David Fellows and Andrew Kittle (above) won the 2008 Tattersall's Finke Desert Race in Australia.
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Over the last 30 years, the Tattersall's Finke Desert Race has grown to become the "Holy Grail" of the Australian Off-Road
Racing Championship. What started as a bike race amongst Alice Springs locals has developed into the highest profile off-road
race in Australia, mustering the cream of Australia's two- and four-wheeled off-road talent to the Red Centre on the Queens
Birthday Long Weekend in June. In 2008 a massive field of 65 cars, 449 bikes and 51 quads assembled, all on a quest to become
Australia's "King of the Desert."
The Trophy Truck team of Brad Gallard and Rick Geiser finished sixth.
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The event was launched in a carnival atmosphere on Friday night, but come Saturday morning the race face was on as the drivers
looked to secure pole position for the first leg of the race to Finke. David Fellows looked to stamp his authority on the
event from the outset in the TRD Peter Kittle Motorsports Jimco. Winding up the twin turbos on the V6 Toyota engine during
the prologue, Fellows posted a time 16 seconds quicker than his nearest rivals, Glenn Owen (Jimco) and former Aussie champ
Shannon Rentsch (Chenowth) in the wet and muddy conditions.
Overnight, more rain left massive pools of water on the track for Sunday's start to the Tattersall's Finke Desert Race, creating
huge splashes as the leading buggies raced away from the Alice Springs start line on the 138-mile race to Finke. The track
conditions improved as they progressed south, with the damp desert sands playing into Fellows' hands as he was able to apply
all of the 700-plus-horsepower jammed into the back of his buggy to terra firma. The result was the quickest run to Finke
ever seen, with Fellows covering the distance in 1 hour, 47 minutes and 19.13 seconds, averaging almost 78 mph. This average
speed was almost 5 mph faster than Rentsch's lightning-quick drive in 2007.
2008 Tattersall's Finke Desert Race
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Behind Fellows, the thundering V8 Hawker Jimco of Chris Coulthard was pounding through the infamous deep whoops that resemble
heavy swells at sea. Coulthard finished the first stage of the race in second place in 1 hour, 51minutes and 43.21 seconds.
Third into Finke was the father-and-son team of Shannon and Ian Rentsch, who finished a minute and a half behind Coulthard.
With the clouds dispersing, the drivers and crews spent the night under the desert stars, preparing their machinery for another
day of punishment. The experience is unique in the Australian Championship, as most other events are held in major regional
centers with the luxuries of power and accommodation on tap.
As the welcome sight of sunshine bathed the start line on Monday morning, the off-road buggies, trucks and 4WDs rolled onto
the grid for the race back to Alice Springs. With the cars released on adjusted time, whoever crossed the line in Alice Springs
first would be the winner. Fellows and Kittle were in the box seat and were given the green to go at 7:30 a.m. Coulthard,
who was sitting in second, would have to close the four-and-a-half-minute gap and pass the TRD Jimco to take the event win.
With the racing conditions almost perfect after the earlier rain, Coulthard was never going to have a better opportunity to
hunt Fellows down, and he closed to within one minute of Fellows on the home stretch.
