Darkside

Hmmmm.... One interesting revision to the final results..... http://www.rallyresults.com.au/targa/sta2012/m_final.pdf

^^^^^^ epic oversight Ben. You are spot on. Emo and gtr are lms. Just managed to flick over the page and not notice I had moved on to MS specs. Thought it was too good to be true. I wanted to believe it cause someone had mentioned they had loosened trikes a bit, but they may have made the same mistake, as it really doesn't seem to have changed at all. As you were...ignore my ramblings...

Just refereshed myself on the rules. 53. Fuel Injection (except Showroom and Modern SS) Fuel injectors and fuel pressure regulators are free for vehicles originally fitted with fuel injection. Hadnt looked at early/moderns LMS for a while as I had been a bit focussed on another class.....fook me they have made some significant changes.... Ported heads...custom intake manifolds....oversize valves....1mm oversize pistons among others....... Ei carumba. Could make yourself a fairly mental 32/33/34 GTR or evo with those relaxations of the rules...even a TTRS for that matter

Evos I think are OK as they are LMS?? so can run the required fuel system to run E85? 35GTR is SS so I think the mods required to make E85 work (injectors) arent allowed,.

^^^ EDIT....that made no sense.. Snowy at least you "arent" shitting multiple boxes in a weekend. You must be down on power. ....

Hmmm. Interesting. CAMS and TQ dont have the most friendly past........ Allegedly Rullo was having a close look at Jim Richards GT2RS at Targa West as apparently its for sale. I think he left a similar trail of gearbox destruction over here. You shouldnt feel so bad now Snowy. At least you are shitting multipple boxes in a weekend.

Bahahahaha. Most definitely. Seems you could easily get caught out. It was getting away from him for quite a while and just didn't seem to find any more grip. The TTRS with softs would have been putting on a good show.

^^^^ wow! I'm sure there is a story in that..... Am guessing Quinny must have pulled 30 secs on sims for that to be possible?

^^^^^^^^^. Hahahhahaha. That puts it in perspective. Tarmac rally is for pussies!!!!! While the world is still free enough to allow the Isle of Man TT and the rest of the road racing series to run, there is no place for Tarmac rally speedlimits. Ps. Probably dead roo for protection .

I'm hearing you Matt. People have tried to explain to me why it's a good thing but I always seem to lose interest and fail to hear them finish making their point. . TW also has restricted speed zones and chicanes, repeats of all stages and all other sorts of ghey. (including about 200km competitive made up of multiple repeats, so lets call it 100. Main reasons why I don't bother and probably won't ever. I like the open speed limit. Good place for those that dare to make up good time. It leaves you to just focus on the driving. I think most people found the restrict speed zones required for the damaged sections in TT 2010 a little troublesome/distracting. Also a mate who did TW on the weekend after having done TT earlier in the year found it quite dangerous having either a speed cut cut in or being distracted by checking your speed when you least want to be looking down. As you guys have said above, that's the whole point. Get from one end to the other as fast as you possibly dare. No one has a gun to your head making you do over 200. If that's all the minerals you got, as Woo says, just say so. Re the chook cooker, have just turned the first spanner in earnest. Can't handle any more spectating. Have done the last two nights on it and the shell is just about stripped. Wil then start on the engineering of the rear suspension. (that's the bit I am sweating on) reality is th hope of maybe fronting up for THC 2013, but such a long way to go with the car and limited time.

It is a bit of a claytons rally. Hats off to the organisers for trying to arrange something local, but there is only so much you can do with WA roads, and also a noisy minority in one area that robbed the event of some of its best stages. Hence why I havent really bothered with it. Would rather do the road trip to High Country for sure. maybe next year?? The new build starts tonight. Am well over my time on the sidelines.

And some more fail. The 35 that was running at the front shat a box. Tends to happen when they are putting out a "stock" 600+ horsepower doesnt it? (one of the other 35's has had same fate) Some understeer of fail for the viper and emo IX. Viper driver does have a bit of a reputation as being a tree hugger. Jim is doing well considering the event is capped at 200kmh, so he cant really capitalise on his legs. Old EMO is doing well considering its an EM car not modern. Again 200kmh cap is probably helping.

Targa West running in WA this weekend for anyone that cares. Prologue seemed to provide some natural selecion. Commodore in the vid had an off in eacch of his two passes at the course. But seriously, what event has speed bumps in the prologue or any stage for that matter. ???????? Old EMO is currently running second in a battle with the Rullo 35 GTR with Gentleman Jim leading the way. Early days though....

That is exactly what it is.

Couldnt agree more. To me clubsprint should fundamentally resemble the street car with a cage. (Optional) Original body work, no splitters, no ridiculous wangs, no added aero or widebodies. Somthing like targa showroom or even a targa modern or early modern car. Maybe call it Targa class. From a spectators point of view there seemed to be some pretty broad interpretations of the rules, or at least cars of the same breed (say an evo) at very different ends of the development spectrum. As others have said, some of the clubsprint cars looked much the same as an open car, just with street tyres on.

sweet looking ride. Will see you all at THC in my new ride. Quick vinyl wrap and no one will be any the wiser. http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/nissan-gt-r-2008-11970757?base=1216&vertical=Car&eapi=2&page=1&sort=~Price&cr=0&__N=1246%201247%201252%201282%204294963846%204294961487%201216&silo=Stock&Range=Price:Min,Max~0.5

Gutted for you Ben. Thats a farkin long way to come to be let down by a mech gremlin so late in the piece. Top drive in a 2wd.

Commiserations on the mechanical fail. Dissapointing way to go out. Best of luck to all those still out. there. Seems like a tough year if you are confident in the wet.

My understanding in classic (could well be wrong) is you kind of determine your class and therefore handicap by how much you modify the car. Apparently some people in classic care about competing on handicap. Some cars are excluded from SS (standard spec) but all can run LMS or MS. So if you basically throw handicap out the window you can go all out in MS where you have a pretty broad scope of modification. Should be options to update/improve any weak points. Sounds like a great project. Need to build up a Bathurst replica cheater car class.

Massively airborne scares me. Can go soooo wrong....but can offer up such a great "poolroom" shot or avatar eh Ben?? :)always hard to determine at recci pace how fast will be a cool little air or one that fills the pants of your driving suit.

I thought Closeys effort at TWP was inspriational and on his day I reckon he could do something pretty special at TT this year. I'll certainly be watching with great interest. But for a relatively small husband and wife effort, the task for them could get harder if the other front runners with the means/manpower to do so, take it up another level running detailed tyre strategies. I guess like you said Woo, it would always be nice to think its an event where the underdog with a well prepped car within their budget, thorough recci, some skills on the tiller and a little luck can cause an upset. I guess it will be interesting with that new rule in place, how many people will take it to the limit. I guess once one of the front runners does, there is the sense that to be in the hunt you need to consider joining them. I still think air jacks and a single nut conversion on the hubs is the way forward. Even found the rattle guns on M105 second hand. Only $6500 ea. Have one each side, a marquee/pit area set up after each stage. Pull in, up on jacks, tyres, fuel and back on the road in 10 seconds or so. Perfect http://my105.com/listingdetails.aspx?id=543

You make some good points there Woo... for a Queenslander. (not sure what I mean by that) Agreed that the rule does potentially open up an advantage to those with the chequebook to do so.....when I guess their chequebooks are already giving them a fairly decent help along. And agreed on the length of it. I certainly didnt finish it and wish for more. With a final day of every rattle in the car amplifying, you're stoked/relieved to just get there and smash some beers and be glad to not bedonning the suit for another day. I guess its about the spirit of the event and where you want it to go. Food for thought.

What are you suggesting Woo? I guess from an organisers perspective the rule came in for safety? ie with the extra kms not wanting cars running on tyres down to the canvas? I guess you could always have stayed with 6 and choose a compound you know will go the distance. ^^^ Agreed with Ben. Definately scope now for punting on softs for the whole event. Gut feel is tyres will become alot more strategic and alot more changes. Ie run your softs for the shorter stages where you need to have them come on quick and wont over cook them, along with the wet roads. Back to a medium for the long ones (Cethana Mt Roland etc) where your tyres tend to go off towards the end. All the while having the scope to drive like a black man given you should have more than enough rubber. As I have said before, I was a bit of a fan of the gamble on tyres and trying to manage your driving to preserve them. Added another dimension to TT the 2 day ones dont have. Targa Time Attack

^^ I had heard geaboxes can be a bit fragile, bit front heavy/understeery (no doubt could be dialed out) and I kow mates that had em as road cars found some parts spendy and hard to come by. Reality is probabaly just get an evo as they are a known quantity and affordable. I had dreams of a 22B tarmac car. But financially it was just silly. The TME was a much better option.

I know I am but what are you???? Hmm thinking it would only go one way married to an airjack, and I am definately not keen to be on the receiving end.