Targa High Country 2016 - Day 2
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.
The next stage of the day was Barwite., 7.5km and the road was still damp and after the slippery drive down the mountain,' it can cause a sense of caution in what sort of grip youll get. The Barwite stage was low on grip and the roads had a few dry patches. We got through fourth fastest, then it was the 16.5km of Tolmie stage. We were the fastest on this stage, beating Matt Close and Cameron Reeves team by two seconds. The Shelby was just perfect to drive - 7 mins 07 seconds.
On to lunch where we caught up with our service crew of Matthew and Ranu. Lunch at Pizzini Wines of a nice tasty chicken roll. Then back out to do it all again on the reverse stages to Mansfield. Powers Lookout is one Kate doesn't like to look up at all, as there is a 700 metre drop to the bottom, and the power lines span over 2 kilometres down the hill. Team Shelby were third fastest on this stage. We had an enjoyable fast run.
Bridge Creek is the return of the slippery stage and, while dry, had very poor grip. Team Shelby was 4th fastest. The last stage of the day is the Mansfield Town Stage which is 4 kilometres long. Our time was 2 mins 37 sec at the end of the day.
Plenty of posters signed, and excited fans to meet at the Mansfield Targafest. The team enjoyed a lovely dinner at The Old Fire Station in Mansfield - fantastic hospitality and food! In conclusion today our 30 second penalty became insignificant as Kate and I managed to secure 3rd outright position in the Shelby GT. Now at the end of the day 2 we have a 10 seconds lead to Steven Johnson and Natalie Ford in the ZR1 Corvette. We actually made up 19 second on them today in total. Hendy and Winton-Monet in a GT3 Porsche who were in 3rd place yesterday now sit in 5th and are 19 seconds behind us. We actually made 30 seconds on them today.
The two guys to beat at the pointy end, Matt Close and Mike Pritchard, will be hard to catch with a 1.03 minute lead on us. There is only one second between the two of them, so they will be pushing and, as we know, anything can happen! Kate and I are really excited to be in 3rd outright. Tommorow brings on the toughest stages of Targa High Country, with long stages which are very hard on tyre wear. Stay tuned!
I asked Kate for a navigator's perspective, "Yeah, to be honest I just had my head down reading a book all day!!"
A big 'Thank You' to Angryman Photography and Otherside Promotions for the great action shots!
