By Ian Percy

A 1968 Porsche 911L is an unlikely vehicle of choice for me to undertake a rally in. But when my old mate John Fisher from Sydney asked me to occupy the navigators seat for the New Zealand Targa I didnt hesitate for very long. John phoned at the end of what had been a difficult few weeks for me so I probably wasnt thinking straight when I agreed so readily. Johns regular navigator was indisposed and John was casting around for someone willing to give up a weeks work to be thrown around in an unfamiliar car, over unfamiliar roads in a foreign land and on the wrong side of the steering wheel to boot.

When I told Sparky (John Spark) that I had agreed to navigate for John he demanded to know whether I had made a full and frank disclosure of my questionable talents as a navigator. He insisted that I tell John while there was still time for John to ask someone else that I had difficulty in distinguishing my left hand from my right. Without making any admissions about this unkind allegation I can accept that someone who has "L" and "R" on his driving gloves might be considered a bit of a risk and potentially a disadvantage as a navigator.

Having fessed up to John, Johns response, somewhat pragmatically was to tell me "three mistakes and youre out". Meaning, he explained, that if I cocked up three times he would have no further confidence in my calls and resort to visual navigation. Given that John is an experienced and record holding pilot I assumed he would have no difficulty in this regard so I was relieved.

By way of brief background I should say that John is a real life Walter Mitty or to bring it into a more modern context, a younger Dick Smith. John holds a number of records for having flown a Tiger Moth solo from London to Sydney in 1996. A feat only achieved by I think two other pioneering aviators and for which John was awarded the Sir Geoffrey De Havilland Trophy. In fact Johns comparatively recent passion with Porsches and tarmac rallies like Targa Tasmania, Rally Tasmania, our recent 50^th Porsche Rally and the Targa New Zealand are all part of his preparation for the London to Sydney rally in June next year. I have a sneaking suspicion that if he succeeds in this goal he will want to sail from London to Sydney to complete the trifector (yes, he is a sailor too!).

For those who dont know much about long distance off road rallies like the London to Sydney and the Shield of Africa, substantial modifications are required to strengthen the car for the rugged going. This was of some measure of comfort to me having experienced the odd off or two in Targa type events. There is no denying that they can be quite dangerous. For the NZ event John had opted to install a more powerful 2.7L engine. We also had the benefit of wider and low profile tyres. For the London to Sydney rally, like the Classic Adelaide, he is required to run the 2.4LS engine. The car was shod with Yokohama A0320 Advan tyres. I had never driven on these before but by the end of the event I was extremely impressed with their roadholding. An ideal choice for this type of event.

The format of the New Zealand Targa is not that different to Targa Tasmania. Confined to the North Island staring from Auckland, the event covers 580km of special stages and 1100km of touring over public and private roads. The event was run over seven days starting with scrutineering on the Monday, a prologue day (to determine initial starting order) which was held at the Pukekohe Park Raceway on the Tuesday and five days of special and touring stages finishing at the coastal resort of Tauranga about 2 1/2 hours south-east of Auckland. Unlike the Tasmanian event, Targa New Zealand is more low key and proceeded with a minimum of fuss. It is also far to say in does not, at this stage at least, enjoy the profile and local support of the Tassie event. Scrutineering, documentation and driver briefings were almost casual affairs. Competitors and crews mingled, chatted and exchanged the usual good-humoured banter. Clearly many knew one another and were back for more. Competitors had come from all parts of NZ some driving huge distances to get there and back. We were given a warm welcome as the only entrants from OZ although there were many expats around and even a Commodore to make us feel at home. The organiser, Mike John, was everywhere, approachable and efficient. There were approximately 80 plus vehicles entered in the various categories and classes. The four-wheel drive pocket-rockets were limited to eight in number. Regrettably there were no modern Porsches. The only other Porsche was a 911SC entered by husband and wife Alastair and Carola Gilmour who ended up category winners. Their daughters, Monica and Emma also competed successfully in a Citroen Saxo VTS winning the all female section. (Dads giving them each a Porsche for Christmas!!)

To make me feel like I was actually doing some driving John had installed a foot operated interval distance button for his Terra Trip. If he had given me one of those plastic steering wheels that you give kids in the backseat I would have felt more at home. As it turned out, there wasnt a great deal for me to do as a navigator. No pace notes are allowed in this event and apart from the usual left and right turns, cautions and the almost obligatory flying finish on a bend there were very few instructions in the route book for a navigator to worry about. Consequently, the inevitable happened. Just when I was beginning to think that I would get through the event without a black mark in my report card I failed to give John any warning of a right hand turn. I was too busy back seat driving when I should have been concentrating on the route book. Yes, we were going quickly at the time. Fortunately, it was a T intersection and we braked before we went through the tape. Of course we lost valuable seconds backing up and I got the expected stony silence from John at the end of the stage and a polite dressing-down at the end of the day. This was my only serious lapse as a navigator. Like the Tasmanian event there were cautions marked with one, two and three exclamation marks on the side of the road normally about 50 to 100 yards prior to the particular caution. They werent always easy to pick up but at least the driver was given some warning if the navigator failed to pick them up from the route book. Perhaps the most difficult thing to get used to initially was the number of flying finishes on bends. This was explained to us by the organisers as a carry-over from New Zealand dirt road rallying where this is common and treated as just another route instruction. It even caught the locals out with the "OO" car sliding off the road on one occasion and a more serious roll by one of the quicker cars on the last day. You can bet your socks you wont see this type of finish introduced for the millennium Targa Tasmania!!

There are a number of club members who compete in this type of tarmac rally who either share the driving or navigate when they would rather be driving. It can be a nerve racking experience especially when you are not familiar with the drivers capabilities. I had not driven at all with John and it took a little time for me settle into my job and for him to get my confidence. Likewise it took John a few days to get into the groove which is always the case. In the end we acquitted ourselves reasonably well finishing 15^th in the Classic section and 39^th overall. After we crossed the finish line we were interviewed for a television special to screened in NZ. When I was asked for comment I said something to the effect that "Ive known John a long time but until this week I havent driven with him or been in this car. I feel over the last week I have become more familiar with the car, Ive gotten a little closer to John and at least on one or two occasions, closer to God!! Fortunately, we had no serious incidents or offs. We had a minor scare over a "brow". We call them "crests" in Australia! We also had a memorable excursion through a tricky intersection which almost culminated with a 360 spin in front of the cameras. John told me afterwards he did this on purpose as a crowd pleaser! Pull the other leg John it plays jingle bells!! Talking about crowd pleasers, the very talented New Zealander Mark Parsons competed in the V8 Triumph TR7 and got up to his usual ticks entertaining the public at various "publicity stages". These were held around the streets of various towns en route. As the name suggests, they were promotional exercises to thrill the locals. Because they were not timed they were a chance to have some fun and show off a bit. Mark, who I have to say, is a modest bloke certainly likes to play to a crowd. Mark and his navigator Brian Tappenden, won the classic section and finished in the top five outright. But for car trouble on one of the days they probably would have finished much higher. If you want a drivers perspective of what its like to navigate for someone like Parsons you should ask Ojars. Ojars Balodis navigated for Mark two years ago in the Targa Tasmania and tells of his experience of Parsons having the Triumph off the bitumen and knocking down several white posts on the navigators side without once easing up on the gas. Ojars was so traumatised by this incident that he gave up using the pace notes and vowed never to sit in the navigators seat again!

Anyway, out of the 47 special stages we only missed our maximum time on one stage due principally to a troublesome miss fire. We were running Avgas because PULP is not available in New Zealand. This was supplied to us by our service crew, Ron Wilmouth who ran around the country knocking up the local airports and filling up containers of fuel. Ron, an air traffic controller from Melbourne on holiday, was a real find. Cool, organised, reliable, mechanically minded and a good bloke. I dont know how we would have coped without him. It took us a day or two to realise that the Avgas was a bit rich for the engine. Once we watered it down with a bit of standard everything seemed to go much better. We were a bit disappointed when we realised that we had missed our maximum time believing that, like Targa Tasmania, we needed to clean all special stages to get a Targa plate. What we didnt know was that in the Targa New Zealand you must complete no less than 44 of the 47 stages under the maximum time to get a Targa. At the end we were delighted to learn that we had succeeded in obtaining our Targa trophies. But at the time we were forced to resort to desperate measures in an attempt to claw back the 20 or so seconds that we had dropped. Accordingly, I completed an inquiry sheet and gave it to one of the CROWS (Competitor Relations Officers). This is what we said:

"We were bowling along in the wet having a ball when we saw some sheep. I said to John Heck John, theres some lonely sheep a long way from home just like us. John said: The poor buggers look wet and cold. Just like us! I said. We had a bit of a chat about whether we should stop and offer them our woolly jumpers, but we decided in the end that we didnt have enough to go around and it would have been unfair to the ones who missed out. Anyway, when I looked at the average speed I saw that our concern for your sheep had caused us to fall behind. I said to John: Sht, we wont make this stage within our maximum time unless you pull your finger out!. John did his best but in a sick 911 which was farting and coughing worse than my old man, we just couldnt do it. So we missed our max time by about 30 seconds. This is a compassionate claim to make sure that we keep our chances alive to a Targa Trophy. Signed, Ian Percy.

The ever friendly and totally stressed out Clerk of Course, Murray Stames, had this to say about the claim:

Compassionate application denied. 15 seconds granted cause you are so full of SHT."

So, even with our 15 seconds we still missed our maximum time. This will give you some indication of what I meant at the start by the more low key approach to this event. By that I dont mean to suggest that there was any compromise on safety and the event was well organised and there were few delays. The incidents that did occur by all accounts were dealt with promptly and efficiently.

Because of the smaller field, the organisers were able to arrange an evening meal at each overnight venue. Most competitors stayed at the same palace or close by. The buffet style dinner provided a good opportunity to catch up on the days events and hear a few tales of success or woe. The camaraderie was genuine and infectious. They were many examples of fellow competitors, crews, locals and car enthusiasts clubbing together to help out. One unfortunate competitor who rolled and almost wrote off an Alfa 1750 convertible had the car rebuilt overnight and was able to finish the event. If you had seen the car you would not have thought it possible.

Another nice touch was the payment of a toll of $NZ2.00 to various schools along the way. The schools either provided morning tea, lunch or simply acted as passage controls stamping our card with the school stamp on your time card. The kids loved it. We were certainly made very welcome and encouraged to return again. Mike John is particularly keen to see more mainland visitors in next years event. An approach has been made to me to put together a team or teams and certain inducements, which I am happy to disclose and share, have been held out. John (Fisher) tells me that the most difficult aspect is the shipping of the car, customs, GST and registration of the car for the period that it is in New Zealand. Overall however, he has worked out that taking into account the favourable exchange rate and given that the entry fees are much lower than Targa Tasmania, the overall cost was not dissimilar to the cost for him to enter Targa Tasmania.