Suburban Leads The Road to Darwin



Report by Rod Eime. Photos by Rod Eime and John Grote.

It's been a big year for the Northern Territory so far. Not only have they signaled their intention to become Australia's next state, they've also just played host to a round of the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship. That event was "the single biggest event ever held in the Northern Territory".

On the subject of things BIG, Holden's huge new 4WD, the Suburban, was chosen to lead the vast convoy of V8 Supercar race transporters into our northern-most capital city.

In a round trip that covered almost 10,000 kms, the Suburban was driven towards the equator from Melbourne by convoy organiser Rod Eime and his media team, gathering a suitably enormous amount of attention along the way.

Emblazoned with vivid Holden Motorsport signage, Australia's largest 4WD stopped people in their tracks wherever it went. Ogled in Oodnadatta, eyed near Lake Eyre, gaped at in The Gap and perved on in Palmerston, the Suburban was an instant attraction throughout the entire trip.

After its prestigious duty of convoy pathfinder, the 5.8 litre petrol, 8-seater version set out for some r&r in Kakadu National Park, where it was able to test itself on some real outback tracks.

"The Suburban was an ideal vehicle for our purpose," said Rod.

"It had plenty of space, heaps of power and torque and was quite reasonable on fuel considering the (full capacity) load it carried.

"Much of the journey was spent off-road on all sorts of surfaces. Although the vehicle was never driven to its limits, it had no trouble dealing with the variety of conditions presented to it, and was completely dust-free inside - thankfully!"

The Road To Darwin would like to thank: Isuzu GM, Shell, The Northern Territory Tourist Commission and Gregory's/UBD for their valuable assistance in making the event such a success.

August 1998

See Also: The Road To Darwin | Tracking History to Oodnadatta | Top End Adventure

Word and Pictures: Rod Eime
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