One of Australia's oldest motor racing tracks has roared back to life with thousands of spectators flocking to Lake Perkolilli for the Red Dust Revival.
More than a century ago, on the eve of the first world war, drivers descended on Lake Perkolilli to race in the dirt.
From 1914 to 1939 the isolated claypan near Kalgoorlie hosted an annual motor racing meeting, which became legendary.
Lake Perkolilli is a unique, rock hard claypan which has been the location for many Australian speed records.
It was almost forgotten until vintage motor racing buffs returned to bring it to life once again. The event was revived in 2014.
Car enthusiasts spend many years building what is classified as “pre-war” vehicles with components from cars built before the Second World War. Organiser Graeme Cocks said the interest in the event was astounding.
"We've had people bringing their built cars from all over Australia, particularly the eastern states. We’ve tripled the number of entrants to 2019,” he said.
Mr Cocks said over 100 cars and 40 motorbikes, pre World War Two took part.
“We would have had over the course of the week around 25 thousand visitors. The furthest away was Norway, the UK and South Africa.”
Mr Cocks said there’s been an increase in interest after the event featured on the popular television programs, ‘Outback Truckers’ and ‘Desert Collectors’.
“It’s not a surprise it’s internationally known. It was great to have it back, the pandemic didn’t really affect us as we run it every 3-4 years. The last one was in 2019 and the one before that was 2014,” Mr Cocks added.
He praised the 150 volunteers for ensuring the success of the event.
“You basically have to build a town on a clay pan in the middle of nowhere, it’s quite the set up.”
Photo source 1: Alex Porebski. More than 100 cars from pre WWII descended on Lake Perkolilli.