#Extreme formula offroad series

Its shallowest slopes are about 35deg (the world’s steepest public road is 19deg) and stubborn outcrops of volcanic rock jut horizontally along the rim. There’s a dusting of weary-looking yellow grass along the plain that leads to glacier-filled mountains beyond, but the pit is barren, its sand and boulders weathered into a rusty grey. The gravel pit is up to 150m wide and 700m long. We arrive in Hella to see the action on the first morning.

It can make up to 1000bhp and, at 1100kg, Choirboy is a flyweight by Formula Offroad standards, with more power per tonne than a Bugatti Chiron. The engine is a GM LS3 stroked from 6.2 to 7.0 litres and enriched with a shot of nitrous that triggers when the throttle is mashed. It’s so loud, fierce and guttural that it might have caused that bothersome ash cloud in 2010. It’s a demonic chainsaw of a noise that would give Aled Jones an instant nosebleed. I heard Choirboy sing at Árnason’s workshop earlier and immediately grasped the severity of the misnomer. We’ll be following the exploits of 25-year-old defending champion Snorri Thor Árnason and his V8-powered beast, christened Choirboy. In a stark white Land Rover Defender 110, we’re heading for a sunken gravel pit at Hella, an hour east of Reykjavik, for the first of the 2016 season’s five rounds. In this sport, mad machines driven by even madder men battle it out over land and water – yes, over water – to compete for the Icelandic Formula Offroad title.

Jaguar Land Rover loses court battle with Twisted Automotiveīut, wonderfully, there is an exception, and it’s called Formula Offroad.

Land Rover Defender and Range Rover Velar hybrids spotted.

Bumped off: turning a Land Rover Defender into a hearse.

Dear Thierry: Our advice for Jaguar Land Rover's new CEO.

#Extreme formula offroad series

Highlights from the UK's extreme off-road race series.