Targa Tasmania 2009

[Ant97GTR]

Hell of an adventure there Ben! Sorry to hear about your dramas and the fate of the R34 though

[Beer Baron]

great work savman! good result especially considering the dramas, and the dad handicap. hehe.

[Roy]

Fark me...trial and tribulations. Good work on slugging it out!

[Merli]

Great write-up savman...

I'm extremely surprised about the race fuel cheating though... Just goes to show, doesn't it

[Duncan]

yeah me too. no one ever cheats in top level motorsport.

courtesy of the targa party tape, he is ben getting caught out by the might powah of the rb20 and heading into the field. one fence was an accident but the second I'm not so sure

http://www.hgeconsulting.com.au/rb20-powah.wmv

[lmanion]

Hey guys just thought i would post up some pics from the event.

Wasn't able to be service crew for savman this year due to having appendix out not so long ago so made my own way to a few stages.

Well done to everyone especially wooster for 3rd in classic.

[Cyph-R33]

yeah me too. no one ever cheats in top level motorsport.

courtesy of the targa party tape, he is ben getting caught out by the might powah of the rb20 and heading into the field. one fence was an accident but the second I'm not so sure

http://www.hgeconsulting.com.au/rb20-powah.wmv

Hahahahahhahahahaha

That is legendary.

[Roy]

Not the fresh duco! LOL love the comittment

That vid isntantly reminded me of one of my favourite films. Ben's new name has to be Falfa

[Kel]

… so I'm thinking I could STILL be a little drunk from all of those drinks on Sunday night

Brilliant to see everyone from here finish (and many finish exceptionally well).

Benny, I still can’t decide if the in-car from your off-road adventure, or seeing you and Timmy up on the podium is my personal highlight

Big congrats to Ben and Tim, Andrew and Dan and Greg for the spectacular results.

Also big, big congrats to Stu and the team for putting on another awesome Targa- I don’t think anyone can fault the running of the 09 event, it was exceptional.

Also special mention to David Ayers and Robbie Bolton in the Nismo 400R who had an interesting final classifications experience – they were declared 3rd and got to drive the car up to the podium, lost the spot on protest while walking from the car to the podium, didn’t get to jump up and spray the champers into the crowd, only to then be restored to equal third later on Sunday night.

Commiserations to Ben and Russ for the Targa Gods not being so kind this year- it was really disappointing given how well you were both driving before, and then in spite of, your misadventures. Great to see you both still push on and make it to the finish though.

Speaking of misadventures, I thought my Targa was heading in that direction when we did a turbo on Day Minus 1 at Symonds Plains (which was brand new for the event mind you). The guys chucked the one they'd used last year in, and we were off to prologue for a bit of fun - I was planning to sit back and chuck Just Jap Racing caps out to the spectators but we’d run out by the time we got to time control so had to take things a bit more seriously

Pretty happy with the result in the end- Steve and I managed 6th in early modern and 35th outright from memory - not bad for an old girl… and the old 32 GTR went alright too

So how many days til Targa 2010?

[t01-100]

thanks kel and congratulations to everyone that simply made a start at the 2009 event, that alone is an achievement!

huge effort from benny and timmy in the little rb20 (man that farmer's pissed), also awesome work from snowie and drew with rookie and jeff and ayersie in early modern… major effort from quinny and naomi and first of many r35 targa crowns I’m sure.

ps. man was i untidy early sunday/monday morning. apparently i got to bed at 6am and had a savage case of bulimia nervosa for a few hours before i hit the hay… but some how managed to back up for the trophy brunch hours later!

[Marlin]

G'day guys! Bloody sad it's all over....... I'm so proud of all our SAU clan for experiencing a great Tugga this year. Everyone doing their best to help eachother out was better than ever, best event yet imo.

Seriously, how good was it!?!?! From "Giant" Russ getting to grips with the whole thing even though the car was playing up a little, to you Kel and your constant words of encouragement, Snowy and Dan's sterling Rookie effort, Just Jap Steve for always giving us a smile or thumbs-up, Manions for just being top blokes, Greg for loaning us suspension and having a great win, David Ayers for being a nice bloke even though they really strained him at the finish line, Benson and Perry for running a superb event, and Timmy my super Nav with balls of titanium..... if I've forgotten anyone, it's because I'm still on a high and even higher due to drugs for a cracking chest infection I'm running

I can't relay how good Targa was for me personally this year, words can't describe Tim and I get along so well it's uncanny, and his belief in me being able to pull the little 32 back from the brink is bordering on insanity. It was actually a real relief to be able to do the event in our own car this year, it really allowed us to have a real crack. I'm flabbergasted with some of our times, and astounded with how the little VERY standard GTS-t can hold it's head up high against some serious machinery, be it in the Classic section or the Outright Modern competition.

Our goal now is to attempt to find some good sponsorship to allow the fitment of some really good parts for the little car, I think she deserves it

Oh, and to fix some scratches :D

EDIT: And yeah of course I forgot to thank Damo and Kerry for helping us out with some indicators and mirror after the excursion, Melbourne Performance Centre for all their hard work in the rain and mud, and a huge congrartulations for Tony and Naomi for what would have to be the most popular outright win in many many years. They really deserve it!

Edited May 5, 2009 by Marlin

[phunky_monkey]

Congrats to all of you guys!

[Kel]

ps. man was i untidy early sunday/monday morning. apparently i got to bed at 6am and had a savage case of bulimia nervosa for a few hours before i hit the hay… but some how managed to back up for the trophy brunch hours later!

:laughing-smiley-014:

untidy and me seem to go hand in hand post-Targa for some reason

i racked up another achievement in the early hours of Monday morning- I'm well on my way to my gold trophy for phone losses in the Targa Bar.... yep, I backed up last year's effort by losing another one. Guess I should have had the boys cable tie it to my arm afterall.

[sav man]

Not surprised your still drunk Kel, you gave the bar a good crack on Sunday night.

Won't be surprised to see more R32 Gts-t's next year. Was funny the amount of people that came up to me and said "hey you know ben, he running a stroker/race fuel?"....mainly vw drivers, he gave them a real scare.

[Kel]

targa skills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVs53VmvQRI

[Marlin]

Poor little Fiat.... on it's lid twice in one Targa!

[Cyph-R33]

Wow there are some bogans in the crowd aren't there..

lol

[Marlin]

I am so rude. I'm going to try and blame it on my flu

Jeff and Nerida Beable, long time SAU member and Targa veterans...... 2nd in early Modern. Great effort to you both! Congratulations!

Now Jeff, if you read this, I'd like you to give me your thoughts on the new Yokohama Ao50 you ran please!

[sav man]

Here is the vid of us getting beached on day 1. Proper vids to follow soon.

[Marlin]

Looks like a bit of cold tyre action to me Benny