This Months Stories

World Debut's hit Targa

New Partner

Towing Levy

10 Anniversary Party DVD

Time Out Controls

Lunch Stops

Brunch & Dinner

Number Plate Auction

New Staff

Unique Cars

Overseas Promotion

International Coverage

Sunoco

Porsche

Date Log

We are fortunate enough to have the Nissan GTR, Porsche GT2 and Corvette Z06 all making Tarmac debuts at Targa this year.  The new GTR has caused a storm of publicity around the world and there are literally hundred’s of sites inserting links to our site to keep up to date with its performance next month.  Driver Tony Alford will no doubt be looking to test the capabilities of the large and monstrous powered Donut King GTR with the long stages on Day’s 4 & 5 looming as extremely exciting times ahead.

The very well prepared Yellow Cab supported Corvette assault sees two of these awesome cars being piloted by Neil & Daniel Ford and will turn many heads as will their service crew vehicle!!  It is a specially built Black Corvette that was built for Home Improvement star Tim Allen!!  Check out the pic of the guys with Tim Allen at the time of purchase.  Not a bad service vehicle I’m sure you will agree!, complete with a full set of parts in case they need them!

Joining the Ford’s in another Corvette are the always competitive Paul & Christine Freestone who will be looking to put the American legend right amongst the front runners come day 5.

The all new GT2 is the most potent 911 ever built and will be piloted by a little known combination at Targa………… Jim Richards & Barry Oliver!!  Hard to gauge how they will go but bookies are putting them at pretty short odds.  Can’t think why??

Check out the cover of this year’s magazine hitting newsagents this week.  Before you ask, it is modern’s turn in `08 after Classic dominated the cover last year!!

Targa Tasmania is excited to announce a new commercial partnership with Barrie Smith’s group of companies, Barrie Smith Motorsport (BSMSPORT) and Competition Friction (CompFriction).

This commercial partnership will ensure that Targa competitors will have access to the same high level of technical support throughout the event that these companies already provide for categories such as V8 Supercars, Porsche Carrera Cup and the V8 Utes.

Staff from both companies will be on hand from the start of scrutineering until the end of the event to provide support and advice on a wide range of products, as well as their usual specialty, braking systems. The CompFriction van will be parked inside the Silverdome every evening, providing ready access to advice and support for Competitors.

BSMSport Flier

Well, the response was an overwhelming yes with 96% of you agreeing that it was a great idea to give all competitors some piece of mind during the event.  Thank you to the competitors who lobbied hard for this and planted the seed in our minds.

This is how it will work:
The levy is basically an insurance to provide you with a flat tray towing service to take your car to the end of the section.  If you require assistance in the morning section, you will be taken to the lunch refuel zone and the afternoon to the end of day service.  Naturally, you can be dropped off earlier on the route if you wish and a shuttle bus will also be provided to transport you with your car.

Any towing outside of the official Targa route will be charged at $2.95 per kilometre and if you require crane assistance to recover your car from down an embankment etc this will be charged at $195 per hour.  There will be a state of the art Crane on standby for the duration of the event.

We are pleased to advise that our new towing contractor will have credit card facilities (MasterCard & Visa) in all trucks where mobile service is available to make carrying out any transactions easier for all concerned.

The levy is compulsory for all entries in this years event to make everyone’s life easier on the ground and with our need to clean up the road as quickly as possible due to the huge field we have in 2008, we ask that even if you have your own facilities to tow your vehicle that you utilise this service to at least have your vehicle transported out of the stage to a safe location.

The following fees will apply:
Early & Late Classic, Modern & Showroom: $100 Inc GST

Vintage, Rookie & Tour: $75 Inc GST

Fees will be invoiced on the 1st of April and are payable at or before documentation.

I’m sure you will agree that this set up with drastically reduce your chances of a large towing bill during the event, which has added to your pain previously.

The towing contractor will happily tow your vehicle where you require and the above set up will mean you will know exactly how much this additional service will cost avoiding those unpleasant surprises of previous years.

As the toning down of last years DVD didn’t go down too well with you all, the good people who requested that change have realised that it is all just in good fun and have agreed that we should be able to make it as it has be done traditionally.

So, with that comes the 10th Edition of the Party DVD in 2008 and it promises to be the longest ever produced with more crashes and bloopers shown than ever.  How?  We have dug the last nine party tapes out and have picked out all the highlights and lowlights from each year to include in this years DVD.

Total length will be triple a normal party DVD (up to 15 minutes of mayhem) and will conclude with the 2008 edition at the end.

It will be shown at both the Brunch and Dinner.

For the first time, you can pre-order your 10th Anniversary Party DVD simply by filling in the form accessed from the link below and sending it back. 

Your DVD can then be collected from the DVD stand outside the Tasman Room on Monday 21 bewtween 10am and 6pm.

The Party DVD is back in `08!

Order Form

Just a reminder that there will NOT be any Time Out controls at this years event.  We are removing the time out controls on all stages meaning that you will only need to stop at the stop point at the end of each stage where your finish time will be recorded.

Touring stage times have been altered to utilise the stage finish time as the start time for the touring stage.
The ever increasing capabilities of our purpose-built, Aussie made electronic timing system have enabled us to implement this change for 2008.

It will mean less stopping, less work for navigators and eliminate the risk of `rotor warp’ at the end of long stages.

No doubt all competitors will welcome this innovation

Another reminder; there will be a major change to lunch provisions this year due to the record field.  To ensure everyone has some time for lunch, it will be provided to you just inside the Time IN control.

It will be handed through your window, freshly made in pre-packaged format to ensure you have some time for the toilet and a coffee without wasting time queuing up for lunch.

A pic of how the lunch will be packaged is below.  If you have any special requirements - ie lactos intolerant, allergic to eggs, vegetarian etc and are yet to advise us of these, please get this information to Kylie via email at kylie.benson@octagon.com by April 1st.

One last reminder!! The Presentation Brunch is the end of event function; ticket included in your entry fee. 

This is on Monday 21st April at 10 for 10.30am.  You will still need to advise us of your attendance and who you would like to sit with as this will now be a seated function. Email helen.coad@octagon.com

The Celebration Dinner returns to its traditional Monday night slot at 6.30 for 7pm and we would like to remind you that this is now a normal ticketed function for all competitors and tickets are on sale now with discounts offered for tables of 10 and 12 and will be sold on a first in basis until sold out.

Tickets are selling fast so please don’t wait until you arrive to avoid disappointment.  Due to the entertainment, we will not be selling tickets for the mezzanine area.

In order to assist you with your function selection if you don’t plan on attending both, the following awards will be presented at the Brunch and Dinner:

All targa plate and class plate awards will be available for collection from outside the Tasman Room from 10.30am on Monday 21st

Click on link below if you haven't ordered your tickets yet

ORDER FORM

Last year we held a number plate auction that raised over $30,000 for the Royal Hobart Research Foundation who carries out invaluable work in finding cures for diseases.  Also, in supporting the Royal Hobart, we are giving something back as a small thank you for the tireless work the hospital has carried out on some unfortunate Targa competitors over the years.

This year’s auction promises to be much bigger!  Firstly, it will include some general issue plates that are bound to attract collectors.  How’s TAS-01 sound?  Added to this, will be the first ever release of a single digit premium plate in Tasmania.  Tasplates have kindly donated the number 5 plate and it is already attracting much interest from around the country.

Last but not least, we have agreed to produce a once only replica of the Targa 05 plate with a guarantee that it will never be issued again.  To ensure it is presented in the right way, Tim Jones and Perfect Prints have kindly donated the photos to surround the plate.

What makes this plate even more significant is that it is truly a one of kind as it is utilising the 2004 number sequence, which was the last time the number was used but the plate itself is in the style of the 2008 Targa Plates, meaning that this plate is not even one of three made, it is one of one!!!!

With so much outside interest we have decided to take bids from around the country including phone bids on the night of the dinner.

If you won’t be at the dinner but wish to bid on any of these plates, please email Mark Perry at m.perry@octagon.com for further details

As we get closer to the start, we continue to build our team here in Hobart. 

Alice McKenzie navigated in 2007 in a gorgeous red `75 Alfa GTV.  This year Alice will be ensuring that all our sponsors are very happy before and during the event in her role of Sponsorship Support.  Alice recently completed compiling all the stories for the event magazine and worked closely with our designer in putting the final result together.

Kristie Cox worked as a trainee on the event last year helping out in the functions area.  This year she is a fully fledged part of our functions team under the guidance of Functions Manager, Helen Coad.  Kristie always makes sure everyone is smiling and got the Event Director with a gag inside the first two hours of her starting work in the Hobart office!!  Not a good way to start your career.  Run the other way if you see her!  Just kidding

Alice McKenzie	Kristie Cox

We have run a 3 part series recently in Unique Cars titled `Great Moments in Targa History’.  These have been very well received and have assisted greatly in reminding everyone about the amazing history Targa now has.

If you have missed the stories check them out in the Official Magazine.

We have been working hard overseas to better promote Targa and hope that the fruits of this work will begin to come in `09.  In conjunction with Tourism Tasmania we have attended a number of motor sport shows in the UK and have been lucky enough to have Mark Webber attend these.

Renault Spider competitor Adam Spence and previous navigator Simone Bachmann have attended these for us to spread the good word on the Ultimate Tarmac Rally.  Simone was lucky enough to get a happy snap with Mark Webber at one of these shows.

This year we are fortunate to have the Motoring Editor of London’s Daily Telegraph competing in the event.  Peter Hall is an experienced competitor and is bringing his own `69 Triumph GT6 (car 460) to Tasmania.  With over a million readers each day, Peter’s coverage of the event is set to increase awareness of Targa in the UK dramatically.

Joining Peter in the navigator’s seat is Franca Davenport who aside from being an experienced navigator is also a freelance journalist with a number of European magazines agreeing to publish her coverage of Targa.

Please make them welcome when you come across them during the event.  Who knows you may get a photo of your car in the Telegraph!!

The popular fuel, Sunoco has a new distributor in Tasmania and it happens to be regular competitor, Peter Manning (Ford Capri GT- 472).  Peter can assist you during the event if this is your fuel of choice.

Please click on the link below for further details:

Insert Link

After a one year hiatus, the Porsche Museum are back and they are bringing a Targa legend with them. The now famous 1960 Porsche 356 GT driven to a Classic Overall victory by Peter Fitzgerald in 1998 (the only man to claim a Modern and Classic Overall title in the events history) will return in the hands of popular museum curator, Klaus Bischof with journalist Tina Fuchs calling the corners.  This same car has also been piloted in Targa by World Rally Champion, Walter Roehl.

So keen are they to return to Targa and join the largest field ever assembled for a tarmac rally that they are flying the car out from Germany to get it here in time for the start on the 15th April at the Country Club. 

Make sure you make Klaus and the team welcome when you see them next month.

or full schedule please click here

Targa Tasmania is supported by the Tasmanian Government through Events Tasmania. 
Targa Tasmania is presented by Pure Tasmania

For more information visit www.targatasmania.com.au