Looking like a refugee from some apocalyptic survival movie, this little beauty is Volkswagen’s latest Touareg TDI, albeit a singularly limited edition built specifically to contest SCORE’s Baja Trophy Truck Series in the US.
The Race Touareg TDI Trophy Truck bears little resemblance to its ponderous stable-mates, with a one-off chassis by Arciero Miller Racing featuring a 125ins wheelbase. However it’s no racing lightweight at 2,500kgs so will need every one of its 550bhp to keep pace with the field. The necessary firepower is provided by a 5.5 litre V12 diesel that also pumps out 635lb ft of torque.
Keeping this off-road missile connected to the desert terrain requires full-on suspension. Double A-arms at the front provide 25ins of wheel travel, while a 4-link set-up at the rear allows an even more impressive 30ins of travel.
The latest VW ‘dune buggy’ is a far cry from the vehicle that started America’s love affair with off-road racing – the original Meyers Manx buggy that famously took on and beat the off-road motorcycles in the Baja desert back in 1967, spawning the estimated 250,000 dune buggy imitations that have been built on VW Beetle floorpans in around the world.