What a pleasant surprise. We awake to find a winter wonderland outside our window at Mt Buller with 4 inches of snow blanketing the Shelby GT. An unseasonal snow storm increases the day three nerves and anticipation - a new challenge for crews to face. Thankfully as we transported down from the Mt Buller summit the snow gradually disappeared and turned into rain and fog.
Who would have thought!! The morning was cloudy and it was looking like rain. Alex and I stayed overnight at Cathy and Terry Ferguson’s. Terry has been a Stage Commander many times - 25 Years of Targa’s to be precise. We had a great dinner last night, and bacon and eggs for breakfast, Delicious! Targa amended our start time from 8:28 to 8:45am, so we got the parking area around 8:20, did some last minute preparation on the Shelby, and the I managed to complete the crank re-learn procedure.
The talk last night was minus 5 degrees and snow and, when we woke up this morning - yep, cold and snow! It's always a challenge to run down the mountain in minus 1 degrees C and, just as we were leaving snow came down again. Everyone is going to be anxious to get this one under their belt, on the slipperiest roads you will every have to drive fast on, or should I say try to drive fast on. The Shelby GT slipped and slid down the road and we managed a safe passage to the end - no fun at all.
It was a promising day of racing as Alex and I left Launceston, heading north west to Burnie. The day's stages are challenging in their own right and the Shelby GT is raring to hit the roads. I thought I had the fix for the misfire and tried to do a crank re-learn, however the computer wouldn’t let me do it, so the misfire remains. The new brakes we fitted seem to be holding up. Today's stages are very high speed for long periods and then have some downhill heavy braking that will test the brakes, what brakes!
Setting up for Targa High Country has been real fun. With Kate in the navigation seat we managed to compile our own rally notes tailored to how we want them. Day one saw us head out from the mountain in anticipation to giving THC a good crack. All 'G' up Mirimbah stage, we went well with Kate in the moment. A car off the side of the road threw a curve ball, and we copped a 30 second penalty for going too fast on the shake down (so we gave every one a head start).
Day 1 of the real competition is always a nervous time, especially with a new crew and high expectations. The Sideling is the first stage of the day, and puts it all in perspective. It is the most gruelling stage of the event and, if you get through it, the rest is easy