The event grew in size and scope for the first few years. In 1988, Australia's Bicentennial year, the event was tagged "The Big One" and was expanded to cover 10,000 km in 15 days, with a start in Alice Springs and traveling across the Tanami Desert, through the Kimberley region into Darwin, across the Gulf Country of far northwest Queensland and an eventual finish in Sydney. Out of 196 starting vehicles, only 96 finished the race.