The Finke Desert Race, or Tatts Finke Desert Race, an

off-road Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicl ...

, multi-terrain two-day race for

motorbikes A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising, ...

cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

, buggies and

quad bikes An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike, or simply a quad, as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI); is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is stra ...

through

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

country from

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

to the small and remote community of

Aputula Aputula (formerly Finke until the 1980s) is a remote Indigenous Australian community in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is south of Alice Springs and east of Kulgera roadhouse on the Stuart Highway, near the border with South Australi ...

(called ''Finke'' until the 1980s) in Australia's

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. The race is usually held each year on the

Queen's Birthday The King's Official Birthday (alternatively the Queen's Official Birthday when the monarch is female) is the selected day in the United Kingdom and most Commonwealth realms on which the birthday of the monarch is officially celebrated in those ...

long weekend in June. "Finke", as it is commonly known, is one of the biggest annual sporting events in the Northern Territory.

The track

Encompassing about 229 km each way, the Finke Desert Race travels through many properties on its way to end up crossing the Finke River just north of

(previously known as Finke township). The Track is divided into five sections: * Start/Finish Line to Deep Well (61 km) * Deep Well to Rodinga (31 km) * Rodinga to Bundooma (43 km) * Bundooma to Mount Squires (45 km) * Mount Squires to Finke (49 km)

History

There and back

The race started in 1976 as a "there and back" challenge for a group of local motorbike riders to race from

Alice Springs Inland Dragway Alice Springs Inland Dragway, also known as ASID is a motorsports complex located south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia. Owned and operated by the Central Australian Drag Racing Association (CADRA), it is the only purpos ...

to the Finke River and return. After the success of this initial ride, the Finke Desert Race has been held annually on the Queen's Birthday long weekend ever since. The race is run along sections of the

Central Australia Railway The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and closed in 1980, was a 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gauge line duplicated the southern section from Port Aug ...

along a winding corrugated track, which snakes through typical outback terrain of red dirt, sand, spinifex, mulga and desert oaks. Even though the railway line was realigned and rebuilt in the early 1980s, with the old tracks being pulled up, the race continues along its original course.

King of the desert

While originally the Finke was only a bike race, its increasing popularity saw the introduction of cars and off-road buggies in 1988. A rivalry developed between the two and four wheelers, as the buggies were keen to claim the holy grail of the race outright winner or "King of the Desert" as it is known. For 11 consecutive years the bikes were too quick for the cars despite the gap constantly narrowing. Finally in 1999, a buggy returned home first to claim the honour. With the bikes winning back the title in 2000 and 2001. From 2002 until 2004 the buggies held onto the "King of the Desert" title. In 2005 the title was changed to see two "Kings of the Desert", one for the cars and one for bikes, each picking up $10,000 for their effort. Although the bikes and cars no longer race against each other for the title, it is always interesting to see who completes the 460 km round trip quickest. The last bike to beat the cars time was Michael Vroom in 2001 on his Honda CR500.

COVID-19 impact

The 2020 race was cancelled for the first time in the event's history due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. This cost the economy of Alice Springs about A$8 million. In 2021 about 200 Victorian competitors, plus race officials, were unable to attend when the Northern Territory classed all of Victoria as a hot spot after the state entered its fourth lockdown.

2021 fatal crash

During the 2021 race, one of the racing vehicles struck spectators just 35 kilometres short of the finish line. One person was killed and two others, including the driver, hospitalised. The remainder of the event was subsequently cancelled, meaning the bike race was not completed and no winner announced that category. The buggy category had already been won earlier that morning. The winning racer,

Toby Price Toby Joseph Price OAM is an Australian off-road and enduro motorcycle racing world champion. He lives in Gold Coast, Queensland, and rode for the KTM Off-Road Racing Team until October 2015. He now represents the Red Bull Factory KTM Rally T ...

, had previously won in the bike category six times, and therefore became the first person to have won in both the bike and buggy categories.

Winners

*1976 BIKES Geoff Curtis,

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

250, NT *1977 BIKES Phil Stoker,

Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...

370, NT *1978 BIKES Geoff Curtis,

Yamaha XT500 Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

, NT *1979 BIKES Peter Stayt, Yamaha XT500, NT *1980 BIKES Geoff Curtis, Yamaha 400, NT *1981 BIKES Phil Lovett,

KTM KTM AG (Kraftfahrzeug Trunkenpolz Mattighofen, formerly KTM Sportmotorcycle AG) is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and sports car manufacturer owned by Pierer Mobility AG and the Indian manufacturer Bajaj Auto. It was formed in 1992 but traces ...

390, NSW *1982 BIKES Phil Lovett, KTM 495, NSW *1983 BIKES Stephen Gall, Yamaha 490, NSW *1984 BIKES Peter Stayt, Yamaha 490, NT *198
BIKES
Phil Lovett, KTM 495, NSW time 03:41:30 *1986 BIKES Stephen Gall, Yamaha XT500, NSW *1987 BIKES David Armstrong, Kawasaki 500, QLD *1988 BIKES – Alan Roe,

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

500, NT CARS – John Fidler/Peter Lewis, Corvette, NT *1989 BIKES – Mark Winter, Honda 500, NT CARS – Gary Nicolle/Jo Reed, Buggy, NT *1990 BIKES – Mark Winter, KTM 540, NT CARS – Gary Nicolle/Neil Shegog, Buggy, NT *1991 BIKES – Randall Gregory, Honda 500, NT CARS – Keith Poole/Peter Walker, Buggy, SA *1992 BIKES – Randall Gregory, Honda 500, NT CARS – Greg Schlein/David Fellows, Buggy, NT *1993 BIKES – Randall Gregory, Honda 500, NT CARS – Steven Graydon/Tony Graydon, Buggy, WA *1994 BIKES - Randall Gregory, Honda 500, NT *1995 BIKES – Randall Gregory, Honda 500, NT *1996 BIKES – Dan Ashcraft, Honda 500, USA *1997 BIKES – Stephen Greenfield, Honda 500, NT *1998 BIKES – Stephen Greenfield, Honda 500, NT *1999 BIKES – Rick Hall, Honda 500, NT *2000 BIKES – Stephen Greenfield, Honda CR500, NT *2001 BIKES – Michael Vroom, Honda CR500, NT *2002 BIKES – Rick Hall, Honda CR500, NT *2003 BIKES – Darren Griffiths, KTM 540, WA *2004 BIKES – Stephen Greenfield, Honda CRF 450, NT *2005 BIKES – Jason Hill, Honda CRF 450, NT *2006 BIKES – Ryan Branford, Honda CRF 450, NT *2007 BIKES – Ben Grabham, Honda CRF450R, NSW *2008 BIKES – Ben Grabham, Honda CRF450R , NSW time 4:04:43.02 *2009 BIKES – Ben Grabham, KTM 505 XC-F, NSW time 4:01:26.60 *2010 BIKES –

, KTM 450 SX-F , NSW time 4:03:25.62 *2011 BIKES - Ben Grabham, KTM 450 SX-F , NSW time 3:58:59.60 *2012 BIKES –

, KTM 450SXF, NSW time 3:57:03 *2013 BIKES – Todd Smith, Honda CRF450R, NSW time 04:02:08 *2014 BIKES –

, KTM 500EXC, NSW time 03:56:29 *2015 BIKES –

, KTM 500EXC, NSW time 03:52:54 *2016 BIKES –

, KTM 500EXC, NSW time 03:46:55 *2017 BIKES – Daymon Stokie, YAMAHA WR500F, NT time 04:11:12 *2018 BIKES –

, KTM 500EXC-F, NSW time 03:55:25.1 *2019 BIKES – David Walsh, KTM 500EXC, NSW time 03:56:01 *2020 BIKES – Not run due to

lockdown *2021 BIKES – David Walsh, KTM CARS –

*2022 CARS –

Toby Price wins Finke Desert Race-sets new record for overall time
''

Auto Action ''Auto Action'' is an Australian motorsport magazine. The first edition was published on 24 February 1971. It became part of Australian Consolidated Press and was included in its 2012 sale to Bauer Media Group. After unsuccessfully trying to sell ...

'' 13 June 2022

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.finkedesertrace.com.au/ Rally raid races Motorcycle races Auto races in Australia Sports competitions in the Northern Territory Sport in Alice Springs Motorsport in the Northern Territory Motorcycle racing in Australia