2003 TARGA TASMANIA 13 - 18 May

2003 TARGA TASMANIA 13 - 18 May Cartoons by Jump to List of Contents Page 1 of 21 2003 FLAG CAR 1926 AC Amilcar Grand Sport crewed by John Lawson and Paul Lawson A race-bred racer with a two litre supercharged six cylinder engine with a four speed gearbox. The car was capable of achieving 200km/h. Glyn Crimp/Bernie Webb in the 1980 Porsche 928 S Jump to List of Contents Page 2 of 21 LIST OF CONTENTS 1. THE COURSE 2. TARGA TASMANIA TOURING CATEGORY 3. ENTRIES 4. PLACINGS 5. ORGANISATION 6. COMPETITION 7. MURRAY WALKER 8. PHOTOGRAPHS Acknowledgement of the major references I used to research the information from which I have taken direct quotes, and photographs, are: • Targa Tasmania – ‘The Ultimate Tarmac Rally – 1992 to 2001 The First 10 Years’ produced by Octagon Motorsports edited by Michael Browning; • ‘The Legend’ published by Media Productions Pty Ltd, covering the 1992 to 1995 events. • ‘Targa Tasmania 1992-1993’, Clipper Press, Hobart; • Targa Tasmania Official Programs, 1992 to 2003; • Internal event documents from 1993 to 2003 that I have in my possession. I take full responsibility for the information listed and I apologise for any errors made by me and will be most pleased to hear from anyone seeking to correct any issue – [email protected] Jump to List of Contents Page 3 of 21 1: COURSE MAP LEGEND DAY COLOUR LOCATION - LOCATION 0 Deep Pink George Town Prologue 1 Pink Launceston - Launceston 2 Blue Launceston - Launceston 3 Dark Blue Launceston - Hobart 4 Green Hobart - Burnie 5 Brown Burnie - Hobart Schedule of Targa Stages - 42 DAY 1 - 8 DAY 2 - 9 DAY 3 – 7 DAY 4 - 10 DAY 5 - 9 Legana 4.4 The Sideling 13.8 Grasstree Hill 7.7 Hobart 3.2 Hellyer Gorge 15.4 High Plains 4.4 Derby 5.5 Bonnet Hill 3.5 Colebrook 6.0 Mount Black 8.6 Moriarty 5.1 Winnaleah 6.4 Oyster Cove 12.0 Ross# 2.8 Rosebery 17.4 Devonport 16.0 Weldborough 12.0 Woodbridge 8.2 Symmons Plains 4.7 Strahan 33.2 Nook 5.5 Pyengana 5.4 Cygnet 12.0 Mole Creek 3.3 Queenstown 6.4 Sheffield 14.3 St Marys Pass 5.4 Longley 11.9 Cethana 37.4 Mt. Arrowsmith 47.1 Quamby Brook 6.6 Elephant Pass 11.0 Ridgeway Park 3.9 Wilmot 5.8 Tarraleah 7.7 Longford# 3.6 Cranbrook 6.6 Gunns Plains 14.7 Ellendale 9.9 Perth# 3.2 South Riana 24.5 New Norfolk# 1.8 Natone 9.8 # Town Stage Jump to List of Contents Page 4 of 21 Changes to Course compared to 2002: • Day 1 - ‘High Plains’ replaced ‘Deloraine’; • Day 2 - day ended back in Launceston instead of Hobart; ‘Pyengana’ added after ‘Weldborough’; a town stage was held as ‘Perth’; • Day 3 - the cars travelled from Launceston to Hobart before tackling ‘Grasstree Hill’ as the first targa stage of the day; ‘Mount Nelson’ was dropped; • Day 4 - unchanged from 2002; • Day 5 - ‘Ellendale’ continued to be dropped. 2: TARGA TASMANIA TOURING CATEGORY Taking an idea from Classic Adelaide (of which Tom Snooks was now Clerk of Course) of adopting a Touring Class a number of participants were invited by Octagon to the 2003 event. Not everyone wanted to drive their vehicle hard nor did they want to risk damaging it. The Tour allowed participants (in groups of ten cars) to drive over selected closed-to-the-public targa stages some 45 minutes ahead of the first competition vehicle. They were bunched up with the organiser’s vehicles in front and rear of each group. There was no competition as the car had be driven according to the posted speed limits and there was no timing and without the inconvenience and expense of modifying the car, No. Crew Vehicle 12 Cameron Anderson Richard Burgess 1978 Porsche 911 SC 14 Bill Collett Christopher Collett 1957 MGA Tourer 15 Steve Booker Stephen Mollenhaver 1976 Morgan Plus 16 Bill Griffiths Jerry Rossenstock 1972 Aston Martin V8 17 Greg Broadbent Heather Broadbent 1974 MGB 24 Tony Hewer Aneke Hawer 1981 Porsche 924 Turbo 26 Peter Strauss Ian Gow 1964 Jaguar E-Type 30 Peter Bignoki Denis Bignoki 1967 Ferrari 330 GT 40 Brendan Marion Benjamin Marion 2001 Roaring Forties GT40 50 Chas Jacobsen Peter Nilson 1995 Ferrari F50 51 Scott Sheedy Peter Chapman 1978 Ford Falcon Cobra 54 Colin Taylor Ian James 1954 MGF 56 Colin Rose Felicia Mathers 1956 Renault 4 CV 68 Ian McFarlane Geoff Scott 1968 Morris Cooper S 80 John Plowman Brian Billings 1968 Mercedes Benz 280SL 95 Geoff Gillett Yvonne Gillett 1962 Lotus Elise Super 95 Steve Booker/Stephen Mollenhaver in the 1976 Morgan Plus 3: ENTRIES Targa Tasmania Modern Competition was for late model high performance cars where the driver and the navigator teamed together aiming at category and outright victory. Judging by previous years’ vehicle preparation and reliability could provide a winning edge and, for some crews, the navigators’ concentration and the accuracy of pace notes were a telling factor in the success achieved by the crew. Jump to List of Contents Page 5 of 21 However, in order to maintain safety standards to satisfy authorities (both civil within Tasmania and the World and Australian Controlling Bodies (FIA and CAMS) 2003 saw the start of a progressive change to bring the top end categories (Categories 8 & 9) back towards standard. The regulations from 2003 excluded extensively modified cars so as to retard their ultimate speeds, but allowed limited modification to be made to allow cars to be more suitable for competition. It was intended that the regulations would apply to the Classic Competition Category 7 in 2004. The Vehicle Selection Policy is outlined in the Overview. A field of 253 competition crews faced the starter, of which 226 finished, giving a finishing rate of 82%. This was equal third highest number of competitors in the 12 years of the event - 299 in 2000, 279 in 1994 and 253 in each of 2001 and 2003. Category Historic Touring Classic Classic Modern Clubman 1 Vintage 1900 - 1930 2 Post Vintage 1931 - 1946 3 Touring Classic 1947 – 1965 4 Thoroughbred 1947 - 1961 5 Early Classic 1962 - 1965 6 Classic 1966 - 1971 7 Late Classic 1972 - 1976 8 Post Classic 1977 - 1981 9 Early Modern 1982 – 1990 10 Late Modern 1991 - 1997 11 Contemporary 1998 - 2003 12 Clubman All years The Historic and Touring Classic competed over less number of days (five) and stages per day than the Classic, Modern and Clubman Competitions. PERIOD NO. 1 Vintage 1900 – 1930 4 2 Post Vintage 1931 – 1946 0 3 Touring Classic 1947 - 1965 9 4 Thoroughbred 1947 – 1961 15 5 Early Classic 1962 – 1965 13 6 Classic 1966 – 1971 41 7 Late Classic 1972 - 1976 34 8 Post Classic 1977 - 1981 31 9 Early Modern 1982 - 1990 15 10 Late Modern 1991 - 1997 37 11 Contemporary 1998 - 2000 53 12 Clubman All years 2 TOTAL 253 Two of the smallest cars in the event were the 1965 Fiat Abarth 750 of Jack Waldron/Vin Gregory in the Classic Competition, and the 1955 Fiat 600 of Phillip Blake/Tony Gray in the Touring Classic Competition. Car 210 - 1955 Fiat Abarth 750 Car 171 - 1965 Fiat Abarth 695 SS Jump to List of Contents Page 6 of 21 Historic Competition (4 starters) A disappointing field of only three Historic Competition cars were entered, all from Victoria. John and Andrew Lawson changed their car from Alfa Romeo of the past few years to a 1926 Amilcar Grand Sport, which was the Flag Car for 2003. Michael Hipkins/Mark Burns, fourth in 2002 entered their 1925 Vauxhall 30-98, whilst John Felder/Craig De Somerville again competed in the 1930 Oakland 8-101. Touring Classic Competition (11 starters) Touring Classic Competition winners in 2001 and 2002, Phillip and Justin Nichols, again entered their 1958 Austin Healey Sprite, whilst the ‘arch-enemy’ crew of Brian Titheradge/John Shuttle were in their regular 1955 Jaguar XK140 FHC, which they drove to second place in 2001, third in 1999 and fourth in 2000. Also entered was Martin Utber/Nicholas Langford in their 1961 Vauxhall Cresta, which they took to fifth outright in 2002. Classic Competition (132 starters) With a field of 132 the Classic Competition Top Ten looked wide open. The 2002 Classic Competition winners, Rex Broadbent/Michael Goedheer, seized the opportunity to run in the Modern Competition in a Porsche Cup 911 GT3, whilst second in 2002, Peter O’Keefe, crashed his Holden Torana SLR5000 in an event prior to Targa Tasmania and it suffered massive frontage damage. Thus two potential winners of this Competition did not start. Third placed in 2002, Graham Copeland/Jon Siddon again entered their 1969 Datsun H510 1800, whilst other high placegetters such as Geoff Taylor/Lee Harper (1974 Porsche 911 Carrera), Barry Faux/Ray Pollar (1979 Mazda RX7), Paul Stuart, with Mike Harrod (1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7), and often placed in the Top Ten Henry and Roslyn Draper in their 1961 Morris Mini Minor. Matthew Hunter and James Game in the 1975 Ford Escort RS2000 Modern Competition (94 starters) The entry for this competition looked like being the most competitive in the 12 year history of the event, with Jim Richards/Barry Oliver at the head of any list of potential winners. This year they retained their 2000 Porsche 911 Turbo. The seven times Bathurst 1000 winner, also four times Australian Touring Car Champion, together with his six Targa Tasmania wins made him a very formidable competitor to beat in the Modern Competition.

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