A long-held secret Dakar Rally attack was revealed nearly a decade ago centring around Holden, the Adventra and racing legend Peter Brock.
Released in 2003, the Australian-built and developed Adventra was Holden’s entry into the burgeoning Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) market where it performed admirable against the imports in addition to Ford’s Territory.
However, its biggest challenge was never fully achieved when the stillborn Dakar Rally project was canned following the death of Peter Brock in a tarmac rally crash in September 2006.
Robert D’Ercole was the lead engineer behind the project and ran Design D’Ercole on the Gold Coast providing engineering consulting including the v8-powered Bullet Mazda MX-5s.
Brock was prepared to sample many motoring disciplines including Nations Cup in the Monaro 427 as well as the associated Bathurst 24 Hour race, Goodwood Festival of Speed entries and even Australian Safaris of which this idea spawned.
It was D’Ercole contacting Brock after hearing the racing great’s desire to take on one of world motorsport’s toughest events. Rules were being changed by the FIA and the duo formulated a package to be fluid with the ever changing regulations.
It was estimated the CAD work took more than 700 hours and without the budget of the manufacturer teams like Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and BMW at the time, concessions had to made to ensure reliability.
A mid-mounted 5.5-litre V8 sitting backwards in a rigid spaceframe chassis mated to a six-speed manual gearbox fitted between the two crew. Centre of Gravity was a major focus leading to the fuel tanks being spread through the middle of the chassis and composite materials were used for the body.
Although Holden was not forthcoming with committing funds leading to other manufacturers being engaged, but Brock’s loyalty to the lion ensured the Adventra was to be the base.
With Brock’s death in Targa West the project remained abandoned at Design D’Ercole with no interior or running gear for years until a view to finish the Adventra to auction for charity.
Unfortunately, the Adventra was lost in a garage fire in 2017