Isuzu Moments

VEHICROSS TAMES THE 1999 AUSTRALIAN SAFARI

ISUZU’S ECLECTIC CROSSOVER SUV HAD THE OFF-ROAD CHOPS TO MATCH ITS FUTURISTIC STYLING.

THE ISUZU VEHICROSS was a sexy mutant, far ahead of its time.

“There’s a fantastical quality to its design,” ruminated local motoring journalist Rob Margeit last year. “It wouldn’t look too out of place in new car showrooms today. “Better yet, unlike today’s proliferation of crossover SUVs, the VehiCROSS had the off-road chops to match its high-riding and rugged stance.”

Debuting at the 1993 Tokyo Motor Show, the Isuzu VehiCROSS was intended as a low-volume model from the moment it went into production. It emerged almost unchanged from its original design in 1997, when Isuzu suddenly decided to green light it as a halo off-road racer.

Australian rally legend Bruce Garland remains a fan. He won two stages in the Production Class of the 1998 Paris-Dakar in one—and was ready for more.

Only a non-finish in the longest stage of the notoriously brutal event, thanks to front differential issues, scuppered Garland’s chances. The VehiCROSS did taste glory, though—as a class winner (and ninth overall) in the eight-day, 4426km 1999 Australian Safari Rally, driven by Californian desert racer ‘Hollywood’ Bob Land. “He came out from America with 10 tyres and a carton of hairspray,” laughs Garland, “which he’d spray his hair with every day. But that VehiCROSS was super-fast.”

That bloody thing should have won its class in the Dakar!

“That bloody thing should have won its class in the Dakar—it was an absolute rocket,” recalls Garland. “What was good about it was the shape. And they were light! It was seriously aerodynamic, so at high speed, the Production Class cars that I was racing in, they would tap out at about 160, 170km/h. I’d be doing 200km/h in some places.”

“The Australian Safari truly tests your physical and mental limits, as well as the limits of your race vehicle,” said Land, an Isuzu works driver, afterwards. It had been Land’s first Outback event, although he’d return (and perform) regularly— although never again in a VehiCROSS.

“It’s a long race, and it’s all about endurance. I think we passed the test!”