Bianca Pollard

This entry is part 1 of 19 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #14

Scott Britnell

He always has life’s throttle wide open. After his recent running of the Canning Stock Route and a crossing of Central Asia, the NSW Southern Highlands rider is hard on the track of his next challenge: Dakar.

We’re still in awe of Scott Britnell’s sprint across the Wide Brown Land from Cape Byron to Steep Point and back in just a whisker under 174 hours. The planning and execution of that ride was astonishing.

Now when Scott, 41, says he’s going to have a crack at something, we pay very close attention to what he’s doing and how he plans to do it.

Dakar’s been on Scott’s radar for a while, and he was on his way to chat to Lee Palmer at Cross Roads Motorcycles in Grafton when he stopped to chat to us. Lee has invaluable experience with KTMs and the world rallye circuit.

On an overcast afternoon we perched on the trailer next to his 640 Adventure, cappuccino in hand, and asked how things were going.

“Right now I’m just trying to focus on getting myself to Dakar,” said Scott, living at the edge, as always (he was looking dangerously like he’d let his coffee go cold).

“I’m still aiming for 2017, so I’m trying to get time on a rallye bike and get overseas for some experience in the rallye scene.”

We had to ask about the financial aspect. That’s a very scary proposition for a privateer.

“I have a couple of sponsors that are on board for the right reasons and are behind me 100 per cent, so now I need to firm things up and do some fundraising to take the next step. It’s going to take a lot of things to line up, but it looks like it’s going to work.”

Scott Britnell is aiming at Dakar in 2017.

We wondered out loud whether Mitas was involved.

“Absolutely!” said Scott, very nearly smiling. “The product is what I’m looking for and the people are great.”

We know Scott to be a first-class planner, so we asked how his ‘Get To Dakar’ campaign would run for the next year-and-a-bit.

“The campaign will be a primary focus right now on getting to the Dubai International Rally for some navigational and rallye experience, and to qualify for Dakar.

“Qualifying isn’t a simple process.

People will submit a 45-page resumé just to say, ‘Pretty please, can I come and race your Dakar.’

“Between now and then the plan is to train up for Dubai, have a safe qualifying finish, then come back and hone down on the skills needed and the fundraising.”

With that he drained his coffee cup, crushed it with a manly grimace we’ve been trying to copy ever since, and headed off to continue his journey.

Dakar had better get ready for Scott Britnell’s arrival. If he says he’ll be on the start in 2017, we’re betting he’ll be there.

We’ll be barracking for him.

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