The starter’s pistol will shortly sound on the highly anticipated 2017 Outback Challenge, following a hiatus last year due to extensive flooding in the Broken Hill region where the event is held.
Narva has again thrown its support behind the event as a major general sponsor as well as directly sponsoring two race entrants under the ‘Team Narva’ banner. The two Team Narva competition rigs will be extensively equipped with Narva lighting and piloted by experienced campaigners, Dave Cameron and Shayne Barkley.
Regarded as one of the toughest off-road competitions in Australia and indeed anywhere in the World, this year’s event will play host to 30 teams from around the country, who will do battle across 22 demanding stages.
For teams who may want to sample the Outback Challenge without committing to a full week of competition, they can get a taste of the event by competing in the final stage, ‘Mad Max’, which takes in 130 kilometres of both rocky and sandy terrain – a further 10 teams will participate in this stage.
Outback Challenge organiser, Steve Tjepkema, said he was delighted with Narva’s ongoing involvement.
“I am extremely pleased to once again have Narva’s support for the event. It is a brand with a great reputation for reliable high quality products and we like to align ourselves with reputable brands,” he said.
“To keep growing the event year on year and to continue improving it, it’s crucial that we have high quality sponsors such as Narva and the brand is a great fit for the Outback Challenge. This event is going from strength to strength with entries up on 2015 and because last year’s competition was cancelled due to flooding, there’s a high level of excitement and anticipation amongst the competitors,” Steve said.
Narva Marketing Manager, Jake Smith, said that this year the company had stronger reasons than ever to get involved with the Outback Challenge.
“The Narva brand has enjoyed a close relationship with Australia’s off-road competition scene for many years and in 2017 the event timing has coincided with the release of our all-new Ultima 215 L.E.D driving lights,” Jake said. “The Narva Ultima 215s feature the latest in L.E.D technology, delivering a pure white light output courtesy of 33 x 5W (165W) XP-G2 Cree L.E.Ds per lamps. Per pair, the lamps provide an impressive 1 Lux of brightness at 900 metres and with this level of illumination I’m sure they will more than meet the challenge for competitors during the demanding night stages.”
“Both our sponsored vehicles will be fitted with these advanced Ultima 215 L.E.D Lights and this will provide us with the opportunity to put the lights through further extreme real-world testing.”
“Participating in the event also provides Narva with excellent first-hand exposure to the 4×4 competition fraternity,” commented Jake.
This year’s Outback Challenge will be held from September 22-29 on private property surrounding Broken Hill and extending as far north as White Cliffs. Organisers will again undertake fundraising throughout the event with proceeds going to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Further details of the 2017 Outback challenge including spectator information can be found at: www.outbackchallenge.com.au and www.facebook.com/outbackchallenge
