Finke Desert Race 2014

[Yamezz]

Very quickly the road turned into deep sandy corrugations.




Adam was keen to keep the speed up to get a smoother ride in the bus, and it looked like everyone else on the road had the same idea. With such a heavy bike, it took a fair bit of speed to get the NC700S up on the plane. Anything less than about 95km/h and the bike would drop out of the plane, so it was a wild ride trying to keep the speed up and the bike up on top of the sand instead of ploughing through it. I had several puckering moments with massive headshake and the odd 100km/h tank slapper. Oh how I wished for my DRZ and steering damper on this section.



That's the race track on the left there.




We started seeing campers staking out their spots for the action in two and three days time and we were on our way to the 116km mark to do the same.



The traffic really picked up the closer we got to Alice, with several bikes passing us.



I stopped to check on this bloke, who said he had just clipped an oncoming car through one of the narrow passes through the sand dunes. I had a tough time getting the bike moving and back up to speed again after stopping and finding our old mate Bernie in his Coaster bus at the 116km mark couldn't come sooner.

 

[Skeleton]

Spectacular journey. Those roads (trails) looked exhausting.

Good on you. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Yamezz]

We arrived into base camp at the 116km mark where old mate Bernie had his own Coaster bus set up. Bernie was good enough to make us all some lunch with a nice cold Coke. Just the ticket for recovery from what was the road from hell on the NC.
The decision was made to leave one vehicle and my bike with Bernie and head into Alice Springs with all of us in Leigh's ute and Adam's bus. I was apprehensive about leaving the bike, only because I was then at the mercy of Leigh's schedule; but the hour and a half it took to get into Alice was much more comfortable and dust free inside Leigh's ute.
In Alice, we refueled the vehicles and did some shopping at the supermarket. Alice was buzzing, with people everywhere and after resupplies we headed to our booked site at one of the caravan parks, which of course was full to the brim. After setting up camp, a much needed shower for us all and some clothes washing for myself, we set off on the half hour walk to scrutineering.
All the race vehicles were on display along with food stalls etc and the opportunity to meet the top riders and drivers

Just the one photo of a buggy, sorry. It was very crowded inside the shed for the cars, so I gave up on getting photos of the cars.


Toby Price was the favourite, despite being MIA last year due to a broken neck!


His team mates aren't slow either - Desert specialist Ben Grabham and South Australia's perpetual #1 enduro racer Ivan Long.


Notice the KTM boys were running doubled up and extended Steg Pegz, along with rallye footpegs; with Grabham also running Flexx bars.


Pretty much every competitor was running Steg Pegz, with many going to extremes of size in a bid to give their arms some relief over the 400-odd kilometres of whoops.


Reigning top guys, Jake and Todd Smith from GHR Honda were there too. Leigh spotted the wider front tyre on the GHR bikes and Todd confirmed the rim was slightly wider than standard and that they receive a wheel, tyre and mousse combination from Michelin. Like most, the GHR boys were running a tube in the rear as a precaution for the heat generated during the race that may otherwise melt a mousse.

 

[kasi]

The Finke desert road trip is amazing I really like and impressed with this route when I was on the road on Finkey desert I take much enjoyment there which is remember able for me..