In June 2023 we set out with Ducati Australia to put the Ducati DesertX to an extreme off-road test by riding the Finke track. Finke is well known throughout the off-road community as the ultimate test track for man and machine. The track varies over it’s 230km length from being whooped out, rocky, sandy and relentless.
Without a dedicated adventure bike class to compete in at the Finke race, we set a challenge for ourselves to test the fuel range of the DesertX with the genuine Ducati auxiliary fuel tank. The additional 8 litres from the auxiliary tank combined with the 21 litres from the main tank would be all we had to get from Alice Springs to Finke and back again. In the one day.
That’s a total distance of 460km over some of the most brutal outback terrain without refuelling. While competitors in the Finke race stop overnight to refuel their machines and bodies, our goal was to get there and back in the day without stopping for fuel. Un-Finkeable.
The DesertX Nick rode had a few genuine Ducati accessories fitted like the auxiliary fuel tank but otherwise was pretty stock. That includes stock suspension. It’s pretty much unheard of to take on the Finke track with standard suspension, even on lighter weight enduro and MX bikes.
We are super thankful to Ducati for backing an ambitious project such as this and allowing Nick Selleck from maschine the chance to live a childhood dream of taking on Finke. It’s not everyday you have a helicopter chasing you down as a support vehicle!
Would 29 litres of fuel be enough to run ‘there and back’?
Watch the film below in full 4K to really appreciate the rugged beauty of the Australian outback and how the DesertX handled it.