Targa Tas 07

[PHaT MR30]

Well, back to sunny Queensland for me today! I'm already suffering "post Targa blues"

Well done to everyone who had a crack at Targa, congrats to all who finished, and commiserations to those who suffered dramas or crashes... eeeek!

Was great to meet some new faces, (well done to you and your dad Ben), and excellent to again see you Greg!

If any piccies are around of #979 (34 GTR), I'd love to see them! Cheers!

Mmm yes, THAT car.... the one i couldn't keep my eyes off prior to Cranbrook!

[Marlin]

Mmm yes, THAT car.... the one i couldn't keep my eyes off prior to Cranbrook!

Yessss, had a brief chat to you after you found your broken coil earth wire.... you guys did it tough! Back next year I hope???

[PHaT MR30]

Yessss, had a brief chat to you after you found your broken coil earth wire.... you guys did it tough! Back next year I hope???

Well like you i already have the Targa Blues, i don't think i could pass the opportunity up!

[WogsRus]

hay PHaT,

we are lookign at entering again next year, in the classic competition, and i was wondering how you went about sponsorship. We need to obtain some sponsorship, as doind everything of our own back is juts too much. Did you or your team have a sponsorship letter or port folio of some sought if so, can you PM me with some ideas and details on how you went about sponsorship?

Thanks

[haw001]

Hi all, the ill fated 811 here!

Thought I'd add a quick bit of info giving the run down on what happened.

First off, this was our 3rd Targa, so no excuses, I should have known better. Targa can always bite you in the ass, no matter how you think you are doing!

We had a terrible prologue, missing a traffic island down near the watter and having to slam on the brakes. In the end I just went up and over it, causing no damage, but losing all sorts of time. For those unfamiliar, the prologue has no impact, other than to set your starting position each day for the rest of the competition. A slow time puts you in with slower cars, which means more passing in stages than you would like, but also gives you more time when things go wrong as there is more cars behind you.

Day 1 started out alright, with a fairly cruzy day. First couple of stages are easily clearable and even a bad day will not end with much penalty time overall. We finished up the day in 23rd I think with about 2:30 minutes of penalty time. As far as rankings go, there is a big difference between the top five and the rest of the pack. Overall, the individual classifications don't mean much as there are so many categories now, and it's probably better to compare the 9 series, 8 series, 7 series etc to see how you are doing. From memory we were second or third in the 8 series, with Rick Shaw in his RX7 way out ahead.

Day 2 was a very average day, no real issues to speak of, but just never really fired up. We had a good sideling, but so did everyone else and actually fell back compared to most of the cars that I cared about, even though we didn't fall back in the overall rankings, due entirely to some prime competitors crashing out ahead of us.

Day 3 saw us determined to get back on form. We dropped some air from the tyres which helped a lot and changed the navigations strategy with me providing more feedback to the navigator which helped a lot with pacing. As I got more comfortable with the calls and got over flying around blind corners at warp speed, our times improved dramatically

The car really had no issues to speak of throughout the race, with only a nagging persistent oil leak which never went away. It looked worse than it was as it was coming out of the rear turbo and landing on the exhaust. This caused a big cloud of white smoke to follow us and a big plume when we stopped after each stage, but there was no leak from the head gasket into the head or pistons, so no performance loss, only the need to add about 1/2 a litre of oil at lunch.

Overall, we were way underpowered compared to the competition, and struggled with the lack of rain to give us an advantage (or so we thought until day 4). While we could maintain high speed well, we just didn't have the torque of the big dollar entries to pull us out of trouble on the tight and winedy stuff. We would smash everyone on fast stages made up of long sweepers, but every time we hit a stage with a lot of switch backs and hairpins we couldn't maintain the pace. Next time we'll address this, because in the end, it's the fast stuff that's hard to master and gives you all the time, the tight and winedy stuff is easy if you have the torque.

So day 3 was good and I think we ended up in 21st, with Rick Shaw still way out of reach and the only car that worried me, the 32 driven by Tony Alford still about 30 seconds behind. The only GTR ahead of us was the 34. Not bad for a 17 year old 32 put together by a bunch of slap happy mechanics in their spare time!

Day 4 started out great again, with Cethana just after lunch a personal favourite. Cethana winds down into a valley and then climbs out at the end, somewhat like the Galston Gorge for those who have driven it, only it's 35kms long so you have lot's of time to get in to the groove and get some pace. We passed the big shelby mustang boat easily and were chasing the green 32 of kimber an o'kane. The 33 gtr of Ayers and Bolton had to stop for an accident and slotted in between us so we had some fun for a good half of the stage. We'd reel them in through the run, then come to an uphill hairpin as we climbed back up and they'd be off like a flash while we struggled to build boost. Frustrating as this happened about 6 times, but still a lot of fun. Gunns Plains, the next stage was also a lot of fun, with it raining half way through and the fact that we blazed past a brand new 6 bizillion dollar porche turbo like it was going backwards.

The rest of the afternoon was fast fun and uneventfull, which found us in 18th outright, first in class, and second in the 800 series far behind rick shaw, and only 9 seconds behind the 34 GTR, our target car, coming into the last stage. The last stage, Fern Glade was a short 4 km run in the wet. Nothing we hadn't seen before, and should have been an easy one, if not a little slow. I softened the suspension for the wet and the tyre pressures were ok, if a little low. We started out fine, crossed the bridge and came around a short 3. For some reason, the back end just let go completely, not into a slide, but with the car going into a slow 180. All I thought at the time was that I better get out of the road so that the next car doesn't come around the corner and hit me head on, when we just tipped over the edge of the cliff and started rolling side over side. There was littlerally less than a metre from the edge of the road to the cliff and no guard railings at all. Racing is at your own risk, but in the wet these roads would be seriously dangerous for the average driver. What should have been a simple off with no damage turned into a complete write off and a fairly hairy ride. We ended up at the bottom near the small river having flipped 5 or six times. Car totalled, targa over.

So the moral of the story is, Bridgestone re55, good in the dry, shit in the wet. The D02s were much better and the D03s probably better still. I would have been happier if we'd gone off because I'd pushed too hard or missed a call or even mechanical failure, but to just slip off doing about 50k/hr was a big disapointment. I guess that's racing as they say!

A big thanks to all the sponsors and crew who stuck by us, and my wife for not killing me a second time when I got home. Should have brought the helmet home with me though!

I'm sure Duncan will post some more pictures when he gets around to it. I'd be surprised if there was a GTR out there with more dentend panels.

Mark

[Necx0]

Bad luck mate!! Sounds like you were really going well until the little off. Tassie's roads sure can bite!! Like you said, disappointing you did all the hard stuff only to have a little accident have major consequences.

Glad your wife didn't kill you! Hopefully see you back next year.

[Marlin]

Sounds like you were having a ball mate, right up until that terrible Fern Glade! I hated it, especially since the long wait prior to starting took all heat from the tires and we spent most of the stage trying to get some back in!

Compared to the Kuhmo tires we ran on the other R34 last year, the D02's just didn't give me any confidence at all in the wet. I was speaking with Ayers in the 33 GTR who changed to the Kuhmo's this year after we passed him like he was standing still on Arrowsmith last year in the wet(in 2006 he was on D02's). He said he was most impressed with his choice this year!

We'll surely be doing some testing prior to the next event (Rally of Burnie hopefully) with tires, and will run Kuhmo again if they last alright on the big fat R34. My only reservation is with a 300+ AWKW car is longevity in dry conditions.

Sorry again for your off, she IS comprehensively bent!

[t01-100]

Marlin - Ayersie was on RE55s last year not Dunlops.

haw001 - Steve sent me this one... I assume at the shipping yard. She is a sorry sight. You guys were very lucky.

[Marlin]

Marlin - Ayersie was on RE55s last year not Dunlops.

Oops, I stand corrected.

Edited April 26, 2007 by Marlin

[t01-100]

Oops, I stand corrected.

He runs Bridgestones through his fleet vehicles and the Dunlops have always been more expensive. Dunno what Bridgestone are thinking, but they really are a generation out of sinc now with their competitiors.

[hrd-hr30]

He runs Bridgestones through his fleet vehicles and the Dunlops have always been more expensive. Dunno what Bridgestone are thinking, but they really are a generation out of sinc now with their competitiors.

I've used the RE55S in monsoonal conditions at Mt Cotton hillclimb and found them excellent even in standing (and running!) water. but they were brand new full tread depth and QLD summer temps, so i guess its no real comparison to day 5 of Targa and temperatures in Tassie in Autumn.

I've always wanted to do targa, so it's very interesting to read about the event from a competitors perspective. And get the low down on tyres too.

Well done to all who competed

[Beer Baron]

the guy from autech looks very pleased with your crash effort! or at least impressed! he's a champ too. Gave me a chance to practice some of my japanese last time he was in town.

[t01-100]

I've used the RE55S in monsoonal conditions at Mt Cotton hillclimb and found them excellent even in standing (and running!) water. but they were brand new full tread depth and QLD summer temps, so i guess its no real comparison to day 5 of Targa and temperatures in Tassie in Autumn.

I've always wanted to do targa, so it's very interesting to read about the event from a competitors perspective. And get the low down on tyres too.

Well done to all who competed

I've always used Bridgestones too in both good and poor conditions, in road events and on track - RE520, 540 and 55... but they don't seem to have the edge they once used to. I'm going to try Kuhmos on the RX7.

[PHaT MR30]

Sounds like you were having a ball mate, right up until that terrible Fern Glade! I hated it, especially since the long wait prior to starting took all heat from the tires and we spent most of the stage trying to get some back in!

Compared to the Kuhmo tires we ran on the other R34 last year, the D02's just didn't give me any confidence at all in the wet. I was speaking with Ayers in the 33 GTR who changed to the Kuhmo's this year after we passed him like he was standing still on Arrowsmith last year in the wet(in 2006 he was on D02's). He said he was most impressed with his choice this year!

We'll surely be doing some testing prior to the next event (Rally of Burnie hopefully) with tires, and will run Kuhmo again if they last alright on the big fat R34. My only reservation is with a 300+ AWKW car is longevity in dry conditions.

Sorry again for your off, she IS comprehensively bent!

Yeh i thought something wasn't right, looking at your car with the Kuhmo stickers, but i could clearly see Dunnies.

We Ran D03's, but obviously Medium 1 compound (for the shorter event), we didn't get much of a shot at them in the rain though... I think (from reports from other drivers) there is a fair difference over D02's and D03's. We ran D02's at Rally Tas, but neither of us had experienced Semi's before so we didn't know what from what.

the guy from autech looks very pleased with your crash effort! or at least impressed! he's a champ too. Gave me a chance to practice some of my japanese last time he was in town.

Haha that guy from Autech was amazing! he picked up that we'd broken a rocker long before we'd even taken the rocker cover off, even with his lack of english, his hand gestures made enough sense to nut it out. Obviously knows how to tune a car well too, Tony and Steves GTR's just dial right up!

[sav man]

We ran RE55's, it's the first time eather of us have used semi's, so we nothing to compare them too. We found that the wet bit of South Rianna, Fern Glade, and Helyer Goarge were like ice. So I don't know how much better other tyres would have been.

We had a chat to kimber and o'kane in the Green GT-R when we were waiting at the start of straugn. They were pretty pissed about how they ended up on the roof of the other car, but they saw the funny side of it. Apparently they were folling another car for 3k that wouldn't let them past, the car finally waved them past but then accelerated again, the GT-R had to accelerate again to get past, and went too hot into the corner, over the bank, and onto the other car.

[Kel]

We didn't really get the chance to say it- but it was brilliant to meet everyone, and thanks for all of the chats, advice and support. As first-timers we really appreciated it.

Big thanks also to our amazing SAU NSW crew- Jason (JAS-25T) and Neil (NEIL- the grumpy old bloke!), who helped keep us on the road despite all of our bad luck.

Pics to follow shortly....

[Duncan]

what are the chances eh? 3000klm of road and to end up on another car.....

I've used a heap of different semis, wet and dry, and the bridgestones are the worst I've used in the wet....in fact I had a high speed spin in the kink at wakefield park on them - they just snapped into a spin which is exactly what you don't want in the wet....plus they were a bit low on tread at the time which doesn't help at all.

It looks like the tribe has spoken at targa, all the quick cars were running the D03s. I thought the re55s were great in the dry once they were warm.

[Kel]

Some quick pics from our Targa (mis)Adventure...

The before shots:

[Kel]

A bit of on track (road) action

[Kel]

Aftermath of car 832 radial rod snap at 130kays...