TARGA GREAT BARRIER REEF DRIVING AMBITION

RACING is a real family affair for the Dunkerton crew.

Both Aaron Dunkerton and his younger brother Flynn joined a car club at a young age, learning to drive in a controlled environment before they even had a licence.

“So they do have an appreciation for driving a motor car in tricky conditions,” father and rally champion Ross Dunkerton said.

His wife Lisa has also been the co-driver for her husband and Aaron a number of times.

Ross and Aaron will be driving in a different class in the Targa Great Barrier Reef run with Aaron only allowed to reach a maximum of 130km/h, while his father can accelerate to about 200km/h.

Ross said driving at that speed made everyday driving seem like slow motion.

But tarmac events could be tricky, Ross said, so drivers really needed to know their limits.

“I always believe it’s safer to drive fast on gravel then it is on tarmac because with a gravel car you’re always in a sliding motion and you know exactly what the car is doing, but with tarmac you can get into a situation going round a corner … if the car breaks away, you can’t control it,” Ross said. “All those people in Cairns that drive up the Kuranda and Gillies Ranges, you can just think what it’s going to be like (going) as fast as we can go,” he said.

JANESSA EKERT

ROSS Dunkerton has been racing for 56 years and in that time he’s been the Australian Rally Champion in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979 and 1983. His number one tip for any driver is drive to your ability and don’t over drive. “Tarmac can actually deal a heavy blow if you don’t respect what’s happening,” he said. Ross has competed in and won three previous Targa events in an Evo 9. They were the Targa West in 2005 and 2006 and the Novice rally section of the 2007 Targa Tasmania. Entries for Targa Great Barrier Reef run, from August 31 to September 2, were capped at 215 cars and the event is modelled on the world’s largest tarmac rally Targa Tasmania. Ross said the economic flow on for Cairns would be widespread and he hoped the event could encourage people to develop an interest in the sport. CHAMPION: Ross Dunkerton with trophies from his long career in the sport.