Driving Down Under

One driver fitted out his Ford with a hot-and-cold water system; a Melbourne innkeeper showed up with a trunkful of frozen food and a two-week supply of wines. But wiser entrants in the Redex* 9,600-mile, round-Australia stock-car trial prepared for trouble. They came equipped with aircraft seats and safety belts, tools, emergency rations, and elaborate navigation equipment. "Kangaroo deflectors" jutted forward from front bumpers like locomotive cowcatchers. Some pessimists even loaded up with trinkets to buy off belligerent aborigines.

Only one thing was sure: the trial was no ordinary race. Drivers would lose points for passing secret check points too early or too late; they would be penalized for drifting off course or breaking any one of a long list of rules. They were forbidden to replace a whole host of parts (which were coated with luminous paint to make them glow under ultraviolet light as a check against cheating). The trial would not go to the swift, but to the steady.

Shale & Possums. Trouble came soon and often. As the 249 competing cars (including 30 different makes) streamed out of Sydney toward Brisbane early this month, small boys stoned them from the roadside. Drivers got lost when wise guys switched highway markers around. A New Zealand entrant burned his hands beating out an engine fire, and 20 cars bogged down in mud. By the time the pack passed the first check point, drivers and officials were already wrangling over penalties.

North past Rockhampton, the cars churned up clouds of dust and ran down dozens of blinded kangaroos and possums. From tropical Townsville west to Mount Isa, on one of the worst stretches of road in Australia, they wallowed in talcum-fine sand or crunched across sharp shale that ripped tires to ribbons. Rocks tore into gas tanks and crumpled fenders. Two cars turned over. A Ford Zephyr plowed into a cow, tossed the animal into the air and caught it on the motor hood. Zephyr and cow were flattened beyond repair.

Paved highway took the contestant across the Northern Territory on the long (1,051 miles) run to Darwin. South and west across the "Outback" to the coast, the road was a nightmare of anthills and black "bulldust." Angry stockmen, who declared that the cars were frightening cattle, locked their gates and forced the travelers to detour. Indignant aborigines brandished tomahawks at the noisy invaders. Bush flies descended in swarms on bone-tired drivers taking catnaps. And in the tiny pearl-fishing town of Broome, the car crews found hardly enough food and beer to go around. By then, 88 entrants had dropped out.

Men & Motors. The rugged route was a test of men as well as motors. As the nerve-racking trial ground on, Sydney Garage Owner Jack Murray proved that his rowdy humor and his mechanical skill were an unbeatable combination. Along the way he touched off sticks of explosive gelignite that blew competitors out of much-needed rest. Outside Broome, Murray's 1948 Ford V-8 (which he uses for a tow car at home) ran out of gas; Murray promptly made a deal with another driver, whose car was stranded with burned-out bearings. After filling his Ford from his competitor's gas tank, Murray towed the stranded car to town, gassed up again and went on his way.

By the time the field reached Melbourne, it had dwindled to 134. Murray, whose car was rattling along on cracked shock absorbers and a twisted frame, jettisoned half a ton of equipment for the climb across the Australian Alps and home. Wearing rubber monkey masks as a final gag, he and his navigator, Bill Murray (no kin), dawdled through the mountains, stopped now and then to take movies, and rolled into the Sydney show ground last week easy winners. In 17 days on the road they were the only entrants who lost no points at all.

"Throw some more gelignite, Jack," shouted jokers in the mob that met Murray's car. Murray was too busy adding up his winnings: $2,225 in prize money, $4,162 for endorsing tires, sparkplugs and other products, plus a $2,925 house. However, Garageman Murray's tow car would never again be the same.

* Named for its sponsors, distributors of Redex, an additive oil for automotive engines.

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