Australia's Targa Tasmania 2004 - a WRX beating a 911 GT2!!!

[N.J.]

Hello everyone,


What is Targa Tasmania?

Targa Tasmania is an exciting International Classic… a tarmac rally with competitive stages on closed roads for the best touring, sports and GT cars in the world. Its inaugural year was in April 1992 when Tasmania hosted this distinguished International motoring Classic.

Targa Tasmania has quickly established itself as an annual event, conducted in April each year. The present format is to conduct the event over six days (including a Prologue) on some 2,000 kilometres of tarmac roads.

Targa Tasmania entrants comprise a wide range of media-attracting personalities including former World Champions and other well-known motor sport competitors from both Australia and overseas, as well as national and international celebrities. In short, this is not only a competitive motor sport event. It is a unique commercial and tourist attraction capturing the imagination of the Australian public as well as the national and international motor sport fraternity.

The goal of organisers and the Tasmanian Government has been achieved - to see Targa Tasmania develop into the premier motor sport event of its type in Australia, ranking alongside the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and Rally Australia in Perth....






and here's the result!!!


SULLENS CAUSES BIGGEST UPSET IN TARGA TASMANIA HISTORY


Part-time driver Tony Sullens today caused the biggest upset in the 13-year history of the Targa Tasmania tarmac rally when he ended the domination of previously all-conquering Porsche driver Jim Richards.

Sullens, driving a four-wheel-drive Subaru WRX, won the drivetravel.com Modern Competition in the 2,105km rally with a total penalty time of 14-mins 53-secs over five days and 44 stages.

The 38-year-old from Gosford began today's fifth and final leg from Burnie to Hobart in second position, 18-secs behind seven-times Targa champion Richards. Sullens took the lead on the opening stage through Hellyer Gorge, and then dominated his rivals to win by 1-min 16-secs.

Tasmanians Jason White and John White were second in a Nissan Skyline, followed by Queensland's Tony Quinn in a Porsche 911. Richards slipped back to fourth position during the nine stages in the final leg.

Sullens is a part-time driver in the Australian Rally Championship and this year is concentrating on competing in the New South Wales series. He had competed in Targa only once before, in 2003 when he failed to finish because of exhaust problems.

Sullens, who was partnered by 33-year-old Kariong navigator Julia Rabbett, said the combination of wet weather, damp road surfaces, and snow across the Mount Arrowsmith stage had helped his charge to victory.

"The wet gave us an advantage and we pushed really hard," he said. "Hellyer Gorge was slippery. We thought we were going slowly, but when we looked at the (stage) times we were actually quicker than the other guys at the front."

"The only problem we had was a spin at Strahan, We hit the armco and knocked out a white post. It cost us around 10-secs, but at the end of the day it wasn't a big problem."

"This was a fantastic race. It was close between the top three of four cars all week. To come away with the win is one of the highlights of my career. When you beat someone like Jim Richards at Targa you know you've beaten the best. It's very satisfying."

White, who drove with his uncle John White as navigator, began the final leg in fourth position, and passed Quinn and Richards to secure a podium finish. It was a career-best Targa finish for the Whites, improving on their third place in 2002.

"It's good to be second, but also frustrating because we could have won," said Jason White. "For the last couple of days we struggled with an engine misfire, and last night we traced the problem to a fuel tank regulator. Once we fixed things the car was back to full speed. I think were as quick as anybody this week."

Richards said he had difficulty being competitive in his rear-drive Porsche GT2 today.

"We had four good days which put us in with a chance," he said. "However, it was hard to drive this car on these roads in the conditions today. There was about 20km of snow in Mount Arrowsmith and the car was wheelspinning everywhere."

"Although we didn't win it's been a good race. Tony (Sullens) did the job today when it counted. We will be back again next year."

Former Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race line honours champion Warwick Rooklyn completed the top five in a Mitsubishi EVO VII, while nine-times Bathurst 1000 champion Peter Brock was sixth in a V8 Holden Monaro.

The Rosebery and New Norfolk stages were downgraded to touring status.

NSW driver John Williamson was taken to hospital in Burnie with suspected cracked ribs after crashing his 1960 Austin Healey in the Hellyer Gorge stage. Tasmanian navigator Maree Barham is expected to be released from hospital in Hobart either tonight or early tomorrow after receiving minor injuries when the Porsche she was sharing with NSW's Chris LaRosa crashed at Mount Arrowsmith.










How's that everyone!

A unknown part-time rally driver driving a $60K Subaru WRX beating Bathurst/Porsche/professional racing driver/living legend/ Jim Richard's $440K 2003 Porsche 911 GT2 :shock:

[SPEEDKILLAR]

Wow, an impressive story. A talented driver with the wright equipment for the wright conditions :shock:

[N.J.]

Originally Posted by everso change the weather and the WRX would have been smoked. AWD will always do well in rain and snow.

Years ago at Bathurst, they used to have a HUGE race called 'the GTP Showroom showdown'.

This has EVERY car in one big race - you used to Porsche 911 RS CS -vs- Dodge Viper GTS -vs- Ferrari 355 -vs- Aussie Holden/Fords -vs- Subaru/Mitsubishi -vs- etc. etc. etc.etc......

For about the first 10 laps, the Viper would EAT up the 'mountain' while the poor 911 & 355 would battle it out for second...then, the Viper would either overheat or its brakes would be stuffed or both. The remainder of the race would be Porsche -vs- Ferrari, the WRX STIs would always do pretty well, but they just didn't have the power to climb the 'mountain' or have the awesome brakes of the 911 when coming down again to the finish of Conrod straight.

[Kangaroo Boy]

^^^ Yes they also have Bathurst 24hr,same cars,same concept,Monaro Wins..lol...But The Porsche seem alot quicker around the corners then the Monaro.

Yes I can tell you the story of the HSV GTS Winning in the Wet in the showroom showdown in 2001 where the AWD Turbo car should have won....But thats another story.
Jimmy Richard was driving a RWD porsche that isn't the easy thing to drive in the wet cold roads.maybe Next year.

[N.J.]

Originally Posted by Kangaroo Boy ^^^ Yes they also have Bathurst 24hr,same cars,same concept,Monaro Wins..lol...But The Porsche seem alot quicker around the corners then the Monaro. Yes I can tell you the story of the HSV GTS Winning in the Wet in the showroom showdown in 2001 where the AWD Turbo car should have won....But thats another story. Jimmy Richard was driving a RWD porsche that isn't the easy thing to drive in the wet cold roads.maybe Next year.

Yes, but remember...Jim Richards has always been called the 'Rainmaster'. Wet or Dry weather - the guy is a freak.



p.s

I'll never forget the Monaro last year in Targa Tasmania... Remember the TV ad when the Holden passes the M3, 911, F360, Lamborghini, then it passes the finish line and the voiceover says 'GAME OVER'?

Well, anyway, in Targa last year, a Monaro ran off the road which put it out of the race and what do you reckon was written on the back on the car in big writing for advertising?...yep, you guessed it, 'GAME OVER'

[possessed_beaver]

HAHAHAHHAA^^^^ yeh stupid fucking monaro, i was happy to see the wrx win, it was an amazing victory (and very lucky by the looks of it!!)

i also noticed there was a few crash's.. not as bad as previous years, seemed like it was a very good race.

and go the scooby

u cannot say the skyline had the advantage in the wet, infact the r34gtr had the advantage because wrx's tend to understeer at cnr's and gtr's are more nutural...

then i spose at the end of the day u can have the best car in the world but it can come down to driver ability.

it was a stupid decision for jim richards to use a rwd porche imo

[bobafett]

That is absolutely awesome. I love hearing about these different rally races organized the world over.

--Dan

Originally Posted by everso change the weather and the WRX would have been smoked. AWD will always do well in rain and snow.

wouldnt the WRX be AWD?

[BADMIHAI]

wouldnt the WRX be AWD?

Yes, the RWX is AWD. All Subarus are AWD. And that's what he meant anyway. Guys....just think about this: "they had at least 20 kms. of snow-covered road"....Imagine how slow the GT2 was on snow!!!! Of course the WRX won!