Desert Raider

The SHP Engineering 4 X 2 Desert Raider in principle was one of the company’s most innovative products.  Its design concept and styling offered a visual model of the capabilities of the team at SHP Engineering as you will see from the photographs on the gallery page.

The vehicle was initially produced at the request of a client in the Middle East to be used as a promotional vehicle for a motorsport complex being developed close to the Red Sea. The complex was going to be used to develop desert driving skills on a large variation of vehicles which included motorcycles, quads, buggies, two and four wheel drive vehicles.

The development was to have a stadium suitable for promoting Rally and Motorcross and included a quarter mile oval and karting circuit.  This was where the SHP Engineering 4 X 2 Desert Raider corporate desert adventures were to be operated from.  The vehicle was designed for this purpose, a two person vehicle easy to maintain by either mechanics or the crew in the field.  It carried a large quantity of fuel and had carrying capacity to store the necessary tools and spares equipment to service the needs of the crew for two to three days away from the base station in a desert environment.

During the development of the vehicle with various consortiums of people requiring different variants of the same vehicle it was fitted with several engine and transmission units which included Ford 24v Cosworth,  V6 GM multi valve four cylinder turbo, Ford Truck V6 and  Jaguar V6 diesel. Unfortunately with a change of plans from regional developers and their investors the project came to an end and the vehicle was parked in a corner of the SHP Engineering workshop.

After a year of collecting dust it was spotted by a local haulage contractor who saw the potential of using the SHP Desert Raider within the British Off Road events but before it had received the opportunity to prove its abilities it was relocated to its current owners, an engineering company specialising in Off Road vehicles. With a change of engine and transmission again plus some different dampers, the SHP Engineering Raider will now get the opportunity to prove itself.

The vehicle in its conception was ground breaking product it is still a good looking vehicle even ten years on SHP Engineering are confident that their vision of design for off road vehicles which now have military proven suspension system will stimulate the needs of respective clients. This allows SHP Engineering the opportunity to develop an evolution of an off road vehicle again in the future.