Sydney to London Marathon

On the way to our campsite at Aroona in the remote northern part of the Flinders National Park we came upon a very strange sign which indicated that the road would be closed on Friday for the running of the Sydney to London Marathon. This seemed very unlikely as maathons are usually run over 26 miles not 26,000 kilometres! However eventually all became clear – it was a car rally.

That's one hell of a run!

The once very popular London to Sydney Rally was last run in 2004 and some motoring enthusiasts had decided to run a tenth anniversary race – with two differences. Firstly it was to be run in the opposite direction starting in Sydney. Secondly, instead of using modern cars it was to be a historical rally with cars of previous generations. When I saw the cars my mind was instantly taken back to my old friend Dick Atkinson who unfortunately died nearly thirty years ago. Dick was a bit of a car fiend and very much into rallying – I remember discussing with him the merits of various cars and his insistence that he would prefer a Ford Escort RS1800 rather than a Ferrari as it would handle the Snowman Rally better.

I think this was one of the Mercs

Hitting the water at speed - a Ford Mustang?

Dick would have been in heaven last Friday (come to think of it he probably was) the cars were exactly for his era. There was a Datsun 260Z, two Datsuns 240Z, a trio of Porche 211's, three Ford Mustangs one of which had a 6.6litre engine, some old Volvos and of course a number of Dick's RS Ford Escorts in both 1600 and 1800 version.

One of the Datsuns?

We got a good vantage point above probably the only water crossing on this stage of the rally and were treated to plenty of roaring and splashing as the cars made their way to the end of the Australian leg of the rally several thousands of kilometres away in Perth.

What happened next was in my opinion just bad luck although Sandra claims it was my fault for driving tooo fast. When the rally cars had cleared this left the rally stage empty and, probably in true Atkinson fashion, I couldn't resist having a shot. I must make this very clear, I did not speed, nor was I reckless – it was just an unfortunate coincidence that one of my almost brand new Cooper tyres suffered catastrophic stone damage and had to be replaced. As luck would have it the nearest place I could get a new tyre was in the small town of Hawker over 100k away. So my short career as a rally driver cost me $200 for a new tyre, half a tank of petrol and of course earache from a critical Sandra.

We then spent another couple of days mooching around the Flinders and are preparing to depart for the slightly more remote Gammon Ranges then onto the Oodnadatta Track. Internet access is likely to become scarcer as we travel north.