Tarmac Rallying Perpetual Thread

[Snowman]

East Coast in reverse will be sweet. The run up Rossarden will be a cracker and will redefine the term flying finish.

[sav man]

i ran the new stage near Forth when I was down there at New Years. It's pretty cool, the residents will have an awesome viewpoint, and there's a super big jump at the finish!

is that pieman? even the name sounds cool. I wonder if reece dam will have as much carnage when the sun isn't in your eyes.

[Marlin]

Reece Dam was a piece of piss, even doing Ari Vatenen impersonations over top gear crests into the setting sun. I rated it, well, right up until we nearly crashed on YT's oil from his punctured gearbox on a 5th gear right hander. Very close to throwing the $100k leased car away

Still, I loved its high speed nature.

And given Forth is next to Devonport, I think the stage might be called Braddon's lookout. Part of the stage used a road to a lookout, can't recall the name. It's only a shortish one, but it's a money stage if you recce it good, especially the first few klm, it's very deceiving (every corner appears to tighten), but it's actually likely to be flat out if you're on it.

[sav man]

I didn't mind reece dam, but I remember the last 2km looking like a wrecking yard. More high speed stages suits me just fine

[Marlin]

Having said that, any stage is only good if it's not easy cleanable, which we discovered after we last ran it, that we beat the base time by a ridiculous 3 minutes or something. I'll say again, NO POINT having stages that are cleanable after the morning of day 1 and town stages.

(Town stages should have a low and un-cleanable base time too, all the spectators think we're all a bunch off nuff nuffs that drive around like we're driving Miss Daisy).

[Snowman]

Given the fact that Lilydale has moved to BEFORE Georgetown I wonder if there will be basically no cleanable stages after Day 0 (other than town stages) next year?

And I agree with the town thing. Captain Fathom is a classic example of someone who's first impression of targa was watching the Longford stage and thinking to himself that he could smash everyone as he had no idea it was non competitive.

[sav man]

Waaay back in the early 90's the town stages were only cleaned by the top 1-2 (think Longford was like 2 min base time). OH&S has gotten to it since then

[Marlin]

I reckon supply each spactator a mouthguard and be done with it.

[PHaT MR30]

I am just glad the didn't muck with my favourite stage Paloona.

Pieman will just be a stage on the same road that Reece Dam was on (it is Pieman Rd afterall) wonder what direction it will be in though, You know the story about alexander the pieman?

[t01-100]

The actual course is a little longer now... we've made a few little variations since I wrote that.

Yep, the Forth one is Braddons Lookout, the SP is right at the driveway of the late great BMW tarmac rally legend Kent Watts.

Reece Dam and Pieman head East.

Woodsdale is cool too, its quick, smooth and has heaps of grip!

Oldina is fun, but lookout for the surprise left hander towards the end, tricky a pace.

Castra will be a fav of the nimble 4WDs heading up hill... a fav of anyone with big brakes on the run down!

...oh and Plimsoll is simply awesome with such a smooth surface.

Rookie Rallye is back too don't forget... longer and more challenging than it's ever been!

[sav man]

good to see that shitfull goat track of a stage molesworth is gone.

Is Castra the twisty road that you go though if you turn left near the end of wilmont?

[poolheaters]

A preview of the 2012 course has been released.

http://www.targa.org...nia/course.html

The east coast run in reverse will be interesting. Most of the stages will be a hillclimb instead of a decent

And still on only 4 tyres for EM and Modern. Should make for some interesting compound choices..

[Marlin]

Say wha?

[sav man]

I think the sup regs are still for the short rallies. Although it wouldn't hurt to limit the awd cars to 4

[t01-100]

Yeah Castra runs down the steep Back Road (just off Wilmont Road) and up the tight and twisty Spellmans Road.

That's an incorrect version of the SR that shouldn't have been published yet, its down now.

Being so close to TWP, the final version of the TT SR won't go up until next week.

Tyre allocation will most likely be eight to allow for an extra 100+ km of targa stage and XX km of touring.

[sav man]

8?! Did many people struggle with 6 tyres? I imagine carrying a set drys and a set wets will be the go

[Snowman]

If it hadn't rained for 2 days my tyres would have been toast before the end last year.

[Duncan]

what I have never understood about the tyre rule is.....you can comfortably make it through the event on a single set of hard tyres. everyone did for the first 15+ years of the event (unless they ran mediums and hoped not to get caught on tread depth)

allowing tyres changes during the event just encourage everyone to run medium hard, medium or even medium-soft tyres. once one car does that, everyone has to.

therefore....this rule just costs everyone money

[Darkside]

Kind of have a love hate relationship with the tyre rule. Its a decision you sweat over a bit and then roll the dice and take your punt and see what the weather gods dish up. I kind of like it in a sick masochistic way the fact that you do have to make a choice that may greatly affect your rally. Do you make the safe choice on a compound you know will get you to the end regardless of weather and just drive it like you stole it the whole time but potentially cost a bit of pace and wet grip, or take a punt on something soft and pray for rain and maybe have to drive to conserve??. I know I agonised over it a bit last year.

Have to agree with Ben, 8 tyres kind of opens the door to two complete sets of tyres for dry and wet and I would have thought far less of a gamble/calculated strategy... Would have thought it would be a no brainer to run a reasonable medium/hard for all the dry stuff and any sniff of rain particularly heading west, (and an extra day over there) throw on some marshmallows. Sounds like airjacks might be a good addition to any car for quick changes...anyone fitted some recently??

The course revisions sound exciting. That bridge at the now end of Rossarden might be a nice place to spectate and collect front splitters from the over enthusiastic.

[fatz]

entry fee increases + tyre costs with new rules once again really stretches the purse strings

sure i will do it once but f**k me the cost is not resonable to what a race series is worth