Jag more about style than speed

THE Whites might be in the slow lane during the Targa Rally but few will be travelling in such style.

Peter White will team up with wife Madelon White in his nonetooshabby Jaguar XK140 in the vintage category.

His friend, Nicholas Langford, is also coming along for the ride. He will share the codriving duties with Madelon.

He has a background in car restoration which might come in handy if anything goes wrong.

But White is well equipped. He bought the car ‘‘four or five years ago’’ and did the restoration himself.

The results are, well, rather splendid. But rather than put another coat of wax on it, stand back and admire his work, White plans to take it for a good spin.

They will follow the same route as the competitive drivers. When you add in the 600km of special stages, he will end up adding about 2000km to odometer.

‘‘Everything is fixable,’’ White said when asked how he felt about potentially compromising his valuable labour of love.

The vehicle is worth north of $100,000.

‘‘Look, it has been used since 1956 so why would you not carry on using it?

‘‘Having a car sitting around is no good because they deteriorate. I have a few cars and my problem is keeping them all going.’’

White is a veteran when it comes to the Targa Rally. He has competed in it ‘‘six or seven times’’ but ‘‘this time we are not going flat tack’’.

They are following a race programme which involves needing to stick to an average speed of 70kmh.

‘‘For us it is about managing the pace we are going at.

‘‘It will still be competitive but hopefully, at the end of the day, you are not too hard on your car.’’

In his past rallies he has been up late at night ‘‘fixing stuff we broke’’. This time around he is hoping the evening might involve more relaxation and a chat with fellow car enthusiasts.

It is the first time the Targa Rally has included a vintage category. The rally gets under way in Invercargill on Monday with a prologue and finishes up in Cromwell on Saturday.

❛ Look, it has been used since 1956 so why would you not carry on

using it

PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON Golden oldie . . . Peter and Madelon White and friend Nicholas Langford will compete in the vintage section of the Targa Rally next week in a 1956 Jaguar XK140.