Races To Places

Races to Places was the dream adventure, riding around the world, off-road as much as possible and racing an international cross country race on each continent. To do that required a special bike and that is why I carefully constructed Basil Bike (named after my great grandfather) to take on the challenge. It’s an amazing machine that took me 234,000km, 74 countries, 6 continents and many races around the globe, reliably and enjoyably.

Full Riding Days: 616
Distance covered on Races to Places total on land: 234,000km / 146000miles
Basils Odometer on Races to Places: 211,000km / 132,000miles
Time Riding / on Basil: 5000Hrs+ (Over 5000 Hours of riding)
Countries travelled: 74
Borders crossings total: 133
Oil changes: 36 (including racing on B asil)
Fuel stops: 560
Litres of fuel: litres 13166 Litres
Total average fuel economy on Basil: 45.4mpg(imperial) / 6.2 l/100km (including racing)
Amount of times I’ve had to get my wallet out and spend money: 3500+
Mechanical roadside fixes: 8 (clutch slave cylinder, wheel bearings, exhaust bracket, rocker arms)
Electrical roadside fixes: 4 (fuses, stator and ignition switch)
Stoppages, lack of parts: 2 (stator / flywheel issue in Laos and gearbox in Cape Town)
Preventative Repairs: Many (rocker arms, bearings, filters etc)
Puncture repairs: 31 (during travel not including race issues)
Tyres: 35 rears, 22 fronts (excluding racing)
Front sprockets and chain changes: 13 Chains and front sprockets
Rear sprockets: On 5th (using Delaney Drive Components rear sprockets)
Races: 11 Total (Hellas Greece, Mongolia, Finke Australia, Baja Rally Mexico on 2012 450 RFR, Sanora Mexico on Basil Bike, Dakar Rally 2017 on Rex, Erzberg 2017 on Rex, Dakar Rally 2018 on Rex, Erzberg 2018 on Alta, Kalahari Rally 2018, Roof of Africa 2018)