WRECKS RALLY PUTS FUN INTO FUNDRAISER
IT’S the rally that gives ordinary Aussies the chance to achieve extraordinary things in some of the greatest wrecks on four wheels .
An annual event like no other, the S*itbox Rally puts the fun into fundraising as drivers take on some of our toughest roads in beaten up heaps worth less than $1000 in aid of cancer research.
Launched in 2009 by South Australian James Freeman after he lost both of his parents to cancer in the same year, the event, aka the Box Rallies, has raised more than $16 million for the Cancer Council.
More than 200 teams, including several from the Coast, will leave Brisbane in their colourful, themed cars on Saturday for this year’s 3800km convoy to Darwin.
Teams must raise $4000 to qualify for the rally, with more than $1.6 million already collected.
Gold Coaster Glen Parker’s Rock Apes team has collected almost $7000 via its fundraising page at donate18.shitboxrally.com.au/rockapes before its Toyota Hiace hits the road this year.
“We are extremely proud to be doing our part to support such a worthy charity,” he said.
This year’s rally will traverse long stretches of unforgiving, mostly unsealed flood-prone roads before it rolls into Darwin on May 25.
“It’s not a race – it’s a fun, colourful definitely unpredictable adventure,” Mr Parker said.
The rally cars – including a 1979 Toyota Corona Wagon driven by Pimpama participant Richard Smythe’s Two Dicks Outback team – will all be auctioned off in Darwin at the end of the event.
Teams leave in buddy groups each morning after nightly stopovers that see them camp out under the stars, with community groups in local towns invited to sell meals to the motorists to spread the rally’s benefits along the way.
The buddy groups’ members help each other out not so much if but when any of the Shitboxes break down along the way. Of course, not all Shitboxes can’t be saved – each year about 20 cars don’t make it.
Rally cars will be draped in blue ribbons for a special stop in Katherine this year to honour Amy ‘Dolly’ Everett and her family.
Visit shitboxrally.com.au for details.