Targa Rally

[Adydas]

Just curious, i cant really get the answers i want from the website but do you need to have a race licence to compeate? Also what condition does the car need to be in.

Buckets needed? or is a road car fine? i see alot of cars from images with road legal plates and i just want to be sure..

Helmets and overalls i guess are a must, i wouldnt imagine joe publics car with jeans and a t shirt.

[Leon]

It's a rally.

You need a rally licence, two layer overalls, helmets, and a fully rally prepared car.

All rally cars must be road legal, as there are touring stages where the car drives between competitive stages.

You'll also need in the order of $4500 for entry fees, and probably another $10k for the week. Assuming you're trying fairly hard, but don't destroy the car.

[Cahuna]

Targa also do a "Targa Tour" each year as part of the main event. This is a group of people in standard road cars following the event, usually getting to drive 2 or 3 stages a day (after road closure, before the main field and travelling in convoy - in other words they shouldn't be racing but sometimes do ). They also spectate at 1 or 2 stages a day, have their own evening functions etc etc.

Couldn't tell you what the cost is, all you need is a standard road-legal vehicle (I think these days you might also need a MotorSport NZ ClubSport licence for some reason too).

But forget the Targa Tour, what you really want to do is be part of the real competition, and as Leon said that requires proper rally car, rally licence, $$$ for entries/tyres/fuel/consumables/accommodation/food/repairs etc etc. Condition-wise Mike John (organiser/promotor) is anal about vehicle presentation, so cars like my FXGT (which has seen plenty of gravel duty) would need a tidy-up before competing in Targa.

[pc]

Targa is racing for rich people.... so the requirement is lots of spare money.

[Leon]

Targa tour was $2500 when I last did it three Targa's ago (maybe four).

Clubsport licence yep.

I gave up on the tour, because it was a bit sketchy (meeting a horse float on a road that is supposed to be closed, in a car with NO safety gear), too expensive, and with the growing popularity of the event it had thirty mumble cars there, which results in one sitting in a queue of cars for a week, on very nice roads if they had been empty.

Don't get me wrong, it was kind of cool ... but when I first did it in 2000 it cost $750 and there were 12 cars on the tour. When you've seen it turn into a traffic jam that increases in cost by 50% a year ... well, you get a bit turned off in the end.

Plus, there were some insufferable tossers mixed in with some of the very cool people you get to meet. I met GT4-20 on the Tour, and some really very good folk, but my god, did some of the weenieless wonders in the Ferrari's and Porsche's seriously cry out for an attitude adjustment. Not all of them ... but some of them .... sheesh.

Honestly, were I to do it again, I wouldn't.

I'd be totally cheeky, buy a Classic Car magazine so I had all the route maps, rock up to the roads half an hour before they closed, and just drive the entire route. You can do that totally legally at road legal pace, on some absolutely stunning roads, and not pay a couple of thousand for the privilege. The roads don't need to be closed to be appreciated, we drove a number of the roads at road legal speeds before they closed, and it was still awesome. You could then double back where you wanted, and park up at the spectator points, or any really awesome corners you discover enroute. Tadaaaa... free week of motorsport fun.

[DexGT]

You really haven't put any thought in to this have you Leon

[Leon]

Heh heh, well it took some soul searching when I finally decided that I just couldn't justify the money involved So I gave it a bit of thought.