Targa Tasmania 2015

[Darkside]

Hey fellas,

for those interested its underway this week. A couple of WA people I am aware of. Ben Searcy in an emo IX in modern (was runnign 4th...just had a mech on day 3) , Stewie Liddle in 4WD showroom (currently second) . I am sure there are others.

Have been watching classic with interest as that's where I would run if I get back there. One local guy (Nunn) in a 944 was toweling everyone (was up to 6th outright) and has just blown an engine on day 3. Such a tough event for changing fortunes.

Link to main site

http://targa.com.au/tc/?sitePref=desktop

Mobile phone link to site here.

http://targa.com.au/m/#/home

Day 1 Highlights


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT93GcCstG0

Day 2 highlights


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcZG36Jc3Lc

[phatboy]

http://www.speedhunters.com/2015/04/in-the-moment-taking-on-the-tasmanian-touge/

small amount of coverage here too, pic one might be that super beetle? :P

[ALEX.]

Taken from Targa West Facebook, here are the WA boys heading over:

Michael Bray / Daniel Bray - 1975 Holden Torana
Andrew Bryson driving a 1975 Davrian Coupe
Bob Fisher / Louse Paul - 1967 Triumph TR4a
Graham Furness / Mike Wood - 2007 Subaru WRX STI Spec C
Stewart Liddle / Michael Lloyd - 2009 Mitsubichi Lancer Evo X RS
Mike Moylan / Don Behets - 1964 Ford Galaxie Coupe
Ben Searcy driving a 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX
Paul van der Mey co-driving in a 2011 Audi TTRS

[Darkside]

Caution.... v v slippy R5

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/11205006_10153737664839989_2401403512885688011_n.j pg?oh=40a6e5d32e52f1ee289c56d158753efa&oe=55DE2A62&__gda__=1439824244_184b4d33a2700bd6f39621c897785e5 0

[Phyber]

Dat smooth underbody

[urabus]

Keen to lowball on the e30 if its an m3

Brendon

[c.rusli]

Wow 4 car pile up! *must be the oil

[urabus]

Historically modern has always been the premier class and the last to be on the podium. However the big push since mark perry bought the event last year is back towards showroom. Seeing as quinn was in 2wd showroom in a mclaren suddenly that was the last class on the podium. The class also included grant denyer and jim richards.

I think the will effectively keep making rules up to bring modern cars back to showroom level.

Brendon

[Sfidz]

Keen to lowball on the e30 if its an m3

Brendon

Was only a 325~ not M3.
Also 996 GT3 in the back . Didn't realise the Porsche tour car (997 turbo) was on its lid!
Serious delays getting through that stage while they were pulling out the cars, at least an hour sitting there waiting :(

[joshg123]

A Difficult week for us.

Tested at Simmonds on the Saturday, Day 1 was fairly smooth with low pace stages and only really the George Town sprint a good pace evaluation. We had removed long range fuel tank from high up in the boot (120L up on the rear parcel shelf) before heading to Tas in favour of a factory tank + surge setup to help with rear balance issues but in doing that created a new set of balance issues as all our baseline shock setup figures were to suit carrying 100kg high over the rear than what we had currently. So quickly found us having to re-evaluate shocks and make changes. Ended the day 3rd Modern.

Day 2 Brought reasonable results, just struggling with balance as per day 1 as base times were quicker on these stages and it was our first opportunity to see what the car was doing in the higher paced corners. However stages really suited the bigger HP cars - As we brought a targa legal setup we soon worked out how far down on power we were to the 3 cars ahead of us.

Day 3 Brought Dramas - Collecting a rock/kurb/something about 3/4 of the way through Sideling tried to rip the turbo from the manifold. It tore the main exhuast section from the hangers ripping the hanger clean out of the pipe. We were able to make some swift repairs on the side of the road however 999 Car decided to drive straight past us (we were last on road) and although we made it to control within our late time, 999 started the stage before we could get there. We had to tour through 2 stages before passing the 999 and being back in competition. This resulted in us recieving a penalty for 'not starting the stage' and getting a 10 minute kick in the guts time penalty being added. We appealed and won this decision and started day 4 back in 4th outright.

Day 4 - Fairly reasonable bar a brand new clutch hardline splitting in half which was kind of strange. Didnt really plan for that. Some help from the local hose shop and some frantic works during the lunch break got us a working hydraulic system again and completed the day. However learnt of some political messyness at the top of targa with the clerk of course overturning the event director and re-applying our penalties - no more appeals left. We decided to continue. We had some temp issues which as per day 5's out come we learnt to be the beginnings of a head gasket issue.

Day 5 - Long long day, 57km Mt Arrowsmith stage. Despite penalties we pushed through. By the end of the day the Head Gasket was hurting pretty hard. Decided to bail out and save the motor. 'Could' have pushed through the last day but penalties made it kind of useless to jeopardize the rest of the setup and put miles on the car. Fresh gasket and she will run again at High Country and Next year's Tas.

In Summary - We took a legal setup, stock cams etc and it became apparent how hard we had to push that setup to make any power close to the guys ahead of us. GTR's are the master class and despite us being quick in the tight stuff we were at least 1sec/km slower than the big power guys on the long stages. Such a long rally and so tough on cars. We will go back, look at what can be improved on and see what happens for next year.

Cheers everyone for their support along the way.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/joshg123/searcyevo_zps2zh6hmmz.jpg (http://s6.photobucket.com/user/joshg123/media/searcyevo_zps2zh6hmmz.jpg.html)