Nissan Australia will again partner major national inland pastoral and  healthcare provider Frontier Services and the 2014 Classic Outback Trial, connecting people in urban areas with those in need of assistance in remote parts of Australia.

Nissan will provide a range of four-wheel drive vehicles for essential surveys, medical intervention and the operation of the Trial, which will be staged from August 31 to September 6 in remote areas of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

It is the third time that Nissan has supplied essential vehicles to the event since its first running in 2009, while Frontier Services celebrated its Centenary last year as part of its similarly long association.

Frontier Services is the Uniting Church’s successor to the Australian Inland Mission developed in 1912 by Rev Dr John ‘Flynn of the Outback’.

It has a significant and long-standing association with Nissan, employing a fleet of 144 Tiida, Dualis, X-Trail, Pathfinder and Patrol vehicles to carry out its work throughout Australia.

The organisation’s National Development Director, Grahame Ryan, said the core purpose of the Trial for Frontier Services was to promote Frontier Services’ ‘Outback Links’ program, which aims to form a connection between people in urban areas and those in need of assistance in remote parts of Australia.

“The Association with both the Classic Outback Trial and Nissan has always been a natural fit for us,” he said.

“The event crosses the landscape we cover annually. It deals with the people we encounter weekly. And it relies upon the goodwill of the communities that we provide help to on a daily basis.

“It also offers Frontier Services a wonderful national platform from which to promote itself across the very regions and communities that we service
throughout the width and breadth of the great Australian outback.”

Grahame Ryan said Nissan’s support of its fleet of both on-road and off-road vehicles was also invaluable.

“It forms an essential component of Frontier Services being able to effectively deliver its promise to the people and communities of regional and remote Australia,” he said.

The 2014 Classic Outback Trial will see a field of around 50 Historic and Production Rally Cars built prior to 1996 compete over 30 ‘special stages’ on private and limited access roads and tracks in remote areas of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

The Trial’s organiser, Philip Bernadou, said the 2,000 kilometre event distance will be 40 per cent competitive, with 35 special stages varying in length from 10 to 90 kilometres.

One of the most demanding stages will be one stretching 60 kilometres on a 62,500 hectare property east of Broken Hill that will include flat scrub, sand dunes, rocky outcrops and herds and flocks of natural fauna.

He said the Nissan vehicles will first be employed in the event’s initial course survey from late March, while other Nissan vehicles will gradually be engaged in course checking and in the operation of the event itself.

For further Classic Outback Trial information, contact Philip Bernadou on (03) 9836 9911 / 0412 498 602 or visit www.classicoutbacktrial.com.au