The event is still a few weeks away and they’ve already broken their fundraising record with $167,000 raised for Country Hope. 

Event organisers Gavin and Tammy Gilbert were thrilled with the result.  

“We’ve got around another $20,000 that is still to come it. It’s fantastic. We’re already over. We’ve had fundraising and sponsors from around New South Wales – even Queensland and Victoria,” he said. 

Jeff Johnson is one of 57 entrants for this year. His drive is a way to fundraise and pay tribute to his brother, who passed away last year after a fight with bowel cancer. 

“We saw this young fellow at the Whitton Pub with his car all done up. He was doing the rally and we both got to chatting with him. I turned to my brother and asked if he wanted to do it. It all kind of kicked off from there,” he said. 

“I rang Gav, told him the story and I entered. The car was donated by one of the car yards for me. It’s for a great cause.” 

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Mr Johnson says it’s great to see the money going to a local charity. 

“It’s great that all the money goes to Country Hope. All of the proceeds go to a good cause … and you get to see the money being used for people in your area.” 

“The event itself is about two-and-a-half thousand kilometres. We leave from Hillston,” Mr Gilbert said. 

“Our biggest day will be about 600 kilometres driving. We stop at small communities and places like schools. They help us out with the catering and in turn we get to put money back into that small town”. 

Lots of different businesses have come on board to sponsor the ride. Some have even supplied things like trailers.

“We’d love to see local businesses who are starting up or have samples we can put in goodies bags to contribute,” Mrs Gilbert said. 

None of the drivers know the exact route. Each morning the drivers are given a map with the day’s course. The first rally, held in March 2017, was hailed a huge success, raising over $120,000 for Country Hope.