Driven: Ford's epic £2m Dakar Rally monster

Some opportunities don't come along that often - and aren't the sort of thing you say no to. Such as the chance to drive a £2 million Dakar Rally challenger in a private forest. How exclusive was this opportunity?

Well, at the time I climbed behind the wheel, only three people outside of rally outfit M-Sport had been trusted with this toughest of all 'Built Tough' Ford trucks: F1 star Carlos Sainz (whose rally legend namesake dad is a current Ford Performance driver), some other bloke and me. And no, I didn't bend it - thank God.

My test in the Ford Raptor T1+ actually took place in the summer, but the time to write about it is now, because the Dakar Rally is January motorsport. 

The Dakar no longer starts in Paris or goes anywhere near Senegal. It's currently staged entirely within Saudi Arabia. But it's still an epic unlike any other challenge in motorsport.

This year's event consists of 13 marathon speed tests crossing a huge variety of desert surfaces including sand dunes the size of tower blocks. There are always crashes. Each day is the equivalent of a WRC round. It's essentially an entire WRC season in two weeks. And Ford is taking it seriously: it has sent eight trucks to the Arabian Desert in search of its first outright win.

Testing and preparation never stops - hence my day with M-Sport. Of course, this Raptor is unlike any you'd see on the road. It's essentially a bespoke purpose-built desert racer, conceived with one goal in mind: winning the Dakar.

Its beating heart is a screaming 5.0-litre Coyote V8 that sends 360bhp to all four wheels, via a six-speed sequential gearbox and trick differentials. There's no turbochargers and no electrical assistance: just a glorious set of lungs that you can hear miles before you need to take cover.

The suspension travel is hilarious. You could sit a baby elephant on a front corner and it still wouldn't bottom out. I reckon so, anyway. The fuel tank is 500 litres - 10 times bigger than a family car, to ensure that the machine can last the marathon stages of several hundred miles that Dakar crews must conquer.

There are more wires and software codes in here than a SpaceX rocket. The wheels don't just look heavy, they are heavy. Each weighs 48kg, which is roughly the equivalent of two bags of cement. Swapping tyres in soft sand in 34deg C heat - which most Dakar crews will have to do at some point - is like a Hyrox workout, only harder.

But do you know what? M-Sport has created an engineering masterpiece that's highly adjustable and easy to drive fast. Despite its obvious size and width, it handles and changes direction like a WRC Fiesta on stilts. It's tremendous fun.

Brake as late as you dare for a corner, shifting the weight on the front axle, turn in, feel the back end step out and exit with crowd-pleasing oversteer. Then charge up through the gears - no clutch, obviously - and repeat.

The suspension mops up all lumps and jumps. It's like landing on a bed of pillows. So it deserves a full explanation. Eight Fox dampers (four coilovers, four external bypass) and eight Eibach springs work to achieve the regulation 350mm of wheel travel. High- and low-speed compression damping ensures optimal ride and handling. And external bypass dampers with five-way adjustability absorb even the toughest impacts.

The driving position is spot on: it's surprisingly comfy and you're at the centre of everything. There's a flight deck of controls at your fingertips and a hydraulic handbrake to make the rear axle dance on tricky slow corners, if you need it.

Honestly, this thing is a dream to drive. Until nature calls: some stages are 280-plus miles on the Dakar and there's no time to stop, so if you need a pee, you will have to sit in it.

Ford has amazing motorsport heritage, having won F1, WRC, Nascar, Le Mans and more. Can it now topple Toyota, Dacia and others to win the Dakar at only its second attempt? Let's see.