Rockynats entrants have Australia covered from top to bottom

Published on 01 April 2021

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Robert Berry and Codie Free like driving.

A lot.

In fact, both will have turned in round trips of around 6000 kilometres from opposite ends of the country to bring their stunningly-turned-out cars to the 2021 Rare Spares Rockynats.

To put it in perspective, they’ll both have travelled the driving distance from London to Uzbekistan by the time they get back home.

Berry and wife Deborah are here from their Northern Territory hometown of Humpty Doo with their 1934 Ford five window coupe show car while Free is up from Hobart to plant Tassie tread with his methanol injected HSV R8 ClubSport the burnouts.

Berry said while he and Deborah and their two cavoodle dogs Frankie and Toohey were keen to get to Rockhampton, they planned their trip carefully.

“We took four days to get here, deciding to come via Townsville when we heard things might have been changing because of COVID.

“We thought we’d go there first because we didn’t want to get stuck any further from home if things did change,” the Shannons classic car insurance representative said.

His 87-year-old tin top, which he imported from America eight years ago and has done three motor changes on since – including a change from a supercharger to a twin turbo – breezed through scrutineering Thursday morning and is officially ready to show.

Free, who owns a firewood business and works in crayfish and abalone processing, says he can’t wait for the Rockynats action to begin after an eventful trip surrounded by plenty of water.

“We came over Bass Strait on the ferry and had floodwaters pretty well all the way through northern NSW on the Newell Highway,” Free said.

“But this will be worth it.

“They’ve got me in the Burnout Masters here after I competed in the masters at Red Centrenats last time.

“And why wouldn’t I want to be here for the first ever Rockynats?

“Red Centrenats are always good and worth going to, so this one here should be a killer,” he said.