22 WHAT TRADIES WANT.Going the rat at Finke
BFGoodrich Racing dominated the 2017 Tatts Finke
Desert Race with four competitors in the top five.22 WHAT TRADIES WANT.E
very June long weekend one
of the world’s fastest desert
races is held in Alice Springs:
The Tatts Finke Desert Race.
It kicked off as a low-key affair in the mid
1970s when a few mates decided to ride
their dirt bikes to a settlement on the Finke
River south of Alice Springs and back again.
Predictably, whenever there’s two or more
mates on ’bikes, things became competitive.
In 1976 the ride was called ‘There And Back’.
Over the years the race has grown, taken on
huge sponsorship and is now a world-class
event only the very best can hope to win.
That doesn’t stop the hopefuls showing up
and having a go, and everyone’s welcome,
but running at the front of the field is a
serious business.Hold on tight
The Finke Desert Race course runs on a
public road that basically follows the old
Ghan railway. The track is closed during the
June long weekend, but there’s an access
road that carries regular traffic the rest of
the year. It’s closed for the long weekend
as well, and race fans and Alice Springs
locals head out with their swags and a good
supply of steaks and cold bevvies to spend
the weekend watching some of the world’s
best off-road car and bike competitors battle
the dusty, harsh, whooped-out course. They
head down the access road before it closes
and have to stay there until it reopens after
the event. Some fans have been using the
same campsite for years.
Completing the event means running at high
speed from Alice Springs to Aputula – the
settlement on the Finke River – on Sunday,
camping overnight, then bolting back again
on Monday. The shortest time over the two
days wins.
To be competitive a car or bike needs to
be able to cover the 226km through heavy,
heavy bulldust and across some of the
world’s longest and most battering whoops
in around two hours.
Do the math. That’s serious, bone-breaking,
machinery-destroying pace.