Targa Tasmania 2016 - Day 4
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. They called us to leave earlier than expected. Coming out of the park, everyone had packed up and we nearly missed the time out. On the road we caught up to Jason and John White in the Viper, and then we could relax during the 50km to the first stage of the Day.
The first three stages of the day were new to the event. Montumana is 8.1km and the Shelby team were flowing over the tarmac, and recorded the second fastest time. The brakes and power were all back, and the Shelby was firing on all cylinders. The next stage, Irishtown, was new as well. It is 12km of fast flowing roads, some gravel and a few crests along the way.
Approximately 6km in, the provided pacenotes were, "Fast right over Crest, Straight 200 metres, Double Crest 150 8 right" – no cautions or air on the notes. We launched off the crest and landed to the right, as just over the crest the road had a slight kick to the left before the 8 right. The front right wheel managed to touch the edge of the road surface as the rear came down, then the Mustang went sideways in a four wheel drift towards the left side of the road. Our speed was 180kph as we drifted down the embankment front of the Mustang pointing to the road. All at once I was thinking we were about to roll on the roof as we hit the bank beside the swampy marsh, and then launched up and over a 3.5 metre bank in the air, and came to rest in a softly ploughed vegetable field.
The Shelby GT was looking worst for wear, needing a very good makeover. Alex and I a very thankful that our safety equipment did its job.
Thank you to Sharon and Darryl for crewing for us, and also Graham and Pete in the 65 Shelby for being part of our team - good luck for the closing days of the event,
Craig.
It's a big shame about the accident that took Craig and I out of contention at Targa Tasmania. The event was going very well for us and our crew dealt brilliantly with the technical issues we encountered during the first 3 legs of the event. We are really happy with the times set on the stages we ran, because we were able to set times faster than the ones Craig set last year. We were sitting third up until the accident, which is very promising for the new Shelby Mustang GT that Mustang Motorsport has recently built. The car, while still new and in the development stage, is already very competitive even against some of the supercars that compete regularly at Targa Tasmania. Big shame about the particular section that caught us while we were on stage 21-Irishtown. It was a big off, but we were lucky not to roll. Also, the fact that Craig and I were unhurt in such a big off is a testament of the build quality and top safety devices the team has used for the car.
A big thank you goes to our crew for the event as well as the hundreds of marshals and volunteers that make this fantastic event happen every year,
Alex.
Keep up with all the latest on our Mustang Motorsport Targa Facebook Page for all the action and results from Targa Tasmania 2016. Thank you to Angryman Photography and Otherside Productions for the great photos!
