Updated:
20 February, 2010
THE RACER'S EDGE
Targa Wrest Point Rally Report
Words Brian Dermott. Pics courtesy perfectprints.com.au
The 2010 HTCAV Rally Championship started early with the second running of Targa Wrest Point on the last days of January, over some very rough and dusty roads in the Huon Valley which provided an intense 210 kilometres sprint rally challenge.
Out of 64 Classic starters, 27 (42%) were pre 1973 touring cars - nearly double the 09 entry - and victory went to experienced Sydney racer and famous Drummoyne seafood entrepreneur George Nittis, navigated by Karl Francis, in the orange Falcon XY GT HO running in modified spec.
Second was Tassie racer and paper plant manager Mick Cross and Leigh Chaplin in what was the drive of the event - Mick brought his unchanged Group N Torana LJ racer complete with drum brakes and 13” wheels and had almost no stoppers left by halfway through the second morning.
Third by only 2 seconds came Tasmanian fuel wizard and proven rally man Scott Kent navigated by brother Wayne in the white Mustang - with a brand new engine blowing astonishing amounts of oil smoke.
In fact, the hot and dry roads favoured Big Power and with five of the top six being Ford V8s - the other two being Toranas - the leading bunch looked very like a Group N race. The racing theme continued with Brendan Diprose (three time state Group N champion) coming 4th and the Dermotts 6th, only 6 seconds behind the Terry Harper / Matt Challis small-engined Falcon. Final Club points getter in 7th were father and son Chas and Luke Latter in the familiar grey Datsun 1600.
And how did the HTCAV rookies fare?
An amazing first time triumph for Andy Clempson and Jervis Ward in Hollywood’s self-built Mustang fastback came so very close. On the last stage, the Mustang rocket ship was leading when a bolt came out of the shifter, taking 13 minutes of frantic spannering to get back in. With its metre of flame and flamboyant noise and extrovert style, this car was a crowd favourite. And experienced competitors marvelled at the strong showing of the two racers in their first tarmac rally.
Various woes bedevilled Chris Ralph and Russell Pilven in Chris’ pretty little 1971 2002 - a spin on unexpected gravel on the Tahune stage followed by ignition woes slowed the under 3 litre track rivals and with only two days of competition, there was no time for a fight back.
So here are the Championship standings after Round 1:
| HTCAV | Competitive Kms: 211 | Competitors: 64 | Position |
Total |
|||
| Position | Crew | Vehicle | Class |
Capacity | Penalty | Outright |
Points |
| 1 | Nittis - Francis | 1969 Ford XY GT HO | 4MSH | 5800 | 20.43 | 5 |
18357 |
| 2 | Cross - Chaplin | 1972 Holden Torana XU1 | 4LMSE | 3310 | 22.23 | 7 |
17091 |
| 3 | Kent - Kent | 1965 Ford Mustang | 3MSF | 5600 | 22.25 | 8 |
16036 |
| 4 | Diprose - Daly | 1969 Ford Falcon GT HO | 4LMSH | 5800 | 22.33 | 9 |
14981 |
| 5 | Harper - Challis | 1968 Ford Falcon | 4LMSH | 4900 | 23.29 | 12 |
13504 |
| 6 | Dermott - Dermott | 1971 Holden Torana XU1 | 4LMSE | 3300 | 23.35 | 13 |
12449 |
| 7 | Latter - Latter | 1967 Datsun 1600 | 4LMSC | 2000 | 24.06 | 14 |
11394 |
| 8 | Killick - Killick | 1965 Ford Cortina | 3LMSD | 1650 | 29.41 | 23 |
8651 |
| 9 | Ridge - Edwards | 1971 Ford Falcon GT | 4LMSH | 5765 | 30.4 | 25 |
8229 |
| 10 | Clempson - Ward | 1965 Ford Mustang | 3MSF | 5010 | 33.04 | 28 |
7596 |
| 11 | Jones - Smythe | 1953 Holden FJ | 2MSF | 3300 | 34.08 | 30 |
7174 |
| 12 | Arundel - Verge | 1963 Ford Cortina | 3LMSC | 1593 | 34.14 | 31 |
6963 |
| 13 | Kenny - Fitzpatrick | 1971 Jaguar XJ6 | 4MSG | 4200 | 35.53 | 33 |
6541 |
| 14 | Smith - Smith | 1966 Holden HR X2 Premier | 4MSE | 3300 | 36.19 | 35 |
6119 |
| 16 | Waldron - Gegory | 1955 FIAT Abarth 750 | 2LMSA | 997 | 39.46 | 39 |
5275 |
| 17 | Kent - Krawczyk | 1971 Ford Falcon GT | 3LMSH | 5800 | 40.16 | 40 |
5064 |
| 18 | White - White | 1963 Austin Mini Cooper | 3MSA | 998 | 42.07 | 41 |
4853 |
| 19 | Quinn - Paine | 1973 Holden HQ | 5LMSE | 3300 | 46.08 | 43 |
4431 |
| 20 | Henry - Harding | 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super | 3SSA | 1570 | 51.03 | 45 |
4009 |
| 21 | Pfingst - Loth | 1971 Holden Torana | 4MSE | 3310 | 1.11.47 | 47 |
3587 |
| 22 | Ralph - Pilven | 1971 BMW 2002 | 4LMSB | 1998 | 1.43.39 | 50 |
2954 |
| 23 | Thomson - Thomson | 1970 BMW 2002 Ti | 4LMSB | 2000 | DNF | 51 |
1500 |
| 24 | Bulk - Bulk | 1961 Ford Anglia | 2MSD | 1782 | DNF | 52 |
1500 |
| 25 | Rogers - Moss | 1971 Ford Falcon GT | 4MSH | 5800 | DNF | 54 |
1500 |
| 26 | Chaplin - Smith | 1971 Datsun 1600 | 4LMSB | 2000 | DNF | 57 |
1500 |
| 27 | Large -Dredge | 1972 Ford Falcon GT | 5MSH | 5751 | DNF | 60 |
1500 |
Our Very Own Targa
The Mansfield Whitfield road up over the Wombat Ranges and down into the King Valley, home of the Italian wine varieties in Australia, is like driving to Tuscany. It’s Victoria’s Futa Pass - glorious sweepers, tight hairpins with the legendary High Peaks in the distance, fast blasts through the Vic Ash stands and then that wonderful slalom down the valley side to emerge in the vineyards of Pizzini, Dal Zotto and Politini.
And guess what - on November 6th, they’re closing the road so we can drive our cars flat out up and down this road. But that’s not all. The road from the Jamieson Brewery to Eildon township is one of the most testing roads ever built. It edges around Lake Eildon for 62 kilometres of devilish twists and turns, interposed by one very long straight section. All but 14 kms is sealed and the missing link will be sealed by years end. We get to race here too - then tackle the amazing Skyline road out of Eildon with the crest where you think you’re about to drive off the edge of the earth. And then there’s 5 kms of town stage through Mansfield - which will be shut for the afternoon to watch us.
About 260 kilometres of classic car friendly, properly engineered Victorian roads will be closed for Targa High Country and after 20 years of playing away, mainly to Tasmanians, we get to challenge them on our roads.
This is an event not to miss - many will already know these roads from their big bike days or midnight blasts.
More next month on this brilliant innovation.
“We Wuz Robbed”
Motorsport is bedevilled with ‘If only ..’ stories. We’ve all been guilty of saying: ‘If only I hadn’t crashed I would have won ... etc’. But at Targa Wrest Point in 2010, Andy Clempson and Jervis Ward can truly claim that “they wuz robbed” by the bolt which came out of the shifter.
At the end of the last but one stage TS 11, Cygnet 1, the Hollywood/Horatio Mustang Coupe had accumulated 18 mins 41 secs of penalty and were leading the pre-73 cars. With an estimated total time of 19 mins 51 secs if they had finished the last stage in the same rhythm as they had run the rest of the event, they would have been 5th outright in the Classic behind 3 Porsches and the experienced local team of Cooper/Sherrif in the ‘77 A9X, instead of 28th after taking 13 mins to replace the bolt and complete the stage in 2nd gear.
Bearing in mind Hollywood had not eaten for 5 days and was suffering chronic food poisoning and Jervis was nursing a broken collarbone, this is a truly fantastic performance. Us rally folk can only hope they have another go at rallying, but take on board the need for extremely thorough preparation to back their proven driving skills.
Building A New Rally Car ?
When AASA took over the sanctioning of Targa and saved us all thousands of dollars (Team Tattle calculated savings in the thousands for the first event including the random $500 ‘surprise’ fee we were slugged for Classic Adelaide), our CAMS Logbooks and Licences became AASA Passports, complete with car data inscribed and 3/4 front and rear photos stamped by AASA, and AASA Licences. The big changeover was a few years ago now and new cars are being built all the time, some of them Modified Specification cars built with the rule book in one hand. Inevitably, questions of interpretation arise. And now CAMS has no jurisdiction except for the events in SA and WA (which seem to be falling from favour) and there are some emerging but significant differences between CAMS and AASA regulations. So CAMS can’t come and inspect the car and give out the paper work and charge their fee. So what happens ?
It’s easy - AASA do it but its a smaller fee. The scrutineering is done by Targa scrutineers in your home town and the info goes to AASA for approval and production of the Passport. It really is exactly the same as the old CAMS method. To access the system, contact the HTCAV’s favourite motor sport administrator, Helen Coad at Targa HQ.
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