Targa Tasmania 2017 - Day 4

Targa Tasmania Day 4 runs from Burnie to the west coast with a lunch break in Stanley. No rain in sight when we got out of bed this morning. A home cooked breakfast, cereal and poached eggs on toast - Terry and Kath have excelled once again.

The first stage of the day, Montumana, is 3.8km with lots of gravel and more marbles. There is one crest into a right turn where a few messed it up and overshot or ran into the bank. We almost did, too, but dropped a good broadslide for the spectators and got through unscathed fourth fastest.

We headed onto Irishtown, the stage that saw the Shelby GT visit the Swede plantation last year to end our Targa dreams in 2016. What a run! Everything clicked and the Shelby GT exhaust echoed through the farmlands of Irishtown. We were fifth fastest, and only one second off the race leader. Kate and I are working well together.

Edith Creek was also a great run and we were only two seconds off the race leaders. Oldina is another fast stage, and we continued going well.

Lunch break was in Stanley. What a beautiful town! There’s a rock on the coast that looks like Uluru. Kate and I managed to claw back a position to be in 5th in the GT2 competition (6th outright), only a second behind Quinn in the 2017 Porsche GT3RS. We were very happy with our morning’s performance, and had a few competitors praise our times - Thanks Guys!

After lunch, on Oldina stage we were inspired by our move up the leader board and that we were starting to head in the direction. We had a great run through Hellyer Gorge, and then the rain came and the temperature dropped to 6 degrees celsius. We were not happy with this, as it changes the game for the last two stages of the day, Mt Black and Rosebery.

The Mustang didn’t like the first run through Mt Black - slippppeeeerrrry! A few adjustments and Rosebery was much better, and safer, when the Shelby had some extra grip. We successfully made it to the overnight stop in Strahan. It is looking like the rain is here to stay so we will just have to focus. Did you know the risk factor increases by 56% on the Tasmanian roads?

We ended the day in 6th place in GT2 (7th outright in the overall modern competition), only two seconds of 5th and eight seconds of 4th, so we are really happy with the day’s results.

See you tomorrow,
Craig.

A big thank you to Angryman Photography for the great action shots!