MOTORSPORT: MU-X to debut in Finke Desert Race

Sydney off-road ace Bruce Garland will make his 14th start in the Finke – after a fractured vertebra, a heart attack, five bypasses and prostate cancer surgery in the past four years. He'll campaign the MU-X with long-time co-driver Harry Suzuki.

The Finke is a two-day race for hundreds of cars, buggies, bikes and quads, starting from Alice Springs, crossing the Finke River on the 235km dash to the Aputula indigenous community and then returning to the Alice the following day.

The MU-X, Isuzu’s first seven-seat family wagon, will compete in Class Seven for near-standard production four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Garland, the veteran off-road champion long aligned to Isuzu and who traditionally has dominated class eight for highly-modified 4WDs, said the MU-X would have only a little more than its standard 130kW power and 380Nm torque.

“Aside from simply seeing how well the MU-X will go in the event we will be testing some new components from Japan and it is always exciting to be involved in developing a new model,” Garland said.

“We were involved with the D-MAX ute right from the start and I think we contributed a great deal to its development, so it’s fantastic to have the chance to do the same with the MU-X.

“Obviously we have an eye to competing again in the Dakar Rally [these days in South America, and which Garland and Suzuki missed this year], so everything we do with this car and this race has that as our focus.”

This weekend’s Finke is the 39th. It began in 1976 as a motorcycle event, with cars and buggies introduced in 1988.

A prologue on Saturday will decide the starting order for the out-and-back race on Sunday and Monday.

“I have told so many people to shoot me if I go back on this event,” 55-year-old Garland joked.

“I love the people [thousands of spectators line the route] and the race, but I hate the track. I obviously keep forgetting how much pain is involved," he said.