One month til the mud and dust flies at Australasian Safari 2011
Entries are in, vehicle builds are nearing completion, travel bookings made, camping gear assembled and our survey crew is adding the final details to the navigation road books – there’s only one month to go til Australasian Safari 2011 hits the Western Australian outback dirt.
Australia’s toughest off-road endurance race has attracted a wide array of competitors for its 26th year including three-time Dakar winner Frenchman Cyril Despres, who has just won the Rally dos Sertoes in Brazil; V8 Supercar champion Craig Lowndes is back to defend his 2010 title and will come up against Safari veteran and two time auto winner Steve Riley; and offroad moto champion and three-time Safari winner Ben Grabham from NSW. We also have entries from Sweden, Italy, UAE, South Africa, United States and New Zealand.
Around 100 auto, moto and quad bike competitors will travel more than 3500km of off-road rugged terrain through the coastal port of Geraldton and the West’s northern goldfields, finishing in the historic gold mining town of Kalgoorlie.
The challenge starts at Hillarys Boat Harbour in Perth at a public event before heading bush and finishing at the Kalgoorlie Golf Course with a public celebration on 30 September. In between there will be huge off-road challenges when drivers and riders face navigating their way through coastal plains, scrub, rocky
outcrops, flooded plains, red dirt, salt plains and desert.
Approximately 500 people travel with the Australasian Safari entourage.
Competitors, teams, officials and spectators come into towns for overnight stays and this year hosts will be Geraldton, Mt Magnet, Sandstone, Laverton, Leonora and Kalgoorlie, boosting the local economies and often quadrupling the local population!
For more information visit the Australasian Safari website at www.australasiansafari.com.au. Follow the event via Facebook, Twitter at @austsafari and YouTube – AustralasianSafari.
The Western Australia Government supports the Australasian Safari through Eventscorp, a division of Tourism WA.
Janine Pittaway, Bright Communications
