The 10th Anniversary

This years Targa was the 10^th Anniversary of John Larges multi-million-mobile-motor-show. He must have been pleased with the outcome. There is no doubt Targa Tasmania has progressed mightily since its inaugural year in 1992, when many went not knowing what to expect. Most were surprised, some were shocked, but all were impressed! The rest is history.

Looking back on that inaugural event, when cages and helmets were not compulsory, but strongly recommended, some are still surprised that the event ever got off the ground. Some of course have never been back. Most return, if not every year. There is a certain infectious quality about Targa. Its not an easy event to walk away from.

One person who has been most years and who describes the event as his favourite motorsport event is Jim Richards. Before the event Richards had noted that the forthcoming 10^th Targa had assembled the strongest field since the event began in 1992. "Theres big names like Mick Doohan and Peter Brock and more depth of top-quality drivers and cars than weve ever had in Targa before" he said. "Its fantastic to see how Targa has grown, especially with the increase in name drivers and manufacturer entries this year."

One change prior to the event was a change in emphasis in the events marketing. New owners Octagon Worldwide had little time to have much impact on the Millennium event of 2000, but with the 10^th Anniversary event they had an entire year. The first and most notable change from a prospective competitors standpoint was the introduction of the glossy version of Targa News with its red cover and white print reflecting the Octagon house style. Despite the change in the appearance of "Targa News" it was also clear that prospective competitors were no longer the primary marketing target. The marketing of the Millennium event conducted by the previous owner was notable for the competitor hype stressing the significance of the year 2000 and enticing potential competitors to get involved and participate. This year the hype was gone, there was no special trophy, there was no emphasis on the significance of the 10^th Anniversary. It was perhaps a subtle change. But Octagon clearly had bigger fish to catch, but a bit more hype might have increased numbers.

As befits a subsidiary of one of the worlds 3 largest marketing & communication groups, it appeared an almost immediate emphasis was placed on securing higher manufacturer involvement and recruiting name drivers to add exposure to the event. Whilst some names such as Jim Richards, Peter Fitzgerald, and Neil Bates would no doubt have shown up anyway it is unlikely that Mick Doohan, Barry Sheene, Peter Brock would have been there without the polish of Octagon marketing.

Brocks addition to the field in the Holden Ute caused a bit of comment in some quarters, but the creation of a demonstartion category seemed to put a stop to that. From a marketing perspective the inclusion of the living legend was certainly justified as his every move was reported, bringing exposure to the event and of course Holden.

To some extent Brocks involvement in the event was overshadowed by Mick Doohan. The pre-event marketing gave Mick Doohans involvement in the event a real working-over and even included PR releases on his testing session at Sandown at which Russell Ingall and Paul Morris of V8 Supercar fame were there to lend assistance.

On April 13 the Octagon Press Release saw it this way: "Apart from Doohan, other high-profile drivers entered include defending Targa champion Jim Richards in a Porsche 911 Turbo, nine-times Bathurst 1000 winner Peter Brock in a V8 Holden Ute, and former Australian Rally Champions Neil Bates in a Lexus IS200 and Murray Coote in a Mazda MX-5 Turbo. Victorian Steve Hoinville will drive a factory-backed Ford Falcon XR6 and 1994 Targa winner Andrew Miedecke will be behind the wheel of a Dodge Viper.".

A few days later on April 16, the Octagon Press Release reflected on its achievement, "The 2001 rally has attracted seven manufacturers with factory backed cars: Porsche, Mercedes Benz, Holden, Ford, Mazda, Lexus and Toyota". It certainly appeared as if Octagon had achieved its objectives in generating increased pre-event exposure. But what about the event itself, how had it changed?

In keeping with its philosophy of continuous improvement, the 10^th Targa was different to its predecessors, a fact which was obvious to all, even before the event started. But what change there was certainly wasnt a function of Octagons involvement, it had more to do with evolutionary change of the event itself under the direction of Clerk of Course Tom Snooks and his team of officials. Admittedly, much of that change was a function of the change in date for the event which created a couple of firsts:

• it was the first event to be conducted immediately after Easter and featured an early morning sailing of the Spirit of Tasmania on Easter Sunday with a late night arrival at Devonport. A real challenge to some I know. The cautious stayed in Devonport on the night of arrival - the prudent went two days before;

• it was the first event to end mid-week and featured a Wednesday Prologue, a Thursday start and a Tuesday finish, with much changed in-between. If you were new to the event that particular change probably didnt mean much, however, if you had experienced the standard 5 day format, or even the 6 day format of 2000 it was a radical change.

In fact if you hadnt been to Targa for the last few years you would have noticed a lot of change, even before you left:

• new stages introduced for the first time;

• old stages run in the opposite direction;

• some stages renamed;

• the reintroduction of Symmons Plains;

• Riana split into two stages;

• scrutineering at the Inveresk Railyards;

• three vehicle classes of Standard (SS) Limited Modified (LMS) and Modified (MS);

• and the Vehicle Record Book.

However the most far-reaching change in recent years has been the division of the event into four separate competitions. If you were looking at the event from the outside you would be forgiven for thinking it was a competition for modern cars. Not so. The principal competitions being:

• Historic - 1946 & prior

• Touring Classic - 1947 to 1965

• Classic - 1900 to 1981

• Modern - 1977 to 2001

Whilst the Historic and Touring Classic competitions participate on a shortened course over 5 days and not 6, competition in those categories was nonetheless just as intense as in any other. Not receiving much publicity prior to the event was perhaps the most competitive field assembled in the Historic category with three famous makes of the period contending for honours: Bugatti, Alfa Romeo and John Fitzpatricks Delage. Club member Des Dillons late withdrawal of the Hispano Suiza may have taken a little away from the assembled Historic field, but not much.

Perhaps the most notable absentee from the event was Jeremy Browne, well known Clerk of Course for Classic Adelaide and winner of the Targa Classic competition in 2000. Its always nice to see a winner defend his title, but with close to 150 vehicles in the Classic category, it was set to be super-competitive anyway.

So the stage for the 10^th Anniversary running of Targa Tasmania was set. More name drivers, more manufacturer involvement, a unique Sunday sailing of the Spirit of Tasmania and a new 6 day format.

251 competitors lined up to start the event, down some 48 from last year when 299 actually started. So what happened? Well here is a personal perspective, probably not all that dissimilar to many others.

When Paul Stuart decided to bring his Porsche 911 Carrera back to Standard specifications for the 2000 event, I realised my class win in 1999 in the Dino 308GT4 was definitely a thing of the past. Anyway that car had been temporarily sidelined, so I decided to do the Millennium event with Jack Klaver - my first attempt at navigation. An attempt by the driver to emulate a low flying aircraft on Lilydale on Day 1 of that event unfortunately meant I had to start all over again in the elusive search for a Gold Targa Trophy. Dont get me wrong, I have plenty of Targa Trophies, but just not three in a row. For that matter I do have a Gold Trophy, which happens to be one of Des Dillons spares that he gave me recently on the celebration of a milestone birthday.

Wanting to get back into the Drivers seat, but in something different to the Ferrari, I decided a pre-1970 car would be the go and that perhaps an MGC with its in-line 6 cylinder motor should be able to generate the required torque and horsepower to do OK in the event. After all they raced a version of the car at Sebring in 1968 and won class didnt they - and the car would be eligible for historic racing and pre-1970 rally events, wouldnt it?. To cut a long story short, I found one on the Internet. Unfortunately it was located in New Zealand. It was an original car and had the distinction of having some 14 owners, three of them having owned the car on more than one occasion! Despite its 140,000 miles, a recent conversion to unleaded fuel and its reported need of a paint job, I was assured it was a sound daily driver. With a bit of help from a New Zealand friend I managed to get the car to Australia at the beginning of February this year. On taking delivery of the car at the Melbourne wharf, it looked very tired. The paintwork was faded and every panel had been scratched, as if taken through an automatic car wash with wire rather than fibre rollers. It was certainly different. With some hurried work by Andrew McDowell and his crew at MG Workshops on suspension and brakes (but leaving the engine, gearbox and diff alone) and getting some seats, belts and cage fitted and with assistance from CAMS we got the car log-booked as Sb and ran it in Lactos and the Historic Race Meeting at Phillip Island. The car certainly was slow. In fact some 20 seconds a lap slower than I had grown accustomed to round Phillip Island. The chances were that I could run faster.

By this time we realised, that the car may have been a great choice in theory, but it needed a dramatic increase in horsepower, a better gearbox and a limited slip diff. Unfortunately that was not possible without a significant change to the induction, manifolds, heads not to mention a close ratio gear box and a Quaife diff or for that matter a paint job. Back to MG workshops where they found a bit more horsepower and quickly painted the car. But the car remained in strictly standard form, so it would qualify for Standard class and the bottom line was the car was running as well as one could expect for a daily driver. However, the new paint job made me feel a bit better!

Whilst all this was going on, I had to think seriously about who was going to navigate. I had a few choices, but given the state of the cars performance a sense of humour was required. After a little bit of discussion John Aust agreed to take on the role. Now given the car was making about 90 bhp at the rear wheels, this choice was not as smart as it appeared. More competitive souls would have gone in search of a lightweight female. But John, who at 110 kilos is of similar weight to me, offered to go on a diet, so with a sense of humour like that he selected himself.

Given that our combined weight of 220 kilos had just destroyed the investment I had made in trying to improve the performance of the MGC, we decided the least we could do was participate in style, so John hauled his revered 1964 Maserati Quattroporte out of his country hideaway.

Like many others this year, we decided to go South to Devonport on the Good Friday sailing of the Spirit of Tasmania. Having picked the MGC up the previous evening, we met up for a late lunch at Cafe Limani at Station Pier along with a number of other club members who were sailing on the same boat and others who had been gracious enough to see us all depart.

The time came to get on the boat and say good-bye to the well-wishers. Once on board it was off to the Tiger Bar - it was like we had never left. Apart from the normal social functions and the desire the quench the pre-Targa thirst there was also another motive to get to the bar early.

A week prior I had received a call from Glenn Coad who had an American in his office who had recently competed in the London to Sydney and had left his car in Adelaide after the event. Glenn had convinced him that participating in Targa was a good idea so for some reason Glenn had decided that he should talk to me. After a brief conversation during which I gave our American visitor the names and numbers of a few people to contact for entry, accommodation etc I suggested that it might be worthwhile if he ventured down to Tasmania on the Friday night rather than take the Sunday sailing. At least that way he would have the opportunity of spending a couple of days doing some reconnaissance. He agreed and I suggested that we meet in the Tiger Bar once he got on board the Spirit. How will I know you, I asked: "Well Im a big guy, Ive got a beard and I wear a 10 gallon hat." Enough said.

It wasnt difficult to spot "Chip" Johns or "CJ as he also became known. An hour or so later sitting at dinner it became apparent that whilst CJ had managed to get himself and car on the boat, he was yet to find a navigator for the event. What to do? Fortunately the boat was still in the bay and I suggested he should give John Hamilton in Hobart a call. John was known to CJ as they had both competed in the last London to Sydney, so I rang John gave him a rapid briefing on CJs predicament and left CJ to do the rest. After some initial discussion John graciously agreed to help out from Day 2 of the event and help find someone else to sit in for the Prologue and Day 1. With all that decided it was back to business.

It was with the usual heavy head that we left the boat in Devonport. Paul Stuart I seem to recall, looked particularly seedy. Must have been the late night. Mind you he was not alone and many others seemed to be in a similar condition. Might be the sea air?

As this was John Austs first Targa we spent the next two days driving a few stages in the venerable Maserati Quattroporte with Andrew Ogg and Mike Mier observing from the back seat. In fact over those couple of days, I was beginning to wonder about whether we could organise a swap with the MGC as the 4.2 litre V8 was proving to be a most powerful and reliable performer.

Of course the with a few spare nights before the event got underway in earnest we had the opportunity to eat out and see a bit of the Launceston night life. We drove the Maserati everywhere (of course) particularly as we were fortunate to have Mike Mier in residence in the back seat. Now many whom know Mike from past events will probably regard that comment with some degree of suspicion. But Michael is a changed man! In fact having given up the fags a year or so ago, Mike recently gave up on booze (in particular Johnny Walker Black Label) making him available as the ideal chauffeur and the only one capable of mastering the vagaries of the Maserati at night.

An interesting sidelight was an unusual encounter just prior to the commencement of the event. We agreed to meet David Ogg, Richard Daw and CJ in the bar adjacent to the foyer in the Novatel Hotel in Launceston and then move on from there for a dinner at a nearby Indian Restaurant. On arrival David Ogg was engaged in conversation with an attractive young lady in her mid-twenties. It transpired that the young lady in question was celebrating her birthday, albeit alone. A few drinks later when the rest of the party had arrived, including CJ in his ever present 10 gallon hat, it was clear that our young lady had taken a bit of a shine to CJ. In a refreshing display of gentlemanly behaviour, David Ogg invited the young lady to join us for dinner, particularly as she was celebrating her birthday alone. With that agreed we set off for the restaurant. Enroute following a few questions concerning the location of her parents etc it transpired that the young lady had an interesting background. "Oh, I have just escaped from the mental asylum". Undeterred we pressed on and had dinner. Following an entertaining dinner Mike Mier (as chauffeur) and CJ (as custodian) escorted the young lady back to the security guard at the local asylum, to which she happily returned and was admitted much to the consternation of the guard. Launceston really is a fascinating place.

Scrutineering for this years event was held on Monday morning and once again at the Exhibition Centre in the Inveresk Railyards on the eastern edge of Launceston. Despite the careful planning by Targa Officials ,those who arrived by boat on Friday evening got there early and before too long they were joined by the overnight arrivals from Devonport off the Sunday night boat who had decided in large part to ignore their allotted time to check in. The end result was a long queue. Some expecting perfection, thought it all a bit too much. Others who had experienced the trials of the Silverdome, decided it was still a major improvement.

Since the commencement of the Prologue in 1995 it has been run in basically dry conditions. There has been the odd instance where the Georgetown stage has been damp as in 2000 where there was a bit of light drizzle about. But this year it was very different. It was Tuesday, and it was wet. In fact when we took off it was bucketing down.

The weather conditions took their toll on the field. For us it was a novel experience. Firstly we had the wrong tyres - a set of 008Rss that in the haste to get the car prepared we had failed to replace - and secondly, it was to be our first attempt at driving the car in the wet. Like many others we had a major spin and learned quickly that you didnt change direction too quickly in the MGC with its live axle.

In fact, like the rest of the field on our run through the Georgetown stage during the Prologue, we were fascinated to see CJs unmistakable red, white & blue 1964 Ford Falcon Rally Sprint parked neatly under someones front window with tell-tale skid-marks and deep furrows where the tyres had cut through the front garden and lawn signposting its path when it had obviously failed to take the third corner of the stage. CJ had said he didnt like driving in the rain!

To give you some idea of the conditions, consider this. In 2000 on a damp track Jim Richards in a Porsche 911 GT3 had pulled in FTD with a 3:12.60 just 2/10's ahead of Peter Fitzgerald with a 3:12.80. This year Richards in his 911 4WD Turbo was FTD with a 3:28.52 some 16 seconds slower. Peter Fitzgerald in the same car as in 2000 put in a 3:37.38 which was just on 25 seconds slower and he finished in third place behind a very quick run by Max Warwick in his GT3 of 3:35.57 to finish second in the Modern category. Greg Keen, Tony Quinn and Ray Lintott, all in Porsches took up 4^th, 5^th and 6^th places respectively. In fact Porsches took up the first 8 places in the Modern Category.

The name drivers performed less well with Brock 40^th, Doohan 55^th and Sheene in 64^th spot.

Classic was won by a pair of New Zealanders in a quick Vauxhall-Chevette, but their Official time of 3:06.78 cast some significant doubts on their accomplishments. Club member Geoff Taylor and Lee Harper in their Porsche 911 Carrera put in a 3:54.56 to finish third.

In the Touring Classic section Titheradge-Shuttle from NSW put in the quickest time with a 4:06.69 in their Jaguar XK140, whilst Max Lane in his Bugatti Type 51B held out John Fitzpatrick in the Delage and Nick Cocks in the Bugatti Type 35B.

What became very evident was the timing system had some problems, due to wet weather and malfunctioning clocks, resulting in about 20 competitors receiving less than accurate readings of their performance. This was perhaps manna from heaven for club member Philip Lack who just happened to be in Tasmania to demonstrate his state-of-the-art timing system. One thing led to another and Philip and his European crew turned a one or two day parallel trial into a full-on demonstration throughout the event. Perhaps we will hear some more of Phil and his timing system in events such as Targa Tasmania in future.

The first day of the event comprised a loop out of Launceston going north west to Devonport and then back into Launceston via a route that brought us in from the north east. There were ten stages: Legana, Moriarty, Latrobe, Devonport, Nook, Sheffield, Glengarry, Deviot, Hillwood and Lilydale. Both Glengarry and Hillwood had been shortened.

Remarkably the rain had disappeared and although showers were forecast they failed to appear and the first day of the event started with dry roads and sunshine. That suited us perfectly. In fact we had a great day, providing it didnt involve going uphill. Whenever we attempted to go uphill the combination of our weight and the cars modest power turned each stage into something akin to a slow motion replay. Nonetheless we pressed on.

So too did Jim Richards. By days end he had managed to build a 26 second lead over Peter Fitzgerald with Tony Quinn and Andrew Miedecke not far behind. Ray Lintott, Neil Bates John White (Nissan 300ZX), Greg Cook (Porsche 911 RSCS), Brian Learoyd (Chev Corvette) and Peter Brock made up the top 10 in Modern. Richards attributed his lead to a very quick run on Devonport.

Meanwhile Doohan was in 17^th and showing some promise, Coote was in 24^th and Sheene was in 44^th. As usual there were some misfortunes on the day. Warwick Freemantle encountered mechanical problems after Legana ending his hopes for the event.

In Classic, Paul Stuart and Club member Mark Connolly were marginally in front.

In Touring Classic Phillip Nichols & Phillip Blake led in their Austin Healey Sprite, something they were destined to do for the entire event.

In Historic, Max Lane was in front in the Bugatti.

Day Two

The sunshine continued and the roads were dry. There were 8 stages: The Sideling, Derby, Winnaleah, Weldborough Pass, Pyengana, Lunch at St Helens followed by Elephant Pass (in reverse), Symmons Plains (for the first time since 1994) and Longford. In past Targa events leaving Launceston and heading out towards the East Coast of Tasmania normally signals the trip South to Launceston. But not this year. After stopping for lunch at St Helens (another innovation for this year) we went west rather than south and did Elephant Pass in reverse and headed back toward Launceston.

When we arrived at Symmons Plains we were greeted by the sight of the Renault Gordini of Messrs Cameron and Tapping that looked as if it had been flattened by a giant hammer. Apparently they lost the car on the sweeper at Symmons and rolled the car definitively. Both were OK.

John and I enjoyed Symmons, it was after all flat ground. From Symmons it was on to Longford and probably the largest crowd they have ever had there for that street stage.

By days end Jim Richards had begun to plant his unmistakeable grip on the Modern section of the event. In fact he finished with a 1:32 advantage over Tony Quinn who had jumped into 2^nd instead of Peter Fitzgerald who had dropped out of contention earlier in the day when his clutch failed. Sitting in third was Andrew Miedecke in the Dodge Viper with Tasmanian John White doing a great job in 4^th place in the Nissan 300ZX. In 5^th was Ray Lintott, 6^th Neil Bates, 7^th Brian Learoyd in the Chev Corvette, 8^th Club member Jeff Beable who was starting to make an impression, then in 9^th Craig Dean in the Toyota Supra and in 10^th was Greg Cooke.

Peter Brock had dropped down to 16^th complaining about the limited slip diff on the Ute and Mick Doohan had moved himself up to 13^th place.

In fact Doohan was quoted as saying: "We put some respectable times on the board today, and Im feeling better and better. I think we can up the pace a little from now on, without getting out of control or losing sight of our aim to be there at the end."

Meanwhile the Classic Competition was hotting up. Leading at the end of Day Two were Graham Copeland & Jon Siddons in their Datsun 240Z. They were at least experienced at being up front having won the Classic Event provisionally in 2000 before being excluded from the results on non-compliance issues. Close behind (9 seconds) were Rex Broadbent & Micheal Goedheer in a Porsche RSR followed 16 seconds further in arrears by Stuart & Connolly in 3^rd place. 4^th place was occupied by the Lotus Elan of Mewing & McMillen and 5^th by Geoff and Leon Duggan in the Datsun 2000 Sports, whom club member Bob Watson, then in 21^st place said, was flying.

Well that really convinced me the MGC would need a jet engine to catch these guys who incidentally just happened to be in my class. At that time we were running in about 72^nd place and driving the absolute **** out of the car and here was Bob Watson former Australian Rally Champion in 21^st place telling me that Duggan was absolutely flying. I mean, I could already see that, as there was daylight between Duggan and Bob Watson and six weeks between him and me. Still we were ahead of the rest in our class.

Geoff Taylor was also doing well at this point lying 8^th in Classic and 2^nd only in category to Rex Broadbent.

In Historic, Max Lane had encountered a mechanical problem prior to lunch and although forced to give up five minutes was still in the hunt in 2^nd place behind Nick Cocks in the Bugatti Type 35B. John Fitzpatrick and Gill Weinberger were holding down 4^th place just behind the John & Paul Lawson in the Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia Spider.

The statisticians recorded eight crashes during the day, Fortunately there were no injuries. The most spectacular apparently was the Porsche of Richard Clark & Louisa Banks of Monaco, who managed to roll their 1957 Porsche 356.

Day 3 in the revised format was a real mix. It combined the challenging stages of the North West, usually reserved for the Saturday afternoon, with some of the stages usually encountered only on the first day or two. There were to be ten stages on this day as we journeyed from Launceston to Burnie. Starting with Quamby Brook, Deloraine (run in reverse), High Plains (run in reverse), Montana (run in reverse) and Mole Creek (run in reverse) we stopped for lunch at Mole Creek (usually at Deloraine). After lunch it was off to Cethana, Wilmot, Gunns Plains and then what was Riana now split into two stages: South Riana and Natone.

The weather couldnt have been better. It was an absolutely perfect day. The sun shone, the road was dry and conditions were generally outstanding. The first major incident happened at Deloraine when NSW pair Gary Burchett and Ron Markland in a Nissan Skyline slammed into a tree. Burchett was admitted to hospital in a serious but stable condition and later had corrective surgery for an ankle injury.

Doohan was the second casualty of the day, when he left the road at Cethana forcing him out of the event. Miedecke experienced mechanical problems (failed harmonic balancer) and was forced to withdraw. By days end, Richards had extended his lead to some 2:15 over Tony Quinn. The places after Quinn however changed quite a bit: John White was in 3^rd in the 300ZX, Craig Dean in 4^th, Ray Linttot in 5^th; Neil Bates in 6^th; Max Warwick in 7^th; Steve Coad in the BMW M-Coupe in 8^th with Brian Learoyd in 9^th. Brock had drifted a place or two and was now running in 17^th place.

In Classic, Bob Watson had mechanical problems and was forced to withdraw, leaving us 2^nd in Class behind Duggan in the flying Datsun 2000 sports. Jack Klaver also encountered mechanical problems putting him out of contention, but not entirely out of the event.

Still in the lead of Classic was Rex Broadbent in the Porsche RSR with a handy 44 second lead over Stuart & Connolly in 2^nd place. Duggan was in 3^rd, and Paul and Christine Freestone in the Austin Healey had moved into 4^th, followed by Hans Mergozzi in the Marcos 3000GT in 5^th and Geoff Taylor in 6^th. Andrew Ogg was flying in the Escort Twin Cam and he and Mike Mier had got the car into 15^th place, 4^th in category and 2^nd in class but their main adversary in class, Tony Esplin was placed 7^th and leading their class.

In Historic, places remained unchanged with Nick Cocks continuing to lead in the Bugatti.

The stages on this day are usually saved for the last day. Because of the length of the stages, Day 4, like the afternoon of Day 3 is the time when the quicker cars can extend their advantage and in the case of the revised format of this event, consolidate positions. There were 9 stages: Hellyer Gorge; Mount Black; Rosebery; Strahan and then on to lunch at Queenstown. After lunch its Queenstown; Mount Arrowsmith; Tarraleah; Ellendale and then New Norfolk. The trip from Burnie to Hobart features some of the best stages of the event and once again the weather was just about perfect. Hellyer Gorge was dry, but Mt Black and Rosebery were still a little damp from overnight rain and morning mist.

Day 4 saw a few casualties with Brock damaging his power steering after Rosebery and John White in the Nissan 300ZX slipped a few places after an off at Queenstown. The big event of the day was the Lotus Elan of Bill Pye that went off and rolled at Ellendale quite close to where club member Gary Tierney had also gone off. Fortunately for Gary he had only backed the car off and with the stage downgraded managed to get back into the event without sacrificing his plate.

By the end of Day 4 Richards maintained a handy lead over Quinn in 2^nd; Dean in 3^rd; Bates in 4^th Lintott in 5^th; Learoyd in 6^th with Max Warwick now in 7^th and Jeff Beable up from 13^th to 8^th .

In Classic, places remained unchanged with Broadbent still in the lead from Stuart & Connolly. Geoff Taylor dropped to 7^th as Morris & Crib in the Alfa Romeo GTV6 jumped from 9^th to 6^th.

Nick Cocks in the 1926 Bugatti Type 35B continued to power on. In fact his time at Mt Arrowsmith of 27.06 was a lot quicker than many in the Classic and Modern competitions.

The weather broke on Day 5 and it absolutely bucketed down. Fortunately for the Historic category who were nearly all in open cars, they had a lay day. A few others also had some good fortune. David Ogg in the Ferrari 365GT 2+2 had an electrical problem which would have otherwise cost him his Targa Plate. Despite missing a stage, he nonetheless was able to continue as times recorded on the day did not count for the Targa Trophy.

There were 9 stages: Hobart; Richmond (new stage); Runnymede (new stage); Triabunna and Rocky Hills (in reverse) and then lunch at Swansea where it continued to rain heavily. After lunch it was on to Lake Leake where the road was like a river and the visibility close to zero and then on to Ross further inland where there was no rain at all! From Ross it was back into the rain as we did Colebrook in reverse and finally finished on a wet and greasy Grasstree Hill.

Places in the Modern competition remained basically the same. Max Warwick doing well in the wet however took over 6^th place from Brian Learoyd in the Chev Corvette and Jeff Beable remained in 8^th place.

In Classic Stuart & Connolly in the Porsche Carrera moved up to 1^st place ahead of Duggan in the Datsun 2000 Sports due to a mechanical failure with Rex Broadbents Porsche. The Freestones hung on to 3^rd place in the Austin Healey, Hans Mergozzi had 4^th in the Marcos 3000GT, Morris & Crib 5^th in the Alfa Romeo and Farmer & Best in a BMW 323i jumped ahead of Geoff Taylor & Lee Harper to grab 6^th place.

So all was now set for the final day of the event.

Usually the third day of the event, this trip through the Huon Valley was no less wet and slippery as the preceding day. There were 8 stages on this day: Mt Nelson; Howden; Oyster Cove and Woodbridge before lunch at Cygnet. Then after lunch Cygnet; Longley; Ridgeway Park and the final stage, a new one, called Bonnet Hill.

Everything went reasonably well, one could say swimmingly, until Howden when Tony Esplin launched his Escort onto the beach. Fortunately the tide was out. The stage was however downgraded and Esplin was out of the event. But Esplin was just one of 7 cars that had major incidents. Peter Fitzgerald who had got back in the event suffered a fractured vertebrae when his car hit a bank on Cygnet. Others who crashed but were not injured were Max Warwick in his Porsche who had been holding down 6^th place and improving; Charly Cuenoud in a Porsche, Geoff Hall in a Renault, Ray Vandersee in a Van Demon and Ken Jaffey in a Nissan Skyline.

The Presentation Dinner was held on the night of Anzac Day. Along with a few others, I had a few pre-dinner drinks at the Tasman Club with our host John Hamilton. Given that John had spent from Day 2 of the event sitting in the navigators seat alongside CJ who no doubt had given John a more than thrilling ride, I was amazed to find him in such gracious form. The way I hear it CJs off in the Prologue, was really just a small sample of what came next. No doubt his experiences with CJ will form part of the book he is destined to write some day.

What were the final results.

The major winners of Touring Classic were Phillip Nichols and Phillip Blake in their 1958 Austin Healey Sprite.

Special congratulations are in order for Jeff and Nerida Beable for their 6^th place in the Modern Competion and Geoff Taylor and Lee Harper for their 6^th place in the Classic Competiton and John Fitzpatrick & Gill Weinberger for their 4^th place in the Historic Competition. Great performances, all.

A highlight of the evening was the presentation to Reg Kenny of his Diamond Targa Trophy. As John Fitzpatrick is prone to say, Reg is the only person in the known universe who has ever received such an honour. No doubt others will follow, but Reg will always be the first.

As it was the 10^th Anniversary of the event it was fitting that the organisers recognised those who had participated in each event. It transpired there were only three such persons. All of them incidentally members of the Maserati Club. They are:

• Reg Kenny
• Winston Kim; and
• Geoff Taylor

Congratulations to each of you.

Targa Tasmania is over for another year. Was it the best yet? Who knows, in the end its such a subjective question. One thing is for sure though, the level of organisation is superb and the 3000 officials who run the event and the people of Tasmania who support it, deserve our special thanks.

Listed below are the members of the club by the Competition in which they participated, and where they finished overall, by category and by class.