Great Endeavour Rally CAR 81 The "RED BULL"

Well the 2008 Super Endeavour is finally underway, as the rally progresses we will keep you posted on these pages as to what's happening with Car 81 and crew.

Colin the driver, Col the mechanic & Col the co-driver

Rally Update from the "RED BULL" Sunday 6th July
Hi Everyone, Car 81 left Toowoomba for Longreach on Sunday morning at 10am. We headed out and had a good trip, stopped at Roma for lunch. Our fuel economy was really good and the car is running well, Jordy was having a good time.

After lunch we headed on to Augathella where we stopped for the night. There were six of us in the group, had a gourmet dinner at the BP Service Station where we met up with a group of five teachers from the Gold Coast also heading out to Longreach to see a friend. Had a bit of a night out and some fun... then to bed, was a bit cold though!

Monday morning back on our way.. nice brisk run in to Longreach, got in early afternoon.. didn't do too much, checked into the motel, saw a few of the other rally cars around and made some preparations for the next day to go to the Stockman's Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders Museum.

Got up early Tuesday, Jordy myself, Col Strickland and Graham Wilson headed to the Qantas Founders Museum, had a look over the Jumbo Jet, took a tour and snapped a few photos. Then off to the Stockmans Hall of Fame, ran into a few of the other rally goers there as that is where the rally will kick off from. We stayed around a while then met up with Jordy and saw him off on the 2 o'clock plane back to Brisbane. Then off for the scrutinizing, Car81 was the last to go through, everything went well, we had a couple of drinks and headed back to get ready for dinner which was a fairly casual affair with a few auctions and time to say hello to all the other drivers who were there. Then it was off to bed early so we could be up and out to breakfast at the Stockmans Hall of Fame by 6.30 am.

 

• Super Day 1 Wednesday 9th July 2008 - Longreach to Georgina
  Camp (West of Boulia)

Up early today and out to the Stockmans Hall of Fame for an awesome breakfast, was a bit cool!... all the cars were around and there was an air of excitement as we were about to start the big trip. We had our first briefing which was pretty much a simple one as a lot of K's to travel and mostly in a straight line...not too difficult for the navigator.

We were the second car to head out as we are the second highest fundraiser so far! that was a bit of a surprise! car 23 is ahead of us, not sure if we will be able to catch up this year...they were ahead last year but we managed to pull away. Will have to see if more donations come in over the next couple of weeks.

We had a fairly easy day conserving a bit of fuel, went to Mt Windsor station for lunch in the middle of nowhere, fairly barren, not a blade of grass to be seen anywhere, they put on a great lunch with burgers, savory mince and a stew and some great hospitality.

After Lunch we had about 300k's to cover in the afternoon... managed to misjudge the fuel and ran out about 45k's from the end..we put some more petrol in the car from the jerry can. (always carry spare fuel in the car) While we were parked on the side of the road about 8 cars went past...we set sail to try and get our position back.. luckily we had 30k of bitumen which made it easy for us to get back into second spot. We pulled into Boulia where we were able to fuel up. Then it was out to our camp for the night on the banks of the river.. got there on dark and set up camp, everyone was tired by that stage, this is a self catering night so Col and I dined on a meal of garlic prawns and rice courtesy of the boys from Fibber Magee's... thank you Mat and Mark for arranging the food, we were the envy of many of the other crews. Consumed a few drinks and early to bed again at about 11 o'clock..got into our swags and spent a crisp night under the stars.

• Day 2 Thursday 10th July 2008 - Georgina to Alice Springs

We headed out from our camp at Georgina river after packing up the camp nice and early, everyone was up pretty early except for big Bobby Blackburn who played a bit hard that night and took him a little while to start. We had a 728 km run that day and the first part was down a road that had patches of bulldust in it, we were urged to show caution, headed out to our start point and told to wait there for the start.. not long after that we got the message back that one of the control cars that had gone out earlier had hit one of those patches of bulldust and rolled over, a couple from the Gold Coast, Barry and Sandra driving a Land Cruiser wagon..hit the bulldust, a tyre blew out and they rolled over three times ending up on the roof... after that everyone took it pretty carefully down that section of road which was 334 km's.

After that section we had lunch at Jervois station, that was an experience, it's a little place..just a farm where they sold the fuel, we paid $2.18 for the fuel and handed over $250 to fill the Red Bull. Lunch was supplied there so had a bit of lunch and then headed off on the next section which was another 131 km's, at that stage we were getting into the Aboriginal community so we were urged to be very careful there... not allowed to take photos and can't take alcohol in. Once we set off in the afternoon we were then heading into Allice Springs..the good thing was we had a bed there and could take a shower..it was starting to get quite cold at night, the previous night we had left the washing up water out and found it full of ice the next morning...gives an idea of how cold it was.

We found ourselves in a situation where because of the size of our tarp and the fact that it went the length of our car, we were getting quite a few people sleeping under it, that night on the banks of the river we had two extras under the tarp..after that it seemed that everybody fitted under the tarp. We got into Allice Springs reasonably late ...just on dark..got to our motel, then headed over to the golf club for dinner and a few drinks, Col decided he was a bit tired and went back to the room, I went off to the Casino with a few of the other guys, the boys in car 17 and 23 and experienced the Casino at Alice Springs..which is not exactly as you might think, their was quite a few indigenous people out the front and inside..and as they don't have the non smoking rules up there we experienced what it was like in Queensland a few years ago...it wasn't a very big night and headed back to the rooms a bit after 12 so it wasn't too painful the next morning.

 

RB Rally Update - Hi Tankers, At 7.30pm most of the crews were in Alice Springs. The sweeps were still about an hour out of town. 707 is still using lots of fuel, so much so that RB has leant them his jerry cans. For 707 to fit these extra cans in their car they had to get RB to take their 20lit water supply. Well, their water container busted in the back of the ute and RB and crew copped 20 litres of water in their swags and clothes. Lucky they were on a control point where they could dry their laundry on the side of the road. Car 82 busted a fuel pump, so they too were on the side of the road waiting for their backup. All fixed now. Car 11 suffered a busted shock absorber which was soon fixed at the lunch stop. Lots of busted tyres on the Plenty Highway. Ed Pearson (car 135) run out of spares so went straight to Alice for repairs. Apparently the Plenty Highway was very corrugated and had lots of bull dust holes. One of which swallowed up C8 - Barry and Sandra. They managed to make it into Alice, and that is where the car is staying - major breakdown for their trusty Toyota. Fuel at Jervois was $2.38 litre for Diesel and $2.18 for unleaded. Apparently the self catering last night at camp was very impressive. Men in dinner suits and women wearing tiaras. 5 course meals were the go. RB made me hungry just talking about it while I was munching on a very dissatisfying KFC drumstick (it was awful). All crews were in their swags by 11.30pm. RB described the camp as a bit like a night surveying, only instead of 3 cars, there were 34 cars and crews. I can assure you there are no dinner suits or 5 course meals when surveying. More like snags and noodles. Sherry at Endeavour managed to get back to town from the start at Longreach, at 1am this morning, and then turned up for work at 8.30. Now that's impressive - especially with the sub zero temperatures we are experiencing in Toowoomba. Well loved ones and super supporters, that's it for my notables. Hopefully everyone will be hearing news tonight as there is phone service in Alice. If no news or calls tonight, then definately tomorrow as they are hanging around for a few hours in the morning - then nothing for a few days. (It will be sad to rely on my daily notables.) Regards, Michelle - aka Mrs RB.

• Day 3 Friday 11th July 2008 - Alice Springs to Sth of Mt Liebig
  Camp (South of MT Liebig)

The previous afternoon we had started to experience the same fuel problem that we had in last years rally.. the car had been running really strong but when we got up to cruising speed around 100 km/hr the car started to starve for fuel.. we pretty much had to limp the car in, the stage in the afternoon was one of the best rally stages that we have had..the car was great over the tracks but once we got onto one of the shire roads and were going a bit faster..thats when it started to give us quite a bit of trouble.

In the morning of day 3 we had a chance to do a few small repairs to the car. Col Strickland in car 40 needed some help with his car, a brake booster had failed and we went on a search for one of those..in doing that we found a workshop that we could put both cars up and also have a look at our fuel problem... it was decided to run a new fuel line from the tank to the engine bay which we did...we hoped that that would eliminate the problem, everything seemed ok with the Red Bull and with Col's car 40 also fixed we headed out to the start after lunch. We left Alice for MT Liebig, which meant we also had to again camp for the night... more later Col.

RB Rally Update - Hi All, Tried to do an update last night, but the Optus Satellite couldn't find the phone........ Also most of the morning........ RB's phone, couldn't find the satellite. I finally spoke to RB about 11.30 this morning. His words were, "all's well." Is that it? I need more info than that! So, following, is what I did manage to get. Car 500 had strut trouble and was looking at heading back to Alice. All looked to be over for Ding and his sidekick. However, our super smart sweeps checked out the problem and managed to fix the car. Car 11 wouldn't start this morning, but must have eventually because all managed to leave camp. Barry and Sandra (C8) caught up this morning in their new car. I am always amazed by the resiliance of cars and crews on the Rally. Some people would have given up and gone home. This is also a good example of the commitment our officials have to this event. Very heart-warming, I think. The weather has been fine for our loved ones. A pleasant 20-22 degress during the day, and cold nights. The camp last night was again very tight knit and social. Jamie said they were all loving the camping/camp. Sounds cold though. Well, that's it for my notables from yesterday. I will again check the optus satellite this afternoon to see what comes of today. Regards, Michelle.

• Day 4 Saturday 12th July 2008 - Sth of Mt Liebig to Sandy Blight
  Camp (Sandy Blight junction track, south of border)

RB Rally Update - Hi Tankers, A few more notables from RB. Yesterday (day 4), saw very rough and hard conditions right through the middle of Aboriginal territory where there is nothing and nobody is crazy enough to go - except RB of course. Apparently the country is spectacular. To get permission to traverse this area the Aboriginal Lands Council set down conditions of use. The main conditions included no photography of certain places and sights, no alcohol allowed and only opal fuel to be used in all vehicles - all very interesting. I'm sure your loved ones will define the places and sights just as well as any photo could????? Car damage for the day: Car 98 had fuel issues and kept stopping and starting - all is okay now. Car 17 exploded 3 shock absorbers - put on spares and all was okay. Car 69's coil blew up - put on the spare and all was okay. Car 707 had a shock absorber explode half way up a sand hill - fixed and all is okay. Back to the day going into Alice, Fitz from car 98 had a migraine and was vomiting and very sick. So he had a quick stint in the Alice Springs hospital and is now okay, but he is still wearing his hospital armband. Something which is proving to be quite interesting (?) is the time schedule for these camp nights. RB was saying that clocks and time are virtually meaningless. That is, they are living by sun up and sun down. Curly, our zero car, gets up when there is enough light to pack up, has a quick breakfast and leaves. Just as he is leaving, he blows a truck horn 3 times, which is the wake up call for everyone else, who then know they need to leave an hour and half later. They all pull up for camp when there is enough light to set up, cook themselves tea, have a few drinks, tell a few stories, then off to bed. There are no city/town lights and no catering times to abide by. Next lot of mobile phone service is at Laverton, which will be sometime on Monday, and I suspect that will only be for some - depending on your carrier. Well all, that is all my happenings for now. Regards, Michelle.

• Day 5 Sunday 13th July 2008 - Sandy Blight to Warburton

Got into Warburton and stopped at the road house...setup camp there for the night.. no real problems except it was going to be cold..settled down for the night, about 8pm we got word that there were a couple of rooms that were available and quick as a flash we snapped them up ..pulled down our tent and move into the rooms, pretty cozy and air conditioned so at least we were out of the cold for the night. We also got a call that the control needed some help with some of the official duties next day..we said yes so that meant next morning we had to be out of bed early..

RB Rally Update - Hi Tankers, All but 3 cars and crews are in Warburton, tonight's overnight stop. Only car 23 and the two sweeps were yet to arrive when I spoke to RB about half an hour ago. Car 23 was suffering gearbox/clutch problems, and the sweeps were assisting him to get back on the road. RB said that all cars were suffering from the road conditions. One of the biggest problems is shock absorbers. The corregations are severe and apparently shaking the shit out of the cars. The problems are all round and the condidtions are extremely hard on the cars. Most will be limping into Kalgoorlie on Tuesday. Car 606 was having fuel problems today and their backup suffered a broken shocky mount and brakeline. There was a big sandy section today, which the first 3 cars made it through and everyone else had to be towed. Entertainment at the camp last night was a game of two-up. Apparently it was loads of fun. The self-catering is now over. As of tonight they are back to scheduled meals with local caterers. Everyone's happy and in good spirits. Something that is not so exciting but will tell you anyway, has to do with a puppy at Warburton. As you may or may not know, young Jordan went on the super survey with Jamie back in January. When they got to Warbuton, there was a little scruffy puppy there - owner unknown. Well Jordan played and patted the puppy and made a friend of it. The dog was all but forgotten about until Jamie rang tonight and said to tell Jordan the puppy has grown and is still running around Warburton. Jordan was thrilled to hear that news. Mobile phone coverage tomorrow! Yeeha, results won't be far. Bye for now, Michelle.

• Day 6 Monday 14th July 2008 - Warburton to Laverton

Just before 6am we headed out to do the section before setting up to do the control duties.. the Red Bull and two other cars completed that course before any of the other cars went out..that proved to be one of the hardest on the rally..we needed to replace some shock absorbers so we did that at lunch time while doing the control back at the Tjukayirla Roadhouse ...the field was fairly spread out so we ended up staying there quite a few hours..that meant that we were late to go into Laverton..we finished control and headed down and completed the first wacho section.. got to the last wacho section at dark,we still had 160km to go so Jamie decided he would work out a way to score the section so we stayed on the main road and headed down to Laverton..we managed to hit a couple of kangaroos on the way..didn't seem to do any damage..only realised that we had a hole in the mesh when we arrived at Laveryton later on that night..the venue was on the lawns outside the Laverton police station, had a bit of a dinner there..a couple of beers..then bunked down in a unit one of the other guys had booked..once again it was good to get ourselves inside out of the cold again

 

RB Rally Update - Hi Tankers, Loved Ones and Significant Others, Spoke to RB at 6pm and he was at Tjukayirla Roadhouse - the lunch stop. Apparently still about 4 hours to Laverton. The sweeps were about an hour and half behind looking after car 500, who has the same problem as last time, but now on the left hand side. Car 440 was broken down at the lunch stop and as we were speaking they were diagnosing the problem. Maybe something in the bottom of the engine was causing problems. If that is the case, RB thought they would probably get towed to Laverton or Kalgoorlie before pulling the engine out. Car 40 is hanging with 440 and also another car and crew but I can't remember who. Wheels of car 47, Ray McCaul, fell off after the wheel nuts were shaken loose - all fixed now. Car 22, Rene Elburg, had his jerry cans stolen out of his ute last night at Warbuton. Dirty, stinkin, low down, local! It has been slow going again today with many busted cars. The Opal fuel is proving to be a big problem in the older cars. They are not liking it one little bit - hence the fuel problems. Everyone and everything is covered in red dirt and dust. The washing machines in Kalgoorlie are surely going to get a workout. During the super survey, RB visited the info centre at Warburton which sells lots of dinky di Indigenous stuff. Anyway, RB bought a piece of Aboriginal art. It is still sitting in the cylinder beside his desk. Now he has informed me that he bought another one, but it is okay, because it was a bargain. Really.......? I wonder how many of you loved ones are going to get a dinky di piece of art work from Warburton. No more news for now. Regards, Michelle.

• Day 7 Tuesday 15th July 2008 - Laverton to Kalgoorlie

Headed Down to Kalgoolie, wasn't too difficult..about half a days driving, got into Kalgoolie early afternoon...had to do some some repairs to the car, we had put new shockies in but still had a wheel alignment problem...we found a bloke 'Danny" who helped us out..put the car up on the hoist, got the wheels aligned and checked the car out, no other real problems. Col in car 40 also put his car up on the hoist..nothing major.. both cars are ok and back on the road. That night we went across to the Exchange Hotel in Kalgoolie...late night about 2am.. rained during the night and washed most of the dust off the cars.. The RED BULL is currently in 4th place.

RB Rally Update - Hi Tankers and Loved Ones, Well, tonight I am very excited, as my loved one is on his way home - albeit for less than 24 hours and in that time we have registration for the Great, the welcome to Toowoomba dinner and the big flag off. Oh, and also catch-up time with the three darlings. Last night at Laverton all the catering and bar was conducted at the local Police station and in the local Courthouse. This proved to be very unique as such a venue has never been experienced on any Endeavour Rally. Judge Jamie sat at the bench this morning to deliver his briefing. That too was a first for him, and probably last. All cars and crews were in and accounted for by 2pm this afternoon. No rest however, as they all started work on their cars ready for the trip home. Some fella offered up his workshop for the time the super was in town, and the Endeavour cars have booked it out 100%. There were no breakdowns on the course today. Any cars that were sus drove the main road to Kalgoorlie. Nic, our super scorer for the super and great, has preliminary scores up to date, of which were faxed to RB today, to give him a bit of reading material on the flight home. Hopefully he will be able to pick up anything sus and make adjustments where necessary. RB mentioned that he felt a bit sad to be leaving the Super as everything and everyone are going so well. He had a meeting this afternoon with his trusty officials and very experienced others, to officially hand over his tasks and set his expectations for the rally, until they meet again at Viewmont. Note for Capt'n Cruise and Sidekick - don't forget to pick up RB at 5.30 in the morning. Note for everyone else - registration starts at 11am at the Hockey Club in Toowoomba. Extra note - ring your loved ones in Kalgoorlie. Well all, will probably have no news tomorrow night as I'm going out for tea with my husband.............. and 200 other people! Till next time, Michelle.

• Day 8 Wednesday 16th July 2008 - Kalgoorlie

Kalgoolie Casino

Washed the car this morning, put a couple of extra stickers on...we headed off to do the tourist thing, went out to the underground mine and had a tour through there, then went across to the super pit (photo below) also went to a little shack that is commonly known around here as the Kalgoolie Casino,it's a 2 up shed thats been around for about 100 years. Tonight we had another dinner here at the Hotel in Kalgoolie.. made it a quiet night because we have an early start in the morning.

 

 

 

• Day 9 Thursday 17th July 2008 - Kalgoorlie to Cocklebiddy

Today we packed up early and are having breakfast before heading off for Cocklebiddy... a reasonably long day ahead today, we have 620km to cover, heading east again...heading for home.

RB Rally Update - Brief Super news: All cars left Kalgoorlie on time this morning, except car 440. He is still in Kalgoorlie but all is under control and he will catch up tomorrow night. All other cars and crews left fit and healthy. RB takes it as, "no news is good news." So if anyone out there in tanker's land has news of how the super day went - please share.

• Day 10 Friday 18th July 2008 - Cocklebiddy to Ceduna

RB Rally Update - The super today had a long 768km accross the Nullabore. Don't have any news on that, but I am sure someone will update us ??????? as there is mobile service tonight.

HI: Tankers I will add to Michelle's info. Have just spoken to exRB, Allan from Ceduna. All cars are in for the over night stop but were running late. They had over 700km's today and went sight seeing. It was main roads along the Nullarbor highway and plenty of great scenery of the Great Australian Bight. Car 440 is still in Kalgoolie being worked on but hope to catch up soon. That is all I have from the Super ..Joyce

• Day 11 Saturday 19th July 2008 - Ceduna to Mt Ive

• Day 12 Sunday 20th July 2008 - Mt Ive to Peterborough

RB Rally Update - Super news is still a bit limited. RB mentioned that most of his info is second hand. Car 6 had engine problems and is in Port Augusta. Car 440 is back on the road and all caught up but is experiencing niggling problems. Super Sweep Southee is also having engine dramas. The Cracker Jack girls have sisters in the car, and yesterday, one was driving and one was in the back seat. Well, the one in the back seat went to hop out of the car while it was still moving and her sister run over her foot. So Rosie from the Cracker Jacks won a 'Knob of the Day' award. Well all, once again that is it. Till next time, Michelle

• Day 13 Monday 21st July 2008 - Peterborough to Viewmont

The RED BULL has dropped back a couple of places and is now running in 7th place

RB Rally Update - Hi Tankers, Loved Ones and Better Halves, Spoke to RB about 7pm our time and almost everyone had arrived at Viewmont. There is 'kind-of' mobile service there, it just depends on how you are holding your mouth. RB doesn't hold his properly because none of us have been able to ring him. However, he did ring us briefly. The weather is looking good. The wind has dropped and the rain seems to have gone. RB actually borrowed a tent to sleep out of the weather but has decided that he didn't need it after all. The toilets have been erected and holes dug. They have all the accessories of home, down to the mats around the bowl, toilet brushes and air freshners. RB is not known for doing things in halves. Not much news from the course today as RB was busy buying toileting supplies and then building the shitters. Viewmont is looking great with the whole crowd there. Big camp fires everywhere and plenty of stories being told over a few cans of coke. RB is back 'home' in his ute now with Col & Noel Clifford. That has left Capt'n Cruise and his sidekick in the Lawson family wagon. Remember how I wrote about Rosie from the Crackerjacks running over her sister's foot? Well they went to hospital in Broken Hill to get Sharon's foot checked out and it was looking bad for a while. The doctor wouldn't let her go back in a rally car so is now a passenger for Capt'n Cruise. It is now well and truly over half way for the Great and Cruise and it just feels like a couple of days ago that they left. On the other hand, it feels like the super has been going on forever. Well all, once again that is all from me. Till next time, Michelle.

• Day 14 Tuesday 22nd July 2008 - Viewmont

• Day 15 Wednesday 23rd July 2008 - Viewmont to Cobar

RB Rally Update - Hi there Tankers, Yes, I am still here. Just haven't written. Nights at Viewmont were very good. Cold, but good. On the second night there they held hobby horse races. Now I could go into detail how these are run, but not in the mood. What I will tell you is that the Lawson family don't mind to have a bet or two, even on hobby horses. Anyway, retired RB thought this would be a good fundraiser for Endeavour. That it was. Horses were auctioned off one night, then a few bets were placed on the races, then the winning horse auctioned off again. A cool $6000 for Endeavour - thank you very much! Jackwitz boys had car trouble at Viewmont so drove the main road to Cobar yesterday. Also at Viewmont the Crackerjack girls (less 1), drove into a dam, so much so that the cab of the car filled with water. When they drove back to camp the car caught fire. They did put the fire out, but were still amazed at a drowned car catching fire. All cars and crews were in Cobar last night. Yesterday the course went through a property called 'Red Tank'. The owners of this place have a long association with RB. They have put their property up for use in all events run by RB. They also have children with Cystic Fibrosis and are extremely supportive of CF Australia and the Great Escape for Cystic Fibrosis, which is also run by RB. Anyway, Andrew from Red Tank was at a checkpoint yesterday with one of his kids holding a bucket for CF. Thanks to the generousity of Endeavourites he raised $560 for CF. Today the cars and crews will head for Baradine where they will be until they finish on Friday. I know a lot of work has been put into the finish. Both the township side and road/forestry side. So hopefully they will all have plenty of driving action and entertainment action. Not sure about mobile service there. That's it for news. Regards, Michelle.

• Day 16 Thursday 24th July 2008 - Cobar to Baradine

No updates from the crew of the RED BULL for a few days now, but by all accounts they are still going strong....it looks like they have dropped back a couple more places and are now in 10th place.

• Day 17 Friday 25th July 2008 - Baradine to Baradine