Trevor Wilson’s Road to Dakar

Ever thought about quitting your job to chase a dream of competing in the Dakar Rally? Not likely. But for one young Australian, racing the Dakar has been a life-long ambition, and he’s doing whatever it takes to make it a reality. His name is Trevor Wilson.

Since he was young boy, Trevor Wilson has always loved the feeling of speed and the rush of adrenaline flying through the forest. And late last year, this 26-year-old wrote his himself into the record books by crossing the Simpson Desert twice – from Birdsville to Mt Dare and back again – in less than 24 hours! Of course, Wilson’s sand dune extravaganza was not without its hiccups. His GPS and both trip meters broke on the return leg; he missed the second back-up fuel drop after skipping the first to save time and almost ran out of fuel 15km from town; and his partner for the trip, Scott Britnell, busted himself up in a 14okm/h cartwheel. In spite of those hurdles, Wilson was able to nurse his bike into town with just half a cup-full of juice sloshing in the tank. Now, with the Simpson Desert record ticked off his list, Wilson has his sights set on the 2018 Dakar Rally.

Intrigued by this guy’s back-story, we asked the Queenslander about the birth of his Dakar aspirations and how he plans to prepare for the big event this coming January…

“Competitively, I have had very little experience,” Wilson concedes. “I learnt how to ride by mustering cattle in the mountains on my best mate’s property; in steep, rocky terrain in northern NSW. And funnily enough, the progression from that to Dakar was fuelled by SBS. I grew up watching the 30-minute TV highlights of the Dakar Rally on SBS as a young kid and dreamed of being one of those people flying across the desert. And I have always pictured myself rolling up the Dakar’s starting ramp. I guess it’s an everyday bloke’s pursuit of the ultimate fantasy. There have been many years of prep behind the scenes. It’s a big financial and lifestyle commitment, and a lot of priorities in my life have changed to accommodate it.

“I completed a Bachelor of Secondary Education degree and was a high school Health and Physical Education and Social Science teacher for a number of years, but I soon realised it would take many years to get to Dakar on a teacher’s salary [laughs]. So to solve that problem, I learnt a trade and started up my own waterproofing company, called Blutec Waterproofing. This has given me the flexibility and ability to increase my workload to meet the financial requirements of preparing for a massive journey like this.”

^ Watch Trevor’s training video put together by Nathan Reid from Zeek Studios.

Financial considerations aside, how has Wilson gone about honing his skills on the bike to prepare himself for the inhospitable and often sandy desert terrain he can expect to encounter in South America? “For the past three months, I have been flying down to Newcastle each weekend to train in the Stockton Beach sand dunes, and I have intentionally gone out in heatwave conditions,” he explains. “Plus, fellow Aussie rider Scott Britnell and I have been heading into the mountains to do 600km road book rides to prepare ourselves for Dakar’s navigational demands. And we’ve been running in the sand dunes to improve our fitness. Every hour of every day has been used to prepare to the best of my ability and ensure I give myself every chance to get to Dakar and do well there,” Wilson went on to say.

In order to quality for the 2018 Dakar Rally, Wilson will be in the United Arab Emirates this weekend to race the 2500km Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (the ADDC, which runs April 1-6). And we wish this enterprising young Australian all the best with this vital stepping stone en route to Dakar. All going well, Wilson will join a big line-up of Aussies at the 2018 Dakar – a list that includes Troy O’Connor, Scott Britnell, Neil Orme, Todd and Jacob Smith, Dave Winterburn and Christophe Barriere-Varju. In the meantime, he’s joined by James Ferguson and Lee Stephens at the ADDC.