The Finke Desert race has been and gone. The team left with high hopes and aspirations. We arrived in Alice Springs a week before the race to finalise shock testing with Murray Coote from MCA Suspension at the Undoolya property. Also during that week we did a reconnascence of the 230km Desert Race track from Alice to Finke. We had never seen the track before and had only heard stories from other competitors about the amount and size of the whoop sections of the track - we were quick to learn that the stories were no exaggeration.

On Friday night at the Alice Springs show grounds all teams presented their vehicles for scrutineering. The buildings were packed full of people who come to see the race cars and their crews. Judging by the amount of people, this event would have to be very high on the to-do list of locals. Saturday was prologue for all competitors, Rob in the Pajero ran a time of     6 min 6 sec, which placed him 6th in class. Clayton in the Triton placed 2nd in class with a time of 6 min 10 sec. As Clayton went to drive the Triton back to the motel a loud rattle was heard from the engine. After being towed back, the team began to disassemble the motor to find part of a valve guide in one of the engine cylinders. After trying unsuccessfully to obtain another cylinder head, the motor was reassembled after filing and grinding the damaged valve guide and piston - the best we could do under the circumstances. We were hopeful that it was good enough to make it to Finke and back.

 Sunday was race day from Alice Springs to Finke. Both Robert and Clayton started off strong, Roberts rear wheel alignment was changed after hitting a large whoop a little too hard, this made the Pajero very unstable at high speeds, so Robert drove to finish this leg of the massive race, in 3 hrs 5 min and in 3rd place. Clayton was on his way to a comfortable 2nd place finish, if it wasn't for another dislodged valve guide that broke the head off a valve and punched a hole in the cylinder head. This ended the race for Clayton just past the 190km marker.

The run home from Finke on Monday saw Claytons triton heading back to Alice on the back of the truck, Robert was still in the race though, starting 9 min behind 2nd place Dakar D-Max driver Bruce Garland. With the wheel alignment now fixed he was able to drive much faster and within the first 40km he had caught and past Bruce and his D-Max, with a problem free run all the way he came into Alice with a time of 2 hrs 55 min to finish 2nd in class.

The team was not disappointed with the outcome, being their first attempt at this gruelling offroad race. Rob & Clayton are back in the shed building a new engine for the Triton and getting ready for the next AORC round the PWR Sunraysia 500 in Mildura Vic, in July.