McRae Enduro is go

It is looking increasingly likely that a group of Essex-based entrepreneurs and former Ford Motorsport men, with more than a little help from the McRae family, are poised to create an entirely new niche in the car market: the S-SUV.

The initials stand for super-sports utility vehicle, the first example of which, the McRae Enduro, is currently undergoing testing in the hands of five-times British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae and his son Alister, also a British Rally Champion.

The brainchild of the two McRaes, Barry Reynolds (formerly of Ford Motorsport and one of the partners in the project) and Christopher Bibb of MDV Specialist Engineering, the car is a clean-sheet design powered by a 240bhp 2.7-litre V6 turbodiesel used in road-going guise by Land Rover, Jaguar, Peugeot and Citroën. Reynolds describes the McRae as a racing car for the desert.

Production of the first cars is currently underway, but these are destined for motorsport use, specifically for the Pirelli McRae Enduro Trofeo, a one-make series to be run in 2008 that will include the Lisbon-Dakar rally.

The FIA has sanctioned the series as a bridge between the hugely expensive manufacturer cars competing in such events and the much cheaper, less spectacular machinery run by privateers.

More refined and more comprehensively equipped roadgoing versions of the McRae Enduro are scheduled to start construction at MDV’s Essex plant at Bradwell-on-Sea late next year. At a projected purchase price of just under £100,000, the McRae is expected to be particularly well received by wealthy enthusiasts in the Middle East, where much of motorsport is off-road, as well as in emerging markets like Russia and China.

The McRae family has been part of the project from the start. ‘I’ve given my full support to the programme,’ says Alister, ‘and we are all confident that the car will be competitive in international cross-country motorsport.’