NZFF

Wow 100 k over!
Even worse coming 46th. I imagine that was quite a difference between number 45 and him.
Pity I couldn't be there, sorry Gary. Sounds like I missed a bit.

No worries, it was quite nice not having to go from Morrinsville to Auckland via Rotorua afterwards

The gap isn't as big as you would expect - he was only 4min 46sec behind the car in 45th and with the proverbial luck and a tail wind could have improved at least a couple of spots.

His total time was 4hrs 34min so basically he copped more than half his total stage time as a single penalty. I'm told the driver of that car has a reputation for not being shy about letting people know what he thinks. I'm also told that the only people jumping up and down about the penalty were his service crew

I'm also told that there were LOTS of complaints about the numerous penalties I handed out for speed in the HIS on our last stage - I was pinging them as they came around a corner over 400 metres away, then they were crawling past me at 45. Sorry guys, too late ... This was really the first time we've been serious about speed in HIS zones, and the teams have no idea how good the guns are . . .

Heh heh heh
Gary

Gary , I thought the TARGA rally was a fun raiser ? .. a few rules .. but so many , i dont no , dont follow sport at all

Nar, you're probably thinking of the Variety Club Bash - I think that one is pure fundraising.

Targa is a full on competitive tarmac rally. In fact it's the tarmac rally - anyone know of another tarmac or even gravel rally that's attracted 90 competitors lately ? As well as the 46 cars in the modern category mentioned above there were another 40 results in the classic section, and those 86 are just the ones who finished ... And that was one of Targa's weekend events - the main Targa is 6 days of Auckland-Wellington competition. Given the current climate I'd expect to see somewhere around 150 entries, and I've seen it with over 250 entries before. In fact they had so many entries one year that the national governing body had to change the rules to let them run at 30 second intervals instead of 1 minute, otherwise it would have taken 4 hours to run each stage.

Targa works in with local schools and sports clubs out in the countryside so there is some real cash going directly into country schools and community groups as well as trickle-down from several hundred people arriving in town for a night (150 cars, 2 people in a car, average 2 service crew per car, plus the officials, that's getting on for 700 people needing food and fuel and car parts and accommodation). The locals provide groups of marshalls in return for a donation, country schools are often used as service parks, and if the timing is right the schools can put on breakfasts / lunches which the teams and their crews and any passing officials are encouraged to take advantage of. At the end of the day there is a compulsory car wash in whatever town the rally is overnighting, these are generally done by schools / scouts.

Targa's official charity is CureKids, not sure how it works but since Targa started in 2002 they've raised over $400,000 for CureKids.

Some schools also get to operate Passage Controls where the race cars need to collect a stamp on their timecard to show they were on the correct route, Targa Passage Controls always involve collecting buckets - and they get the officials as well. Filling the ashtray with $2 coins before you leave Auckland is all part of Targa week The passage controls during school hours are neat, there's always hordes of little kids lined up watching. After school ones are more a community effort, often with the local cops involved.

Last year we (me and Dazza) were doing a bumbreaker touring section from Te Kuiti to New Plymouth, as we rolled through Urenui (I think it was) we were pretty much hypnotised from the road and then suddenly this blue and black THING leapt out onto the road in front of us - it scared the daylights out of me and we gapped it, wasn't until we were past it we spotted the police car and the people in funny hats holding buckets and realised it was the local cop in a gorilla head stopping rally cars at a passage control

Good times. Can't wait for October

Gary

sounds like ya have a lotta fun , pitty wasnt an air race