Into action on ANZAC Day...

Targa Tasmania 2006

It wasn't the three minutes or so of closed road action that had the Team MINI crew talking at the end of Day 0 of the 2006 Targa Tasmania. The 4.28km of the George Town Prologue was over almost before it began, however, the enthusiasm and involvement of what seems like the entire population of northern Tasmania will stay with us for much longer.

From the moment we were waved away from the official start at Launceston's Country Club Casino this ANZAC Day morning, both arms were in action. Not furiously changing gear or spinning the steering wheels of our JCW-equipped MINI Cooper S but rather waving to the thousands of spectators young and old that lined the route through Launceston and on to George Town.

Kids, mums and dads, grandparents even the B&S crews in their Rum Pig utes were out in force talking advantage of the brisk but sunny conditions. Some waved from their front lawns (complete with snag-loaded barbies) while some had secured prime positions out of town. We even spied one group with table cloth, silver service and candelabra taking in the 242-car Targa cavalcade. Team MINI CarPoint co-driver Justin Hunt was still laughing about that as we hit the serious part of the day.

The Prologue is Targa's chance to perform in front of the home crowd and the organisers make the most of the opportunity. The full fleet is paraded through the George Town main street before cars are marshaled and (eventually) sent of their way in anger for the first time.

It's a day of hurry up and wait for competitors, but an absolute hit with crowds. Team MINI's already a hit with the spectators, there's something about these cars that strikes a chord with all and sundry. Not sure the Porsche guys like all the attention we're getting but hey...

With so few miles under their fat semi-slick shod wheels, we expected to have to do some fettling of the MINIs after the Prologue and our team techs weren't disappointed.

The Team MINI CarPoint #989 car of yours truly and co-driver Justin Hunt was the slowest qualifier of the trio, posting a still halfway respectable time of 3:17.46.

Not the stickiest of stages, the Dunlop rubber nonetheless warmed quickly on George Town's back streets but with three or four corners to run the Coopers brand-new un-bedded brakes cried enough and the pedal headed for the floor. A change of brake fluid during the post run service period has us ready for action on tomorrow's first full day of stage-based competition.

Next fastest MINI was the #992 car of Spencer Lowndes and Chris Randell who cruised through the stage in a well-controlled 3:14.71. Spencer is officially keeping the seat warm for Channel Seven's Grant Denyer whose dance duties have kept him in Melbourne till tomorrow. Judging by Spencer's smile this afternoon, the weatherman will need crowbar to get the ex-Mitsubishi Ralliart ARC star out of the Cooper!

Fastest of the Team MINI combos was V8 Supercar racer, Tim Leahey and nav, Paul Flintoft. Tim's time of 3:12.97 was quick enough to keep many a faster car at bay. We're expecting big things from the Orange (NSW) based hotshoe, especially in some of the tighter stages on Day Two and three.

THE MAIN EVENT
There were some non-MINI mounted runners that were a little further up the timing order, not the least of whom, multi-times Targa winner, Jim Richards, posted the fastest time of the day -- a rapid 2:50.20.

Richards and co-driver Barry Oliver's Porsche GT-2 was over 4sec faster than the next competitor, factory Subaru Impreza WRX STi driver, Dean Herridge.

Rounding out the top three in the drivetravel.com Modern Competition (in which Team MINI also runs) was Queensland Porsche driver Tony Quinn who logged a 2:55.06 in his Porsche 911 Turbo.

Daytona Coupe driver Peter Brock finished the 4.28km stage in 2:56.40 -- about 20 per cent of the time it took if you were queued up to get his autograph. The popularity of the Bathurst champ is stronger than ever, and Brock didn't disappoint his fans young and old.

Defending Targa Tasmania champion Jason White meantime clocked a (for him) disappointing time today, finishing 11th fastest in his V10 Lamborghini Gallardo.

Fastest of the Shannons Classic Competition field was New South Welshman Bill Pye and navigator Grant Geelan in their 1973 Porsche Carrera 3.

TOMORROW'S ANOTHER DAY
Tomorrow brings the first day of proper stage-by-stage competition in the 2006 Targa Tasmania rally. Although not an overly challenging day for the competitors, the competition builds up to include a couple of solid stages following the lunch break at Devonport in Tassie's far north.

Just over 4km is barely enough to get your gloves comfortable but tomorrow's stages will give us some real feedback on just how the MINIs will perform on the bumpy and challenging roads that have made Targa world famous.

We can't wait...

  
TARGA TASMANIA TEMCO PROLOGUE SCORES

Unique Cars Historic Competition
1. John Lawson, VIC – Andrew Lawson, VIC  Alfa Romeo Spyder  4:10:04
2. Graham Kent, TAS – Patricia Kent    Ford V8 Coupe  4:21:44
3. 116 John Felder, VIC – Mark Burns, VIC   Oakland 8-101  4:24:56
4. 135 Jock McLean, TAS – Geoffrey Reader, TAS  Ford 'T' Speedster  5:03:66

Unique Cars Classic Sprint Competition
1.  Simon Froude, VIC – Will Logan, TAS   Porsche 911 RSR  3:18:95
2. James Powell-Davies, TAS – Nick McShane, TAS BMW Alpina 533i  3:23:47
3.  Peter Bignold, TAS – Denis Bignold, TAS  Group 3 SS Commodore 3:25:12