1993 TARGA TASMANIA 28 April – 2 May

Jump to List of Contents 2

1993 TARGA TASMANIA 28 April – 2 May

Cartoons by


1993 FLAG CAR

Des and Jeremy Dillion in the 1920 12 litre V8 Hispano Suiza Guynemer Special

John and Kay Ould in the 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III


A big welcome in 1993 as Targa Tasmania overseas and interstate cars and competitors arrive in Devonport on the Spirit of Tasmania, which had replaced the Abel Tasman used in 1992.

LIST OF CONTENTS

1. THE COURSE

2. ENTRIES

3. PLACINGS

4. THE ORGANISATION

5. THE COMPETITION

6. THE HANDICAP SYSTEM

7. RESULTS

8. AFTERMATH – THE SAFETY REVIEW TASK FORCE

9. 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]


1: THE COURSE

MAP LEGEND

DAY COLOUR LOCATION - LOCATION DISTANCE 1 Orange Launceston-Launceston 300 km 2 Blue Launceston - Hobart 460 km 3 Purple Hobart - Hobart 220 km 4 Green Hobart - Burnie 490 km 5 Red Burnie - Hobart 520 km

1990 km


Schedule of Targa Stages - 36 DAY 1 – 7 Stages DAY 2 – 10 Stages DAY 3 – 6 Stages DAY 4 – 6 Stages DAY 5 – 7 Stages

Legana 5.9 Launceston# 2.4 Mount Nelson 1.6 Hobart# 3.2 Hellyer Gorge 14.9 Moriarty 7.3 Sideling 14.2 Oyster Cove 11.6 Colebrook 6.9 Rosebery 28.0 Latrobe 4.5 Derby 6.8 Woodbridge 9.4 Symmons Plains 7.0 Strahan 32.8 Devonport 17.0 Weld Hill 6.6 Cygnet 15.4 Cethana 38.3 Queenstown 6.4 Sheffield 15.0 Weldborough Pass 12.0 Longley 12.2 Gunns Plains 15.2 Mt Arrowsmith 52.6 Deloraine 11.1 St Mary’s Pass 5.7 Ridgeway 5.0 Riana 35.7 Tarraleah 8.6 Longford# 4.1 Elephant Pass 11.0 Ellendale 10.0 Cranbrook 10.2 Triabunna# 3.6 Grasstree Hill 8.2

# Town Stage Major course changes to the 1992 course were: • on Day One a new stage, ‘Latrobe’, run between ‘Moriarty’ and ‘Devonport’, was introduced; in 1992 what became

‘Moriarty’ was named ‘Latrobe’ and then renamed ‘Moriarty’ again in 1993; ‘Sheffield’ was changed to another direction, running over the Gog Ranges through Paradise to Union Bridge and Mole Creek; the ‘Longford’ town stage was conducted entirely on the eastern side of the main road (Wellington) running through the town and lengthened from 1.6km to 4.1km; ‘Symmons Plains’ was dropped on this day and transferred to Day Four;

• On Day Two new stages were introduced – ‘Launceston’ as a town stage and ‘Cranbrook’ near Swansea, on the East Coast, with ‘Runnymede’ and ‘Richmond’ dropped as not being competitive enough;

• Day Three saw the introduction of the short ‘Mt Nelson’ stage (1.6km) to open the day’s activities and the following stages rearranged from 1992 to better suit the school bus timetables;

• Day Four also saw changes with ‘The Domain’ lengthened to become the ‘Hobart’ Stage, and then ‘Jericho’ and ‘Poatina’ were dropped and replaced by ‘Symmons Plains’;

• Day Five was the same except the ‘Lake Pieman’ stage was replaced by a new one called ‘Rosebery’.

2: ENTRIES 268 entries from all states of Australia were received by the organisers, many of them from 1992 competitors, of which 252 started the event.

Expo at the Silverdome, Launceston.

Quote from Targa Tasmania 1992-1993, page 31: “The thrill of standing on the wharf at Devonport and watching the Abel Tasman (in 1992) disgorge a sensational collection of motor vehicles was something that was difficult to describe. For the members of the Targa Tasmania Management Committee, the seemingly endless line of cars dating from the 1920s to the present day represented the culmination of months of hard work. The color, the presentation of the vehicles, the camaraderie of the crews, the atmosphere of anticipation, the reception from the Devonport public, and the fact that cars and people had travelled from Australia, and some from across the world, to be there to see and feel all this and more made the occasion one to cherish forever.”


Historic Competition (7 starters) Seven pre-war cars were entered and these provided a special spectacle to the public as they passed along the roads and at the nightly Expos. There were: • 1920 Hispano Suiza Des and Jeremy Dillon - 1993 Flag Car • 1927 Type 35B Bugatti Ian Cocks/Reg Kenny • 1933 Alfa Romeo Castagna 1750GS Diana Gaze/Cathy Davison Coad • 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom 111 John and Kay Ould • 1937 Alvis Speed 25 David McDonald/Peter Landan • 1938 Jaguar SS100 Dom iMattina/Vic Pesavento • 1939 Jaguar SS100 John Bryson/John Primrose These cars covered the same course as the Classic and Modern; in later years they had their own course over four days with a rest day in Hobart after Day Two and competed on selected stages each day. Classic Competition (149 starters) Classic winner from 1992 Max Brunninghausen was back in his 1975 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR and was navigated by Ian Horsley, as was 1992 second Classic car Danny Loypur/Anna Tokar (1972 Porsche 911 RSR) and fourth D’Arcy Russell/Ross Warren in a 1974 Ferrari 246 GT. Many of the Rally Classics drivers who competed in 1992 returned to run the Classic Competition, including D’Arcy Russell and Matt Philip An unusual entry was the ‘Silver Bullet’ crewed by Jeff Dutton and Pat Coram. This car was a Porsche Hybrid - a 1955 Porsche 356 Continental body, a Porsche 914-6 chassis and running gear, and a 300 bhp six-cylinder motor in the back.

The ‘Silver Bullet’

Modern Competition (96 starters) Leading personalities competing in 1993 were: • Kevin Bartlett with Peter Bartlett 1991 Nissan GTR • David Brabham with Grahame Ward 1993 Porsche 968 CS • Colin Bond, with John Dawson-Damer 1992 Toyota MR2 • Greg Crick, with Greg Preece 1992 Honda NSX • Dick Johnson, with John Dixon 1993 Ford Laser TX3 4WD • Ed Ordynski, with Lyndon Wilson 1992 Holden Calibra Turbo • Jim Richards, with Barry Oliver 1993 Porsche 968 CS • Chris Rossiter (UK) with Jeremy Barker 1991 BMW Schnitzer S3 Included in the entries was the Ferrari F40 crewed by Chas and Robyn Kelly. Following the off-course excursion in 1992 the car was sent back to Italy for restoration and the Kellies had it flown back to Melbourne from Italy so that it could participate in 1993. International Competitors (26 people) Six were from Japan. Female Competitors (40 people)


The composition of the vehicles was: PERIOD NO.

Edwardian 1900-1922 1 Vintage 1923-1930 1 Post Vintage 1931-1946 5 Thoroughbred A 1947-1960 52 Thoroughbred B 1961-1965 In above Classic A 1966-1969 105 Classic B 1970-1977 In above Modern Classic 1978-1987 38 Contemporary 1988-1991 37 New Releases 1992-1993 29 Tot. Entries 268 Tot. Starters 252

International competitors included:

Car No.

Driver Cty./ State

Navigator Cty./ State

Vehicle

404 Robert Schmuke NZL Stuart Myers NZL 1963 Corvette Stingray Coupe 417 Seiichi Kato JPN Morihiro Kato JPN 1965 Honda S800 DB1 432 Masahiko Sotomura JPN Katsura Takahasi JPN 1965 Alfa Romeo 10528 Super 445 Carol Spagg GBR Peter McDonald IRL 1956 Porsche 356A Coupe 575 Mayumi Horiuchi JPN Kyoko Fukumura JPN 1969 Nissan 510 Bluebird 577 John Jung USA Elizabeth Frank USA 1973 Ferrari Dino 246 582 Hidenori Kodama JPN Haruyuki Shimizu JPN 1976 Porsche 930 Turbo 629 John Wales SGP Ron Goutmann NSW 1979 Ferrari BB 512 Boxer 642 Natasha Oberoi USA Neil Ashmead SA 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera 719 Jeff Beaumont SGP Pater Gale Vic 1991 Nissan Pulsar GTiR 739 Chris Rossiter GBR Jeremy Barker GBR 1991 BMW Schnitzer S3 740 Wakujiro Kobayshi JPN Rubiko Kobayashi JPN 1991 Nissan GTR 807 Mithumori Shinjo JPN Tsutomu Suda JPN 1992 Maxda RX7

International Competitors in Event

Drivers Navigators Total Historic 0 0 0 Classic 8 8 16 Modern 4 4 8 Total 12 12 26

Female Competitors in Event

Drivers Navigators Total Historic 1 2 3 Classic 2 23 25 Modern 1 11 12 Total 4 36 40

3: PLACINGS

Full details of Targa Tasmania results for Historic, Classic and Modern Groups are not readily available. The following are the Category winners. General Classification

Place Car No. Crew Vehicle Min./Sec. Gap 1 814 Greg Crick/Greg Preece 1992 Honda NSX 07:02

2 829 Jim Richards/Barry Oliver 1993 Porsche 968 CS 08:21 1:19 3 739 Chris Rossiter/Jeremy Barker 1991 BMW Schnitzer S3 09:52 1:31 4 825 Jack Brabham/Grahame Ward 1993 Porsche 968 CS 10:10 0:18 5 724 Graeme Alexander/John Woodberry 1990 Mitsubishi Galant VR4 RS 10:20 0:10 6 720 Kevin Bartlett/Peter Bartlett 1991 Nissan GT-R 11:10 0:50 7 888 Ed Ordynski/Lyndon Wilson 1992 Holden Calibra Turbo 11:52 0:42 8 820 John Pooley/Bob Tyson 1993 Porsche 968 12:59 1:07 9 704 Graeme Walkem/Scott Walkem 1990 Mitsubishi Galant VR4 4WD 13:21 0:22

10 828 Glen Cugley/John Dowling 1992 Subaru Legacy 13:26 0:05


Greg Preece and Greg Crick – Outright winners 1992 and 1993

Handicap Winners

Place No. Crew Vehicle Score 1 621 Greg Scally/Peter Kyriakidis 1982 Mazda RX7 509.255 2 569 Chris Smith/Peter Knight 1974 Alfa Romeo 2000 508.791 3 573 D’Arcy Russell/Ross Warren 1974 Ferrari Dino 246GT 508.081 4 729 Phil Horan/Monty Suffern 1991 BMW 381 iS 504.219 5 607 John Youl/David Reader 1986 Mazda RX7 503.588 6 730 Simon Lingford/David Moir 1988 Ferrari 328 503.530 7 742 Graham Hunt/Colin Gow 1988 Ford TX3 503.408 8 721 Russell Paterson/David Barnett 1991 BMW 325i 503.297 9 825 Jack Brabham/Grahame Ward 1993 Porsche 968 501.828

10 430 Brian Sawley/Rosemary Sawley 1960 Ferrari 250 500.169 Category Winners

Edwardian (1900 to 1922) Place No. Crew Vehicle

1 101 Des Dillion Jeremy Dillion 1920 Hispano Suiza Vintage (1923 to 1930)

Place No. Crew Vehicle 1 201 Ian Cocks Reg Kenny 1927 Bugatti Type 35B

Post Vintage (1931 to 1946)

Place No. Crew Vehicle 1 305 John Bryson John Primrose 1938 Jaguar 100 SS 2 304 Dom Dimattina Vic Pesavento 1938 Jaguar 100 SS 3 303 John Ould Kay Ould 1937 Rolls Royce P111 SC

Thoroughbred A (1947 to 1960)

Place No. Crew Vehicle 1 403 John Moore Gordon Bryce 1960 Austin Healey 3000 2 406 Peter Williams Anne Doyle 1959 Austin Healey Sebring 3 413 Neville Heydon Robin Bowerman 1960 Porsche 356 B Coupe

Thoroughbred B (1961 to 1965)

Place No. Crew Vehicle 1 420 Ross Williams Ruth Williams 1964 Elfin Clubman 2 415 Matt de Paoli Rodney Woolnough 1964 Holden EH 3 427 Matt Philip Peter Coffey 1964 Ford Cortina 240


Classic A (1966 to 1969) Place No. Crew Vehicle

1 574 Howard Culvert Edmond Culvert 1968 Alfa Romeo 1600 GT 2 529 Boris Orazem David Pryce 1968 Volkswagen Beetle 3 502 Andrew Shaw Max Heyward 1970 Ford Capri GT

Classic B (1970 to 1977)

Place No. Crew Vehicle 1 573 DÁrcy Russell Ross Warren 1974 Ferrari Dino 246 GT 2 544 Max Brunninghausen Rod Horsley 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 3 564 Tom Williams Ken Parker 1979 Porsche 911

Modern Classic (1978 to 1987)

Place No. Crew Vehicle 1 607 John Youl David Reader 1986 Mazda RX7 2 605 Roger Oakeshott Rob Hayden 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera 3 633 Jeff Beable Nerida Beable 1987 Jaguar XJ40 Turbo

Contemporary (1988 to 1991)

Place No. Crew Vehicle 1 739 Chris Rossiter Jeremy Barker 1991 BMW Schnitzer S3 2 724 Graeme Alexander John Woodbury 1990 Mitsubishi Galant VR4 3 720 Kevin Bartlett Peter Bartlett 1991 Nissan GTR

New Releases (1991 to 1993)

Place No. Crew Vehicle 1 814 Greg Crick Greg Preece 1992 Honda NSX 2 829 Jim Richards Barry Oliver 1993 Porsche 968 3 825 David Brabham Graeme Ward 1993 Porsche 968

Targa Trophies Following the 1993 event 67 individual competitors were eligible to go for a Gold Targa Trophy in 1994, having qualified by winning their second Targa Trophy by having completed all the targa stages conducted in 1992 and 1993 within the maximum time. The Event The success of the inaugural event, despite its problems, created pressures on the organisers as the number of enquiries and entries for 1993 indicated that Targa Tasmania was about to explode into a much bigger, truly national event. More than 100 entries were nominated to the organisers, with a financial deposit, within weeks of the 1992 event finishing. The news of Targa Tasmania quickly spread far and wide and a full field of 252 competitors started the 1993 event. Of the 36 planned stages five were downgraded, a vast improvement over 1992, highlighting the lessons learnt from the inaugural event in 1992, with a principal lesson being the need for more resources and a bigger team of officials.

1927 Bugatti crews by Ian Cocks and Reg Kenny – leaving the start in Launceston


The competition structure in 1992 catered for three categories of vehicles but it was apparent that a much broader structure was needed, so the categories listed above were formed for 1993, giving many more competitors a chance of winning a trophy – which were awarded to first, second and third in each category.

4: ORGANISATION

THE HOBART-BASED 1993 MANAGEMENT TEAM

(from left) Ronda Matthews, David Ransley, John Large, Rowan Burns, Lin Gigney Zara White in front.

1993 COMPETITION COMMITTEE

Chairman John Large Clerk of Course Lin Gigney Deputy Clerk of Course Brian Richardson Deputy Administration Manager John Watson Event Secretary Zara White Operations Consultant Tom Snooks Area Coordinator North Kevin Styles Area Coordinator North West Brendon Becker Area Coordinator South Dennis Burgess Competitor Relations Manager Jim Reddiex Chief Technical Manager Garry Boyd Chief Scrutineer Eddie O’Sullivan Chief Results Official John Brock Chief Safety Officer Geoff Becker Chief Communications Officer Stu Braunholz Community Relations Manager Jeff Ransley Equipment Officer Adrian Mason Recovery Manager Ross Richardson CAMS Course Checker Terry Bracken

With Tony Wright standing down after the inaugural Targa Tasmania Lin Gigney, Southern Area Coordinator in 1992, stepped forward to take on the Clerk of Course role, with Brian Richardson as his Deputy and John Watson handling the competition administration. Gigney continued with the system of the three Area Coordinators adopted by Wright – North West, North and South. The Event Management and Organising Committees were restructured to overcome the challenges from the 1992 event that were needed for its improvement. The competition course was also restructured in part, for the long three days (Launceston to Hobart, Hobart to Burnie, Burnie to Hobart) needed a buffer time for the orderly management of delays without running out of daylight. In late December 1992, Max Stahl left the organisation when he and Large were unable to see eye to eye on a number of issues and could not find a mutually acceptable solution to the problems. Quote by John Large in Targa Tasmania The Ultimate Tarmac Rally, 1992 – 2001 The First 10 Years, by Octagon Motorsport].


‘’On New Year’s Day 1993, an event occurred which was to have a major positive effect on the nature of Targa Tasmania. With the planning season for 1993 finishing at the end of 1992 and the implementation season about to start in January 1993, I had become concerned with Lin Gigney’s workload, particularly arising from his dual role running both the competition division and the general administration area. In a conversation with motorsport colleague and long-time friend Tom Snooks, it was revealed that he had retired his role with the Australian Safari. Sensing an opportunity, I offered him a consultative role with Targa Tasmania to assist in the development of the competition management structure and the essential systems and processes through which the competition would be conducted on the road. Snooks agreed and spent the next six months at my home in Hobart where we burned the midnight oil defining the specific issues while Tom documented the solutions.”

Snooks & Large Headquarters:

Launceston - International Travelodge

Hobart - Sheraton Hotel


The course for 1993 followed basically that of 1992 and particular attention was made changing some aspects of the stages in order for the scheduling of the event to allow it to flow better. Many improvements over the inaugural event in 1992 were evident with the most obvious being the tighter control over the scheduling and downgrading of targa stages to touring stage status. Communications were better (but by no means optimum) and the introduction of a central Command Centre in Launceston then Hobart assisted the Clerk of the Course in having more control of the event. However, there were a number of inherent problems, with two issues highest on the list of priorities to consider post-event for 1994 – safety and results.

1969 Lancia Fulvia crewed by Graham O’Çonnor and Jo Vettoretti

Stages Downgraded • Day 1: ‘Latrobe’ (recovery of car that went into the Mersey River):

On the Latrobe stage the 1965 Austin Healey 3000, crewed by Bob Alexander and Garth Bradley, failed to take the right hand bend that took the traffic along the south side of the river, slid down the bank into the mudflats of the Mersey River. Because the tide was coming in the organisers decided to recover the vehicle as quickly as possible, which would involve a large tow truck, and the delay carrying out this exercise would be lengthy so the stage was downgraded and the waiting competitors re-routed to the lunchbreak at Devonport.

• Day 1: Due to several delays on the ‘Sheffield’ stage (where a number of public vehicles entered the stage before it was

opened and the officials had to stop the stage and re-secure it) ‘Deloraine’ was downgraded because of the lateness of the competitors at the rear of the field and the need to get them though quickly so as to avoid downgrading ‘Longford’ which had attracted many spectators.

• Day 2: ‘The Sideling’ was a magnificent road that wound through plantation forests to the west of Launceston and required

both careful placement of the car on the road and the right gear selection to do well. Placed mid-field a 1969 Morris Cooper S rolled going through a left hand bend and driver John Catalano suffered a broken arm, whilst navigator Allan Baker was okay. Some confusion amongst officials over the status of the stage, together with a breakdown in communications, resulted in the stage being downgraded, despite the fact the vehicle was well off the road.

• Day 2: Once again the field was running late by the end of the day and the road closure time expired for ‘Grasstree Hill’ and

about halfway through the filed the stage was downgraded to a touring section. • Day 3: ‘Longley’ (car slammed into a tree):

The 1975 Porsche 911 Carrera of Andy Nicolaides/Earl Carter slammed into a tree halfway through the 12 kilometre ‘Longley’ targa stage, and the impact pivoted the car around and down a bank. Both crew members were quite seriously injured, suffering broken legs. The first response medical team was quickly on the scene to render assistance, and then they were taken to Hobart hospital; they were back on their feet six months later.

• Day 5: ‘Hellyer Gorge’ (slippery):

Reports from the Zero Car that ran some 30 minutes ahead of the first competitor reported that ‘Hellyer Gorge’ was extremely slippery and too dangerous to contemplate running the stage at competitive speeds so on the recommendation of


this crew the stage was downgraded to touring.

1949 MGY – John Batkin and Harry Marks on the ’Deloraine’ Targa Stage (Day 1

Despite the continued problems of conducting the event efficiently, competitors once again commented favourable on the concept of the event and their intention to return in the hope that the issues would get sorted out. Their faith in the event was such that once again over 100 nominations for 1994 were received by the organisers very shortly after the event.

5: THE COMPETITION Historic Competition In the Vintage Classes Des and Jeremy Dillion in the Hispano Suiza won their uncontested class, as did Ian Cocks/Reg Kenny in their Bugatti.

John Bryson/John Primrose took off the Post-Vintage Class in their Jaguar SS100, followed 11 minutes later by Dom DiMattina/Vic Pesavento in a similar vehicle, with John Ould/Kay Ould Rolls Royce P111 third well back in time.


Classic Competition Amongst the Classic Classes first overall was D’Arcy Russell/Ross Warren in their Ferrari Dino 246 GT, over a minute ahead of Max Brunninghausen/Rod Horsley (Porsche 911 Carrera), with Tom Williams/Ken Parker a further 22 seconds in third place in their Porsche 911. Outright Competition Greg Crick and Greg Preece to their 1992 Honda NSX to a second successive win of the event when they were just over one minute ahead of second placed Jim Richards and Barry Oliver, crewing a 1993 Porsche 968 CS. In third place was a crew from Britain rejoicing in a most creditable drive, Chris Rossiter and Jeremy Barker in their BMW Schnitzer S3, 90 seconds after Richards. Jack Brabham, with Grahame Ward, took his 1993 Porsche 968 CS to fourth place, only 18 seconds after Rossiter, with Graeme Alexander and John Woodberry 10 seconds behind in fifth in their 1990 Mitsubishi Galant VR4 RS, and a further 50 seconds to Kevin and Peter Bartlett in a 1991 Nissan GT-R.

Handicap 1993 was the first year of a Handicap, and this was won by Greg Scally/Peter Kyriakidis in their 1982 Mazda RX7, and were followed by Chris Smith/Peter Knight (1974 Alfa Romeo GTV 2000) and D’Arcy Russell/Ross Warren (1974 Ferrari 246 GT). Some Highlights • The ‘Sheffield’ stage was conducted after the lunchbreak in Sheffield. This stage initially passed through farming terrain and

then wound up over high country (Gog Ranges) through a forest, and then steep downhill runs and sharp corners. The tarmac often became slippery on the downhill run to Union Bridge and then there was the bridge itself on a tight left hander to contend with. It was fast in parts to warrant a chicane midway through the stage in later years when chicanes were introduced to keep the stage average speed no faster than 132km/h. This year (1993) 13 cars went off the road resulting in various degrees of panel rearrangement, the organisers did not use the stage in 1994 to 1997 until they regained confidence to reintroduce it to the event from 1998. As a result of these excursions, some serious, as well as incidents on other stages, all of which attracted much attention from the media and the authorities, John Large appointed a Safety Review Task Force to look into the event as a whole and make recommendations to the organisers on safety issues (see section below).

• Some confusion at the ‘Symmons Plains’ race circuit was created when some crews, not following the road book instructions,

miscounted the number of laps they had to do (three) and came into the finish after doing only two laps; or alternatively, some stayed out for four! Unfortunately, this means that some crews were derived of their targa trophy eligibility by making this mistake.

• After two days (Launceston to Launceston and Launceston to Hobart and 17 targa stages) the number of incidents involving

cars leaving the road highlighted the degree of competitiveness of the competitors’ driving and Dick Johnson was one who called for some of the less experienced drivers to reconsider their approach. He felt that too many were driving at ten-tenths but the course demanded a maximum of seven-tenths driving to ensure a safe reserve if anything went wrong. It is interesting to note that in 1993 77% of the starters finished the event, as it turned out the lowest finising rate for the years 1992 - 2003. This was one of the factors that led John Large to set up the Safety Review Task Force after the event:


Finish Percentage 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

83 77 84 82 83 81 87 86 83 85 84 82

• On ‘Longford’ one of the most crowd-pleasing crews on this stage was husband and wife Jeff and Nerida Beable in their 1967 Jaguar Sovereign XJ40, which was suitably adorned with the exclamation ‘’Two Ton Pussy”, fitted with twin Nissan GT-R turbochargers and five-speed Getrag gearbox. Working to maximum effect, Beable threw the big car through the many corners in way that had to be seen to be believed. For Nerida, the whole experience on this first day was something completely different from what she had been ‘’sold’’ before the event - her understanding the visit to Tasmania was to be a leisurely trip around Tasmania - the competition aspects were an eye-opener for her. Needless to say, Nerida became addicted to the event and the pair returned again and again - so many times that by 2003 they both were eligible for a Platinum Targa Trophy.

Jeff and Nerida Beable in the ‘’Two Ton Pussy’ - 1967 Jaguar Sovereign XJ40

• The day three course was intensive and crews needed to heed the advice about their driving as, although this was shortest day, it was also the toughest because of short transport sections between targa stages meaning less rest time between stages, as well as the steep climbs and descents through the country south of Hobart, these two factors being hard on brakes and tyres.

• The ‘Cygnet’ stage saw nine crews not arriving at the finish through mechanical problems or an altercation with the scenery. Three of the retirements included a couple of outright contenders. Ray Lintott/Mark Lintott in their 1991 Nissan GT-R ran off the road (and rejoined Day Four); David Cuff and Michael Cameron in the 1990 Nisan XZ300 ended up hitting some water tanks at the rear of a house after taking action to avoid a problem by taking to the property driveway as an escape road - leaving Cuff with a repair bill.

• Day Four would be in contrast to Day Three in that long touring sections linked up the early targa stages. On the first stage of the day, ‘Hobart’, the 1968 Volkswagen Beetle of Boris Orazem/David Pryor spewed oil over a the road and a 20 minute delay was incurred whilst officials used cement dust to remove the danger.

• One issue that came out of the downgrading of ‘Hellyer Gorge’ was the adoption in future events of ‘dry’, ‘intermediate’ and

‘wet’ times which were published in the road book. If a stage was wet then the start control officials advised the competitors, after being directed to do so by the Command Centre, to use the ‘wet’ time for the stage, which increased the maximum (or trophy) time in which to drive it. If the road became dry then the wet time applied for all competitors, it did not revert to the dry time.

6: THE HANDICAP SYSTEM

To give all competitors the opportunity to achieve victory in the various categories and classes, irrespective of the differences in the performance of their cars, a handicap competition to run concurrently with the overall competition was devised. The system was designed to reward consistency in performance over the duration of the event and measured consistency relative to the performance of other competitors, and so did not give an advantage to faster vehicles. It involved only those competitors who completed all targa stages within the maximum times, and rewarded the competitor who was able to increase his/her pace relative to the performance of the rest of the field. On the other hand, a competitor who had shown an inconsistent pattern of improvement a decline was penalised. A score of ‘100’ was the target for each day for each eligible competitor and examples of performance are:


• a competitor who declined one day and improved the next day received a score (for example) of 90 on the first day and 105 on the second day, giving a total of 195 for the two days;

• a competitor who maintained the same position on both days scored 100 on each day for a total of 200; • a competitor who improved his/her position on both days scored (for example) 105 on each day for a total of 210. The overall handicap results were arrived at by adding the scores for each day. Total handicap scores for the event were clustered around 500, with the more consistent improvers scoring above 500. It turned out that the Handicap System devised for 1993 was far too complicated for most people to understand and a new system was devised for 1994.

7: RESULTS The finish, and presentation, of the 1993 event was staged in Hobart without results being available. Major difficulties in capturing and transmitting data to the event headquarters were compounded by a major computer breakdown on Day Four. Whilst the small results team worked tirelessly for 24 hours the task of getting results for the presentation, which was held the night after the finish, proved to be fruitless and whilst the first three placings were agreed to by the competitors themselves, it was not possible to confidently make further awards. The problem was not just computer hardware and software collapse. It involved the extraordinary difficult task by the competition officials to accurately record the movements of up to 250 vehicles at (nominally) 30 seconds intervals for the 31 stages that were conducted. This involved the recording of car numbers, stage start and finish times, time of arrival at the start controls, radio transmission of times from the flying finish to the stop control – all under extreme pressure due to the 30 second intervals between cars, and, for many of the volunteer officials, this was the first time they had been involved in such a task. There were countless errors with incorrect times and vehicle numbers recorded and entered in the computer. There is an old saying of ‘garbage in means garbage out’ and that is exactly what happened to the 1993 results system! The task of producing the results manually – with some 26000 start/finish times and vehicle numbers – took almost a month to complete, with Snooks and local Tasmanian, Keith Morris, taking data from the event’s road cards and control cards. As Morris had a day job the pair could work together at night and on weekends, while Snooks used the weekdays reviewing with Large the 1993 competition problems (and successes), and carrying out preliminary planning for the 1994 event.

Maxwell Hobson/Julie Chamberlain in the 1964 Shelby FIA Cobra on the ‘Weldborough Pass’ Targa Stage (Day 2)

8: AFTERMATH OF 1993 - SAFETY TASK FORCE One of the aftermath issues in 1993 was the analysis of the number of crashes by competitors, some resulting in quite serious injuries. The influx of serious competitors, with cars that were not set up properly for the road conditions (in some parts too narrow for high speed competition driving, considerably bumpy and twisty in parts), driving hard to be well placed in the event, produced an alarming number of incidents (23) which resulted in damage to cars and injuries to crews. Seven crew members were hospitalised with five detained for more than 24 hours. The incidents attracted the attention of the media and also the Tasmanian Police and Government representatives, giving a


negative perception that the event was a road race, and it was noted that rollover protection and wearing of safety helmets were not compulsory. Quote by John Large in Targa Tasmania The Ultimate Tarmac Rally, 1992 – 2001 The First 10 Years, by Octagon Motorsport.

“The influx of serious competitors driving hard to win or be well placed produced an alarming number of crashes, giving the impression of unbridled mayhem was in the forefront of some important minds – especially those of the Tasmania Police and the Tasmanian Government – which started to see the event becoming something rather different from their original aspirations for a multi-million dollar mobile motor show around the roads of Tasmania”.

Originally presented to the Tasmanian Government as a ‘relatively stately drive around Tasmania by classic car owners in older vehicles’ had materialised into something more akin to the original Targa Florio event whose name it took – a road race!!! Additionally, some competitors raised concerns of the potential of crashing at relatively high speeds at deceptive locations, and also the places where the viewing public stood, particularly on the town stages (one held each day). John Large formed a Safety Review Task Force comprising 10 members from the Tasmanian Police and Government, Tasmanian Ambulance, Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) and experienced competitors. It was chaired by a Government Member (Rohan Sproule) and Tom Snooks was appointed as the Executive Officer to handle the administrative aspects. The Task Force met a number of times in June and July (1993). The Task Force handed down its recommendations and the vast majority of these were adopted by John Large. They included the following: • drivers to hold a CAMS General Competition licence (which required drivers to have competition driving experience to obtain

one) or a CAMS Restricted Competition Licence (complimented by the driver attending a Competition Driver Training Course);

• at the competitors briefing drivers be strongly addressed on safe competitive driving by a respected motor sport driver; • introduce the following safety issues:

o safety helmets to be worn on targa stages; o a minimum standard safety belt to be worn at all times; o open vehicles compulsorily be fitted with rollover protection; o it was recommended that closed vehicles be fitted with rollover protection, if only a half-cage; o certain tyres be banned from the event and control measures introduced to enforce the ban; and o the number of tyres be restricted to five per vehicle per event and penalised if more were used.

1976 Holden Torana SS crewed by Owen Parkinson and Bruno Rossetto on the George Town Prologue

• as some of the vehicles had not been prepared for the prevailing road conditions, the organisers to prepare and issue

information advising competitors of the road conditions to be encountered and comments on the preparation of the vehicle to suit these conditions (eg: suspension, tyres) if the vehicle was driven in a more-than-average competitive manner (articles for inclusion in the supplementary regulations were prepared by Kevin Bartlett [advice on different style of driving to suit varying road and weather conditions], Bill Bennett from Pedders Suspension [on suspension set up] and Peter Gallagher of Spinning Wheels Tyres [on selection of tyres]);

• the organisers to review the minimum times (which had to be achieved to gain a Targa Trophy; the times were different for the various vehicle eras) so that drivers did not overdrive to achieve them; and on town stages set times such that ALL drivers could achieve them;

• a number of recommendations were handed down for the conduct of town stages, and spectator viewing areas on open road stages;


• the road book issued to competitors to list what could be classified as unexpected hazards. As regards spectator safety the recommendations included: • in town stages better course barricading, keeping corner run-offs clear of spectators and increasing the numbers of spectator

control marshals who were to wear an appropriate vest identifying them as marshals; • documents be produced by the course setter (Clerk of Course) giving clear instructions to targa stage officials on how to set

up each stage with spectator safety in mind; • a senior official be appointed as a Chief Spectator Marshal who was to be on the Competition Organising Committee and was

to carry out spectator control training sessions around the state for officials; • a page of the Official Program (on sale to the public) for the event to carry specific safe spectating information.

One person who contributed significantly to the Review, convincing those representing the authorities that the organisers could control the event from a safety and medical point of view if new protocols were adopted, was the event Safety Officer, Geoff Becker, who in civil life was the Superintendent, Tactical Operations of the Tasmanian North West Ambulance Service, based at Burnie. During the 1992 and 1993 events, as the Safety Officer and Chief Medical Officer, he experienced first-hand the crash carnage and from this he identified a number of solutions to be tried in future events. Geoff Becker’s involvement at this stage was pivotal to the continuation of the event as Government support was wavering giving the carnage that happened in the 1993 event. At this time of course the event was new and not at all accepted by many in the community, or the media for that matter, tending to see it as an opportunity for speed hungry yahoos to belt around the main roads of the island. The tourism factor took a few more years to be accepted. He developed a number of protocols for identifying the severity of a crash and for using specially equipped vehicles (‘FIV’ – First Intervention Vehicles) stationed at the start of a targa stage (which competitors could not start into a stage without one present) to be able to attend an incident immediately news was received at the stage start. Much is owed to Becker for his contribution in convincing the Task Force members to recommend the continuance of the event, subject to the Task Force’s recommendations being adopted by the organisers. Becker also, in conjunction with the Communication Officials, assisted prominently with developing communications (much of which did not exist in the first two years) between the stages and the central Command Centre, particularly as regards safety protocols. He became Deputy Clerk of Course for a number of years.

9: PHOTOGRAPHS

1967 Alfa Romeo Guilia Super crewed by Wes Anderson and Ken Oberman


1970 Chevrolet Corvette crewed by Chris and Dawn Riches

Dom DiMattina/Vic Pesavento in their 1938 Jaguar SS100.

Lotus Escort Twin Cam of Greg Cook/Mick Cole


Wayne Clark and Roger Richardson in a 1872 Maserati Bora

1993 TARGA TASMANIA 28 April – 2 May

Documents

Transcript of 1993 TARGA TASMANIA 28 April – 2 May