Richie Farrar, Graham Ward and Peter Ward are going bush for the 2015 Kidney Kar Rally, and they can’t wait.

In fact, they’ve already left town for what is, in itself, an epic road trip to Alice Springs for the start of the fundraising event on Tuesday.

They departed Bathurst last Wednesday night for The Alice, with Coober Pedy, Curtin Springs, Ayers Rock and Kings Canyon ahead of them. 

This year will be the 13th time they have taken part in the rally, which raises funds for research by Kidney Health Australia. 

The route this year will take entrants on a 10-day, 5000-kilometre journey, starting in Alice Springs and ending at Moama (Echuca) via Coober Pedy.

Mr Farrar said this year’s fundraising effort has produced another great result.

“Over the years we’ve raised more than $600,000, but our efforts for 2015 have been the best ever. It seems as though the whole community has got behind us,” he said.

“We raised about $41,000 just from the recent dinner dance at the Bathurst RSL Club. The help we got from Natalie Moase, Nicci Lavelle, Tanya Moore and Lisa Smith from Posh Designs was awesome.

“In fact, as of June we were the leading fundraiser for the whole event. We hope we can keep it that way.”

Mr Farrar said their VS Commodore is on its fifth rally and that it’s in for a real hammering on some of the outback roads.

“We are the boys in the yellow team car number eight with the surfboards on the roof racks,” he said. 

“We’ve promised everyone we will be on our best behaviour in 2015, but promises can be broken. 

“It’s the best of causes, but it’s also a hoot. We get to see some great parts of Australia and meet some mighty nice people along the way.

“But the main reason is we raise funds for Kidney Health Australia. It’s quite moving when you meet people with kidney problems, especially young children.”