It might be shameful to own a “shitbox” in some suburbs, but three teams from Wyndham are celebrating the knockabout cars on a road trip to raise money for the Cancer Council.
The uniquely Australian term has stumped some competitors originally from overseas, like Irishman Brian Rodgers from Point Cook, but all have embraced the Shitbox Rally, the nation’s largest private Cancer Council fund-raiser.
It’s a seven-day, 4000-kilometre outback road trip from Perth to Darwin in cars worth less than $1000. Their drivers and teams are aiming to raise $1.4 million in sponsorship.
Rodgers has teamed up with mate Joe Pantalleresco.
“Our car’s a 1993 Ford Fairlane worth a few hundred dollars, needing a roadworthy and work. We called the team ‘Push to Start’, because that’s what we might have to do.” The pair also raise funds for cancer organisations through the Point Cook Motorcycle Club. They’ve both been touched by cancer in their families.
“We’re not training as such, we’re going to turn up and hope everything is OK,” Rodgers says. “Even if the car dies we will still be in the Australian outback, loving it and raising money.’’
Another Point Cook team knows about failure.
A few years ago, Tim Watson’s pirate-themed entry “blew up” three hours into the challenge and the team flew home. This year, Watson and mate Ben Huice from Morwell have chosen a fighter jet theme and hope to last the distance.
The rally starts in Perth on March 31, stopping by Meekatharra, Marble Bar and Broome before heading into the Kimberley and the top end.
First-time challengers Jacques Pretorius and Armandt Lourens, of Point Cook, are heading out in a 1991 Toyota Camry because they believe in the cause.
The rally has raised more than $3 million for the Cancer Council since it was first held in 2010, according to race spokesman James Freeman.
“Shitbox Rally is a different way of bringing together the community to raise awareness and support Cancer Council Australia in an adventurous and memorable way.”
