PRINCES RECLAIM THEIR BIRTHRIGHT
ITS ULTRA-FAST, ULTRA-THRILLING, AND NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED!
Travelling at speeds of up to 200kph on winding, twisting, back-country roads, up to 100 high-performance race cars will roar through the central North Island in October.
This is no factory-sponsored celebrity event, nor is it a tame Sunday outing for owners of status-symbol motor cars. Targa is a marathon five-day tarmac road race for performance car enthusiasts who are serious about testing their driving skills.
What Targa is not is a ‘look-at-me’ festival — because much of the action takes place where nobody’s watching. This is all about the drivers and their teams. Cocktail-sipping Hooray Henrys looking for a jaunt in the country will feel distinctly out of place; it won’t suit the boy racer show-offs, who are
all noise and smoking rubber, either; and the ‘she’ll-be-right’ crowd will inevitably soon find that she won’t.
The Targa is all about serious driving skill in cars that are up to the task of being driven hard, in two main categories.
At the head of the pack are full-competition, highly modified rally cars piloted by a driver and co-driver. These competitors race against the clock at speeds of up to the aforementioned 200kph and give no quarter to their competition.
The second category is the Time Trial. The goal is to test your driving skills without the stresses of full-on racing, allowing you to enjoy the full performance envelope offered by your vehicle’s design engineers in a closedroad environment. All vehicles need to be road registered and travel the same route as the Targa Competition vehicles.
There is a third category: Targa Tour. These cars are generally non-modified, high-performance road cars being used as the manufacturer intended, before road congestion spoiled the fun. The Tour is not a competition but a spirited drive, and the maximum speed is set at 160kph.
In simple terms, this is what characterizes Targa and challenges its competitors: no pace notes, no practice runs, just pedal-to-the-metal driving on special stages of unfamiliar twisting, winding, tar-sealed back country roads at the ‘right’ speed — without regard to the speed limit that applies for the rest of the year.
For 25 years now, the Targa rally has made the best possible use of the most challenging sealed back-country roads of New Zealand. Its highlights are definitely the numerous special stages, which take place on closed roads, but, of course, drivers must adhere to the speed limits and road rules when travelling between the special stages.
This year will be Targa’s 25th anniversary. Organizers are expecting a record turnout on the Taupo start line on 28 October, and they will be going all out to make this a special occasion.
Big-name race car drivers and regular Targa podium winners will be there for sure. If you haven’t competed before, this milestone event would certainly be a great place to start.
For more information, see targa.nz.