The Kickstarters Gascoyne Dash® is a genuine desert race.

It is an awesome challenge across some of the harshest and remote country in Australia. Situated between the seaside town of Carnarvon and Gascoyne Junction WA - the desert by the sea.

The Dash is a motorsport event that pits car against car and bike against bike and then the quickest of each against each other to determine who the King of the River is.

Kickstarters is in memory of local identity Neville Brandstater who tragically drowned in the Lyndon River in 1995.

Gascoyne is a mighty river of sand where a lot of the race is conducted.

Dash refers to the first races which were boat events down the flooded Gascoyne River. Unfortunately the Gascoyne rarely flows so move over boats and come in cars and bikes.

Comparison has been made between the Dash and the Finke Desert Race. Both races are a true test of machine and competitor, both are races that promote the unique Australian outback. The Dash is a point to point race over a hugely varied landscape, a cross country course extensively consisting of natural desert and outback terrain. In excess of 500km over two days the Dash is long and tough; it is an ultimate challenge.

Day One Racing

The Day one track is 187km across the full range of Dash country; medium and fast paced station tracks, sandy river crossings, red sand dunes, a 10-15km of rocky hill climbs and a fast run to the finish. Competitors’ intent should be to survive day one.

Day Two Racing

Day two brings 324 km’s of awesome country and high speed sections. The race starts with 10km of reasonable paced station track then 30 km of tighter corrugated flats between rugged rocky outcrops and hill climbs then drop into the Lyons River and then into the mighty Gascoyne River for 140km. The river brings flat out end of throttle sections interspersed with 3 metre drop offs, rough as crab hole sections and tight rocky sections. If you have time to look you pass calm billabongs complete with black swans, big timber patches, our feral friends goats, dingoes, roos, emu and cattle.

You come out of the river after a compulsory stop at Rocky Pool East for a refuel and re inflate of tyres then onto a blisteringly fast 120km flat out Dash to the finish at Carnarvon Race Course where competitors give the spectators a taste of extreme racing through a series of tight turns and jump ups in the race course in field.

The Gascoyne Dash is a grass roots wildfire...

We thank our volunteers, our stakeholders, the property owners and our sponsors for believing in the Event.

Since its inception as a white water Dash in 2000 many people have nurtured the evolution of the race into a national standard desert motor sport event. They have put in way more time than anyone could fairly expect of volunteers; invested their hearts in the belief of its long term potential. Coupled with financial support from the Eventscorp, Gascoyne Development Commission, Shire of Carnarvon, Shire of Upper Gascoyne, Skywest Airlines and our legion of legendary sponsors the Dash is made possible each year.

Thanks to Lachlan and Jane McTaggart of Bidgemia Station for their extensive support and access to a world class venue. The 'can do' attitude and passion for the region that emanates from Bidgemia is shared by the Gascoyne Off Road Racing Club and is greatly appreciated. Thanks the operators of Jimba Jimba Station, Mooka Station, Doorawarrah Station, Brickhouse Pastoral Company (Paull and Rebecca Burt also provide aircraft and radio support) , 26th Parallel Pty Ltd, Klein Corporation Pty Ltd and the Carnarvon Race Club.

We thank Motorcycling Western Australia (MWA) and Confederation of Australian Motorsports (CAM) for their guidance.

Catchin’ the flame, our past winners - The "King of the River"
2003 Stephen "Duck" Mitchell, 2004 & 2005 Vern Strange - Bike, 2006 Jason Hill – Bike, 2007 & 2008 Vern Strange - Bike, 2009 Travis Robinson/Paul Currie – Car, 2010……….

Outright Car:
2003 Troy Schoen, 2004 RayYaksich/Matt Fong, 2005 Peter Jecks, 2006 Brian Robinson/Beau Robinson - Outer Bounds Racing, 2007 Brian Robinson/Travis Robinson - Outer Bound Racing, 2008 Brian Robinson/Matt Fong– Outer Bounds Racing, 2009 Travis Robinson/Paul Currie - OBR, 2010…..

Outright Bike:
2003 Stephen "Duck" Mitchell, 2005 & 2005 Vern Strange, 2006 Jason Hill, 2007, 2008 Vern Strange, 2009 Todd Smith, 2010………..

Winning is something finishing is everything

Whilst the winners will not agree most of the field of competitors will, our competitors set their challenge to finish this massive race.

Anybody can join the Dash as a competitor, a reasonable level of fitness, a thirst for adventure, a dose of commonsense and a suitable machine and you could be ready to race.

Want to become involved as a volunteer? please click here

Come as a spectator, enjoy the vastness of the country and watch the extreme edge of desert racing.