Cannonball Run MonumentPrint Page

The monument commemorates Keith Pritchard, Timothy Linklater, Akihiro Kabe, Takeshi Okana who were killed during the Cannonball Run.

The Northern Territory Cannonball Run was held from 22 May to the 27 May in 1994 on the Stuart Highway from Darwin to Alice Springs and return.  A total distance of approximately 3200 kilometres, it attracted 118 racing enthusiasts from all over the world with their expensive machines. The race contained three distinct driving phases within the one event. These were the "flying miles", the timed sectors and, covering by far the greatest distance, normal, everyday driving during which there was no competitive element.

The "flying miles" were a test of a car's acceleration with cars cross the starting line at 60 kilometres per hour and 1600 metres later their speed was recorded by radar, with points awarded accordingly. The timed sections of the run were approximately 100 kilometre stretches to which set times was applied.

On 24 May, during one of the timed sections near Alice Springs, a Ferrari F40 crashed into a checkpost killing its occupants, the Japanese duo Akihiro Kabe and co-driver Takeshi Okano and two track officials, Tim Linklater and Keith Pritchard. An inquest found that the direct cause of the accident was driver error on the part of the Japanese team which entered the checkpoint at an excessive speed.

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