Land Rover announced the Defender Challenge by Bowler on 30 October 2013, the first result of the brand partnership of 2012. Bowler prepared Defender 90 hard tops with the 2.2-litre diesel uprated to 170–175 bhp, its own suspension, a roll cage and race seats, and sold them road-legal at £50,000 plus VAT for a seven-round UK season meant as a feeder to the Dakar. The series ran from 2014 to 2016.
After Jaguar Land Rover bought Bowler, it repeated the formula on the new Defender 90 P300: revealed on 28 July 2021, raced as the Bowler Defender Challenge in 2022 and as the Defender Rally Series by Bowler from 2023, twelve identical cars a season across gravel stage rallies, hill rallies and competition safaris in Scotland, England and Wales.
Defender Challenge by Bowler (2014–2016)
1 VEHICLE IN THIS CHAPTERPuma Defender 90 hard tops; seven rounds a season; chassis R01 the first.
Registry records · chapter 1
Bowler Defender Challenge (2022)
1 VEHICLE IN THIS CHAPTERThe new Defender 90 P300, first shown at the Iceland Hill Rally in August 2021.
Registry records · chapter 2
Defender Rally Series by Bowler (2023–2024)
1 VEHICLE IN THIS CHAPTERNine events and seven championship rounds, with left-hand-drive cars offered.
Registry records · chapter 3
Base models
The structural configurations the registry and the Creator build from; each page carries the researched specification.Sources
- Land Rover announces sponsorship of 'Defender Challenge by Bowler' one-make rally championship (30 October 2013) — JLR Media Newsroom
- Land Rover and Bowler announce 'Defender Challenge' — evo
- 2013 Land Rover Defender 90 Hardtop TD 'Challenge' by Bowler (Paris 2021, chassis R01) — RM Sotheby's
- An unusual rally racer: Land Rover Defender 90 Challenge built by Bowler — Silodrome
- Defender goes rallying: Bowler transforms reborn icon for 2022 Challenge series (28 July 2021) — JLR Media Newsroom
- Defender Rally Series by Bowler 2023 UK championship launch (21 October 2022) — JLR Media Newsroom