Australians Rod Wade, aged 71, and Austen Ritchie, 38, have set a new World Record for driving a pre-war car across Australia and back in just 101 hours, 52 minutes and 32 seconds in a fundraising challenge for Kidney Health Australia.
The driving duo set off from the Surfers Paradise sign on the Gold Coast on Tuesday June 3 at 10 a.m. in a 1930 Ford Model A. Armed with a bottle of water from the South Pacific Ocean and a bucket of Gold Coast sand, they travelled 2,796 miles through Queensland, New South Wales, Southern Australia and across the Nullarbor Plains into Western Australia. They arrived at Bathers Beach, Fremantle, on Thursday June 5, slightly later than planned after two breakdowns in the middle of the night. Emergency repairs were made by the roadside as trucks and road trains motored past.
On arrival at Fremantle, Rod and Austen emptied the water into the Indian Ocean and tipped the bucket of sand onto the beach before refilling the vessels with the same from the Coral Coast. Then they got straight back on the road, arriving back at Surfers Paradise on Saturday June 7 at around 4:20 p.m., making the total distance around 5,592 miles. The return journey was not without its dramas either, as the support vehicle was disabled when hit by a kangaroo! The Model A was also hit, but was not damaged in the altercation.
This is not motoring enthusiast Wade’s first driving challenge, as he set a previous world record in November of last year for driving 2,941 miles from Staten Island, New York, to Venice Beach, California, in just over 50 hours.
The inspiration behind the “Ocean to Ocean Challenge Australia” was to raise money to create a fleet of “Kidney Kampers” for Kidney Health Australia. These are campervans fitted with dialysis machines so those suffering from kidney disease can still have the freedom to travel away from the hospital for weekends away and short holidays.
