Tarmac Rallying Perpetual Thread

[R31Nismoid]

[Marlin]

I just spoke to Kevin, it's FARKING SOLD!

Went up yesterday, sold yesterday.

Told him if it falls through, no haggling, I will buy it.

[R31Nismoid]

Fastest advertised sale ever?

[phunky_monkey]

Good price for a decent car obviously! Sorry Benny, but now surely the brain is ticking over and the wheels have been put in motion...

[Marlin]

Yeah I reckon it was just the 'right" car, being a genuine Nur gave it a massive helping along for me. TBH, I'd be happy not targa-ing it, but a few sprint days, sunday mornings, and just owning a caged Nur, that'd be pretty cool. White with a white cage is the coolest of cools.

That kind of car I'd get as much enjoyment looking at it in the garage as driving it.

[poolheaters]

Yeah I reckon it was just the 'right" car, being a genuine Nur gave it a massive helping along for me. TBH, I'd be happy not targa-ing it, but a few sprint days, sunday mornings, and just owning a caged Nur, that'd be pretty cool. White with a white cage is the coolest of cools.

That kind of car I'd get as much enjoyment looking at it in the garage as driving it.

Sorry I didn't think of you when I saw it yesterday afternoon Benny, I didn't really know what a "NUR" was, but I did think it looked good for the price.

On a seperate note, has anyone received their "Free commemorative 20th anniversary" DVD with your own cars footage from Targa last year yet? Maybe ours went missing or has this idea fallen by the wayside?

From the Targa enews in late 2010..

"Commemorative DVD to Mark 20th Anniversary

Collector's items to ensure special memories for competitors!

As part of the 20th Anniversary celebrations each competitor from the 20th event will receive next year's DVD at no charge complete with a personalised cover with their car on it and containing all their vision captured from the event.

They promise to be a real collector's item with only two DVD's produced of each version.

Alone, they are enough reason to make sure that you don't miss out on competing in the 20th Anniversary Targa Tasmania next year."

[sav man]

Do you want to go from 600 engines to 14000 engines Ben?

Paul I asked Helen coad about the DVD a month ago, and she was going to chase southern cross up. Never heard back!!!!

[Marlin]

"happy not targa-ing it" is what I said.... and I never mentioned selling the 32.

Anyway, it's gone now...... moving on!

[2pee]

Toyota Had a helicopter following Neal bates around back in the days of the Celica's

Can't remember seeing it, must have been the year AWDs were outlawed.....except toyota ones obviously. Should have been packing a radiator rather than what I guess were film crew first time!

Anyhoo, old course might have presented the possibility of re-positioning wheels and tyres on a few stages, closures, traffic and the potential of crew getting pinged for warp 9, makes it unlikely at best, imho.

[Marlin]

The carrot is there, trust me. If, for instance, there was a fresh set of rubber available for Arrowsmith, I can seriously say that at least a second a kilometre would be forthcoming...... on one stage! A minute on ONE stage. It would be worth positioning two guys in the bush with a set just for this stage. Other crew could be (and always are) positioned at the end of Arrowsmith for a dose of fuel, they'll swpa back to legal rubber for the transport.

Don't be so quick to fob it off I reckon.

[sav man]

Green rubber is worth about 0.5 secs a km compared to slighlty used rubber. So to go from shagged rubber to greens would be worth 1-1.5 secs a km.

A lot of the crews for the top teams fly between stages at warp 11. YT's big silverado thing must be the fastest in the world.

[2pee]

Was referring to the proposed 8 wheel/tyre rule, used legitimately.

I do know of one instance of suspension collapse leading to the destruction of the tyre carcasses. A helpful   local gravel crew then proceeded getting creative with white markers on the sidewalls of non-marked tyres, back in the day - inspection at the overnight at Burnie never picked them up, parc ferme might have be a different matter if the time loss didn't happen in stage and preclude that possibility.....maybe! 

[Munkvy]

For Targa NZ, Dunlop used to provide a dedicated team to manage the tyres when they were the only tyre allowed to be used. So they marked the tyres at the beginning of the event and then turned up randomly through the event and checked tyres. However as they weren't officials as such I don't think anyone took it too seriously, ie I never heard of them getting people penalised, but I wasn't exactly privy to the Clerk of Course meetings etc.

I also worked on Targa as a scrutineer and we were definitely expected to be on the look out for unmarked tyres and found a number of crews with the wrong tyres... Most common way they were caught was to get complaints from other competitors about them cheating, which works very well when all servicing is done in a small confined space most of the time. I imagine there was the odd competitor doing dodgy side road changes, but again the competitors will notice if suddenly between stages you have a brand new set of tyres without having been to a service point.

On the flip side, how hard is it to dummy up some tyres to look official when all you do is use a paint pen to mark tyres in the first place? Cheaters will always find a way at the end of the day sadly.

[Marlin]

Absolutely Vivien, cheaters are gonna cheat where they can. Thing is, if they're allowed to run rife, and never get caught, what is the carrot to run within the rules.

I still reckon a small team tasked with keeping a close eye on rubber throughout the event has some legs. A line needs to be drawn somewhere. It's like capacity checks, they need to be done.

Cheating with tyres will give you more speed than any other single illegal mechanical modification in my opinion.

[t01-100]

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

[paulR32gtr]

Sweet looking machine Stuart! Congratulations on the successful first outing.

[Marlin]

Well done Stu, and nice write up mate.

Shame you had a couple of niggles, but for a fresh car, to finish, with just that little issue, bloody good effort!

[sav man]

how do the re11s compare to a dunlop or yokie?

[t01-100]

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.

[Snowman]

Good stuff Stu. Now all someone needs to do is develop a proper semi in 20's Dunlop were promising something for a Feb release but it never happened.

But interesting review on the RE11S. I remember Craig from Tarckside (Vic Bridgestone dealer) did a test on them initially about 2 years ago at Phillip Island on some Mustangs and said they were too soft. But I'm not sure what compounds they were.

And good to see you with a helmet on. Is the plan to use the RX7 for the circuit racing and if so what type of racing category and where?