Smithies Outback Racing

21/09/2025

Stage 1 Prologue and Stage 2 completed today, with only a few small issues. All in allwe are pretty happy with how we went.

20/09/2025

It's Cliffhanger time!
The car arrived yesterday with Navi Lachie and we had it scrutineered and got straight out on the test track.

15/10/2024

Check out Mud Masters in Pakenham, they certainly do not disappoint when it come to cleaning up filthy.

What an awesome job!

Now, time to start fixing broken s**t 🙄

07/10/2024

Have fun with that Mud Masters 😂

30/09/2024

Well the past week at the Ultimate 4x4 Challenge has certainly been a blast. What an awesome group of people to race with, the friendship, knowledge and help from within this group is unbelievable, thank you all.

Missing only one stage for the week Lachie and I were absolutely stoked to finish in 5th place overall, we also came away with a 3rd on stage 9.
A huge thanks to Juzzy, Ro and Cam for all their hard work in organising such a great event, to all the Marshall's and helpers that make these events possible and also to the owners of the properties we raced on.

A massive thanks to Dazz for his unwavering support and meticulous prep of the vehicle, without you I wouldn't be doing this, love you babe.
To Meckenzie Buckanen for being at every events for support and photos ###

And of course Lachlan Griffiths for jumping in the Navi seat. You killed it mate, I hope you enjoyed the week as much as I did.

22/09/2024

With new Navi Lachlan Griffiths thrown in the deep end we have completed the first three stages with just a couple small issues.
Before the SS1 we found a water leaking from the bottom tank and we blew a shock iron SS3. Managed to pick up a bit of firewood on SS3 and cane I to the finish line with a fire under the car where a stick had lodged itself in the extractors.
Looking forward to throwing all the gear on the car in the morning and heading out for the week.
Don't forget to watch the live stream on the Ultimate 4x4 Challenge page for updates

18/09/2024

We made it , Bring on the next week 😁.

15/10/2023

What a week!

Cliffhanger 2023 you turned it on. A massive first day with Road Runner Rampage soring out our car.
Our first round of Part A went awesome only to be followed by a multitude of problems in Part B with a split hard brake line, air line and brake booster, punctured tyre, broken jack, overheating and loosing all coolant due to thermo fans seizing this stage just kept on giving and mesnt we DNF'd the next 4 stages. Sunday has us making repairs before getting back into it on Monday and completing most of the rest of the week until we lost gears on Thursday afternoon. The diagnoses looked grim with nothing but 1st and 2nd gear working but with Hamish determined to sort the problem he found that ot was just the crossmember pushed up making it unable to select gears. With that and a axle replaced it was back out to finish the end of the week.

We had an amazing time with an awesome community of people and finished the week in 19th position, which we are stoked with.

Thanks to super navi Jason Stangherlin for jumping in and putting up with me for the week, hope you enjoyed the week as much as I did. Hamish Keith aka Farm Fresh for pitting for us and always thinking outside the box, your the bomb, Lachlan Griffiths for all your help and great music 😉, to our phone a friend Cam Stewart for all the over the phone knowledge and to the other teams that helped us out with parts throughout the week.

Thanks to Steve, Rudi and their team and all the Marshall's that gave up their time for this event.

And of course the last week wouldn't of happened without all of the work that my best mate/ partner in crime/ husband the amazing Darren Crout put into the car over months and months. Thanks babe, love you to the moon.

And I cant forget my biggest fan Meckenzie Buckanen, who comes to event to support me, love you ###

Photo credits Kenzie’s Kaptures, Offroadlenz

05/10/2023