Cairns tarmac rally by Porsche Cayman GTS

Performance cars are spectacular to drive but in speed-restricted Australia, there are limited ways to put cars through their paces in a legitimate way.

Fixing the issue for Porsche owners, Porsche Australia facilitates a range of professionally-run driving events that enable cars to be driven at pace, in a controlled environment.

motoring.com.au was invited to join the Porsche Tour at the recent 2018 Targa Great Barrier Reef event, providing us a taste of how tarmac rallying is done in style.

If you’re a performance car owner looking for some fun with your wheels then it is well worth considering taking part in a tarmac rally. Rally events such as those run by Targa Australia, offer participants the opportunity to stretch the legs of their cars in a controlled environment.

Drivers get the thrill of driving on a closed road section without the need to equip the car with a roll cage and, while they’re limited to a top speed of 130km/h, that’s fast enough to have plenty of fun without getting into too much trouble.

Welcoming the chance to escape the tail end of Melbourne’s winter, motoring.com.au travelled to Cairns for the inaugural Targa Great Barrier Reef  event, joining the Porsche Tour in a new Porsche 718 Cayman GTS .

Taking place over three days, this year was the first running of a Targa tarmac rally event in North Queensland covered over 900km, taking in a mixture of open touring roads and closed road Targa stages, looping back around to Cairns each evening.

More than 200 vehicles took part in the event, including competition cars, Targa Tour participants and Porsche Tour drivers.

Sixteen competitive stages saw a challenging combination of driving roads, from short fast-paced ‘heart-starters’ run as the first stage of the day through to long sweeping runs up the Gillies highway and Kuranda Range.

As the first such rally event in North Queensland, a huge band of rally enthusiasts and volunteers from the Targa community descended upon Cairns to give the event their full support.

In addition, more than 500 local volunteers were trained over a three-month period to run the event, manning (and womanning) stage starts, finish points, carrying out breath testing, closing stages and running sweeps ahead of stages.

The Porsche Tour runs as part of the CAMS-sanctioned Targa Australia tarmac rally events.
Porsche runs the exclusive driving opportunity for its customers and coordinates everything for them.

In the case of the Targa Great Barrier Reef, couples paid $6490 for a package that included entry fees, four nights’ quality accommodation, all meals and beverages, transfers to dinner locations and support from the Porsche team who flew in technicians from Melbourne to carry out basic repairs.

Porsche says the customers that choose to take part in its Tour events want to rock up, grab their car and head out to the drive with minimum effort.

They also value the social aspects of the program so Porsche arranges the entire event on their behalf, creating an experience, rather than a simple transaction.

For many group members, the Porsche Tour is part of a holiday. One navigator was flying his family in after the event to spend some time at their property in Port Douglas, while others were staying on for some additional touring in the region.

It’s this propensity for spending that attracts events like Targa to regions like North Queensland, the event providing a boost both to Cairns, where the event is centred, and regional towns such as Atherton and Malanda which staffed their local showgrounds with volunteers and local businesses for lunch stops.

For the Targa Great Barrier Reef, Porsche had 28 cars taking part, plus support vehicles. The car list was an enthusiast’s dream and included five 991 GT3s, one 991 GT3 RS, six Cayman GT4s, a V8 Cayenne GTS and two Macan GTS.

By previous Targa events this was a smaller-sized group, Porsche having hosted 60 cars at a past Targa Tasmania. Four tour leaders were each responsible for a group of seven cars.

Bathurst Champ and Motoring.com.au contributing journalist, Luke Youlden led the first group, European Porsche racing driver Alex Davison took group two while Porsche’s Toni Andrevski and John Murray, both experienced steerers, were responsible for groups three and four.

Drivers are placed within their group based on their experience and car’s capability. During the event drivers can agree within themselves whether they move about within the group, a faster driver who catches the car ahead of them will typically move up the pack to gain a clear run.

As Porsche are keen to remind us however, this is not a race and there are no prizes.

While teams register as driver and navigator/ co-driver, as this isn’t a competition event, the navigator is free to take the wheel, with many couples sharing the driving and navigating responsibilities.

The camaraderie of the Porsche owners is evident from the first driver briefing session on arrival.

Around three quarters of the participants are prior Targa campaigners, and judging from the banter it’s clear that a lot of the participants know each other very well and are happy to be catching up.

The driver briefing passes on key information to drivers and co-drivers about what to expect during the event including the new roads and dangers.

Tight roads, kerbs and gravel sections are flagged and there’s a reminder for drivers about the expectations around their behaviour on tour.

For the three-day drive program, the owners are Porsche’s ambassadors and, as such, are expected to drive responsibly on every closed and open road section.

Porsche is one of the only manufacturers that is sanctioned by CAMS to self-regulate its group within the controlled environment of the rally so Motorsport Rescue, an expert support crew skilled in the running of rally events and programs is engaged by the manufacturer to ensure that all cars make it through the finish line.

We’re told what to do in the event of an incident, what action to take if we come across a stranded or damaged vehicle and reminded that big brother has an eye on us at all times through our GPS connected Rallysafe box.

All information from the Rallysafe device is relayed back to Tour organisers. It gives an immediate alert to HQ if the car stops suddenly, the navigator prompted to push a button to advise those back at base if assistance needs to be rendered.

Speed information is also sent back to HQ. A blip over 130km/h for a short period is noted while an extended period over the limit will trigger sanctions up to exclusion from the event.

To enable Porsche to continue to self-regulate as part of the broader Targa event, it is critical that participants adhere to the rules for the continued enjoyment of the broader team.

On more than one occasion I’m proudly told by Tour members that “there’s no Porsche wankers here!” And it’s true. There’s no room on the Porsche Tour for poor drivers or tedious dinner companions.

The 718 Cayman GTS is an incredible machine and a worthy partner for an event like the Targa Great Barrier Reef.

Ken Gratton has previously assessed its technical prowess here, so without revisiting the finer points, it is simply sufficient to say that the Cayman GTS excelled on all stages.

The torquey turbocharged 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine is raucous and powerful, and paired with the optional $6000 PDK dual-clutch transmission, the Cayman GTS’ powertrain is one of the best in the business.

Through the tight twists of country stages, the sports chassis is composed, its mid-engine/rear drive combination proving an exceptional piece of engineering, as if made for the rally stage.

It’s worth noting that while piloting the Cayman GTS I opted for to select its sport setting through the standard Sport Chrono package. As this drive event was for enjoyment and no competition, I felt it best to test as most drivers will drive it – with a solid and sensible amount of electronic intervention.

And as the PDK shifts so intuitively and reacts to throttle and braking input, it is also ideal for this novice rally driver. I rarely felt the inclination to use the steering wheel paddles, instead relying on the Cayman knowing exactly what gear I needed to be in.

Sharper braking results in a quicker downshift, ensuring the Porsche is ready and waiting for the inevitable stamp on the throttle when coming out of a corner. It really is a car that is attuned to the driver.

As confidence in the Cayman increased, so did my own. Speeds increased, braking was sharper and harder and the car handled it all in its stride.

At this point it’s important to remember that you’re driving for enjoyment, not out to prove you’re Colin McRae driving someone else’s $200,000 car.

Finding yourself taking the wrong line into a corner, tagging gravel on the outside and activating the Cayman’s ESC is a reminder that while the car seems close to invincible, you are not.

During the more technical Targa Stages, the role of navigator became more evident to both myself and my co-driver.

Taking hold of the roadbook for a navigation stage, clear timely calls are important. The better the call, the more confidence the driver can have in manoeuvring through an obstacle.

Get a call right and there’s a strong sense of pride between driver and navigator. Call it wrong or too late, and you can find the driver screaming for their next instruction.

Making it cleanly through a stage resulted in high-fives and at the end of the runs. At the end of each stage, drivers and navigators were animated.

Navigators shared notes with each other – “what about that instruction” or “that dip really should have been a triple caution!” while drivers struggled to wipe the cheesy grins off our faces.

We’d all come cleanly through another section and cars remained in one piece.

Throughout the drive program, our tour leader John checked in with us, making sure that we were comfortable on the course, happy with our position or whether we had any concerns. It was all part of the experience that let us know we were part of the team.

Chatting with fellow tour participants at the end of the event solidified why people come back time and time again to Porsche Tour events.

Driver Edwin and co-driver Adrian piloted their Macan GTS over the weekend and were thrilled with their experience as newcomers to the Tour.

“We love going on driving adventures so we figured this would be a cool trip to try out,” said Adrian.

“The experience was great. Great roads, great support staff, great dining. A really awesome all round adventure.”

“That was the reason we decided to do it through Porsche,” added Edwin. “Everything’s sorted out for you. I think we might try other Targas with Porsche now.”

Porsche owners looking to take part in future events can find out more through their dealer or via the Porsche Events page.