THEY are the kings of the Condo 750 off-road rally.
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Driver Tom Dixon and navigator Nick Peters from North Nowra and their team claimed a major motorsport win for Shoalhaven last month.
The condo 750 is an off-road rally in western NSW in which more than 100 extreme vehicles race over extreme terrain at extreme speeds.
Supported by a team of about seven people and Mr Dixon’s father Roly, an experienced racer himself, they conquered 1100km, of which 750km were under race conditions.
Their vehicle was a highly-modified V8 Nissan Patrol.
While the win was a team effort, it came down to the two in the car to cross the line first.
Not only did they come first in the race, they racked up a number of other firsts along the way.
This race was the first overall race win for Mr Dixon, who had won stages in rallies before.
“I think the biggest challenge for me was making sure the car was right,” he said.
“I prepped the car, so it was important that it would be up to the punishment.”
That punishment included the car going through a new set of brake pads on the first day.
Another first for the team was the man strapped into the passenger seat.
Nick (the navigator) Peters earned a 100 per cent success rate in his time in the co-pilot seat of a rally machine.
The Condo 750 was his first race and his first attempt at navigating.
The navigator’s role is to direct the driver down the right roads. This means staring at a map while being thrown around in a car.
It also meant he spent most of the first day throwing up.
“I made one mistake that cost us seven minutes on the way to a stage. We made up the time during the race,” he said.
Their race-time on the first day, despite the seven-minute penalty, told him they were in with a chance to win.
“I’ve known Tom since I was a kid and I had faith in his driving,” Mr Peters said.
He said he had the bug and was hoping to race again.