Addition of VCC time trial is ‘Shot-in-the-Arm’ for Targa NZ event

Joining forces with the Vintage Car Club of New Zealand to create a unique event-within-an-event Time Trial has provided the long postponed 2021 Targa New Zealand tarmac motor rally, which finally got underway in New Plymouth at 7.00am this morning (Wednesday May 25), with ‘a real shot in the arm,’ says event director Peter Martin.

“Pre this whole COVID-disruption period,” Martin said yesterday afternoon. “We’d regularly get 50-70 entries in our main competition section plus another 35 to 45 signing on for our allied but untimed Targa Tour…. more than enough to justify continuing to run an event of this magnitude and scale yet still with some spare capacity in terms of the timing of our road closures to allow us to quickly scale up the numbers with minimal impact on the infra or cost structures if and when demand dictated, we might need to.”

The idea of adding a Time Trial component to the long-running tarmac rally had, says Martin, been ‘tossed around’ for a number of years.

It was only when arch Wanaka-based classic car enthusiast and Vintage Car Club of NZ executive member Rod Corbett got involved, however, that real progress, was made.

“Rod ‘got’ what we needed straight away, plus,” says Martin. “Obviously he has delivered to the point where this year, with 25 cars entered in the main 5-day event plus another 9 set to start the 2-day Regional Rally Time Trial on Saturday the Time Trial group is now second only in size to the main competition one.”

Despite ‘circumstances’ (namely COVID-19 and/or delays in getting essential parts for their ‘Targa’ cars from overseas etc, etc) limiting entries across the traditional competition categories to just 37 cars for the event this week, it hasn’t made the job of picking an eventual event winner any easier.

What you can say with some confidence, however, is that the battle will involve a number of late model locally modified Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evo 4WDs.

Names to look out for in the Subaru camp are those of multi-time Targa Rotorua two-day event winners Leigh Hopper and co-driver Michael Goudie (Auckland), this year’s Targa Bambina two-day event winners Cameron Ross and co-driver Matthew Buer (Auckland), and rising star Rory Callaway and co-driver Samantha West from Christchurch.

In the Mitsubishi corner, meanwhile, are Auckland’s David Rogers and co-driver Shane Reynolds, and Palmerston North’s Brian Green and co-driver Fleur Pedersen, both in quick, event proven Evo 10 models.

Other previous event frontrunners capable of winning the event outright include Auckland’s Jason Gill and his Christchurch-based co-driver Nicole Summerfield, in Gill’s exotic 4WD VW Polo R, and 2013 Targa NZ winners Martin Dippie and co-driver Jona Grant from Dunedin in Dippie’s 2WD Porsche 993 GT3 RS.

Then there are the dark horses, like Christchurch gravel rally ace Marcus Van Klink, who has built a brand new, 4-rotor 26B-engined Mazda RX8 just to do tarmac events like this week’s 2021 Targa NZ.

First up this morning was a drive north to the start of the first special stage, the super-long 42.7km Te Akau.

For the first two nights the field returns to New Plymouth before heading south for a single night’s stopover in Whanganui then east to Hawke’s Bay where the event will be based for the final two nights – via Saturday stages using Fields Track in the morning and the mythical Gentle Annie Rd in the afternoon.

All-up, entrants face a mix of 760km of closed road special stages and 1240km of touring stages for an event total of 2000 km.

Incorporated into and set to run concurrently over the final two days with the full five-day ‘2021’ Targa New Zealand event is a separately entered and scored – two-day – ‘2021’Targa NZ Regional tarmac motor rally.

Both the five-day and the two-day regional events will also incorporate their own concurrently run but independently organised and scored VCC Time Trials run in conjunction with the Vintage Car Club of NZ, as well as concurrent but non-competitive Targa Tours.

Numbers-wise, the 2021 Targa NZ event has attracted 102 entries, 71 for the main five-day event (split 36-Main comp/26-Time Trial/10-Tour) and 31 across the three categories (9-13-9) in the Two-Day Regional event.