Jump in my car: Dave Crompton's Mighty Boy

Yugar’s Dave Crompton and mate Jamie Slade took on the big boys in this year’s Great Endeavour Rally, which raised almost $650,000.

Raising dust – and much-needed funds – for the Endeavour Foundation, which supports people with disability to live their best lives, they travelled 4000km across outback Queensland in Dave’s pint-sized 1987 Suzuki Mighty Boy.

Dave says they were a sight to behold as they ventured through towns including Roma, Tibooburra, Betoota, Birdsville, Big Red and Innamincka among a field of four-wheel drives.

“I bought it about six months ago to do the rally,” Dave says.

“I thought ‘what’s the most ridiculous car that has a chance of making it around’ – it’s comically small, but it’s a ute.

“Eighty percent of the cars doing the rally were modified four-wheel drives.

“One of the guys had a big V8 and he would fill up with 300 litres and we would fill up with 30.”

Mighty effort

Weighing about 500kg, and just over three metres long and 1.3m high, the Mighty Boy sports 12-inch wheels and a radiator that’s smaller than most fitted to motorbikes and Dave says it punched well above its weight on the epic journey.

“It got through everything, it just needed one tow through really slick clay mud and we had a leaky seal, so we ended up using a lot of oil in the end.

“The first job when we got back was to get the leaf blower going to get rid of the dust.

“We had a heat wave – two days of 43 degrees – and we had no aircon on a dirt road with the windows open.

“It’s a soft-top and the back comes down and the roof comes off.

“We kept the roof on, but with the windows down and the back down the dust came in and went out.”

Travelling light

Dave, whose car was sponsored by online meal delivery company Nourish’d Meal Co, which he runs with his wife, says the rally delivered many challenges – the first of which was accommodating the necessary gear to make it through the event in a vehicle akin to a “shopping trolley”.

“We had to have two spares, 20 litres of spare fuel and camping gear.

“We pretty much packed as though we were going hiking,” he laughs.

“The rally was quite full-on.

“When you’re driving you have to read the book with your directions and in this car, you really have to drive it.

“What’s a small pothole for a Land Rover will write you off in this car.

“The speed depends on the terrain – on the highway it will sit on a hundred.

“One day we thought there was something wrong because it couldn’t get out of third gear, but it was because of the headwind.”

Fabulous fun

Dave originally planned to sell his Mighty Boy after the event, but says he’s become quite attached to the vehicle, which was nicknamed “Little Lobbie” by his daughter, Olive.

“She used to call strawberries ‘lobbies’ when she was little, and the Mighty Boy’s red,” he says.

“I would definitely recommend anyone who’s wanting to do the rally doing it in something silly – we had so much fun.”

Click here to find out more about the Great Endeavour Rally.