Finke Desert Race 2015

Buggy's beat the bikes by ten minutes...

I figure over that distance its not really enough to brag about--

Link to YouTube vid.
Much better than my I phone.

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=05IMF3D-irg[/ame]

I can't quite claim to have competed in the Finke, but I have at least driven the course.

In 1999, as part of a trip in the Series III from the South East of Australia through the exact geographical centre to the North West of Australia, I drove from Finke to Alice.

I noticed a few brightly coloured markers along the route, but didn't give them a lot of thought. I was aware of the fact that there was a Finke Desert Race, but I suppose my mind was on other things.

It wasn't until I asked a ranger at Chamber's Pillar about the markers, that I learned that they were part of the early preparations for that year's race.

Even allowing for the fact that the vehicles in the event are better suited to high speed off-road travel than the Series III, I am astonished that the competitors complete that course in the times they do. I don't imagine the track has improved much since 1999.

For those who say, "It didn't happen without pictures", here is the photographic evidence. :)

Great vid. Would be amazing to see live.

A couple of my mates saw the Landy's on the way down and reckoned they didn't look like the were having a lot of fun ... but far play to them I say for having a crack! :BigThumb:

The times the top guys (cars and bikes) post now is astonishing - I remember a time when cracking 2hrs one way was considered near impossible! The track this year by most accounts was the worst it's been for years, largely due to a big amount of 'pre-running' on the lead up to the event but there was some staggering times :o

What makes Toby Price's win (bikes) more astounding was the fact a stick speared his riding boot in the days before the race and he rode it with a heavy swollen ankle and I can only imagine a hell of a lot of pain :o I saw the pictures of the boot and ankle and I take my hat off to him :cool:

Now it's all over and the madness it brings to town is gone we can all resume stations and get on with it again! :D