ROAD trips are all part of being a gearhead, and the threat of a deadly virus isn’t going to stop two Taswegians travelling more than 8000km to burn rubber at Red CentreNATS in Alice Springs.

Scott Sevil and Codie Free are shipping their blown burnout cars all the way from the Apple Isle to the centre of Australia to enter Red CentreNATS, 4-6 September. While nothing they’re doing is illegal, the process involved in getting both themselves and their cars there would give even the best wedding planner nightmares.

“We have to travel from Tassie to SA and then up to Alice Springs, while the cars have to go to Melbourne first, then also go to SA and then up to Darwin – and we’ve had to get permits for every state to do that,” Scott explains.

The real kick in the guts though is that as soon as the boys get back home to Tasmania, they’ll have to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Scott and Codie initially planned on taking their cars to Burnout Masters in Sydney in mid-July before the event got rescheduled to 12-13 September, but Red CentreNATS is by no means a second-best option for them.

While 2020 will be Scott’s first time in Alice Springs, Codie has been to Red CentreNATS the past three years. “It’s a ripping event; I just love the atmosphere with all the cool blown cars driving on the street,” he says. “It’s really awesome doing things like the street parade with 2000 people cheering you on.”

As for the cars they’ll be taking, both are purpose-built, late-model Holdens with blown LS mills.

Scott will be piloting his VY SS ute sporting a 408ci LQ9 from BG Engines, topped off with an 8/71 blower – and he’ll also be having a crack in the drags.

Codie’s VY ClubSport has recently undergone some surgery, ditching the old LS1 set-up with a Harrop under-bonnet blower for a 6.0-litre LS with an 8/71, also put together by BG Engines. The car also copped a Turbo 400 ’box and a four-link rear end at Scott’s own business, Swansea Paint & Panel. “We started off doing insurance stuff, but now we’re booked out more than12 months in advance building burnout stuff. We’re pretty much the only ones in Tassie building this kind of stuff,” says Scott.

“We both just want to smash tyres,” he continues. “We’ll have Damian from BG there with us to make sure everything goes smoothly, and we’ll both be giving it a red-hot crack in the Masters – we couldn’t give a f**k about having to go into quarantine afterwards!”

With boats, planes, airfares and then two weeks in iso all part of the pair’s journey, we seriously doubt anybody else has gone to this much effort to get to a car event before. We admire the boys’ spirit and determination to enjoy their passion no matter what.