Discussion
Ben - the story you heard about the cancellation of the final stage today was the same one they told us at the start line, so I guess it is probably true. It was a shame to have to tour through as it was good fun when we did it the other way earlier.
Let me know if you have any photos of us.. All the pictures I have are of a stationary car... Hope we weren't going too slow...
Great to see so many vehicles still going, and a lot of broken ones returning. Then Lamborghini is back and so is the little Abarth which is now on its second engine.
Let me know if you have any photos of us.. All the pictures I have are of a stationary car... Hope we weren't going too slow...
Great to see so many vehicles still going, and a lot of broken ones returning. Then Lamborghini is back and so is the little Abarth which is now on its second engine.
Nice photo of us Ben! Almost lifting a front wheel, must have been trying a bit...
Sorry about the lack of updates over the last few days. The event is full on and there are a few after match functions to go to..and then there is the matter of needing to sleep...
We have completed the event with a straight car and no mechanical failures. I don't know our final position yet, but it won't be anything fantastic. We shot ourselves in the foot at both Teratonga and Highlands Park with errors... Not enough laps, the first due to going the wrong side of the cones at the end of the first lap, and the second by turning 2 pages in the road book and missing a laps worth of instructions out... That got us default times on 2 stages which dropped us back a load of places. Errors that shouldn't happen, but did on this occasion.
Anyway, back to the main story... As I think i already said this is a particularly fast event... Open roads over crests mean you carry a lot of speed. We hit 200 more times per day on this rally than we have in the entirety of any other event. I am happiest on tight twisty narrow Slippery stuff.. And there hasn't been much of that! The exception was a stage on the Otago peninsular, the first stage out of Dunedin.. The road got narrow and tight...and the horns came out and the stage was attacked. Our placing on this one was probably our best for the event. More twisty nasty stages please, I love them.
Most of the rest of the stages down to Invercargill and on to Cromwell were open and fast. Moa flat had some fun stuff in it which raised a few giggles.
The weather forecast didn't really tell then truth... We were promised much rain, so I ran the wet tyres...and no rain fell! We eventually had sleet, hail and rain for half a stage and the it dried out again. The wet tyres are nice and progressive but don't offer the ultimate grip that the semi slicks do in the dry, so we probably lost out on some time there. Plus we had to put up with Bernie & Jilly in the Capri saying "told you so" .. They were on semi slicks the whole time.
Anyway the semis went on for Friday..and predictably didn't work at all for our first run up the Crown Range.. They warmed up in time for the descent, which was probably a good thing as it was very fast.
highlands park was fun, it is a complicated circuit that can be run in 27 configurations. We used the one that used as much of it as possible, however the notes in the road book only tell part of the story, so you are trying to remember where the track goes from a quick look at a layout map and a couple of laps that Tony Q drove me around in May. You could spend a lot of time on this circuit and still not fully know it. I'd love to come back with the Caterham 7 and get to know the place better.
The next 2 stages were a repeat of the first 2 with the crown range being more fun on warm tyres.
The last two stages however were the jewel in the crown of the event, Queenstown to Glenorchy and back... 33km each way of fast, twisty fun...and yes 200 was achieved both ways.
The finish line was in Queenstown and all of a sudden the event is over. It is quite a full stop when you cross the line and collect your medal... Normal life ie work etc is back and all you are left with is the glow of a major achievement... And you start wondering how you can get on to another event...
Thanks to Nathan and Mike who were the long suffering crew, the Targa organisers, marshals and support people without who the event wouldn't happen. Also to our wonderful sponsors without who we probably wouldn't be there, Elm Decorators, Atomise, IEEI.com, Porirua automotive smash repairs and UPS Power solutions.
Finally thanks to the other friends and competitors, particularly Bernie & Jilly and our West island friends in the RX7
More to follow when I have had time to digest proceedings and look at the results.
Sorry about the lack of updates over the last few days. The event is full on and there are a few after match functions to go to..and then there is the matter of needing to sleep...
We have completed the event with a straight car and no mechanical failures. I don't know our final position yet, but it won't be anything fantastic. We shot ourselves in the foot at both Teratonga and Highlands Park with errors... Not enough laps, the first due to going the wrong side of the cones at the end of the first lap, and the second by turning 2 pages in the road book and missing a laps worth of instructions out... That got us default times on 2 stages which dropped us back a load of places. Errors that shouldn't happen, but did on this occasion.
Anyway, back to the main story... As I think i already said this is a particularly fast event... Open roads over crests mean you carry a lot of speed. We hit 200 more times per day on this rally than we have in the entirety of any other event. I am happiest on tight twisty narrow Slippery stuff.. And there hasn't been much of that! The exception was a stage on the Otago peninsular, the first stage out of Dunedin.. The road got narrow and tight...and the horns came out and the stage was attacked. Our placing on this one was probably our best for the event. More twisty nasty stages please, I love them.
Most of the rest of the stages down to Invercargill and on to Cromwell were open and fast. Moa flat had some fun stuff in it which raised a few giggles.
The weather forecast didn't really tell then truth... We were promised much rain, so I ran the wet tyres...and no rain fell! We eventually had sleet, hail and rain for half a stage and the it dried out again. The wet tyres are nice and progressive but don't offer the ultimate grip that the semi slicks do in the dry, so we probably lost out on some time there. Plus we had to put up with Bernie & Jilly in the Capri saying "told you so" .. They were on semi slicks the whole time.
Anyway the semis went on for Friday..and predictably didn't work at all for our first run up the Crown Range.. They warmed up in time for the descent, which was probably a good thing as it was very fast.
highlands park was fun, it is a complicated circuit that can be run in 27 configurations. We used the one that used as much of it as possible, however the notes in the road book only tell part of the story, so you are trying to remember where the track goes from a quick look at a layout map and a couple of laps that Tony Q drove me around in May. You could spend a lot of time on this circuit and still not fully know it. I'd love to come back with the Caterham 7 and get to know the place better.
The next 2 stages were a repeat of the first 2 with the crown range being more fun on warm tyres.
The last two stages however were the jewel in the crown of the event, Queenstown to Glenorchy and back... 33km each way of fast, twisty fun...and yes 200 was achieved both ways.
The finish line was in Queenstown and all of a sudden the event is over. It is quite a full stop when you cross the line and collect your medal... Normal life ie work etc is back and all you are left with is the glow of a major achievement... And you start wondering how you can get on to another event...
Thanks to Nathan and Mike who were the long suffering crew, the Targa organisers, marshals and support people without who the event wouldn't happen. Also to our wonderful sponsors without who we probably wouldn't be there, Elm Decorators, Atomise, IEEI.com, Porirua automotive smash repairs and UPS Power solutions.
Finally thanks to the other friends and competitors, particularly Bernie & Jilly and our West island friends in the RX7
More to follow when I have had time to digest proceedings and look at the results.
Edited by iain a on Sunday 2nd November 08:00
Have to agree about Moa Flat and Glenorchy, both great bits of road. Weather is very unpredictable at this time of year so your tyre choice would have been 50/50 either way really.
I was at the bottom of the hill at the edge of Heriot (towards the south end of Moa Flat), the Mk1 Escort running just ahead of you was right in the ditch and probably lucky to drive out of it. Todd Bawden had a big spin there too just after the rain hit.
Was impressed by Buist's pace in the BDA, seen him on gravel plenty of times but didn't know he was that quick on tarmac as well.
Coupla hundred photos now uploaded here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5UeXaA
A (fairly large) selection here, hardly know where to start!
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr 
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
A (fairly large) selection here, hardly know where to start!
Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr Targa NZ 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrEdited by GravelBen on Tuesday 4th November 08:58
Uploaded some photos of the Tour as well now...
https://flic.kr/s/aHsk66BLtV
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/s/aHsk66BLtV
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Just these ones:
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on Flickr
Targa NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrTarga NZ Tour 2014 by gravelben, on FlickrEdited by GravelBen on Monday 15th December 05:13
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