Late-night fix as Corvette misfires
WHEN you’re hot, you’re hot, and when you’re not ... that was the case for Tasmanian IT consultant Ben Manion in Targa Tasmania. His Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 was a low-flying missile on the Mt Roland stage yesterday but the 32-year-old from Launceston and his crew were up late fixing its suspension, brakes and fuel lines. He is 13th in GT2 class. “We are hoping for a much better day tomorrow,” Manion said. Jason and John White (Dodge Viper) have extended their lead after two days of racing.
A ROGUE drink bottle made Jason White so “angry” that he doubled his lead on his nearest rivals on one furious stage on day two of the six-day 2000km Targa Tasmania yesterday.
White said the drink bottle shot forward like it was thrown by an NFL quarterback and lodged in the foot well of his Dodge Viper as he and navigator Uncle John powered through the 16.5km Paloona stage.
“I hit the brakes on the first corner and had the drink bottle submarine down in between the pedals,” White said.
“It was a distraction for the first few ‘kays’.
“It made me crabby, but the crabbiness fed through the steering wheel and into the wheels and it ended up being a very good time.”
Only 20 seconds separates the top three after yesterday’s six-stage run in the state’s mid-North, with the Whites trying to stave off a Porsche attack from 2016 champion Matt Close and the flying Subaru of 2008 champion Steve Glenney.
The Whites led the outright GT2 Class at the halfway mark of the day, but took too much rubber off their rear right-hand tyre, which was replaced overnight.
That allowed Close to end the day 16 seconds in arrears and Glenney another 4s back.
“We’ll have to start conserving tyres soon, the only trouble is that it’s too much fun,” White said.
Tasmanian’s Joshua Sutcliffe and Jon Mitchell were also big movers on the second day in their 2006 Subaru STI, sitting in seventh overall and first in the Early Modern.
Classic GT is a battle between the 1975 Holden Torana of Michael Bray and the 1970 Datsun 240Z of Jon Siddons, with just six seconds separating them.
The day ended early for Indonesian couple Lo Min Cae and Lilian Thoeng and their 350km/h, $450,000 Lamborghini Aventadore.
Lo Min went into a 90degree corner too hot even for the high-performance Lamborghini to handle, spearing through a thicket of blackberries, downed a farmer’s fence and ended up in a cow paddock.
Targa will replace the fence and Lon Min, who bought the car specifically for Targa, is back in the event thanks to Jason White, whose crew fixed the Lambo in his workshop in Devonport.
The field tackles the North-East today with another six stages, starting with the infamous Sideling.