Safari ADVT

This entry is part 5 of 26 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #4

World-class rallies are an impossible dream for most adventure riders, but the Australasian Safari Adventure Tour (ADVT) runs alongside the Australasian Safari each year and gives riders a taste of the world-class Rally Raid experience. Ewen MacGregor – no, really – tagged along through some stunningly beautiful parts of Western Australia to find out what it’s all about.

While it’s not the race itself, the ADVT follows the Australasian Safari route, riding as many of the competition stages as possible.

It’s normally around 70 per cent of the official race course.

“There’s no doubt it’s a serious ride, with up to 400km on the bikes each day,” said Andy Van Kann, part of the Safari course survey team and original Adventure Tour Director. “The difference with the Adventure Tour is that we finish riding in the early afternoon most days and generally end up at a spectacular and secluded spot.”

The group usually rides ahead of the competitive Safari. That means very early starts, challenging days in the saddle and evenings in the bivouac spent fettling the bikes for the next day’s challenge.

Australia’s Dakar

Western Australia has hosted the Australasian Safari for several years. The course covers more than 3000km in seven days, ranking as one of the world’s most spectacular rallies.

The ceremonial start was in Perth, but the first real action was outside of Northampton, some 400km to the north. From there it was an adventure through the mid-west, Murchison and Gascoyne regions, taking in the beaches south of Kalbarri, the rough country around the Kennedy Ranges and the coastline through Quobba and Gnaraloo stations at the south end of Ningaloo Reef, then south to finish on the foreshore in Geraldton.

Competitors tackled a variety of conditions that included a beach blast, farmland, steep beach descents and a fast run through sheep paddocks, with crests, gutters, ruts and creeks all creating hazards…and the Tour mirrored the route.

The ADVT

The Adventure Tour is a commercial operation. Fees include costs, licence, insurance and accreditation. The Tour is run entirely by volunteers and organised by a family of passionate motorsport enthusiasts. Tour lead rider is Alan Makin, and his wife Lynne is the coordinator. She first became involved in the Tour around three years ago and says one of the best things about running the Tour is getting to meet riders from around the world and Australia. She also enjoys that the ADVT ride crew creates a strong community feeling.

“If someone’s bike needs fixing and it takes until 2.00am, then we all pull together to help,” Lynne said.

To take part in the Adventure Tour all you need is to be a competent rider, love to challenge yourself and have a spirit for adventure. Tour riders have the option to run a roadbook for the stages and the route that the Adventure Tour follows.

This is as close to competition as you can get without racing, and in this way the ADVT acts as a feeder for aspiring Safari competitors. In 2013 there were seven Safari race competitors who’d previously taken part in the Tour.

The 2013 ADVT

In 2013 the tour attracted 18 riders from all over Australia and overseas, with an assortment of bikes including a 1986 800cc BMW and a 1990 750cc Yamaha Ténéré, and both bikes attracted huge interest from rally competitors.

The Tour is primarily for solo adventure bike riders, but quads are eligible, and, mainly for logistical reasons, rider numbers are capped at 20. When the day’s riding is in full flow and everyone’s out there enjoying themselves, the field can be strung out over 10km of wilderness. Any more than 20 riders would mean an even more strung-out group and the logistics and safety could be compromised.

Bivouacs and beer

For 2013, the ADVT started in Northampton, riding 400km north in front of the main rally to a remote bivouac near Kalbarri, where the riders were able to get to know each other and repair their bikes and bodies over a few cartons of beer. Tents (for those who don’t bring their own) and food are supplied by the ADVT organisers, with a professional catering company following the Tour and cooking up some well-deserved hearty breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

It was an early start each morning to get riding ahead of the race, and at Gascoyne Junction the riders had the opportunity to camp with the rest of the Safari and really soak up the atmosphere. This highlighted one of the unique and special aspects of the ADVT: the chance for riders to meet and mingle with some of the world’s top rally riders and watch the $50,000 Dakarspec bikes being serviced by the world’s leading mechanics.

Every evening was a whirlwind of repairs, rebuilds and test rides, often late into the night, as everyone prepared for the next day’s challenge.

Tough stuff

One of the toughest but most rewarding stages was the ride from Gascoyne Junction to Carnarvon through the Murchison River riverbed. The sweeping trails were rocky in places, and in others riders had to negotiate deep sand, but the backdrop was spectacular with the remote Kennedy Range National Park rising majestically from the desert. It was typical of many days on the Tour – a mix of twisty, hard-packed bush tracks where riders had to be right on the ball with navigation, and other fenceline sections where they were able to ride absolutely flat out.

The Dummy Award

The first evening, Peter, the ADVT sweep rider, introduced the group to the Adventure Tour Dummy Award, a baby’s dummy tied to a loop. This was awarded every night at the briefing session to any rider or supporter who did ‘dumb’ things. The nominated rider would have to wear the dummy for a day after the transgression as penance. Some of the 2013 award nominations included:

• Alan, ADVT lead rider, for not getting off his bike to open a gate and breaking his thumb on day one – yes, he rode the rest of the Tour with it strapped up

• Rainer, for trying to refuel his quad from a green water container instead of a red fuel container

• Darren, for pinching three tubes in a morning of riding

• Jenny, for bogging her support vehicle in the bivouac at Gascoyne Junction and being towed out by recovery

• Andrew, for expertly changing his rear tyre, but letting the rim roll away and knock over his beer

• Dusty, for powering past the lead rider and charging off into the unknown

• Ralph, for ignoring the cornerman and also charging off over the horizon. Not once, but twice!

• Anton, for not checking his rear axle nut was tight

• Christian, for loose handlebars

Pre-1985 bikes

The Tour attracted a couple of particularly interesting bikes due to the inclusion of a Pre-1985 class in the main event.

Michael Schmidt rode a BMW airhead, built in Perth by Auto Classic with help from HPN in Germany. This model won the Paris-Dakar rally several times and gained popularity with adventure-seeking travellers.

Richard “Dusty” Carr from South Australia was riding a Yamaha Super Ténéré 750. In the spirit of the original Dakar competitors, Dusty rode the bike across from South Australia to take part in the Tour.

“I am absolutely amazed to get to the end,” he said. “It was some of the toughest riding I’ve ever done in my life. I’m a bit sad it’s all over. I would have liked to have kept going a few more days.”

In addition to the ADVT pre-1985 riders, the new category also attracted some international riders to the Safari, so it looks like the new category will stay.

Final thoughts

There were mixed emotions as the Tour rolled into Geraldton at the end of the final stage – exhilaration at finishing a week of bone-jarring, sun-baked, dry and dusty riding, and sadness over Australia Safari competitor Ivan Erceg’s tragic death. But there was also a feeling of great anticipation for next year’s Tour.

Many of the Tour riders are already planning and dreaming about next year’s event. After all, it’s not everyday you get to rub shoulders with some of the world’s top rally riders, experience what it’s really like in the bivouac of a leading international motorsport event, and share adventure riding stories round the campfire in some of the remotest places in the WA outback.