The rally starts Monday morning, but on Sunday the participants registered and had their cars examined by the officials before taking a lap of Dubbo’s main street.

The first day of the rally will see the drivers head west, but after that the route remains unknown, track boss and former Cystic Fibrosis Australia CEO Terry Stewart said.

“As far as travelling is concerned we are leaving here Monday, getting to Bourke for our overnight stop but beyond that I can’t give you any information because all of the track we were going on Tuesday afternoon is closed,” Mr Stewart said.

“I’ve got to sit down and work out Plan B and Plan C. But it just adds to the adventure.”

It wasn’t  a race, Mr Stewart said, but a charity motoring event which would be a lot of fun and raise much-needed funds.

A large chuck of the $250,000 expected to be raised during the event would go towards Mr Stewart’s own project, a Cystic Fibrosis registry for all those with the illness in Australia.

“It costs about $250,000 a year to run. It’s an expensive exercise but a very worthwhile exercise,” the former CEO said.

It gave researchers a better idea of the disease, Mr Stewart said, proving them with the information needed to develop a cure.

As for why 38 cars signed up for the Great Escape Rally, Mr Stewart said it was “madness”.

“Some of them have got family affected by Cystic Fibrosis, others do it for the fun of it and I guess the camaraderie. Why do people do things? They just love it,” he said.

“We are a great bunch of people, we’re a generous bunch of people. We call them ‘rallytives’ because that’s what they are, they’re part of the family.”

The Cystic Fibrosis Great Escape is Cystic Fibrosis Australia’s main fundraising event, attracting cars from around Australia to travel through unique locations.

This year's rally runs from August 29 to September 8.