Discussion
Morning - its Targa time again.
I'll be out there in the now yellow and somewhat modified 944 for a play among the 2WD classics.
Are any other among the PH team out too?
Please come and say hello at service stops and overnight locations - we are car no 260
Itinerary this year is:
Wed 30th Oct - Scrutineering & signing on at Kim.com's place in Coatsville
Thurs 31st - Coatsville to New Plymouth
Fri 1st Nov - New Plymouth to Palmeston North
Sat 2nd - Palmeston North to Havelock North
Sun 3rd - Havelock North to Taupo
Thanks to our fine sponsors: Atomize, UPS Power Solutions, IEEI and Porirua automotive smash repairs (for the wonderful yellow paint job, I hope not to need their bodywork services!)
I'll be out there in the now yellow and somewhat modified 944 for a play among the 2WD classics.
Are any other among the PH team out too?
Please come and say hello at service stops and overnight locations - we are car no 260
Itinerary this year is:
Wed 30th Oct - Scrutineering & signing on at Kim.com's place in Coatsville
Thurs 31st - Coatsville to New Plymouth
Fri 1st Nov - New Plymouth to Palmeston North
Sat 2nd - Palmeston North to Havelock North
Sun 3rd - Havelock North to Taupo
Thanks to our fine sponsors: Atomize, UPS Power Solutions, IEEI and Porirua automotive smash repairs (for the wonderful yellow paint job, I hope not to need their bodywork services!)
Interesting drive up in the extreme weather. Loads of wind and rain which didn't really stop until I was three quarters of the way there.
One of my windscreen wipers made a bid for freedom only 20km from home. Now 'permanently' attached with a cable tie.
I also have an amusing rattle which comes in at 102km/h, great to keep me on the right side of the law.. but as this is coming from the engine mount heat shield.. probably means the engine mount is on the way out. Never mind, 2 spares in the truck.
Just to show how bored I was on the 8 hour + trip, I calculated that the car uses 9.2L/100Km when in cruise mode. Not bad considering I am on the smaller wheels which keep the revs a bit high.
All 6 of the federal tyres have done a few hundred kms, so should be bedded in ready for the first stage on Thursday.
The car is looking pretty good now as I just finished washing it and applying 3 coats of wax (yes my arm hurts). Got to be in with a chance of the 'Jealous Pride' award
4 days to go.. not that I'm counting!
One of my windscreen wipers made a bid for freedom only 20km from home. Now 'permanently' attached with a cable tie.
I also have an amusing rattle which comes in at 102km/h, great to keep me on the right side of the law.. but as this is coming from the engine mount heat shield.. probably means the engine mount is on the way out. Never mind, 2 spares in the truck.
Just to show how bored I was on the 8 hour + trip, I calculated that the car uses 9.2L/100Km when in cruise mode. Not bad considering I am on the smaller wheels which keep the revs a bit high.
All 6 of the federal tyres have done a few hundred kms, so should be bedded in ready for the first stage on Thursday.
The car is looking pretty good now as I just finished washing it and applying 3 coats of wax (yes my arm hurts). Got to be in with a chance of the 'Jealous Pride' award
4 days to go.. not that I'm counting!
All signed on at the .Com mansion and ready to go. There are some great looking cars at the start and a huge field of tour cars. There is some seriously exotic stuff out there. The 944 fits in well following the respray. Well spotted there AtomJ
We had a good chat with Clark Proctor who runs a Skyline GTR 35. He has a button on the dash which drops the power by 300bhp for the starts... as he has trouble putting all 970bhp down without setting fire to the tyres and breaking the transmission. If I had a button like that I would have minus 80bhp....
Good to see a few familiar faces. Graham is back in the Mk2 Escort, Bernie & Jilly have made it in the Capri, Gary is there in the M3 with a new codriver. Greg Crene of FxGT fame turned up at the briefing but isn’t doing the event.
Also look out for Stu & Patrick in the Stag on the tour.. the sound effects are great from the TVR Griffith V8.
Great meal at the Riverhead Tavern and a short but slightly stuttery briefing.
Forecast is for rain tomorrow - bring on the wet stuff!
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/TMzAWMTH.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/rKO4OQgb" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/rKO4OQgb.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/w5bThKvc" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/w5bThKvc.jpg)
We had a good chat with Clark Proctor who runs a Skyline GTR 35. He has a button on the dash which drops the power by 300bhp for the starts... as he has trouble putting all 970bhp down without setting fire to the tyres and breaking the transmission. If I had a button like that I would have minus 80bhp....
Good to see a few familiar faces. Graham is back in the Mk2 Escort, Bernie & Jilly have made it in the Capri, Gary is there in the M3 with a new codriver. Greg Crene of FxGT fame turned up at the briefing but isn’t doing the event.
Also look out for Stu & Patrick in the Stag on the tour.. the sound effects are great from the TVR Griffith V8.
Great meal at the Riverhead Tavern and a short but slightly stuttery briefing.
Forecast is for rain tomorrow - bring on the wet stuff!
Day one complete with no great drama. Now at the motel and wondering what to eat.
Getting the Federal tyres to work has taken some doing. I have ended up about 10psi higher than I used to run the dunlops.. the ride is very crashy but at least there is now some grip. Also had to play with the rear ARB to get the balance right, but we are in the ball park now and in a much better place.
The first 2 stages were slow and we have built from there. I started having real fun around stage 5.. and then for stage 7 in rained.. Awesome!! Caught and passed a 911.. .now how can then not feel good? Currently sitting 11th in class.. hopefully we can improve on that.
Others had worse luck - Bernie & Jilly in the Capri broke a spring on SS1, but are back for the last 2 stages. The Abarth was spotted on the side of the road and appeared in New Plymouth on the back of a truck.
One of the high spots was the fantastic whitebait fritters at Mokau - a Targa tradition.
Getting the Federal tyres to work has taken some doing. I have ended up about 10psi higher than I used to run the dunlops.. the ride is very crashy but at least there is now some grip. Also had to play with the rear ARB to get the balance right, but we are in the ball park now and in a much better place.
The first 2 stages were slow and we have built from there. I started having real fun around stage 5.. and then for stage 7 in rained.. Awesome!! Caught and passed a 911.. .now how can then not feel good? Currently sitting 11th in class.. hopefully we can improve on that.
Others had worse luck - Bernie & Jilly in the Capri broke a spring on SS1, but are back for the last 2 stages. The Abarth was spotted on the side of the road and appeared in New Plymouth on the back of a truck.
One of the high spots was the fantastic whitebait fritters at Mokau - a Targa tradition.
iain a said:
We had a good chat with Clark Proctor who runs a Skyline GTR 35. He has a button on the dash which drops the power by 300bhp for the starts... as he has trouble putting all 970bhp down without setting fire to the tyres and breaking the transmission. If I had a button like that I would have minus 80bhp....
I still get disappointed when he uses the GTR instead of his Mk1 Escort though! 
Had a great second day.. either I have got the tyres working better or I have got used to them.. either way I am just driving the thing now and have been working up the class positions. We started the day in 11th and ended in 9th, so heading in the right direction. Mike in the silly seat wasn't so convinced and dumped his lunch after one fast and frantic stage. Thankfully he manged to get the door open first - thanks mate.
The big news of the day was Clark Proctor rolling his GTR in spectacular style. Smaller news but more relevant to us.. in the Classics was that Bernie & Jilly have some more springs for the Capri and can now start to attack. The Renault alpine had a go at fitting through a gate sideways and failed. They are back on the road now but the car is a lot less pretty. The Abarth is back with a new engine.. but they were having clutch problems in the afternoon. Hope they make it through the event.
Some of the stages today were epic - some really tight and twisty stuff as well as some open faster stages. We seem to go best on twisties when you can see where you going. When you are having to make a lot of guesses about where the road is going to go next.. not so much.
Saturday is into the Wirarapa and Hawkes Bay, these are traditionally the "Big Power" stages where the V8s come into their own. Holding our position in class would be a good result for the day.. but lets hope for more improvements.
Todays photo is from the lunch break at Whanagamomona. Pleased to say that the car did start when we wanted to leave this year :-)
The big news of the day was Clark Proctor rolling his GTR in spectacular style. Smaller news but more relevant to us.. in the Classics was that Bernie & Jilly have some more springs for the Capri and can now start to attack. The Renault alpine had a go at fitting through a gate sideways and failed. They are back on the road now but the car is a lot less pretty. The Abarth is back with a new engine.. but they were having clutch problems in the afternoon. Hope they make it through the event.
Some of the stages today were epic - some really tight and twisty stuff as well as some open faster stages. We seem to go best on twisties when you can see where you going. When you are having to make a lot of guesses about where the road is going to go next.. not so much.
Saturday is into the Wirarapa and Hawkes Bay, these are traditionally the "Big Power" stages where the V8s come into their own. Holding our position in class would be a good result for the day.. but lets hope for more improvements.
Todays photo is from the lunch break at Whanagamomona. Pleased to say that the car did start when we wanted to leave this year :-)
G'day from Havelock North after an epic day.
Today was run on 'Gentleman's hours' with a 9am start from Palmeston North then through the gorge and on to the fast stages in the wirarapa and Hawkes Bay. The first stage was great fun as it was a re run of one I remembered from 2 years ago. We had a blast and further developed the rather err violent driving methods that the control tyres require.
After a service at the Tui Brewery (Rally drivers run on Tui - yeah right) we headed off to Pongoroa. This is the stage where we had a little mishap about 5 years ago, and we were running in the same direction for the first time since then. Having watched the crash video a few times I know the road well and so backed off a great deal for the offending corner. After that I nailed it and we set a very respectable stage time.
At lunchtime we joined another crew in a 944 who had an excellently set up service truck - they have a generator and coffee machine!
It seemed a bit rude to catch and overtake them on a couple of stages after lunch.
One of the afternoon stages used a section of road often used by the local car club as a hillclimb. Great fun and a chance to kick out the tail around the hairpins for the cameras.
The result of the days activity is a climb from 9th to 7th in class. Very happy with that.
A few other tales from the Classics include the retirement of Mark Kirk Bernand in an M3 with a blown head gasket. Jilly & Bernie broke a throttle pedal, but managed to borrow an Oxy torch to weld it back together. The orange Anglia has re appeared with a new engine and the Cheetah was running with a reduced rev limit and then went BANG on the start line of one of the afternoon stages.
It just goes to show the challenge of running a classic in an endurance event - at least you don't have to use a computer to fix them.
One more day to go, and lots of new territory to explore. Everything looks good with the car.. and there is a chance of overhauling Eddie Grooten in the 911 SC if we can make up 50 seconds on him during the day. It should be possible.
Todays photo is the service crew cafe...
Today was run on 'Gentleman's hours' with a 9am start from Palmeston North then through the gorge and on to the fast stages in the wirarapa and Hawkes Bay. The first stage was great fun as it was a re run of one I remembered from 2 years ago. We had a blast and further developed the rather err violent driving methods that the control tyres require.
After a service at the Tui Brewery (Rally drivers run on Tui - yeah right) we headed off to Pongoroa. This is the stage where we had a little mishap about 5 years ago, and we were running in the same direction for the first time since then. Having watched the crash video a few times I know the road well and so backed off a great deal for the offending corner. After that I nailed it and we set a very respectable stage time.
At lunchtime we joined another crew in a 944 who had an excellently set up service truck - they have a generator and coffee machine!
It seemed a bit rude to catch and overtake them on a couple of stages after lunch.
One of the afternoon stages used a section of road often used by the local car club as a hillclimb. Great fun and a chance to kick out the tail around the hairpins for the cameras.
The result of the days activity is a climb from 9th to 7th in class. Very happy with that.
A few other tales from the Classics include the retirement of Mark Kirk Bernand in an M3 with a blown head gasket. Jilly & Bernie broke a throttle pedal, but managed to borrow an Oxy torch to weld it back together. The orange Anglia has re appeared with a new engine and the Cheetah was running with a reduced rev limit and then went BANG on the start line of one of the afternoon stages.
It just goes to show the challenge of running a classic in an endurance event - at least you don't have to use a computer to fix them.
One more day to go, and lots of new territory to explore. Everything looks good with the car.. and there is a chance of overhauling Eddie Grooten in the 911 SC if we can make up 50 seconds on him during the day. It should be possible.
Todays photo is the service crew cafe...
Targa is over - and quite successful too. The Porsche behaved well ad we managed to keep it on the black stuff for all 4 days.
Sunday's charge paid off and we made up another couple of places, finishing 5th in class and 7th overall in the classic 2WD competition. The class was of course taken out by Kirk Bernand's in an M3.
There were some great stages on the final day. We started with the "hillclimb" in Hawkes bay before a breakfast stop at a school. We then did the Gentle Annie road (Napier - Taihape)as 2 stages. The first one was very fast and open, but the second was much more twisty and suited the car better. After lunch in Taihape we did the longest stage on the rally. This was a great blast with everything from tight twisty ledge roads to a roman road like blast through a village.. posted speed limit was 70 km, but we went through at 200
3 laps of the full Taupo circuit concluded the event, then it was medals, beer and food time.
It was quite an event - perhaps not as long as some previous ones, but there were some great stages and NZ provided a stunning backdrop as always. Thanks as always to the volunteers and community groups who looked after us. ON the team thanks Mike in the silly seat & Nathan on the spanners. Also thanks to Atomise, UPS Power Solutions, IEEI and Porirua automotive smash repairs.
Next years event is the 20th running of Targa and the event will be on the South Island for the first time. Sounds fantastic, lets get planning.
Sunday's charge paid off and we made up another couple of places, finishing 5th in class and 7th overall in the classic 2WD competition. The class was of course taken out by Kirk Bernand's in an M3.
There were some great stages on the final day. We started with the "hillclimb" in Hawkes bay before a breakfast stop at a school. We then did the Gentle Annie road (Napier - Taihape)as 2 stages. The first one was very fast and open, but the second was much more twisty and suited the car better. After lunch in Taihape we did the longest stage on the rally. This was a great blast with everything from tight twisty ledge roads to a roman road like blast through a village.. posted speed limit was 70 km, but we went through at 200
3 laps of the full Taupo circuit concluded the event, then it was medals, beer and food time.
It was quite an event - perhaps not as long as some previous ones, but there were some great stages and NZ provided a stunning backdrop as always. Thanks as always to the volunteers and community groups who looked after us. ON the team thanks Mike in the silly seat & Nathan on the spanners. Also thanks to Atomise, UPS Power Solutions, IEEI and Porirua automotive smash repairs.
Next years event is the 20th running of Targa and the event will be on the South Island for the first time. Sounds fantastic, lets get planning.
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