Leg 10 – the course… 

A one day run between rest breaks. The roads around Mount Isa were some of the most notorious in the early Redex Trials – the so-called horror stretches. The first stage of the leg, ‘Hillside’ run over 95km, used one of these roads and this contained many cautions – in fact, 44 creek crossings, 31 cautions for ruts and rough patches – and, mercifully, only six gates! The stage finished at Quamby, northwest of Cloncurry.

Due to the tight schedule of a one day run there was a long straight-forward drive east across the Flinders Highway through Julia Creek, Richmond, and Hughenden to the second stage of the leg, the 45km ‘Mingela’, held to the north west of that town and conducted by the Twin Cities Auto Sports Club. In total contrast ‘to ‘Hillside’ this was over very fast smooth flowing roads, with numerous grids, dips and some creek crossings.

Then a 137km run into Townsville.