It has become almost commonplace for commentators and others when summarising the outcomes of a motor sport event to say "this is an event that had everything". Well this is one time when this popular phrase summarises Targa 2000. Consider this:

It really was ‘an event that had everything’.

• Saturday: Getting Started

• Sunday: Driver’s Briefing and a marriage of ‘convenience’

• Monday, Day Zero: The Prologue at Georgetown

• Tuesday, Day 1: Launceston

• Wednesday, Day 2: Launceston

• Thursday, Day 3: Launceston to Hobart

• Friday, Day 4: Hobart & the Huon Valley

• Saturday, Day 5: Hobart to Burnie

• Sunday, Day 6: Burnie to Hobart

• Monday: The Results and Presentation Dinner

• Club Members Participating in Targa 2000

At 6.00 pm on Friday, May 5 as the ferry pulled away from the wharf it was wet, windy and dark to boot! Was this a harbinger of things to come? It was perhaps an inauspicious start, but by the time we docked in Devonport we were greeted with blue skies, a windless sunny day and a large crowd watching the cars emerge one by one from the cavernous hold of the ship.

With Brian Reed in charge of proceedings and following the usual civic welcomes, the cars were despatched one at a time toward Launceston. With each departure Brian provided some background on the car and crew and some history of the particular marque in motorsport. It was a long-winded affair and no doubt a marathon for him, but amply showcasing his knowledge of things automotive. No doubt he saw it as a good dry run for the ‘official’ starts to follow at the Casino, Launceston, Hobart, Burnie and of course at the ‘official’ finish at Wrest Point.

Despite the assembly of this ‘multi-million mobile motor show’ dockside at Devonport as John Large so aptly termed it - this was not the entire field. Indeed the boat was fully booked a week or so prior to the event, which meant that some competitors had to venture south to Tasmania a few days earlier just to make sure they made the start line - the Tasmanian entries of course, suffered no such problems.

Targa Tasmania 2000 had begun knocking entries back in April and by the end of that month there were still at least 313 on the list. By the time the boat had docked and vehicles had started to assemble for scrutineering a record entry of 299 had presented themselves - just one shy of 300.

With the exception of Andrew Mediecke, who failed to appear due to problems getting the car ready, Targa Tasmania 2000 had managed to assemble a complete cast of the outright winners of the event: Greg Crick (1992, 1993), Neil Bates (1995), Jim Richards (1996, 1997, 1998) and Peter Fitzgerald (1999). In addition Ray Lintott a previous front runner in the event was there as was Dick Johnson in the Ultima which Guy Beddington had driven to a fifth placing in 1999. In contention for the Modern competition were also two club members: Warwick Freemantle (2^nd in 1999) and Jeff and Nerida Beable who had performed so well in Rally Tasmania ... but more of that a bit later.

Faced with a record field of 299 and one less day to get through the formalities of documentation and scrutineering (due to the revised format for this year of six days and 54 stages of competition) the organisers showed some flare and demonstrated just how efficiently the process could be handled. Borrowing an idea from Classic Adelaide and recognizing the difficulties encountered in past years at the Silverdome, Scrutineering and Documentation was conducted at the Exhibition Centre in the Inveresk Rail Yards on the Northern edge of Launceston. Cars were presented in four lines and moved progressively in assembly line fashion through the Scrutineering process and then parked whilst Drivers and Co-Drivers attended to the Documentation issues and collected their Road Books. It was a smooth process and certainly a welcome change from previous years where the same activities were extended over two days.

Criticisms? Well none really. The organisers recognised that crews probably hadn’t eaten since breakfast and provided for the hunger pangs with food and coffee available for purchase and there was the usual range of vendors selling everything from race gear to photographs. Some more rubbish bins and a live band would be a nice touch.

Whilst the Queue extended outside the Exhibition Centre, which meant you’d get wet if it rained, the choice of venue at least meant that if it did rain the queue would still proceed and the requirement to chamois the car a la the Silverdome had disappeared. One word of advice for next year - make sure you arrange your table for the presentation dinner whilst you are at the Exhibition Centre - those who didn’t this year found themselves with few seating options for this finale dinner.

With scrutineering and documentation out of the way, it was off to the Silverdome.

Unless you’re really keen you may not have had the opportunity before the dawn of Sunday to check out any of the stages in this event. Whilst there are changes from year to year, there are only usually one or two new stages. Nonetheless, if you have the opportunity it is always best to do a pre-event reconnaissance. One club member made three separate trips, each of seven days duration, prior to the event and managed to rack up more than 3,000 kms per visit. Now that’s preparation!

This year’s event was slightly different to previous years with two days to be spent in the vicinity of Launceston. In fact 12 of the first 19 stages of the first two days were new to the event and one of the old stages (Longford)had a round-a-about inserted to make things a little more interesting. With a morning and a bit available we decided it was better to be forewarned than ignorant and got into the hire car and managed to check out seven stages prior to the Drivers’ Briefing.

The compulsory driver’s briefing is of course the opportunity to remind you of the things you should know, but may have forgotten. In particular it provides the opportunity for the organisers to focus on the safety procedures in the event of an incident. It’s always a chastening experience. The Driver’s briefing is followed immediately with a few free drinks under the guise of the Welcome Cocktail Party which provides competitors the opportunity to swap a few yarns before the advent of the Prologue at GeorgeTown the following day.

As the Drivers Briefing drew to a close, Adrian Mason, who is in charge of ‘Crowd Control’ stepped forward and took the microphone and indicated he had an important announcement to make. Given that Adrian has a somewhat imposing tone and is the person responsible for directing cars from the Silverdome and the other overnight venues in the event, his request commanded the attention of the 700 or more assembled. The announcement turned into an introduction of Phillip Tilley the driver of a 1928 Essex Super 6 Tourer. That was fair enough. After all in past years we have had Jim Richards, for example, talk about the perils of the event.

Phillip began by telling us about his history of involvement in the event and that of his father - at which point he was rapidly losing his audience who were more concerned about getting out of there or at least getting a drink at the official Welcome Cocktail Party, which his announcement was holding up. When he started to talk about his childhood sweetheart and fellow crew member Sophie, it all seemed to have gone a bit far ... that is until he announced he was going to marry her. Not later, but right then. Right there. Somewhat astonished the 700 or so in the audience were suddenly transfixed as Targa Tasmania’s Official Chaplain the Rev Peter Willis came forward and requested Jim Richards and Barry Oliver escort Sophie to the stage. With a suitably serious, yet brief and humourous ceremony in which the couple were asked to exchange (car)key rings, the Rev Peter Willis pronounced Phillip and Sophie Man and Wife, much to the delight and tumultuous applause of all assembled. As I said at the outset - Targa 2000 was an event that had everything!

The departure from the Casino heralded the start of the event on Monday. The usual crowds were in attendance as the cars proceeded up the highway to Georgetown - the support of the Tasmanian people for this event, never ceases to amaze me. The weather in Georgetown was somewhat overcast. There had been some early morning rain and parts of the Prologue stage were still a bit damp. Despite the occasional light drizzle during the course of the afternoon the day nonetheless remained free of rain.

It is of course at Georgetown where the first signs of the potential relative positions of cars and crews in the event are unveiled. In 1999 Club member Warwick Freemantle had blitzed the field by some 2 seconds leaving both Jim Richards and Peter Fitzgerald in his wake. This year the competitive wick had been turned up and Jim Richards in his 2000 Porsche GT3 Clubsport put in a 3:12.60 to pull off FTD and first place in the Modern Competition, just 2/10 ahead of Peter Fitzgerald in his 1996 Porsche 911 Tubo (3:12.80). Third in 3:17.25 was Ray Lintott also in a 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo; fourth was Bernie Stack in a 1995 Porsche RS in 3:17.33. The next two places stopped the Porsche armada with club members Warwick Freemantle (3:18.09) and Geoff Beable (3:18.58) in their 1995 and 1997 Nissan GTR V-Spec N1's respectively. Max Warwick, 2000 Porsche GT3 (3:22.10); Mark Saxby, 1995 Nissan GTR V-Spec N1 (3:22.41); Dean Cook, 1995 Porsche RS Tourinng (3:22.62); Greg Cook, 1996 Porsche RSCS (3:22.99) occupied 7^th through 10^th places respectively. It was tight at the top as evidenced by Dick Johnson’s (3:29.41) in the Ultima which was only good enough for 29^th in the Modern competition.

But the fun was in the Classic competition. It turned out to be a shoot-out between three members of the Maserati club. First timer Len Cattlin showed that he had managed to get the big Mustang sorted out since its inaugural performance at the Grand Prix Track Day and took out first and FTD in the Classic competition. Len, driving his 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback put in the quick time of 3:24.73 some three seconds ahead of Mike Roddy in his 1975 Jaguar XJS (3:27.93) who was in turn a further three seconds ahead of Gary Tierney (3:31.09) in his 1965 Ford Mustang. It was a great result, for the drivers concerned and a great one for the club as well. Congratulations.

John Lawson (4:23.16) in the 1938 Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia Spyder took out the FTD award in Shannons Historic with Barry & Cheryl Batagol in third place in the 1930 Bentley Speed Six. Phillip Nicholls (3:52.30) in the 1958 Austin Healey Sprite took out the award in the Touring Classic event.

By days end it could be said that the event had got off to a good start. The field, despite its size, had got through the Prologue smoothly. The officials seemed to be well on top of their jobs and none of the competitors had made too much of a mess. The question was ... would this smooth operation continue?

Only two stages from Day 1 of 1999 remained intact in this event: Legana and Moriarty. However there were two familiar stages; Latrobe, which had been shortened and Launceston which is usually run on the morning of Day 2 was the last stage for the day, but was run in the reverse direction. Adding to these were five completely new stages bringing the total stages for the day up to 9.

There had been substantial overnight rain and by the time competitors got to Legana the stage was still deemed to be ‘wet’ despite the clearing skies. Despite the conditions someone had managed to get the event off to a good start and inadvertently remind those to follow that it is possible to leave the stage despite the generous time allowance. Instead of going straight to Moriarty, the stage following Legana in previous years, we travelled west toward a new stage called High Plains, just out of Deloraine. By the time we arrived the road was dry, the sun was shining and the stage proved to be pretty quick. It was then on to Moriarty followed by Latrobe in time for lunch in the sunshine at Devonport.

By day’s end the competition had started to sort itself out. Ray Lintott was leading both Jim Richards and Neil Bates in Modern. Walter Rohrl, a winner of 14 WRC events was leading in the Porsche Museum entry a 1960 Porsche 356GT which had propelled Peter Fitzgerald to victory in the Classic section of the event in 1998. Following closely behind Rohrl was Mike Batten in his very quick Volvo PV544 ahead of Rex Broadbent in his super wide, super quick 1974 Porsche 911 RSR, which somehow, much to the annoyance of other Porsche Classic competitors, had been classified as ‘LMS’ and not ‘MS’.

One thing the day did highlight was the character of the new stages. In previous years the stages selected around Launceston tended to be fairly open and flowing. The new stages selected to complement the ‘old’ were generally different in character and more akin to those encountered in the Huon Valley to the South of Hobart. The road surfaces were also similar, adding a degree of difficulty not previously encountered until well into the event. In retrospect this was probably a surprise for some of the ‘old hands’ who had done no pre-reconnaissance and were travelling without the benefit of pace-notes.

Despite an overcast morning and rain threatening for most of the day, the weather stayed fine to usher in the second day of the event . Whereas Day 1 had gone west then to the north and east of Launceston, Day 2, went west and South. Of the 10 stages on Day 2 there were five new ones.

The first stage for the day was Deloraine - a new stage with an old name. It was on this stage that the only serious incident of the event occurred when Sydney couple David and Lisa Culkin slid their Porsche 968CS into a tree with David Culkin receiving serious injuries in the impact. Fortunately by the end of the event he had recovered sufficiently to be well on the mend.

Deloraine was followed by another new stage in Kimberley and then by the familiar Devonport, Nook and Sheffield prior to lunch in the town of Sheffield. Unfortunately there were quite a few (six at least) who found the slippery, gravel coated, downhill surface of the Sheffield stage a bit too hard to handle, with the result they not only missed a good lunch, but in many cases, the rest of the event.

The afternoon got underway with the now familiar Mole Creek with its challenging hairpin and off-camber exit over a wooden bridge. It was then three new stages: Montana, Selbourne and Westwood before arriving at Longford - the traditional finish to Day 1.

Day 2 finished with a host of retirements. Included in the total were John Rundell and Vic Spiteri in the 1979 Jaguar XJS with gearbox problems. To make things interesting however Ray Lintott was still leading Modern ahead of Jim Richards with Peter Fitzgerald holding down third place. Longford hadn’t been too kind to Fitzgerald though as he managed just about destroy his two front tyres when the ABS on the Porsche Turbo failed and he had a massive lockup. So much for the invincible Porsche brakes.

In Classic Paul Stuart and club member Mark Connelly in their standard 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera moved up to third place at the expense of Rex Broadbent, whilst German maestro Walter Rohrl continued to hold a commanding lead. In Shannons Historic John and Andrew Lawson in the 1938 Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia Spyder held down first place ahead of Robert van Wegen and Nigel Quinsee in a 1949 Bristol 400 with club members Barry & Cheryl Batagol in the 1930 Bentley Speed Six, the same positions they would hold at the end of the event. Congratulations Barry & Cheryl!

The fine weather of the first two days finally gave way to heavy overnight rain on Wednesday night leaving a very wet and slippery Sideling as the first stage to greet competitors on Day 3. Living up to his reputation as the ‘Rainmaster’, Jim Richards stamped his authority over the event and in particular this difficult stage so that by day’s end Richards had moved ahead of Lintott into 1^st place in Modern. Meanwhile club members Jeff Beable and Warwick Freemantle had also moved up few places with Warwick Freemantle taking third place ahead of Peter Fitzgerald who had so far resisted the temptation (and the two minute penalty) to change tyres on the now less than sure-footed Porsche 911 Turbo.

Day 3 in this now extended event, comprised a total of 10 stages - 2 up on recent years. Derby which was last used in 1993 (and which had earned a somewhat notorious reputation for the star indentations loose stones on the stage had caused to cars on the stage without inner-guards most notably Ferraris) was the second stage on this day. It was followed by Winnaleah, Weldborough Pass and then Pyengana - a section of the main highway south and reintroduced again this year after a similar absence from the event to Derby. Conditions on all these stages was similar - wet and slippery. Indeed so slippery that Platinum plate contender Peter Buckingham in his 1965 Porsche 911 slipped off The Sideling along with his chances for Platinum. Mind you he wasn’t alone.

By the time we got to St Marys pass the weather had abated, the sun came out and the road was dry. Conditions were similar at the next stage Elephant Pass, the last before the lunch stop at Bicheno.

Leaving the lunch stop a few cars behind club members Wayne Clark and Roger Richardson in their 1969 Jaguar E-Type Series II, Geoff Taylor and Lane O’Donoghue in their 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera and a few others, where the topic of conversation had been the misfortune of Peter Buckingham in his quest of Platinum and the other casualties of the slippery morning conditions, there was nonetheless a smile on nearly all faces as the prospect of dry roads lay ahead for the afternoon. What was certainly most noticeable was the parched countryside which had been suffering drought conditions. This normally green and lush region of the Tasmanian landscape was instead brown and barren offering little feed for the grazing sheep.

It had been an interesting and for some a most frustrating day. Not for Walter Rohrl who continued to hold a commanding lead in Classic, nor for Rex Broadbent who recaptured third place.

The weather for Day 4 was consistent with the drought conditions we found the previous day as we approached Hobart - clear and dry. The loop through the Huon Valley was the first day we encountered in the event on which no new stage had been included. With the exception of Longley, which is always damp, the stages encountered throughout the day were dry and what’s more the sun managed to shine all day. Lunch was as usual terrific at Huonville and this year we got 30 minutes, definitely ahead of the six minutes we got in 1999. There were a total of 7 stages on the day and no new ones, so the day had the feel of similar days in previous years of the event.

Day four, like the three preceding days, was not without its share of mishaps. One of the most tragic perhaps was Mike Batten in the 1961 Volvo PV544 who had been running second in Classic to Rohrl. We passed Mike who was neatly parked on the side of the road about 1 km short of the finish of the 14.39 km Cygnet stage. What happened? Running on light tanks the crew had miscalculated the amount of fuel required. Result? No fuel, no motion and a big slip from second place. By day’s end second place in Classic had been well and truly entrenched by Hans Mergozzi in a 1969 Marcos 3000GT and the very rapid 1969 Datsun 1600 SSS of Graham Copeland which had come from nowhere and had moved into third.

In Modern, Jim Richards continued to lead the way from Ray Lintott, but Peter Fitzgerald bit the bullet and accepted the 2 minute penalty and replaced the tyres he had flat-spotted at Longford on Day 2 to see him slip to sixth place behind Bates/Taylor, Freemantle/Watchorn and Beable/Beable.

The big disappointment of the day was the downgrading of the final stage, Ridgeway Park, due to a few off-road excursions and the prospect of fading light. This in fact was the only stage downgraded for the event, which given the size of the field and the relative carnage experienced was testimony to the very professional manner in which the event was managed. Ridgeway Park -a piece of road used for a hill climb in years gone-by is now not much more than a bit of a rough bumpy track with a history of incidents as long as your arm. About two thirds of the way into this tight and tricky uphill 3.69 km stage are two deceptive corners which just happen to more or less define the perimeter of the adjacent ‘Hospitality Villa’. Guess where the lion’s share of the incidents occur. Indeed, ever since Bruce Jessup put the Ferrari Dino 308GT4 into tree climbing mode a few years ago, it seems a hard core of competitors have been seeking to emulate his spectacular feat of launching himself off a handy rock on the far side of the ditch on the exit line, climb the neighbouring 100 year old gum tree and then roll over backwards to rest on the roof. All this of course has been preserved on celluloid for future generations to marvel at and is undoubtedly one reason at least why the adjacent Hospitality Villa at Ridgeway Park is a full-house each year. This year I’m sure the patrons well and truly got their money’s worth although they may have missed some of the action. A couple of competitors managed to miss a corner in their Datsun 240Z, another disappeared into the forest, not to be seen by anyone for quite some time (including a lot of worried officials), but Greg Haysom in his 1977 Toyota GT Celica RA35 managed to bring a spectacular halt to proceedings at the fateful corner adjacent to the Hospitality Villa whilst seeking to emulate Bruce Jessup. No doubt to the applause of the well-fuelled paying patrons in the Hospitality Villa. Good judges I am told however, only scored it a ‘5'. Still it was effective enough to ensure that only 105 cars got through the stage at competition pace, whilst the rest of us enjoyed the fading light of the sunny afternoon and then the excursion through the stage at legal road pace to view the carnage.

Jeff Beable and Warwick Freemantle in the Nissan GTR’s must have thought all their Xmas’s had come at once as they woke to a wet Hobart on Saturday morning. The forecast for the balance of the day was ‘wet and getting wetter’ on the approach to Burnie. And so it proved to be!

The morning of Day 5 constitutes a gentle introduction to what is really the crunch time of the event: Saturday afternoon. This year the organisers inserted a new stage in the morning to follow Hobart, Colebrook, Ross and Cressy just before lunch at Deloraine. The new stage was in fact an old stage (Deloraine) run backwards and with a new name: Quamby Brook. In all there were 9 stages to negotiated including the new stage before lunch.

Starting the day at the Domain the stage was as expected in the conditions classified ‘wet’. With the short transport stage and the inevitable queue (a short one again) the stage organisers had decided to place a sign in the driver’s frame of reference as we drew close to the start of the stage: "Cold tyres, Cold brakes, Cold Brain". We took the advice and got our time comfortably on what proved to be a very wet and very slippery cold surface. The big surprise, we were to learn later, was that for Ray Lintott it was to be his last stage in Targa 2000. It appears Ray got through the stage OK, but forgot to keep the brain engaged past the finish line and failed to take a reasonably tight right hander before the stage finish control. The car simply understeered off into a concrete gutter, ending his challenge for the lead and the event. By nightfall, Ray was back in Sydney and there was one less threat to Jim Richards.

Consistent with the forecast the next stage ‘Colebrook’ was very wet indeed. In fact there was so much water on various parts of the stage you would be forgiven for thinking you had mistakenly turned up a river rather than a road. It was reported that Greg Garwood driving a Porsche 911RSR spun up to five times whilst travelling in a straight line. The conditions however improved as we headed north and despite the constant rain Ross wasn’t too bad by the time we got there. Cressy the following stage although classified as ‘wet’ had in fact almost dried out in places and it was possible to sustain some very high speeds on its long straight sections of road. But that was the last of the ‘reasonable’ conditions for the day - well almost.

Quamby Brook the last stage before getting to lunch at Deloraine was punctuated with showers and a very wet surface, but driveable. By the time we got into lunch at nearby Deloraine, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining for a few minutes between the intense cloud cover. It was remarkable what a fine job the organisers had done to provide this break in the weather. It was a masterstroke really as there is absolutely no cover or shelter available at this lunch stop.

But the armistice with the weather wasn’t to last long. As we neared the end of the lunch break it became obvious that the incoming clouds were coming from the direction of Burnie and all were well and truly very black and laden with buckets of rain. And so it was to prove.

Saturday afternoon turned out to be the worst, in terms of weather conditions in the event’s 9 year history. And it wasn’t just the torrential rain squalls that cycled through, it was the very strong winds that accompanied them driving the rain remorselessly at the windscreen.

In the difficult conditions drivers were forced to slow down so what must have been a record number of ‘offs’ in the afternoon went largely unreported ... most if not all would have been soft-landings as drivers understeered through corners rather than went round them. Perhaps the best couple of stories for the afternoon concerned club members.

Winston Kim on Riana in the 2000 Porsche 911 GT3 must have been worrying about the quality of Porsche workmanship when he lost his windscreen wiper. With no rainex at one stage he was forced to stop and at another would have been observed by some spectators with arm trying to hold the retrieved wiper onto the screen whilst trying to drive as well! The happy ending was that Winston managed to achieve his Targa time by a scant 2 seconds.

When Peter Eames, who has had little luck in this event, managed to understeer off the road and down a bank on Cethana, he must have been cursing. When he looked at where he was, he found he was well down off the edge of the road with apparently no hope of getting the heavy (well relatively) jag back on the tarmac. It was obviously time to give up. Again! This time it was not a mechanical problem however and fortunately the incident had occurred not to far from a spectator point. The Spectator Marshall seeing Peter’s demise was obviously an optimistic soul and untroubled by Peter’s gloom told him not to worry and that he would organise some of the spectators to get him out. According to Peter, "The next minute the Spectator Marshall had got 30 guys and they lifted the car up the slope and put it back on the tarmac, while he slowed the approaching cars". The happy ending was, Peter got his Targa time and could continue in the event.

At Riana the organisers had been forced by ARCom to insert a speed zone of 130 kph on the ‘Natone Straight’ in an effort to get average speeds down. They planned to police the adherence to the limit with radar and penalize offending drivers. There were large signs indicating the approach of the zone. As Peter Eames and co-driver approached the zone in the by then appalling weather conditions the road was awash with water and visibility was down to about zero, Chris being the good navigator said: "Peter you had better slow down we are just about to enter the speed zone". To which Peter gave this somewhat terse and abrupt response: "What d’ya mean ... we’ll hafta bloody accelerate!!"

That wasn’t the only bit of confusion in the encountered in the almost blizzard conditions on Riana on that Saturday afternoon. ‘Rocketing’ down one reasonably straight section of the road on Riana about 30km into the stage we were suddenly confronted by a band of road closure tape blowing in the wind directly across the road at about windscreen level. We elected to charge on straight through it. A few cars back a BMW saw the tape. Pulled up. Did a three point turn and began to proceed in the opposite direction. A Porsche went past - would have loved to have seen the look on that driver’s face - and then Laurie Burton in his Morgan V8 arrived on the scene with the BMW picking up speed. Averting a ‘head-on’ the BMW driver finally realised his error and got the car heading in the right direction.

Despite the ‘slight offs’ and a host of small incidents the field got into Burnie. The demon of Riana must be averse to poor weather and no significant incidents resulting in injury were recorded for which the competitors and the officials (I’m sure) were very grateful.

Because of the number of entrants the K-Mart car park used as parc ferme for the overnight in Burnie was full to the brim. Due to the bad weather only cars with soft tops were permitted to park under cover when we arrived. Everyone else had to park on the roof in the seeming unending series of rain squalls that continue to cycle in from South America. The Welcoming Reception at the Burnie Civic Centre attracted a cast of thousands, and why not. It was after all, dry, warm and you got a free feed and something to drink.

Club member Reg Kenny following a few drinks asked: "I wonder when we will get our medal". Not too sure to what Reg was referring I asked: "And what medal is that, Reg?". "The Riana Medal" he replied. "Anyone who survived those conditions today, deserves a medal!".

The day had of course proved disastrous for Linttot, but it proved to be exceptional for both Warwick Freemantle and Jeff Beable. Whilst Jim Richards was in the lead in Modern it was only by 63 seconds from Warwick Freemantle who was followed in turn by Neil Bates and by Jeff Beable who had moved up to fourth. In fifth place, but gaining was Peter Fitzgerald. In classic, Walter Rohrl’s grip was on this section of the event was snapped by a gear box selector failure which forced him to miss some stages. So by day’s end it was Copeland in the Datsun 1600 SSS leading the way from Paul Stuart and Mark Connelly in the Porsche 911 with Jeremy Browne in the Lancia in third place.

Those who were hoping for a dry day to match the early morning blue skies and sunshine in Burnie were to be disappointed. By the time drivers had finished the transport to the start of the day’s proceedings at Hellyer Gorge, the clouds and rain had once again appeared. With long stages like Strahan and Arrowsmith favouring the cars with long legs, but with adverse weather conditions in front of the field it promised to be a more than interesting day. The last day saw no changes in the number of stages and the total of 9 stages remained the same as in previous recent years.

First casualty of the day in the leading group was Warwick Freemantle on the forever treacherously slippery Hellyer Gorge. Warwick had the misfortune to spin and back the car into a bank pushing the rear exhaust close to a rear tyre. In the 90 seconds it took to get out of the car, push the exhaust away from the tyre, the 999 car went through. As the passage of the 999 car signifies the closure of the stage, cars travelling behind must travel at road speeds. This meant that Warwick was effectively out of the event. Being the third last car off it meant the 999 car was only 90 seconds behind. Whilst there is no doubt that Warwick would have comfortably gained his Targa time for the stage, his misfortune effectively meant he missed his Targa plate and a podium finish.

Whilst the weather conditions encountered on Sunday had moderated somewhat the rain was still present even if the high winds were not.

Lunch at Queenstown was punctuated by rain, but fortunately the shop awnings provided ample shelter. Leaving town to start the Queenstown stage and its ‘99' or ‘101' bends or whatever, we noted that the stage started 600 or so metres earlier on the edge of the town and not halfway up the hill, reverting to a starting point not used for some years. There were some compensations though the few extra corners added were compensated for by a shortening of the finishing straight, leaving overall length probably much the same.

Whilst everyone going up the hill tends to give the black shiny and wet surface and the corners that keep turning back on themselves plenty of respect, many seem to forget that going down the other side with its sharp and sudden corners can be just as dangerous. Two of the more experienced competitors were caught out this way, with the extremely wet and slippery conditions contributing. The ‘King of Minis’ Henry Draper managed to lose the mini on the way down and its crumpled presence in a ditch on the side of the road served as a reminder to all that followed. Winston Kim despite his earlier problems was travelling well until he understeered the GT3 off a bank and down towards a raging stream below, stopping the descent just short of what would have been a very cold swim. Rick Bates in the 1999 Toyota Celica had problems as well which will no doubt be viewed on some occasion on the Ten Network.

With Queenstown out of the way it was on to Mt Arrowsmith, perhaps one of the most exhilarating stages in the event. With rain still falling it proved to be particularly tricky. For some it had touches of both good and bad luck.

Peter Eames was still travelling well at the beginning of Mt Arrowsmith, but not for long. Approaching a left-hander at speed, he braked and turned in, but nothing happened. The big Jag obviously enjoyed the outing at Cethana and decided to go straight-on understeering off the road. That’s tough you think? Well it was hair-raising rather than tough! You see the corner the Jag had decided to go off on happened to be somewhat elevated and dropped off over 100 feet to a rocky escarpment below. The car came to rest however some fifteen feet below the surface of the road, its progress impeded by two trees. We went past as did a lot of others to see Peter Eames and Chris Spiteri showing their OK signs, but with no car in view. "Strange?", we thought. At Winston Kim’s post-event lunch in a Chinese Restaurant (where else?) in Launceston two senior members of the Tasmanian Police force were present and one remarked: "Gee those guys in that Jag were lucky you know. They managed to hit the only two trees growing on the side of that cliff ... if they had missed those, they would have been on their roof 100 feet below". Peter and Chris are presently reviewing there Targa entry for next year.

The last stage of the event was New Norfolk. Having moved back close to Hobart the weather gods had produced dry, albeit overcast conditions. It was great to run on an officially ‘dry’ stage, it was the first time we had done so since Friday.

Monday is usually a tame sort of day. It’s time for a bit of R&R and a chance to catch up with some of your fellow competitors. It’s also the day on which podium finishers, category and class winners are subject to post-event scrutiny. It can be a bit of a yawn - all that waiting around. Well, as we shall see, it was not a yawn for some.

The presentation dinner held that evening was the scene for a lot of celebration, despair for some and some harsh words by others.

In the Modern Category Jim Richards won the event for a record fourth time. Some felt it was getting monotonous. But whatever you may feel there is no doubt that for the vast majority it was a popular outcome. Richards has set the standard of that there is no doubt. If you want to win the event, then clearly you have to beat Jim Richards. In second place some 5 minutes and 52 seconds behind was Peter Fitzgerald. In third place were club members Jeff and Nerida Beable in their 1997 Nissan GT-R V-Spec N1 some 20 seconds behind Fitzgerald and 42 seconds ahead of Neil Bates in fourth place. The gap between fourth and fifth place was some 3 minutes and 29 seconds - underlining the ascendancy of the top four finishers.

The ‘Drive of the Event’ if there was such an award would surely have gone to Jeff and Nerida Beable. At Rally Tasmania Jeff showed that he could be in the hunt with rally drivers driving their specialised equipment. At Targa he and Nerida showed immense skill for what are in motorsport terms a pair of ‘Sunday drivers’. When you consider that the Beables, a couple of amateurs, were competing for fun against professional drivers of the ilk of Richards, Fitzgerald and Bates, theirs is an exceptional performance. Congratulations Jeff and Nerida!!

In Shannons Historic, John and Andrew Lawson in the 1938 Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia Spyder took out first place. Robert van Wegen and Nigel Quinsee filled second place in their 1949 Bristol 400. Occupying third and fourth places were two club members. In third Barry and Cheryl Batagol in their 1930 Bentley Speed Six and in fourth James Earl and Phillip Schudmak in their 1933 MG Magna

Leaving the most surprising to last - the Classic Competition. Winning the event, much to the surprise of everyone was Jeremy Browne and Stella Plenderleith in the 1969 Lancia Fulvia 1.6HF. In second place, some 5 minutes behind were Greg Garwood and Chris Bulk in their 1974 Porsche 911 RSR. We had club member representation in third place with Paul Stuart and Mark Connelly in their 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7.

Why the surprise? At the ‘Official’ finish on Sunday evening held as the cars complete the event, the winning car for classic was announced as the Graham Copeland and John Siddins car, the 1969 Datsun 1600 SSS. Copeland and Siddins duly mounted the podium and took the accolades, the wreaths and the champagne in the gala celebration finish.

It was a different story the next morning. At the post-event scrutiny on Monday morning the car was found to have illegal front and rear suspension parts, the wrong final drive ratio and a limited slip diff - none of which were permitted in the ‘Standard’ class for which the vehicle had been entered. The inspection didn’t stop there either - the head came off and the inspection continued. The engine however was judged to be legal. The outcome was a reshuffling of the order. Copeland and Siddins were duly excluded from the awards and Jeremy Browne and co-driver were awarded first place.

In his acceptance speech for the Classic trophy, Browne blasted Copeland and Siddins for their less than faultless integrity and called on all of those involved in classic motor sport to lift their game to ensure the inequity occasioned by Copeland and Siddins is eliminated. In particular he called for increased vigilance at scrutiny and the need to more rigorously police standard rules "to keep the cheats out of the sport". It was a tough, but correct call by Browne, but bearing in mind that he is Clerk of Course for Classic Adelaide it is one that he will have to stand by. We will have to wait and see Jeremy Browne’s words have any teeth and whether the complaints about compliance in events such as Classic Adelaide (see John Allison’s article in the November issue of this Newsletter) are dealt with effectively.

From the viewpoint of Targa Tasmania, it was a good sign. It certainly demonstrated that the event did not end when you passed the finish line. The exclusion of Copeland and Siddins at Parc Ferme sent an unmistakably clear message to everyone that Targa Tasmania officials are prepared to defend the integrity of their event.

This year’s Targa could well lay claim to the best run event yet. The entire six days ran smoothly and queues at the start of stages were small. The atrocious weather conditions underlined the commitment of the officials to the event as they endured the absolute worst of conditions on the final weekend. It was also reassuring to see results released for the second year in a row. Once again I managed to score an autographed copy prior to the Presentation Dinner. Congratulations to Tom Snooks and his crew. The Millennium edition of Targa Tasmania certainly lived up to its promise.

The club was well represented in Targa Tasmania 2000, perhaps not as many entries as in prior years, but nonetheless, a substantial entry nonetheless, viz: