Targa Tasmania 2004
With reflection, Targa 2004 has been an awesome event, preceded by 7 ½ months of hard work and endless hours of planning. It all started about September 2003 as most projects do, over a couple of cool refreshing beverages with a comment that was something like “hey why don’t we run a HD in next year’s Targa”.

As with most nights like this, with the imagination lubricated, a rough plan was put into place, the odd comment of “we will need to take this” and “we will have to build this” seemed to flow quite readily. It was easy to see how these thing gather momentum, the only difference this time was that we just went to work and didn’t quit ‘til it was built.

The first step to the project was too dig the shell out from its resting place within the factory, which is no mean feat in itself, and send it off for the fitting of the roll cage. This alone took about 3 weeks to complete. Once the shell was back the bodywork was started, which, with the car being 38 years old, rust was going to be our biggest challenge. Luckily we knew where there were a few panels lying around, so we picked out the best available and proceeded to replace the rusted panel with either bought replacement panels or hand formed pieces. Then came the choice of which colour to paint the car, that was not an easy one at any stage. Whilst choosing the colour for the car, we had approximately six different colour schemes painted in different places over the shell. We think that the final choice of colours suited the car to a tee.

With the classes that the car was eligible for, we had three main choices; Standard - the thought of racing through Tassie with the original drum brakes didn’t please us much. Modified – which would have allowed all the goodies to be installed like a 5 speed and different diff ratios just too mention a few. Limited Modified - which was our final choice, allowed us to keep the car to near as “original condition” as possible, as part of the plan was maybe to use the car for Group N racing when it came back.

Racing in limited modified allowed only minor changes to engine, brakes and tyre sizes, which posed another set of hurdles that needed to be overcome. All items used in the braking needed to be within 5 years of the vehicles manufacture date. We used HK stubs and discs with V8 calipers on the front, and HK drums on the rear. All wrapped by reset springs on the rear, custom built springs on the front and Koni adjustable shocks on each corner, made the HD handle and stop very nicely indeed.

We also had limits into what capacity we could run, so finding a STD bore 179 to keep us under 3.0 litre was the next hurdle. I counted at least 7 motors that were pulled down so they could be measured for bore size, before a suitable one could be found. Once the engine was off to the engine builder, we set our sights on all the other little bits that take ages to complete. Just to mention a few of these “bits”, fitting a fuel cell even had hurdles of its own, we had to fabricate a new section of floor to locate it into the position that it would normally sit. Another was to fabricate a new set of tracks to locate the seats into the original position, and allow them to be adjustable for the various drivers that will drive the car.
Behind the scenes were just as hectic with all the paperwork that goes into entering an international event; licences, registration, accommodation, travel tickets, meals, petrol supplies, and the list goes on. In the end, you will just see a car, but credit must go to Toni, who did all the “invisible tasks” that won’t be seen in any of the photos, in any of the magazines, or on any coverage that may make it onto the various videos.

With all the work involved finally completed, we made it on to the Spirit Of Tasmania for the journey across to Tassie. We left on the Friday 23rd of April with sea’s greeting us with 6m waves for the overnight trip. Once off the boat, we made our way to Launceston to get ourselves booked into our hotel and acclimatised to the cool weather. We had what we thought was going to be a quiet drink to help me celebrate my 40th birthday, but couple of the crew took to the celebrations with a bit more enthusiasm than the others. It turned into a bit of a blinder, with some of us running amok til the wee hours of the morning; but what a present it was to be in Tassie

Sunday saw us at the exhibition centre where we had to report at 10.26 to do all our paperwork, crew registration and vehicle scrutineering. Just to go to this was an awe inspiring sight, 279 crews bringing to Tasmania some of the worlds most amazing vehicles; a Ferrari F40, E-type Jaguars, various Lotuses, to all your favourite Fords and Holdens, oh and the odd Porsche as well, just to name a few. Once we were done with the paperwork, we us put the car in one of three lines, as we walked it through the building all the Marshall’s came through and checked the various areas of the car. Engine & transmission, seats and belts, fire extinguishers and signage, they even checked our race suits and underwear, which was caught by the local TV crew, much to the embarrassment of one of the crew.
The time spent in line gave us all a few hours to soak up the atmosphere, some of use went around and videoed the field, some of us shopped and bought up nearly all that was on offer. We also caught up with some of the other competitors and officials, and generally walked around with grins that the Cheshire Cat would have been proud of. We passed with flying colours, which just topped the day off.
On Monday, we had a couple of seminars to attend. The first of which was the “first timers” briefing, designed to introduce us to the ways of Targa, and the second was a standard drivers briefing, all taking place in the lovely Country Club Resort in Launceston. This was a fairly lazy day for all of us and just what we needed to settle ourselves down before starting the next day. It was good to get a bit of a sleep in, have a not too stressful day of reading through all the road books, and going over the car, before taking it up to the Silverdome for the first of the vehicle expos that were to happen each night.
Tuesday saw all of the cars drive from the Silverdome down to the Country Club to be sorted out into prologue order for the official start of the event. Once waved off, we made our way to George Town for the start of the prologue, this is where the event started to feel real for us, to line up with the likes of Brocky, Richards, Fitzgerald, and us. Hundreds of people walking around and talking to all the drivers and navigators. Absolutely Unreal.

The prologue was run and won, the HD handled herself very well indeed, but the first hint of carbie trouble was starting to surface with the car starting to bog down out of most corners, which ended with us being overtaken on the course by a black EH. (At least it ensured that we made the party video!). Again, it was off to the Silverdome for the night, both on the way out and back it was incredible to see cars and cars of onlookers lining the roads, tooting horns and waving flags. Amazing how the people of Tasmania were embracing this event.

Wednesday saw the first full day of stages that was to take us through the northern loop from Launceston to Devonport and back. Starting from the Silverdome saw us transport down the civic square in Launceston. After travelling the 5.68km to the civic centre, we had to change plugs before the start, which fixed the problem and allowed us to continue on, through stages at Legana, Holwell, and Moriarty. We refueled just before the lunch break on the side of the road, where Kylie, Greg and Toni, were waiting for us. It was then onto the mouth of the Mersey River at Devonport, where we enjoyed the lunch that was supplied for all crews. Following the lunch, we headed off to stages at Devonport, Nook, Sheffield, Quamby Brook and then finishing with a street course at Longford. All day, the car was off song, and the slow transport sections between the stages started to take effect. We decided to forgo the break that was planned for us at Longford and head straight back to the Silverdome for service. When we arrived back at the Silverdome, we had exactly one hour for service, before the car was washed, dried and put back inside for the expo. Then it was off to the hotel for a meal, planning of fuel stops and pack up the cars (because we were moving down to Hobart for the remainder of the event).
Thursday was the run down the east coast to Hobart, we had a lot of trouble with the car from the start; firstly it wouldn’t start and needed to be pushed out of the Silverdome, then only after we roll started it, could we get it to run. All the service cars had taken off early for their fuel stop location but only 7.5km into the first transport leg, we stalled at a set of lights and could not get started again. We had to call on Lou & Russ for assistance to get us going again. We tried to keep on going but after struggling through another 7km the car ran out of steam, we pulled up on the side of the road and again struggled to get it going.

Being out of range for our phones and knowing we were in trouble, we headed back to where we first broke down, stopped on the side of the road and called for Lou & Russ to come back to get us. Because we used the transport notes to find our way back, we found ourselves sitting on the side of the road watching the whole field go by. This was not a good feeling at all.

Knowing that we had to, at least, start a stage each day to qualify for a finisher’s medal, the guys put in a sterling effort on the side of the road. After at least 3 hours of repairs to various parts of the fuel system, we were underway again. But only just, so we set off through the stages at normal road speeds because all of the roads were open to the public now. Trying to send messages to the other service crew that we were back underway, so they wouldn’t worry too much (as it turned out they were out of phone range as well, and they had driven off to check with the controls as to our whereabouts, but to no avail). We made our way through; The Sidling, Derby, Winnaleah, and Weldborough Pass to where we should have met up with Toni, Kylie and Greg, for what was meant to be our first fuel stop. When we finally made it to St. Helen’s, we couldn’t find our service crew as they had gone off to the next control to try to find out our whereabouts. We pulled into a service station to refuel and were about to drive off when we saw Toni in the rear view mirror, so we stopped and relayed our situation to her. After this, we took off leaving Toni to inform the rest of the crew.

We finally caught up with the field after driving past stages in St. Mary’s pass, Elephant pass and straight past the lunch stop at the start of the Cranbrook stage. Discretion was the better part of valour as we drove to the start of the stage because we were actually lined up with Porches, Monaro’s, etc. We asked the officials to put us to the back of the field so not, to hold anyone up. The fast sweep 999 car was the only vehicle behind us, but we had started and finished our necessary stage to keep us in the running to finish the event. After this stage we waved the 999 car past, and headed to where we were scheduled to meet up with Lou & Russ again. This fuel up went to plan, at the location that we had picked out the previous night. We set off and headed for the next stage at Triabunna, but by the time we had come to this stage, it had already been opened to the public. We couldn’t compete and again, with the car stalling all the time, we were met by Lou & Russ, who got us going yet again. We decided to forgo the rest of the day and head straight for service, down at the Salamanca wharf.
Once at service, with night falling very quickly, we proceeded to pull the fuel system apart yet again to check filters, float levels, replace fuel regulators, valve clearances, as well as giving the car its usual service. After hours in the cold, we saw the car back together about 10.00ish and trying to tune a car, outside, in a quite town with no other vehicles around. We found it was a quick way to be introduced to some of the residents, and the security people. We headed off to the casino to sign the car in for the night.

Friday saw us up at dawn again to start the southern loop, with stages all around Hobart. We set off from the Wrest Point Casino around 7.30 in the morning, for another official start in Salamanca Place. After being breath tested (which happened each morning before competition), we were sent to the start line so each car could be announced to the crowd, and then waved off for the start of the days transports and competition. Once underway, we could sense that the car was starting to suffer in the clutch department after the battering it had taken over the last few days of slipping it at 3,000 revs just to get the car underway. We transported to the first stage at Bonnet Hill, which saw a short little blast of 3.45km, down a single road that surprisingly, had been classified as wet. We finished the first stage but the car still was not where she should have been, with the effort that Lou, Russ and the rest of the crew had been putting into her at services. However, we were still hopeful and still going.
The second stage was to be a longer stage at Howden. It looked like a bit more of a challenge, but unfortunately, that was not to be. We made it all of 620m into the stage, when the clutch finally cried uncle. We found a good vantage spot off to the side of the road, put out our ok sign and triangles and waited until the field made its way through. Again, the hospitality of the locals shone through, with some offering us some food and drinks that were gratefully accepted. We phoned the service crews and let them know that we were out for the day and that we were going to get the car put on a tow truck and sent back to Salamanca.

Whilst we were waiting for the field to come through and the road to be reopened, Lou & Russ set off in search of the necessary parts that were needed. A single carbie manifold, throttle linkages and STD flywheel were found on a vehicle in the local tip. Meanwhile, Barry had set out to rescue us from the side of the road and take us back to the service area to meet up with everyone else.
Once back at the service area, we found the tow truck driver and had him deliver the car to the undercover service area because it was going to be a long night for us. Once set up, the car was raised up onto stands and it was systematically pulled apart. Carbies off, all of the linkage system had to be reverted back to standard then be modified to fit around the extractors, changing the fuel system yet again to suit the alterations to the number of Carbies. Gearbox out so that we could fit the new (second hand) flywheel and new clutch, which later surfaced another problem because the thicker flywheel gave us less travel for the clutch and at the same time check brakes and a full service.
While all this was going on, Kylie and Greg set of in search for a new standard fuel pump and various fittings that were needed. They also found food to keep us going, and then set about putting the puzzle back together. We knew that this wasn’t going to be a quick fix and we were running out of time before we had to have the vehicle back to Wrest Point Casino for the expo. The officials were great, arranging for extra service time and for the use of the shed. Everything we needed to continue for the night. When we finally finished, put the car back on the ground and fired it up, I think a few people breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed to be running better than it had all week and hopes were high for a good run up to Burnie the next day.

Saturday was the run from Hobart via the midlands through to Burnie, which started from the Wrest Point Casino. We headed off to stage one at Hobart. Again, it was to be a short stage of 3.25km just to get the blood pumping in preparation for a good day of driving. Just 520m into the stage, the car again suffered fuel starvation. It would run out then stall, repeatedly, until we finally pulled into a carpark off to the side of the track and called it quits for the day. Yet again, we were on the phone to Lou & Russ to give them the news, and also onto Toni, Barry, Kylie & Greg to get them to come back as they had set off to our fuel stop just prior to Symmons Plains. We waited again for the field to go through before the road was opened to the public, which saw the “Lobster” come to our rescue once again.

Again the boys set about chasing the problem, which saw them this time take the car even further back to standard by bypassing the electric fuel pump and fitting the original mechanical pump, bought the day before, after sourcing the correct fittings needed to complete the job. With this done, a new fuel line was run from the front to back as well. It was at last starting to run as it should, various test drives proved that the car would make it through to the end off the last day. Everyone then transported themselves towards Burnie and we signed in to the last service where the car was given a full service after running with no problem (other than only getting half throttle) from Hobart to Burnie. All serviced, we made our way towards Marine Terrace where the vehicles would be put into park for the night. The crew had a couple of well deserved beers, before we headed off to our hotel that was about 30 mins away for a good meal, refuelling plans and a good nights sleep.

Sunday, Day 5, was the run down the West Coast from Burnie, through Queenstown, back to Hobart, which is the longest of the Targa. We were to lose two members of the crew today. Kylie & Greg had to leave us for work commitments and had to take the boat back so they could start work on Monday.
We set off at the front of the field knowing with only half throttle we were going to be slow, we kept a close eye on the rear vision mirror, the car was running the best it had all week. Stage one was Hellyer Gorge, a great one to start the day. It started with a fairly straight run, followed by a quick run down then up through a gorge, awesome and the first stage finished. The first fuel stop was on the side of the road on the transport to Mount Black. We saw Toni and Barry standing, out in the rain, waving a HSCCV flag to attract our attention, I think they were excited to see that we were on schedule with no more problems, as were we. Stage 2 was a short blast up and over Mount Black, which took us down one single road. Stage 3 started just 600m past the finish of the last stage. Rosebery followed the same road and was a little longer but, for safety, they decided to eliminate the chicanes because of the rain that was bucketing down, that lasted all of the day. Next was the tour to stage 4 at Strahan, nearly the length of the last stages combined. It was a good mix of speed and twisty bits. Would have been a hoot if we have had full throttle to play with, but we were just happy to be running all the stages leading up to the lunchbreak and refuel, at Queenstown.

Having only 15 mins for lunch meant we had to dump out our soups and pack our rolls away and head off to the next stage just out of Queenstown. The Queenstown stage was to take us up the side of Mount Lyell. The climb up was steep and the landscape was a stark contrast to the scenery we have had over the past few days. After this we transported to the stage at Mt. Arrowsmith, this is the longest, toughest stage of the event, at 47.24km. The first indication of the fun in store for us was the amount of S.O.S. points in this stage, 5 in total. A run down through Victoria Pass, then up and over Mt. Arrowsmith and Mt. King William saw us with the HD more than sideways on a couple of occasions.
Transporting down to the next stage saw us stop for fuel on the side of the road 15km before the start. Being only 7.7km Tarraleah stage was over in a blink of the eye. A quick run down to the Nive River, over a switchback bridge crossing, back up the other side and finishing in the middle of the town of Tarraleah. After another long transport of nearly 47km, we arrived at Ellendale. 9.9km with a 1km-speed restriction zone, built in to reduce the overall speed of the stage, because it was one of the straightest for the day except for a couple of deceptive left-hand bends.

Next, we headed off to the last stage of the day, and the Targa. It was a run through the town of New Norfolk, beside the Derwent River. In the description of this stage it stated, “the event started with a town stage (George Town) and will end with a town stage”, but unfortunately this wasn’t to be as it was downgraded to a touring stage. The entire field convoyed through the town, which saw yet another fantastic turn out of on-lookers to see all the cars pass through. Yet again Toni and Barry were on the side of the road to cheer us on (I think they covered more ground than we did that day). This was followed by an assembly of all the vehicles, where we waited for around an hour so they could bunch the whole field up, before the run back to the Wrest Point Casino.

We set off towards the Wrest Point Casino for the last transport of the event. Can’t really describe the feeling in the car, to finally finish a day, and the event for that matter, but it was quite an awesome and indescribable time. Once within sight of the Wrest Point Casino, all the vehicles collected in a carpark off a side road, to be put into order for the final crossing of the finish line. After about ½ an hour, we headed off into the Wrest Point Casino and over the finish line to receive our “finishers medals”. In front of all the TV camera’s, photographers and all the service crews, officials and fans that came out to cheer all the competitors over the line. After the vehicles were secure in the car park, all the competitors headed off to the Targa Bar inside the casino, for a few celebratory drinks with all our crews, who helped us to get across the finish line. We started to reflect on what had been a great experience and I’m sure that thoughts were already flying around in our heads for the next event, the discussion went deep into the night.

Monday was to be a quite relaxing day of reflection, with us all having a bit of a sleep in after arriving home rather late the previous night. We were going the Wrest Point Casino around 12.00ish, to having a great lunch, and then pick the car up from the car park. We were getting ready for the presentation dinner, when we received a call from one of the officials who wanted to interview us in regards to the Denny Hulme Award. As outlined in the officials guide; “The Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy” is awarded each year to the crew who over come huge difficulties during the event, take their predicament by the “scruff of the neck” and make it to the finish line at the Wrest point hotel on the final night. So to even be considered for this award was a great honour for our crew, and the persistence that they had shown over the past 5 days. We wouldn’t know the final winner until the presentation dinner so it was off to lunch.

After catching up with Barry, Kathleen, Joseph and Caitlin, we all got ready and headed off to the Wrest Point Casino, for the presentation dinner and a night of celebration. Entrees arrived and were eaten. We caught up with all the other competitors that had helped and encouraged us, over the course of the event, to keep on going. As we were sitting, enjoying the evening, a lady came to our table and asked for Troy Fitzpatrick. She handed him a small card that asked for Troy and I to go to the side of the stage when a certain award was being presented. It didn’t say what for but we all hoped we knew what the award was going to be.

Waiting at the side of the stage for the previous awards to finish being presented was quite nerve racking to say the least. It was amazing to notice the crowd going silent as Glenn Ridge started to introduce the “Denny Hulme Award”, once he announced the winner and the HD appeared up on the big screen, the cheers and whistles were amazing. An overwhelming feeling of pride came over us as we stepped up onto the stage to receive our tankards. They were absolutely amazing and the chance to make a short acceptance speech was a treat that we will both cherish for quite a while. Thanks must go out again to our crew, Toni, Lou, Russ, Kylie, Greg, Kathleen, Barry, Joseph & Caitlin. Without these guys, our Targa dream wouldn’t have been achieved and the award wouldn’t have been won. To state the obvious, we were on cloud nine and proceeded to party into the wee small hours (some of us a little too hard).

Tuesday, we headed back Devonport to catch the boat back to reality. Kathleen, Barry, Joseph & Caitlin stayed to travel around Tassie for another week’s holiday, we found ourselves stopping for lunch in Campbell Town on the way. I was told that they had the best food in existence but I wasn’t well enough to find out, maybe next year. Once on the boat it was a very subdued environment, with all the sleepless nights starting to catch up on us. So half of us retired to bed and half stayed up to ride out the 6m waves for the trip home.

Back in Melbourne, it was back to the factory to sort out all the gear, unload all the vehicles and then home, for a well-deserved rest.

It was finally over, it took longer and was harder than we thought, but it was over quicker than we could have imagined or deserved, but the memories will last a very long time. We now have some spare time back and will be able to catch up on people and things we have neglected for the last 9 months, hang on,
“What were the dates for next year again???”