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Should have a revised Poatina date next week!

These sure are going to be some amazing events guys and its great to finally have announced these and hear your feedback. The point is certainly taken regards calendering, but things aren't always as easy as they may seem. Arguably, Australia's best driving roads are found up and down hills, mountains and ranges, and alpine regions provide the best of the best. Due to a number of factors there is only a small window of time in which to operate alpine motorsport events and complications include: - adverse cold weather due to unpredictable weather at such heights in the cool and cold months - there are also various issues with running closed road motorsport events during summer, including soft alpine road surfaces which de-laminate with ease thanks to high-G loads of semi slick tyres - high volumes of traffic on popular through roads such as Great Alpine Road during general and school holiday periods - fire risk thanks to dry road side vegetation in the warmer months before the chill of winter creeps back - general threat of Code Red fire danger periods which simply do not allow events to occur - an already busy general motorsport calendar When researching date options, popular opinion amongst those entrants traveling long distance was that bundling events closely was very much a positive and actually justified the cost and energy of traveling and freight cars from Western Australia, Queensland and even Tasmania. Please free to ask any questions.

So we launched a couple of all-new closed road events last week: - Alpine Cup International Hillclimb, the world’s longest hillclimb at 29km to run on the Great Alpine Road up to Mount Hotham - Hotham Auto Corsa 250km two day tarmac rally, the first all-new tarmac rally to be launched in five years http://www.autocorsa.com.au/ Thoughts?

Targa Adelaide competitors info night coming up next week... hope to see some smiling new faces!

Although I rarely get on here of late, I must speak up in defense of the TMR cages. TWP13 Esperance Coast and Alan Evans Evo X was 60+ meters off the road and down a steep bank, first hitting a tree and the crew unsure how many roll overs, but estimate more than ten. Their bolt-in TMR cage stood up spectacularly well... Alan told me he had a sore thumb! For those unsure how big the off was, the A-pillars actually bent around it the cage and the only bodywork undamaged were the tail lights. Also TWP12 with Ric Shaw, same sort of deal and the cage was straight as a dye when pulled out and put on the ground. I'm no fan of bolt-ins and although TMR's are not the prettiest front section cage, when put to the ultimate test the engineering speaks for itself.

Just checked with someone currently doing similar and it'll be LCT exempt due to being used. LCT would only apply to a new imports, say like the first batch of GT-Rs in 08.

That race car rule is why 911 GT3 Cup's are so well priced from new, because an undertaking is made on import by PCA that these are race cars and not eligible for rego. Under the federal import approval of the Panno as a rally car (to suit SI rego requirements) it will identify it as rego eligible under state delegated authority…

Your R32 was actually built by Warrick Freemantle in Melbourne who ran in it TT, then sold to Richard Kimber in Sydney, who subsequently had it painted green from blue. Warrick previously owned the Manion's R33 N1 too.... a nice bloke, tidy steerer and had a couple of podiums to his name in GT-R's.

Targa High Country and Targa Wrest Point offer two very difference experiences indeed. Targa High Country is simply stunning, particular from an elevation change point of view as you explore some of most physically demanding tarmac rally stages in the country, but to stay Targa Wrest Point roads are like goat tracks is hardly reflective of the entire course. Sure sections of Pelverata, Cygnet and Longley have plenty of lumps and surface changes, but any car with decent setup will take these sections in stride and be rewarded by commitment on what are some of my most favorite pieces of road…. and of course let’s not forget Tahune, Oyster Cove and Dover and which are sensationally smooth stages for all the ladies

New and never used (still with protective film onthe f/glass backs) Private sale in Hobart $250 each or $450 the pair 0412 868 979

To everyone anyone that didn't run this event and could’ve... sorry, but you seriously missed out! I wasn't that fussed about running at the V8s in the past, but with my car finally up and running and with some tyres, pads and rotors left-over from Rally Tas, at the very last minute I thought why no let’s do it. For me it was such a cruisey reintroduction in to circuit racing with zero pressure... so much so I missed qualifying due to a minor (clutch master cylinder) issue, and instead of fixing it straight away we watched qualifying then sorted it! It was fun getting the hang of the 'new' car on the track (particularly off the back of the grid in race one!), re-understanding tyre performance checking out cooling temperates etc... and generally enjoying some dicing with a bunch of top guys and it was pretty cool just being part of the V8 circus. One of the best things about the Invitationals was the race lengths. I always enjoyed the longer races back in 2004 when I last did a full circuit season in the R32 with 12 and 15 lap races. Being out there for 12 laps at the V8s was great fun. Five laps like usual TSS rounds are just too short, seven fine, ten great... 12 or 15 would be awesome again. If you have a car able to compete and the V8SC offer the opportunity for this category to run again in 2013, don't give it a second though, just get amongst it!

Yep Ex-David Hales car. Awesome buying, genuine nice car with lots of fruit on it. My company, Benson Motorsports supplied various parts for the car during his ownership. He bought it off Autostyle and hardly used it in the last four or five years... had my lease company insisted I not got anything older than five years it would be in my driveway now instead of the STi! One of the the guys that does the race prep on the Nismo 400R that runs in Targa events is a mate of Daivds and looked after it for him. Andrew Kuc of Pro Automotive has done work on the car and if you were keen to buy it get him to have a look over it, he's only few blocks from the car yard.

Sports GT / Targa Class here in Tas, but keen to do some stuff on the big island too Snowy. It's only gay if you like it... and I've never owned an Audi.

Thanks boys, was great to get back amongst it and finally use the car. The RE11S is certainly an improvement on the RE55S in terms having a more consistent feel and grip vs durability, but predictability it isn't a fan of running over 35psi hot and in RH compound is challenged by wet conditions. I don't believe the RH compound is a match for a Dunlop DZ03G or Yokie A050 on a light car like an RX-7 or even an Evo... and would be better suited to a GT-R with good power, particularly in the warm events where tyres like the A050 are struggling to to the last an event. Will be interesting to see what other compounds are made available in Australia as the tyre has great potential and would be a spot on chioce for the right application.

Well the RX-7 was finally wheeled out on the weekend just gone for me to drive in my first tarmac rally since 2005 (in my old black Donut King R32 GT-R), at the Cradle Coast Rally based out of Burnie. It's fair to say, as most do, I left too much work until the last two weeks in a near enough to five year build and unfortunately various compromises had to be made, including zero testing before for SS1. So a number of assumptions had to be made on suspension set up, brake and tyre compounds and anticipated operating temps. Fortunately everything we had a question mark over was either excellent or totally manageable as it turned out and I'm glad we invested plenty of time into recce thanks to very gravelly conditions. First two stages (Leg 1) were spent getting the hang of power delivery, brake performance and grip levels and then paying attention to the calls (of good mate Darren Fogarty, who some might know from driving the Zero Car for Targa Championship events. Once the first stage or two of Leg 2 were done we had good rhythm and started to commit to our notes. Through Leg 2 we banked a couple of top four stage times against drivers that provided a good measuring stick for the car and our performance which we were very happy with in the cars first outing. Biggest problem was we lost an inner front guard and chopped through the driver’s side wiring harness, not once but twice, the first time forcing us to stop on stage with ECU power dropping in and out over bumps… it was a mess, but race tape, cable ties and a committed crew saved us… amazingly Daz and I fixed it the second time and surprising it kept running to the finish line! There’s now an exhaust leak in the manifold/gasket area too, but that didn’t slow us much. We were evaluating the new Bridgestone RE11S for Bridgestone Australia in RH compound and found it to be excellent, particularly on the longer 20km+ stages. Suspension (BC Racing ER series) was genuinely really good and gave excellent compliance with a guessed set-up, the new AP Racing front brakes were excellent likewise the Ferrodo DS2500 front and Pagid RS4-2 rear brake compounds, but we'll be chasing some more rear brake effect before the next event. Power was a bit light-on as a safety measure not knowing how efficient the cooling systems would be, but it was very linear and resulted in an exceptionally easy car to drive. Temps were really good, but there are cooling improvements that can still be made. The fuel system is now E85 ready, new dampers should be here in a week or two and some more light weight panels are on the way.... with a little more commitment we hope to have the guide posts shaking in their holes even more next time ‘round! In spite of dropping a lot of time with the wiring issue, we weren't alone with our problems and crossed the finish line winners of the Early Modern Category. Must thank Bridgestone Australia, Bridgestone Select Hobart and Launceston, Boost Automotive, Morgan Motorsport, James Huddlestone, BC Racing, MoTeC Pro Automotive, Monit Rally, AzCustom, GReddy Oceania, Seibon Australia as well as David Ayers and his sensational service crew for all valued their support. The weekend reminds me just how lucky we are in Australia to take part in tarmac rally events, and once again I’m exceptionally jealous of each and every one of you guys running in our Targa events… so in an effort to atleast scratch my motorsport itch I’m getting back into circuit racing and can't wait! This is how it started... and almost remains just as shiny