The new Land Rover Defender entered the market with a glowing fanfare and, gradually, it is filling our streets. Yet not all are parked in Waitrose car parks or queued up on the school run. Some are knee-deep in mud and flying through ravines spitting rocks and dust behind them in the natural habitat of the go-anywhere Defender. And, if you look closely, some will be wearing a badge with the words “Bowler”.

In Belper, Derbyshire, lies the unassuming Bowler factory. Once independent, it is now part of the Jaguar Land Rover family and it’s the veritable skunkworks of the Defender model. Bowler’s USP is to make Land Rovers, and in particular Defenders, faster, stronger, better. If Commander James Bond were going to buy a Defender, he wouldn’t go to the Mayfair dealership and agonise over material swatches and Pantone colours, he would be speccing his 4×4 with a notepad and pencil over a mug of tea in a warehouse in the Midlands. Indeed, the black Defenders thundering around in the Spectre film were tweaked by Bowler and there is a Bond connection to its latest project. More of that later. Bowler made its name converting the utilitarian original Defenders into fire-breathing monsters, capable of tackling the most demanding off-road races in the world including off-road motorsport’s Everest, The Dakar Rally. With evocative names such as Tomcat, Nemesis and Wildcat, these highly specialised vehicles completed many of the world’s toughest endurance rallies, winning their fair share of trophies along the way.

Now that the old, classic, Defender is consigned to history, Bowler has turned its attention to the new model that Land Rover unveiled in 2019. This was always going to be a more difficult proposition. The old Defender is mechanically simple; fast forward almost 80 years and the new unibody model is fiendishly complicated in comparison, sharing zero parts with its predecessor. ECUs and sensors run the show and the vehicle is equipped with all of the health and safety features a modern car needs to get through type approval in 2022. To showcase what it has done to the new model, Bowler has reignited the Defender Challenge, which sees identical versions of the 4×4 battle it out in rally events.

The inaugural championship covers seven rounds across the UK, with the ambition to expand into international events in the future. It’s designed to give budding rally raid drivers experience on a variety of surfaces and types of competition. And this being rallying, there are two people in the car with co-driving newbies also getting the chance to learn the arcane rules of rallying, where a super-fast special stage can be wasted if the co-driver doesn’t follow the correct procedure. Winning a rally is undoubtedly a team sport and far more complex than just driving fast.

Among the freshers who have never tried their hand at off-road racing are a few ringers, notably Mark Higgins, a James Bond stunt driver and a rally driver of considerable talent. He has joined selected rounds of the championship to show the younglings how it’s done. His pace is furious and not a little disheartening to the recruits who feel they may have given it their all out on the rally stage, only to find Higgins has not only eclipsed their time but probably had time for afternoon tea at the finish line before the mere mortals show up. Higgins’s participation is a nod to his work on the Bond films and the relationship with Land Rover. His Bowler Defender is decked out with a special 007 vinyl wrap that looks sensational and delights the fans, especially the speed at which it covers the ground.

Flying through the Kielder Forest on a timed special stage, it’s hard to believe the punishment the Bowler Defender can take and still keep motoring on. The factory version is arguably one of the toughest production cars you can buy from a showroom. It can wade in 900mm of water and will get you out of almost any situation you could imagine, rain or shine. Yet even the tough-as-nails Defender needs a bit of Bowler fettling to turn it into a true rally hero. Obvious modifications area hefty roll cage, underfloor strengthening and protection, front bash guard, race seats and multi-point harnesses. Less visible is the work that has gone into the car’s brain. Modern car driver aids would be very confused by a car on a special stage flying through the air, four wheels off the ground with the accelerator still smashed to the floor or steering on full lock with maybe a stabilising stab of the brake pedal to set the car up for a Scandi flick into the next corner. That’s where “Bowler Mode” comes in and rewrites the car’s parameters in these circumstances, allowing the driver to get themself into all sorts of trouble.

The result: a car that is particularly impressive in the environment it is built to compete in. And remember – all rally cars are road legal with number plates and spend a good deal of time on public roads during an event. It needs to be the Swiss Army knife of cars, ready for all eventualities. The plan is for Bowler to be a supplier of specialist parts to toughen up your road-going Defender.

As supercars get faster and faster in a world where we are encouraged to go slower and slower, venturing off-road may be just the tonic for hedonistic drivers looking to still get their kicks behind the wheel. The Bowler Defender Challenge series is the gateway drug for that addiction.

The car costs £99,500 and that includes entry and event support into the Tata Elxsi Bowler Defender Challenge; bowlermotors.com