Sunhill aiming to settle the score 40 years later

Dakar 2021 | Stage 1 | Jeddah > Bisha
January 3 ^rd 2021 - 05:31 [GMT + 3]

Two Sunhill buggies from the 1980s are racing in the Dakar Classic category. Frédéric and Julie Verdaguer hope to pay tribute to their creator by making it to the finish of the inaugural edition.

A Sunhill buggy never fails to turn heads, even in the Dakar bivouac. Its distinctive design and size have already put Frédéric and Julie Verdaguer in contention for the prize for the most photographed car. One of these cutting-edge machines was already present at the start of the first Dakar on 28 December 1978 with Yves Sunhill at its wheel, but the constructor never managed to take one of his creations all the way to Dakar. Fast-forward to 2021, when Frédéric Verdaguer, an expert in restoring vintage vehicles, has picked up the gauntlet by entering the Dakar with his wife at the wheel of the model that took part in the 1982 and 1983 editions: "As soon as we learned about the introduction of the Dakar Classic category, we decided to take the plunge. The Dakar is the natural home of this buggy", explains Frédéric, who spent several months working to prepare the "desert scarab" for its great comeback. "I'm pretty satisfied with its performance and reliability, it could even go toe to toe with modern cars", he says only half-jokingly. In order to put their vehicle back into the spotlight, the duo's main objective is to finish the big loop starting and ending in Jeddah, explains Julie: "It would be the best possible tribute to Yves Sunhill. We need to bring this buggy home for him."