WHY THE 8-HOUR @ NARRABRI HAS YOUR NAME ON IT

Added to the Transmoto event calendar in 2024, the 8-Hour at Narrabri oozes quiet-achiever rural appeal. Here are five reasons you might want to consider signing up to race at this legendary venue in the picturesque North West Slopes region of NSW in early May. Or, if you’re too lazy to read on, let the highlights video of last year’s 8-Hour at this awesome property get you across the line.

THE VENUE IS EPIC

Those in the know will be familiar with this slice of riding heaven. The property, called “Castletop” (also known as Bike Territory), is a functioning stay-and-ride venue. It’s situated about 35 minutes northeast of Narrabri, and features 10,000 acres of unreal riding terrain. The Transmoto 8-Hour’s loop uses a bunch of all-new tracks, specifically cut in for this event. With a mouth-watering mix of grasstrack, hillclimbs, flowing tree-lined singletrack and killer ridgeline views, it’s a riding paradise. Plus, Narrabri serves up a very different flavour to events run closer to the coast – in terms of both the riding terrain and the road-trip to get there. Think far-horizon vistas, star-filled skies, mesmerising hardwood fires, old-school pubs and classic rural characters.

THE CLEVER COUNTER-CYCLICAL PLAY

With this year’s Narrabri event taking place immediately after the Anzac Day long weekend (which in itself is the week after Easter’s long weekend this year), the roads are likely to be much quieter on the Narrabri 8-Hour’s May 3-4 weekend. In the wake of the overlapping NSW, Victoria and Queensland school holidays, mums and dads will be taking a collective deep breath, checking their bank statements, licking their domestic wounds and enjoying some well-deserved, kid-free feet-up time on the couch. And that, friends, is the perfect vacuum into which you and your riding crew can launch a strike mission to the second running of the 8-Hour at this legendary Narrabri property in the North West Slopes region of NSW. Not only that, you get to avoid the May 3 election day mayhem back home in suburbia. While the rest of Australia is lining up like stupefied sheep at packed polling booths across the country, you and your riding crew – having already satisfied your civic duty by submitting your quick and easy postal vote – have cunningly “Gone Bush” for a memorable weekend worth of road-tripping, camping, riding and bench-racing good times at Narrabri.

TEST RIDE A NEW-MODEL GASGAS – FOR FREE!

In a first for Transmoto Enduro Events, this year’s entrants at Narrabri will be able to sign up to test ride a selection of new-model GASGAS demo bikes on Saturday – for free! That’s right; the GASGAS Australia crew has joined forces with Transmoto to host the Australian leg of the GASGAS 2025 United in Dirt Tour; offering paid-up entrants at three 2025 Transmoto 8-Hour events – Narrabri (NSW), Miva Station (Qld) and Eskdale (Vic.) – the opportunity to “taste the spicy flavour of the fun, red brand’s 2025 off-road models,” as GASGAS’s PR explains it. For more information and to register your interest, check out the 2025 United in Dirt Tour Australia website.

COS IT WON’T BE CROWDED

Most Transmoto events sell out in a stampede of entries within a few days of the event going on sale. Narrabri, on the other hand, only joined the Transmoto event calendar in 2024, and is still in its formative years – so it’s yet to butt its head up against the 600-rider cap. And that means more space in the pits and more space on the race loop (cos the loop remains the same length). Basically, you get the run of the joint – which won’t last, once everyone cottons on to how damn good this joint is! In other words, get in quick before the secret gets out.

THE REGION ROCKS

Narrabri isn’t just a township that sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. It’s got a whole lot going for it. So much so, you might even decide to hang around the area for a few days after the 8-Hour. Here’s a snapshot of some points of interest:

• It is the centre of a major cotton-growing industry, but also boasts big wheat, beef and lamb agricultural industries.
• Nearby attractions are Mount Kaputar National Park, the Australia Telescope Compact Array at the Paul Wild Observatory (administered by the CSIRO) and a number of agricultural centres.
• Just to the south of Narrabri is the Pilliga Forest, the largest remnant temperate forest in Eastern Australia.
• For film buffs, Narrabri also has The Crossing Theatre, a 1000-seat auditorium and cinema complex.