Race Day

The day we had all been waiting for... 22 May 1994

Although we didn't see Marshall Perron, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory lead the race out from the Darwin wharf, being a recognised revhead himself, he escorted prevailing Cannonball Run cars out in his very own custom built Ford hotrod, with a display of flames painted down the sides.

Waiting to go....

Car 184: Porsche 911 Turbo

1982

Overall Winners

Driver: Ron Conrad

Navigator: Andrew Kelly

You will notice the crowd closing in as more cars go through. At one stage a police officer was called in to keep the crowd back. Even looking at these pictures now people were allowed to stand on both sides of the road without the road being roped off at all. At the time, we didn't think about it, however looking back the event, it does appear a bit dangerous. We can remember having so much of a crowd there at one stage with everyone trying to get photographs, the bottle neck to get a car through the crowd, we actually slowed the cars down to as little as 40km's an hour.

Official Pace Car: Nissan 300ZX 1993

Car 27: Ferrari F-40
1991
These two participants were the dentists from Japan that paid the ultimate price for their passion, and arguably a lack in safety from race organisers. Rumour has it... these two guys had international racing licenses. If this rumour is true these two would have been no strangers to speed.

Driver: Akihiro Kabe

Navigator: Takeshi Okano

Rest in Peace boys...

Car 121: 1991 Mitsubishi 3000 GT

We were told this particular Mitsubishi 3000GT was stolen from a shipping yard in Adelaide after the race.

Never to be seen again.

Notice how there was no tape or security holding the spectators back. This area was approaching the speed derestriction zone. Safety both for the driver and spectators was of little concern at this point.

Car 77: Porsche 928 S4

1991

Driver: Greg Wren

At this very early stage in the race, you can see how the spectators are moving forward to get a better picture. In the pics to follow you will see how the spectators created a bottle neck. On a three lane highway, the spectators had taken up one lane on each side, and were starting to encroach on the middle lane, causing the Cannballers to slow to around 40km's an hour to get past. This made even an instamatic camera photos look good

"The S.N.A.F.U. Crew"
Situation Normal: All Fucked Up

Car 37: 1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo

Driver: Darryl Leong & Tom Lee

There is also a great story about how this little four cylinder came to be here at this race on the Media page.

(Scroll down until you find the colour magazine article with a licence plate 37 at the top of the article)

Car 200: Toyota GT4

1994

Driver: Inada Daisiro

Car 16: Holden Commodore VN Group A

1990

Driver: Dennis Smith

Official Pace Car: Nissan 300ZX 1990 - 1993

Official Pace Car: Nissan 300ZX - 1993

Car 86: Holden Commodore Ute VR

1994

Driver: Greg Dick

The police have turned up to keep the crowds back.... however the police just became part of the crowd.