Mission Accomplished

Targa Tasmania 2006

Rain might have been predicted but it stayed away just long enough to ensure the 2006 15th Anniversary PureTasmania Targa Tasmania was one of the driest on record. Indeed, it wasn't until after lunch on Sunday's last leg of the event that the roads were truly wet. This time all but the final stage or so of the race was run.

At the end it was Porsche and Jim Richards that claimed the title. Teamed with co-driver Barry Oliver, it was Richard's eighth victory in the tarmac rally classic.

On the other end of the learning curve was Team MINI. This year was our three-car team's first Targa and, indeed, the very first event the squad had contested. And it couldn't really have gone any better.

One week before the start at George Town the cars were far from finished and had barely turned a wheel on the road, let alone in anger. The team, headed by team manager, David Vervaart and MINI head honcho Justin Hocevar, were taking best guesses at suspension settings and with feedback from the MINI factory bolting on the bits they though would best suit the event's challenging reputation.

Of the six drivers and co-drivers, just one (co-driver Paul Flintoft had competed in Targa before). For yours truly it was first rally period.

In summary it was a recipe for disaster. The end result was far from it!

Thanks to the service crew of David Ortolan (who essentially bolted the cars togther), Peter Kaiser and Bennett Vervaart, at the end of the final leg all three official MINI entries were running at full noise and looked ready to do the event all over again.

The three cars had ne'er a scratch on them and yet the fast guys, Spencer Lowndes/Chris Randell and Tim Leahey/Paul Flintoft, were placed in the top 30 (24 and 25th respectively). The writer and co-driver Justin Hunt had deposited the Team MINI CarPoint #989 Cooper S into the top 50 (48th).

Mission accomplished.

Leg Five of the event saves a sting in the tail for Targa neophytes. Arguably the most treacherous stage of the event is on Leg Five – the 15.42km Hellyer Gorge. The longest stage of the event is after lunch -- Mt Arrowsmith is 47.24km of some of the best bitumen on the planet. One minute it's fast and flowing, the next tying itself (and the unwary) in knots.

On Hellyer Gorge the MINIs were in their element -- even we claimed an EVO and a WRX in our 'charge' (about 1min 39sec off base).

On the ultrafast Arrowsmith and giving away as much as 70km/h to the fastest cars, the JCW Coopers were a force with which to be reckoned. Spencer and Tim were the 15th and 20th fastest 'moderns' over the stage. Impressive! Spencer's time was even more noteworthy considering he'd 'lost' the left rear damper not far into the stage. Something for the engineers to analyse down the track.

We lost just over a minute to the boys including dropping back a notch towards the end of the stage as the conditions got more and more slippery. By the final 'competitive' stages of the 2006 Targa Tasmania it was streaming wet. We drove home gingerly for the finish.

The end result speaks volumes for the suitability of the Cooper S for this type of motorsport. Every step of the way the MINIs never seemed out of their depth. The team will certainly look at developing the suspension/tyre combinations a little more but the bottom line is that the cars were nimble and best of all predictable out of the box.

The Coopers' handling, prodigious corner speed and sharp turn in goes a long way to explaining the great times the boys were able to deliver from day one of the event. The predictability is the prime reason yours truly could improve his times over the five days from loosing 5-6sec per km to closer to (and sometimes under) 2sec.

The other reason is Justin (Hunt). It's impossible to stress strongly enough how big a role the co-driver plays in Targa Tasmania. The ability for a driver to rely 100 per cent on the pace notes being delivered is the difference between posting a time and making a large car-sized hole in the shrubbery. Justin's ability deserved a better driver, but I'm glad he stuck it out with me.

Though it might be trite, just completing the five days of Targa Tasmania seems like a victory. When we rolled into action in the Team MINI CarPoint #989 Cooper our target was a Targa Trophy -- a top-50 finish in the Modern category is a dream result.

AT THE POINTY END
Winner and Targa masters Richards and Oliver survived last ditch wet road charges from last year's Targa champs, Lamborghini-mounted Jason and John White and Porsche's Greg Garwood and navigator, John Allen.

As the weather turned on the second half of today's final 145km leg Richards, of Victoria, and his Tasmanian navigator Barry Oliver capped off their near perfect 2006 Targa Tasmania campaign with a 2min 53sec win in their 410kW two-wheel drive 2003 Porsche GT2.

"This is probably our best win ever," said Richards. "Competition has been really tight and up until a few stages ago the lead was as close as it's ever been. It's nice to win another one because we haven't won it for a while."

"The good thing about being in the lead on the last day is when it's dry, you can just regulate your lead and you don't have to try too hard and just keep an eye on the gap between you and second place."

Changing the order of the day was a tyre penalty applied to Richards' closest rival, South Australian Steve Glenney, who was directed by Event Officials at the Queenstown lunch break to change three worn tyres on his 2002 Subaru WRX. Not carrying sufficient spares meant Glenney was forced to withdraw from the event and forfeit a possible podium finish.

"We're very disheartened about having to withdraw, because we didn't think the tyres were that bad," said Glenney. "They were fine last night and I didn't think they had deteriorated since then."

After inheriting second position, Skelta G-Force driver Ray Vandersee's campaign came to a screaming halt, when a broken axle on the transport stage after Mt Arrowsmith prevented him from contesting the last two stages of the day. 

After slipping into second place, the defending champion who had been experiencing clutch problems from the go, tried to maintain a clean run in his 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo.

Then on the Mt Arrowsmith stage White's Tasmanian rival Garwood who was also runner up in 2005, with his Queensland navigator John Allen, slid into second in his Porsche 911 Turbo. 

"Anyone in the top ten could have won," said Garwood. "This event just got faster and faster - it's been a real eye-opener. We're surprised but delighted to be on the podium. This afternoon we worked so hard."

It was a well fought battle between Garwood and White with their four-wheel drive machines dominating under the diminishing weather. White finished 46sec behind Garwood.

"We're happy to be on the podium again because we had lots of dramas during the event, and there's no doubt this car still has the potential to win Targa Tasmania," said Jason White.

Rounding out the top five was V8 Supercar driver Tony Longhurst who bettered his 2005 result in his Subaru WRX by finishing fourth. While Queenslander Russell Kempnich and his navigator Peter Burrey, sprung from the rear to finish fifth position in his 2004 Porsche GT3, 6sec behind Longhurst.

"We're very happy," said Longhurst. "We had a strong finish on the last day and I'm the highest finished Subaru again this year. It's a wonderful result and a great car."

Rooklyn who, with his navigator Linda Long, put up an incredible fight, proved the importance and fragility of tyres in this incredible test of endurance. Despite a four-minute tyre penalty, Rooklyn and Long finished sixth.

"This event was tough with the tyre choice that we made, we didn't expect it to be as dry for as long. The end result has been a big credit to the team," said Rooklyn.

Bathurst legend Peter Brock and his first time navigator, Mick Hone, finished twelfth in their 2000 Daytona Coupe.

Porsche driver Tony Quinn, of Queensland, once again suffered under the peril of Tasmania's challenging West Coast roads, crashing out 11km into the first stage of the day, Hellyer Gorge while in tenth position. This is the second year in a row that Quinn and his Tasmanian navigator Keith Wenn have had to piece back together their 911 Turbo after a lose on the final day.

As one of the driest events in Targa Tasmania history, many other highflying competitors were threatened by tyre wear. As well as Rooklyn, Brock, Glenney and Dean Herridge all obtained time penalties for changing one, or more, tyres.

Herridge, flying the flag for Subaru Motorsport, put on a stunning performance despite the impact of the tyre penalty which dropped him down to 29th position at the start of the day. The Western Australian ARC frontrunner climbed 16 places to finish 13th. 

It was an incredible case of bad luck for New South Welshman Bill Pye and navigator Grant Geelan who have lucked out for the second year in a row on the event's final stages. The engine in the pair's 1976 model Porsche Carrera broke a coil, dropping the pair from podium contention.

The 2006 Shannons Classic crown went to second in-line, Ian Morris of Victoria and his navigator Alex Molocznyk in their 1981 Alfa Romeo GTV.

"We've been third twice before so to go two better is just fantastic," said Morris. "We crashed out while only a second off the lead in 2003 so it makes the win very satisfying. The last two days of competition favours our car because the roads are pretty flowing and even though we weren't in the top three we weren't too worried because a few fell by the wayside and we came through."

A sweet sensation has been had for one of Targa Tasmania's three 15-year competitors, Geoff Taylor of Victoria, who finished third in the Shannons Classic Competition, also in a Porsche. Taylor and his navigator Lee Harper came in 56sec behind some fellow Porsche drivers; the father and daughter team of Peter and Rebecca Eames.

Top MINI honours for the 2006 event go to the winners of the Unique Cars Classic Sprint. Travelling all the way from Perth, the victors were Steve and Terri Bruce in their 1967 Mini Cooper S.

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