TWO local car enthusiasts will participate in the Mystery Box Rally in Rockhampton next month. The five-day event promises plenty of laughs and much-needed funds for Cancer Council along the way.
This event isn’t anything out of the ordinary for father-daughter team Steve and Bronwyn Graves, who have been participating in the rallies since 2015 – raising around $40,000 in that time.
The Mystery Box Rally is run by the same group that hosts the Sh#tbox Rally. However, instead of using cars worth less than $1,000 participants in this event must use cars that are more than 25 years old.
Steve and Bronwyn’s team – Kiss our Gasses – has already raised $5,500 this year and their 1993 Ford Fairmont is painted up and ready to ride.
The rally will start and finish in Rockhampton, and they don’t have any idea what each day’s destination is until the morning of departure.
The 2020 Mystery Box Rally was cancelled last August due to COVID-19, postponed again in August this year and is now scheduled to take place in November, with only about 30 teams participating instead of the usual 200. No teams from down south will be able to participate.
Steve says he’s sure it will still be one hell of a rally.
“It’s a bit disappointing for the teams that will miss out but it will still be plenty of fun even with the reduced numbers,” he said.
“We’ve had a lot of help from some great locals including Scott Mountain from Mountain Electrics, Adrian Hammond and Tamika Milgate from Beerwah Discount Tyres, and also Ron Hill Automatics who have all put it a fair bit of effort for us.”
Steve said it had been great to see his daughter Bronwyn get so involved, so much so that she had even done a couple of the rallies without him.
“I think Bronwyn was one of the youngest people to do the rally. She was on her P plates when she did her first one,” Steve said.
“There’s a lot of younger people doing the rally now and I’d like to think Bronwyn helped start that.”
You can donate to Steve and Bronwyn by visiting https://2021.mysteryboxrally.com.au/kiss-our-gasses
Image: Bronwyn and Steve Graves with their rally car