Desert dream

The race crosses the Finke River and is held each year on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend. ‘Finke’, as it is known, is one of the biggest annual sporting events in the Northern Territory and is recognised as the richest Off Road Race in Australia with the added reputation of being one of the most difficult courses, with more than 460km to cover, in one of the most remote places in the world.

Josh, who now lives in Gol Gol, NSW, grew up in Deniliquin completing his schooling at St Michael’s Primary and Deniliquin High School.

‘‘I’ve wanted to do this (the Finke Desert Race) for a number of years,’’ he said.

‘‘To make that dream come true is just indescribable.

‘‘I’m looking forward to try and better my time next year, so I’m keen to improve the vehicle in any way I can.

‘‘I honestly couldn’t have done it without the great crew we had and the knowledge from my friends in Gol Gol and Deniliquin.

‘‘I’d like to thank Molly, my wife, the crew for making sure the buggy was on point and to my number one navigator, supporter and father Robert for helping me make this dream a reality.’’

The Wilsons had an impressive showing in their first attempt at the race, finishing 17th overall — and 10th in his class — in the car sector with a total time of 4:41:21.

Josh and Rob drove a GET Performance Built 6000cc V8 chev buggy, which includes a five speed Albins sequential gearbox, similar to a V8 supercar, and had a 600hp engine.

With Josh at the wheel of the buggy and Rob navigating, the pair clocked in with consistent times over the two days with a time of 2:20:44.6 on day one and 2:20:36.4 on day two.

It was a vast improvement from his prologue position of 38th, with his time of five minutes and 28.3 seconds enough to qualify for the main race.

Josh said the race is run along sections of what was the Old Ghan Railway service track.

‘‘There’s a lot of work that goes into it,’’ he said.

‘‘The Finke Desert drive is a logistical nightmare, because you have to have your support crew drive out from Alice Springs the night before.

‘‘They had to set up camp before day one of the race, and then had to head back to Alice Springs so they were ready for our arrival on day two.

‘‘For us a one-way trip is only about 230km along the dirt track but for the support crew that have to take the highway, it’s about a 9 hour trip over 420km.

‘‘I cannot stress enough how big a job the support crew did, so again I have to say thank you.’’