Peter Neal and Craig Whyburn took their 1998 Subaru WRX to compete in the modern division of the 2018 Lasseters Classic Outback Trial.

With a time of nine hours, 34 mins 15 seconds, the duo claimed the win in their division.

This was their second successive win after taking home the trophy in 2016.

“It was a real achievement to do it again,” Peter said.

The event is a seven day endurance rally made up of 900 kilometres of competitive stages including fast flat cattle roads, dry creek beds and sandy outcrops.

It is held every second year around Alice Springs, mainly using station properties and closed public roads.

Peter and Craig’s win didn’t come easy, with a series of technical problems that threatened to derail their campaign.

Their service crew, made up of Steve Forsberg,Tex Ritter and Chris Dale, struggled to keep up with the car at service points with fuel and tyres through out the day.

It required ‘leap frogging’ service points to be on time when the car got there.

They were also kept busy each night to service and check the car for the next stages.

The car had endless problems from failed rear springs (which were replaced) and an overheating engine with resultant loss of power caused by poor fuel (a problem for a number of cars both this year and the previous event).

This was finally resolved by the use of Chemiweld in the coolant on the fifth day. 

They also suffered a cracked radiator caused by taking a crest too fast on the first day and landing heavily on the left front. 

The rear differential was replaced at the end of day three as it was not working properly.

Brake fluid was also changed. 

Over the course of the event, four front drive shafts had to be replaced. 

Their most notable incident however was a rear differential breakage at the first stage on day six.

This meant they completed a further 130 kilometres in front wheel drive with a locked centre differential. 

The service crew replaced the broken differential with the one taken out on day three at a service point on dirt in 31 minutes. Peter and Craig were able to continue without loss of points.

On day three, the crew made two navigational mistakes which cost them 13 minutes and dropped them to second but slowly clawed back time.

 The lead car broke a clutch on day six to give Peter and Craig the lead and the win on day seven.

The scenic areas provided their own challenges, from very winding in the gold and gem fields to open across the quartz plateau or gibber country. This made it difficult to see where the road actually went.

The event passed or used some of the most notable scenic places in the Northern Territory such as Rainbow Valley, Owen Spring Nature Park, Lawrence Gorge, Emily and Jessie Gaps, N’Dhola Gorge Nature Park and Ruby Gap Nature Park.

Roads around Winnecke goldfields, Gemtree and copper mine roads and a quartz plateau near Ambalindum were also used.