose-built rims with good, fat tyres – the whole protected by a solid roll-cage and removable canvas roof with lots of sexy flaps to let the air through.

For the bling effect, we mounted lots of powerful spot lights - enough to fry an egg at night at two metres! - and added other necessary goodies such as an FM / UHF Yaesu TX/RX radio, a GPS TX-ing tracking beacon and some butch-looking tools on the outside. Finally, it was to be painted in Australian Army Camo design and have all sorts of warning plaques everywhere to give it a military flavour.

Not wishing to reinvent the wheel, it was agreed that the chassis and frame would be based on original Volkswagen technology. So a very good second-hand unit was obtained, which was then entirely stripped-down, sand-blasted and re-built with whatever new parts were required. The base pan was reinforced and an engine guard placed beneath the Subaru powerplant. The entire wiring loom was completely hand-made and the whole affair seriously weather-proofed.

As for the shape and design itself, after various trials and prototypes, the current look was arrived at and it was decided to use the headlights off a Suzuki V Strom motorcycle and the tail-lights off a Mazda 3.

So, 18 months ago and USD 60,000 later, the vehicle finally went in to obtain Queensland Road Worthiness approvals and, after six months of bureaucratic to-ing and fro-ing, the RAPTOR finally hit the roads.

In the meantime, I had been in touch with Mahindra Vehicles in India as well as Kingfisher Airlines, who had shown initial interest in sponsoring the show – however they must both have had a sixth sense about the looming recession and, for the moment at least, sponsorship monies not being so readily forthcoming, the TV program project has been put on hold.

The vehicle is now in the UAE as I decided to ship it here anyway and convert it to left-hand drive. However, despite the fact that it passed all the MOT engineering requirements in Australia, whose regulations are amongst the strictest in the world, it seems that the local RTA will not permit its registration for road use here in Dubai as the powers-that-be insist on classifying it as a “kind-of” RAIL or, at the very least, a desert buggy, which of course it is. Nevertheless, I have personally driven it over 3000km on the roads in Australia, and even been fined for speeding (122kph!) and everywhere it went, it was a total show-stopper.

I had people crawling all over it, wanting to know more about its genesis and purpose – mumbling “Awesome, dude!”, “Totally sick, man! (I’ve been told that this is actually a compliment!!), “Rad, baby!!”, “Super cool, Busher!”, “Wowseriffic, Cobber!!” and “Tru blu, dinky-di Sex-on-Wheels, mate!!”, So the interest is certainly there and I had not a few offers to immediately buy it from me.

Nevertheless, it saddens me that I was, up until now, unable to raise the sponsorship required to even make the Pilot program, as preliminary inquiries from their representatives at Cannes last year had shown a real interest from National Geographic Channel as well as STAR TV.

Anyway, the reason for bringing it to the UAE is I have this Plan B vision of going into business with an inspired local gentleman who can see the beauty in the concept of building a limited production-capacity output facility to build two or so of these buggies every month.

My other research has shown that whilst there may not be a road-usage market here in the Middle East (for the UAE at least, except as an off-Road desert crawler), there is enormous interest in the possibility of producing for other export markets a vehicle that is definitely limited edition and exclusive. Not to mention some military interest in a lightweight, go-anywhere, cheap, disposable scout car using a specially reinforced Kevlar-and-special-resin based body made by a patented technique, and which can stop a .45 Magnum round at 50 feet.

However, to arrive at that point, my own feeling is that the car would need to be re-designed around modern components and even be re-rendered with a 4WD option. It would then need to be able to be shipped as an easy-to-assemble kit – chassis, drivetrain, motor, steering assembly, body and accessories. In this way, it would be possible to enter many different markets and, at the right price, even India where there was a high interest from the budding affluent middle class.

So, that’s it! If there is anyone amongst the readership interested in looking into bringing the RAPTOR to the public, just let me know.

You can contact Claude at claude@zapnik.net