Britnell Breaks East To West Record

Let there be no doubt, Australia’s Scott Britnell can ride faster, for longer.

Sure, Rocky Robinson may have flashed across Bonneville’s Salt Flats at over 600km/h. However, all Rocky had to do was hang on to his bike for less time than it takes to down a beer. And Rusty Vaughn may well have covered over 3000 kilometres in 24 hours, but he was on auto pilot; round and round and round the smooth, banked Continental Tyre Test Track.

But here in the land Down Under, where women glow and men plunder, 39-year-old ironman, Scott Britnell, rode a 200kg-plus beastie from Birdsville to Mount Dare in less than nine hours. And that was the very day after Britnell had ridden from Cape Byron to Birdsville in 19 hours. Then, the day after the Simpson crossing, he rode the very lonely 820 kilometres along the old Gunbarrel Highway before hooking north around the Freycinet Estuary.

Three monumental days. Cape Byron to Steep Point in 72 hours and 10 minutes. “I like the isolation,” said Britnell. “It adds to the dynamic.” I’m not sure exactly what dynamic Britnell is referring to, but riding the QAA line across Big Red after dark with a bung headlight sounds very dynamic to me.

Having slashed over 20 hours off the previous east-west transcontinental record, Britnell turned around to ride back to Byron Bay; to complete the 11,000 kilometre double crossing of Australia in little more than a week.

Should you think such a feat is within your reach, here’s what you’ll need. One KTM 690 Rallye Replica or similar (Britnell’s was the same machine Rob Pollard used to good effect in the 2010 Dakar), fitted with 38-litre fuel tanks, BI-Xenon lights plus additional LEDs, Spot Tracker, EPIRB and a zillion hours in the gym. Plus someone to do the fuel dumps and drop off some Mitas tyres; an E07 for mixed surfaces, a Trelleborg for the Simpson and an E09D for sandgroper territory. And a pair of Forma Adventure boots.

So far I’ve got the boots – bloody good ones, too – but absolutely bugger all else.

To read up on the history of dirt bikes crossing Australia, click here.