Keep reading to find out how Chris and Phillpot ended the great marathon.

If you haven’t already, read part 1, part 2 and part 3 here.

May 5: At 9am on day 24, the guys were in Nice and heading out and around to end up at Nice for the night.

May 6: Out of Nice on day 25, they headed through Entrevaux, Col du Corobin and ended the day in Lyon, France. They had a lot of touring days in Europe due to (as the rumours go) money was paid for road closures but didn't go all the way down the line. The stories go on and on. Chris described the drives up over the mountain ranges as being like you are watching old movies. They also dropped into Monaco. They were setting up for the F1 and classic racing. It was every bit as good as it shows on the TV. The girls had a $10 ice cream and Phillpot and Chris had a $20 beer outside the casino where they filmed James Bond Casino Royale. Many of the others were still doing a lot of maintenance and repairs. Hilary in the Datsun 1600 did a diff in Nice, the other Mustang and GT Falcon had done rear and front wheel bearings. Chris and Phillpot went over their car again to see if they could get it to run a bit better because it felt like 5 1/2 cylinders. They took the rocker cover off no.2 cylinder and pushed the rod out. The lifter had spun and jammed in the block, so they had taken the rocker off and pushed the rod out to see if they could make it on 6 cylinders. They were still able to have a beer and a laugh every night.

May 7: On day 26, they headed out of Lyon, through Parasoir, and ended the day in Orleans in the central North of France.

May 13: The race finished – and the boys made it to Windsor. The last days stages up in the hills in Wales were on an army training base. It was terrible weather, wind was blowing about 120kms, raining and freezing cold. The roads were in good condition but small. No room for error and each side of the roads had either drop offs after crests, rocks or ditches. The first run wentok. On the second run their start button stopped working, so they had to get pushed by Geoff, the Volvo navigator. At lunch time, Phillpot pulled the switch out so they could use a screwdriver to start, then away they went again. They got through to the fifth stage and the old turn-right-should-have-been-left trick happened and the old Volvo boys followed them, so they both got lost. They got back on track, flying through, doing a good time. Then they came across the Commodore broken down. They towed the 8 cylinder Commodore with the 6 cylinder Mustang through the rest of the stage. They had the best and the most enthusiastic spectators – the McEwan and Palmer family also. While they were on the stages, the army was having live firing exercises. They had a few beers that night. Phillpot didn't pull up so well. It was good the transport stage Windsor was easy. When they arrived they had the presentation, then they did a convoy to Windsor Castle for photos. Everybody is amazed the street Mustang made it. It was a stellar effort.

Thanks everyone for supporting Chris and Philpot on their journey. It was a fantastic month!

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If you haven’t already, read part 1 and part 2 here.

April 25: After a long flight, Chris and Philpott arrived in Turkey. They missed the first turn and ended up in a very busy village. They made it back last and everybody else had showered and had a beer! That night gave Chris some time to reflect on the Australian leg. In Australia, they had 4WD tracks, fast fence line tracks and open roads. There were boarder track sand dunes, creeks and largebogs with 4WDs ready to tow them out. They overtook two leading cars – a Porsche (because it was worth it) and an Escort. They were both hanging over a sand dune. One driver went to hospital with kidney stones and they gave him something to pass them. Then he signed himself out! The two best looking cars were the older ones in the fleet – ‘67 Mustangs. Chris and Philpott were ready to go in Turkey with a new set of plugs in the night before.

April 26: The EUROPEAN STAGES BEGIN. On Day 15, the guys headed out of Ankara in Turkey for a fantastic trip ending up in a town called Eskisehir, a town north west of Turkey.

April 28: They left Istanbul on Day 17, leaving Turkey and heading into Bulgaria. Chris was stuck on the Bulgarian side of the boarder. They wouldn't let him through as he didn't have the original car rego papers on him. They told him the car had to be on a trailer through Bulgaria. It meant an emergency phone call to Liz, back in East Devonport, to go into the office at 10.30pm to find papers and send to him. However, by then one of the other crews had put the Mustang on their trailer while Chris and Philpott sat in it, rode through the check point and then drove 300m, unloaded the car and they drove off. It got a bit stressful for the boys, especially when everybody was talking about the movie Midnight Express. That night they finished up at Sliven.

April 29: On Day 18, the boys left Sliven in the morning and ended their day at Nis, which is located in Serbia!

April 30: Day 19 saw the guys have a bit of a full-on day touring around Serbia and ending their day in Belgrade.

May 1: Out of Belgrade on day 20, they went through Zagreb, Sljeme, A Thousand Bends (that's actually a town) and finished up at Rijeka, which is the third largest city in Croatia. They headed out of Serbia and went 400km into Croatia. There were two stages – up hill and downhill. In the first stage, at the start they hit a hail storm and had no demister. The roads were very tight with big drop offs. They ended up mid field, then they had a challenging drive to the next stage which was a longer one. They went to the start and the starterbutton wouldn't work. They had to bump start the car in reverse and took off. Chris thought this looked like a course where the 7 cylinder could give the leaders a shake. They were running a bit hard and came into a corner, too hot, and ended up over a gutter and up a bank on a 60 degree angle. The car rocked, but didn't roll. It was caught on the back corner. Chris hit reverse, then looked down at Phillpot and said ``Do you reckon you would be able to get out and give us a push?’’ With the help of spectators, they pulled the front around, dragged the car off the bank and ended up with a damaged rim. They fixed this and continued on.

May 2: Day 21 they left Rijeka for a round trip, ending the day where they started. This involved doing repairs after their off road excursion.

May 3: Day 22 was the last day in Croatia for a full day, ending their trip in Brescia in beautiful Italy. With three days left of the rally the last stages in Croatia were wet and tight/slippery goat tracks. A couple of the good old chaps from England in a very expensive rare ‘67 Merc slipped off the road and did some damage, so did another team from Turkey which was the only car Chris was beating at that stage. They had a bit of trouble on the stages. They didn't realise they had bent the steering so bad, so they had to fix it at the end of stages.

May 4: It just got better on day 23, with the guys leaving Brescia and ending their day in lovely Nice, France. Chris and Phillpot were sitting at the top of the mountain in Italy just past Cuneo waiting to go through a tunnel into France with snow all over the mountains, ``Very beautiful,’’ were Chris's words.

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If you haven’t already, read part 1 here.

April 17: Day 6 and it was out of Barossa in the morning and travelling to Port Augusta. There were some very fast stages with a lot of big dips and jumps. There were a few small crashes and the guys overtook their first car – a very fast 4-cylinder Volvo. They made it back, to control the car overheating. The end result was no front indicators, watts link bent, RRS front nut striped and too much camber on the wheel. Mind you, they looked like all the others in the car park that night. A couple of local Mustang members helped them during the night. Kevin arranged a thermostat and another couple organised a pub to go to for tea.

April 18: Day 7 involved a round trip, leaving Port Augusta, through the Bunyeroo Gorge, Moralana Gorge, Kanyaka and back for the night at Port Augusta. One big day! They completed the first 40km stage and found at the end of this stage the shockie towers were about to punch through the top and hit the engine. The days of Windex and tyre shine were over! Before they could head back into Port Augusta, which was about 250kms away, they had to change the back brake pads in the F250 and fix a puncture on the trailer. Then they were off again. Team Palmer came into a little town called Hawkin and Philpott was hungry! As they were pulling up they noticed a workshop open called "Chris's Garage". Chris went over to see if they could do repairson the Mustang. The guy said ``no problems’’. They just have to do it ourselves. They had everything they needed to fabricate new support panels up under the towers. They had to weld in the right portapower to push strut towers back off the engine, then they made up a cross brace. The owner went to tea and left the guys to it. Good job by Philpott and the crew! It was 10.20pm by the time they got back to their accommodation, ready for a 6am start the next day.

April 19: Out of Port Augusta on Day 8, checking out the great Nullabor then ending the day at Border Village.

April 20: On day 9, the guys travelled to dusty Kalgoorlie. They had a very long day with another early start. They had what Chris regarded as ``a stupid time change of 45 minutes backwards’’ and Chris told a couple of the older blokes the wrong time to set their alarms so they called them the time geniuses! The first long stage there were big mounds of rocks and ruts and they ended up pulling the bonnet pins out and wrecking the other strut. They were heading to Perth and Chris had a good mate of his, Rusty, going into Sydney to pick up some new struts from RRS who were going in specially to open up for the guys. Then Rusty was planning to fly over with the parts. The poor old Mustang was taking a beating on the rally roads.

April 21: By day 10, they were able to leave Kalgoorlie and travel up through Lake Goonagarrie to finish at York.The guys had to miss some stages so they could fix the car ready for the European leg using the new struts flown in by Rusty. They carried out the repairs in another well-equipped workshop lined up by one of Jason White’s mates, Simon Seppi. whose mate was away but still let them use his workshop. It was a fantastic offer and greatly appreciated by them. The car was ready to go on the plane today and looking and running better than ever. Philpott has done another huge amount of work.

April 22: Day 11 was the final day of racing in Australia. It saw the guys finish up in Perth for a tiny break and then Chris and Philpott headed to Turkey to kick the European stage off on day 15 (April 26) leaving Ron and Paul in Australia for a bit of R&R. Better roads and foreign countries were what the boys were looking forward to ahead

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During April and May, Chris Palmer undertook the gruelling Sydney to London Classic Marathon Rally in his beloved 1967 Mustang.

The rally started in Sydney and consisted of 91 stages, 33 of which we’re gravel stages in Australia and 58 tarmac stages in Europe.

The route crossed Australia to Perth, where the vehicles were put on to an aircraft freighter and sent to Ankara, Turkey.

From there, drivers travelled through Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, France and the United Kingdom.

Here is how Chris’ month-long, trans-world competition played out:

April 9: Ron Reid and Paul Stafford were "Official Support Crew" for the Australian leg of the rally for Chris and gave everything the once over before heading to Melbourne on the boat.

April 10: Chris and the crew arrived safely in Sydney. However, things didn’t start well, with the Mustang having a few 'minor' problems but nothing major!

April 11: After spending the night repairing the gearbox, the boys continued working on it on the third day. Thankfully, by the end of the day, it was fixed and the Mustang was ready to go.

April 12: The big race started out of Sydney. Chris couldn't believe the tracks, with the off road 4wd sections including tight turns and deep ruts with a creek to negotiate. There were a few left turns made instead of right and a few instances of bottoming out. Add in a herd of cattle on the track and kangaroos all around, and it made for one gruelling, but good day. Still in New South Wales, they ended the day in Parkes.

April 13: Day two saw the trio leaving Parkes and ending in Cobar, still in NSW. There were better driving sections and only one mountain goat section. The day included some fast sections and some tight slippery sections. They were still running a good last place – it seemed the navigator needed disciplining some times!

April 14: On day three, the guys left Cobar and finished up in Broken Hill, in New South Wales before entering South Australia.The third day started a bit different. The boys were told off on day one for doing a ``small’’ burnout and today were encouraged to it – so they obliged! Chris and the team did quite well in stage 1, then dropped the 2nd stage due to the course seeing 4WD vehicles getting bogged on the way to the last stage. Another Mustang got bogged and the boys tried to tow it out and ripped off their back bumper, so a 4WD pulled them out instead. Then, what do you know, the white Mustang then went on to hit a kangaroo.

April 15: Day four and it was time to leave Broken Hill and start a good days racing into South Australia, finishing in Renmark. The guys had a couple of long sandy tracks, so they had to keep the car moving. They had a few sand dune jumps, which weren't too good. It appeared the navigator was having a few problems with his lefts and rights. No his fault – bloody maps! They had a problem with the ignition switch and had to push start once.

April 16: The team left Renmark on Day 5 and finishing the day in the beautiful Barossa. The track was very ordinary with a lot of sand dunes, deep ruts and heaps of jumps and bends. Watts Link wasn't too bad, but then did a fan belt right before stage 2 which was lucky. The car was still going well! The Rally also experienced its first crash during stage 3. No one was injured and everyone worked all night to try and fix it.

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READ SYDNEY TO LONDON CLASSIC MARATHON RALLY PART 2.

Water speed records were set on the Mersey River on Saturday, but unfortunately the most prestigious of them ended in an expensive mess of broken metal and engine oil. Devonport powerboat racer Chris Palmer was attempting to break both Australian and Australasian records and came agonisingly close before destroying the engine block in his boat Outlaw.

The attempts were witnessed by hundreds of spectators who lined numerous vantage points along the Mersey, waiting patiently for the action to unfold in perfect water conditions, with only a slight breeze. The club's canteen sold out early and NWPB officials said the crowd had been the biggest for an opening day of the powerboat season in more than 30 years, boosted by the interest in the record attempts.

Palmer made two runs in each direction over the flying kilometre course, from Patrick's Bay opposite Horsehead Creek to a turning buoy about 500m north of the Bells Parade weir. On his first run Palmer recorded an average speed of 212.02kmh, just 3kmh below the Australian record for unlimited displacement hulls. However, it did break the Tasmanian record, held by his brother Nigel. Palmer's second run, about an hour later, looked faster on the out leg, but his return literally ended with a bang just 150m short of the finish line, meaning the attempt would not be recognised because an average time over two legs was not achieved.

The engine block, heads and sump on his supercharged Chevrolet engine were extensively damaged, leaving Palmer with an expensive repair bill. But he vowed to have another crack at the record in the next 6-12 months. "To say I'm disappointed is an understatement," Palmer said. "We changed the prop (propeller) for the second run and the engine was working hard - the boat was riding a little better, but it was still not good," he said. "We need to do more work on the hull."

"Even though I broke Nigel's Tasmanian record in the first run, it was disappointing because I was so close to the Australian record - the engine was running strong, but I just couldn't get the boat to do the speed." Palmer said he would prepare more thoroughly before his next speed record attempt. "I ran out of prep time - next time I will do more prep work and go in to it knowing I can get the record," he said. "The budget is also abig part of that and after today it's not going real well." 

23 Nov, 2009 09:02 AM NEW

LARGE waves kept boats off the course for hours at the weekend's Melton Gold Cup. But once the weather cleared there was no stopping Tasmania's Chris Palmer driving Outlaw to back-to-back cups. A crowd of about 1000 people waited patiently for the action at Melton Reservoir.

The cup was staged during a brief 'window' at 2pm on Sunday between heavy winds and rain. 

We only managed to get the main race in," Melbourne Runabout and Speedboat Club vice-commodore Mark Shepherdley said.

"We couldn't allow boats out there with foot-high waves."

Competition was safe on the water, though, with no accidents in Sunday competition, though one driver was uninjured after a single roll-over on Saturday. Palmer piloted Outlaw to victory ahead of South Australian Dean Borg, in Proformance, and NSW's Chris Whalan, in Sacrifice.

February 7, 2012