Munkvy

I am hoping we see more of Juho Hanninen, he has the potential to do very well as he is very experienced and has quite an opportunity with M-Sport, as his team mates are all pretty inexperienced and crash prone. So if he can do a couple more rounds and keep it on the road, he could easily become a permanent member of the squad. And my vote is on Ogier for the title. Hirvonen has the consistency, but there is a enough fast drivers around this year that he will get few podiums, so won't accrue points at the same pace has he has done in previous years. Also hoping to see Andreas Mikkelsen on the podium soon too. Really this is the most exciting WRC season in many years, so many changes and opportunities!

Thanks for the thoughts guys, I am enquiring now about shipping costs. Any idea how easy it is to get a rally car on the road for High Country? I have a WRX I could use, but would prefer to use the GTR - however it doesn't have NZ numberplates, so I suspect that may not be an easy task? I will look over the regs now as far as modifications go and see if it will fit into any of the categories.

Thanks! Any particular reason for saying they are average?

Hi, I am considering crossing the ditch next year and doing a round or two of Targa (I can probably only afford 2 day events) so looking for some advice... I suspect it is impractical to bring my car over - so I would be looking to hire, does anyone have any suggestions on places to approach to hire cars? I have seen http://www.targaracing.com.au/ but am not sure if an MX5 or 130 would suit me. I have previously rallied turbo 4WDs, but am quite keen to try a turbo RWD if possible. I am not particularly fussy on car brand/model/age - I am mainly interested in a new challenge. Also, I have looked on youtube a little, but want to get an idea from competitors what the roads are like? I am particularly keen on tight, challenging roads - I am used to 200km speed limits here in NZ at Targa. Targa High Country so far looks quite appealing to me, but I can't really guage a huge amount from what I see on youtube... Thanks for your help Vivian

Does anyone else make a 16" gravel tyre, ie any of the big brands? I haven't seen anything but mud and snows so far. However of course the advantage is with 16s I can get wider tyres too I guess. And of course rims are easier to come by too. Also you make a good point, I will look and see if I can find an aftermarket brake calliper that fits better than factory!

I am in the process of building an R32 GTR rally car, which will primarily do tarmac. However we are blessed with some great gravel sprints around the region of NZ I am in, so going to do a few gravel events too. Now as gravel tyres only come in 15" (and I have about 100 of them left over from my old Legacy rallycar), does anyone have any idea on what sort of offset is needed in a 15" rim to fit over the factory non-Brembo R32 GTR brakes? Will be getting some of these: http://www.palmside.co.nz/product_pcid_15667.html Which I know fit over Subaru 4 pot brakes, so should fit GTR brakes fine. But just need an idea on if anyone has done it and if they have had any issues regarding offset etc. And yes, I know ATTESA isn't good on gravel. I will be running the car as a RWD for this reason and the fact that I need to learn to drive a RWD before I get soft and use 4WD to make up for my lack of driving skill! (This is also helped by the fact that I got the car with no front axles and a 25DET box in it). Vivian

For Targa NZ, Dunlop used to provide a dedicated team to manage the tyres when they were the only tyre allowed to be used. So they marked the tyres at the beginning of the event and then turned up randomly through the event and checked tyres. However as they weren't officials as such I don't think anyone took it too seriously, ie I never heard of them getting people penalised, but I wasn't exactly privy to the Clerk of Course meetings etc. I also worked on Targa as a scrutineer and we were definitely expected to be on the look out for unmarked tyres and found a number of crews with the wrong tyres... Most common way they were caught was to get complaints from other competitors about them cheating, which works very well when all servicing is done in a small confined space most of the time. I imagine there was the odd competitor doing dodgy side road changes, but again the competitors will notice if suddenly between stages you have a brand new set of tyres without having been to a service point. On the flip side, how hard is it to dummy up some tyres to look official when all you do is use a paint pen to mark tyres in the first place? Cheaters will always find a way at the end of the day sadly.

Hurt my back a bit, but mainly the pride. As its a blind rally its a bit tricky to guess what happens over the blind brows, and I got it wrong on the last day with only 4 stages to go! Did make the national news briefly that night - http://www.3news.co.nz/Targa-wraps-up/tabid/317/articleID/231134/Default.aspx#.TqxO1NzaMl4.facebook

Quick update, Targa NZ was last week. I blew a motor on the first day and then flipped the car on the final day, so only got in 18.5 stages total out of 30 odd. The weather was mixed, lots of rain and slippery roads. But I found the tyres great in both the wet and the dry. I was running 24psi cold on the advice of the Federal Motorsport guys who had come over from Taiwan for the event. I was in a 1550kg car with only 2.5 degrees front camber and found initial grip in the first 1-2km was pretty low in the wet, but quickly came up. We did have one stage that was 54km long and the tyres overheated a bit in that (it was a dry stage too). But overall the tyres wore well (quite even and gradual) and were quite progressive. Overall given they are similarly priced to R888s in NZ I will definitely be using them again.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I am interested to hear more about the problems you had in the wet Duncan? Targa NZ have just changed the rules and said we can use either wet or dry tyres, so I have just purchased 8 FZ-201s as I would prefer to take the gamble and rely on the 4WD and ABS in the wet on semis, rather than hope it rains enough to use the 595s. hrd-hr30 - were you using them on RWD or 4WD car? And were they hard to get back into line, ie they liked to go side to side? Or was it more they just struggled to return to gripping without backing off the throttle? Thanks for the help guys Vivian

Hi guys, I race a Legacy rally car in NZ and Targa NZ has recently switched from Dunlop to Federal for their sole supplier for the event. In NZ there is very little use of Federal tyres so far, but I have seen the odd thread around SAU about them. Can anyone provide any feedback on how they have found the FZ-201 and also the 595RS-R (I know its a street tyre, but its the wet tyre we will be using). I am particularly interested in wear rates and tyre pressures used. I am using what I guess around here would be classed as a medium weight car - 1450kgs which is the minimum weight allowed for my class (we have drastically different rules for Targa in NZ compared to Aus). Targa NZ runs for 5 days and typically rains for at least 1-2 days each year. We are allocated 4 FZ-201 and 4 595RS-Rs and have time penalties if more are used. Ohh and I should probably mention I started out with an R32 many many years ago, hence having an account here and will most likely be switching back to an R32 GTSt next year, but doing a mixture of tarmac and gravel events with it depending on budget. Thanks for your help Vivian

This is my brothers Cef, still very much in the build, but has the RB30 and T4 in, just needs more fuel and tyres...

Mines not, dont trust space savers, esp on the back in the wet in a GTSt... So I bought a standard GTSt rim and put that in instead.

for something a little different, Volvo 850R... 240hp and a good size for the family, plus being a Volvo nice and safe to carry them round in.