Targa HC 2016

[Colin Byrne]

Hi guys
so we headed back to Targa HC last weekend for a great event.  We had everything from sunshine to rain to snow!
First day was out to Euroa, the stages were very fast and bumpy, not a good combo for the 105's but with a second place up Mt buller at the end of the day we finished in 4th place with the old man in 8th.
Day 2 was very wet, and unfotunatly we copped some rain that others didn't that dropped us down to 5th by the end of the day. 
Day 3 we awoke to a good 1/2" of snow on the cars! so it was a cold wet run down the mountain that morning, but we managed second place behind a BWM 2002 for that stage. Day 3 runs over to Eildon with 2 massive 40k stages.  At lunchtime we weren't even checking results but started getting told that we were moving up in the leader board.  By the time we got to the finish line at the top of Mt Buller turned out we had won nearly every stage that day, including the 2 40k stages and had moved up onto the podium in 3rd place, behind a Porsche 916 and a Turbo RX7 with the old man finishing in 9th place
Anyway was an awesome weekend, both cars run perfectly and no damage to speak of, the way a race weekend should be (can't wait for next year!)

[Neil Choi]

Legends mate, Legends.

Now for some vid's.

[Garibaldi]

Great effort, well done! 

[Colin Byrne]

Cheers guys, yea i'll put some In car footage on You Tube soon, as i said both cars are all good so hopefully we will make it up to PI in december

[Neil Choi]

Woohoo, see you at the Island.
You should come Alfa Racing next Sunday, come on.  Less trees and more Alfa's.  Come on.

[Paul Byrne]

The crew at the Mansfield Targa Fest after the town street stage. Also worth checking out https://youtu.be/oEWDdExQAog for a porsche eye view of this excellent stage.

Col didn't mention that coming in 4th behind him was a full blown $150K plus Fiat 131 Abarth Rallye that went like the proverbial and had a massive service crew supporting.

Even at our 8th place in the older gentlemens' 105 we stayed ahead of the likes of  a Mustang, 944 Turbo and 911 RS, plus assorted others and DNFs such as a Sierra Cosworth. Between us and Col were an XU-1, two BMWs and the Abarth.

Both our cars had no mechanicals and are good to go again, which is a tribute to the 105's essential toughness and a pretty methodical going over to minimise failures, which in the past have been mainly due to vibration (around 7000 RPM for extended periods), impacts with the ground (crossing bridges etc) and detonation (fuel, ignition timing and mixture).

Thoroughly recommend members to have a go on the tarmac. It is such a team thing and rewards thorough preparation and consistency. The High Country is a great way to start and there are easy ways in -from the Tour (no gear required), to Time Speed Distance (sort of regularity-very competive), GT Trophy (135 Km/hr top speed limited, half cage minimum), to full comp (no speed restrictions, full cage, FHR etc). Any regular sprinter can easily get a National Rally Licence and the Nav does not need a driving related licence.

[Colin Byrne]

Here's a link to some video of the long 40km Jamieson run
https://youtu.be/QD7Jds_TNko

[Colin Byrne]

Here's a good little professional review of the weekend from the Classics side of things

https://youtu.be/HBY0l2q0Ots

[sketchl]

Well done Colin and crew.
Makes it even sweeter having completely built your own car.
Congratulations

PS. Great videos and driving.

[Colin Byrne]

Thanks very much
yea always nice to do well against some fairly "professionally built" cars with one you've built downstairs in the workshop after work!
cheers mate