Hundreds of car enthusiasts will be rolling into Cobar this week to celebrate the 2025 Running on Empty Festival.
Now if you’re new to town and not sure what it’s all about, the Running on Empty Festival (or ROEF) celebrates an iconic Australian action film from 1982.
It’s all about fast cars and 80s rock music and it captured the spirit of Australia’s car-obsessed subculture.
Cobar has a connection to the film as some of the scenes from the movie were filmed around Cobar (The Old Res, The Pinky and Glenhope Station) while nearby Canbelego was the site of Rebel’s Garage.
The movie drama is centered around the underground world of street racing and follows a young, talented driver Mike, played by actor Terry Serio.
Serio, along the movie’s director John Clark, were special guests at the last ROEF in 2022.
Clark and other stars from the movie, Richard Moir (Fox), Gerry Sont (Victor) and Kristoffer Greaves (Starter) attended the first festival in 2018.
Serio will be returning for the 2025 festival celebrations.
An estimated 1,000 visitors arrived for the first ROEF in 2018 while the sequel in 2022 proved to be better than the original.
With accommodation fully booked in town this week, it’s looking like the 2025 festival will prove to be another hit.
“Green is nice” is a memorable quote from the movie, but be warned when someone says this, they just may be talking about a red car and not a green one.
Why? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out.
There’s a free screening of Running on Empty at the Cobar Bowling & Golf Club on Friday night.
