I’m looking forward to Shitbox Rally 2035, when you’ll be able to pick up a 2009 Honda CRV for $1000. In 2014, it’s going to be a white 1990 Toyota Corolla where power steering is still the future. As Franzl points out, it’ll be good to build the guns up.

This is the last chance to work out if the shitbox is up to the job, since a week from now we will finally be on the rally! Lessons learned from the 2011 rally include the (obvious in hindsight) revelation that shock absorbers are not a nice-to-have when you’re going to be doing 4000km, a quarter of which is going to be on some of the roughest dirt roads in the country.

Fortunately Franzl’s mate Ray opened his workshop for us to fit a new set of shocks on the back. So, good that we now have rear suspension, but bad that some crucial parts were fitted by an IT guy…. Still, when we took her out on the limestone tracks north of Perth with Fletch as the navigator to test the shocks they held up pretty good. Well, we didn’t end up axle deep in a sand dune. Not that they sort of thing tends to happen to me. Ever. The night drive in the rain also passed without incident… too good to last, right?

So now, it’s down to finishing off the decorations for the car and making tough decisions like just how many pairs of underpants counts as over-packing…!

One last thing…we are still raising money to hit our $4000 target for the Cancer Council so if you want to sponsor us, here’s the link to our fund raising page: https://shitboxrally2014.everydayhero.com/au/brown-pointers