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Another is Neil Marshall who was in his EVO 6.5 and was fastest in the first stage by 16 seconds. That’s fastest of all Targa cars !! He did the same on SS18 – 16 seconds faster.

SS17 was the 31klm Tarata. In the Classics Barry Kirk-Burnnand took 22 seconds out of his nephew Mark with a 16:22. The next 4 were within 9 seconds of each other.

In the Moderns Hayden Paddon did a 16:02, Tony Quinn did a 16:22, Clark Procter a 16:25 and Jason Gill a 16:26.

Talking Jason Gill, his co-driver is his sister Jody Somervell. Not 100% sure but I think this is the only brother/sister pairing. Jody had a test in Targa Rotorua and was addicted. Mother of three with the youngest only 2½ it took some organising to get the week off !

Next was the Inglewood jumps. Logistics meant I missed them but I have seen the Groundsky photos – available soon on www.groundsky.co.nz

Over the first of the jumps the David Langford-Smith / Alan Hind launched their 1986 BMW 325i big time and then took the same speed into the next one. The car bottomed out and shot to the left through the fence whilst rotating clockwise. The car was worse for wear but the drivers okay.

I caught up with TV3’s Shaun Summerfield and he said they caught it all on tape. Yep, it was on 3 Sport last night – spectacular.

Fastest was Paddon by 14 seconds from Quinn. He was 11 secs quicker than Procter. Procter, Gill and Peter Millener (Porsche GT3) were separated by only 3 seconds.

One thing to put on your ‘bucket list’ is to visit Whangamomona (aka Whonga). The start was 20 minutes nor/east of Stratford and is 39 klms of windy sealed road that goes over three saddles (ranges of hills). You can purchase a passport and get it stamped. It’s a special place on the Targa intinerary as it’s raced both ways. It’s a tough stage and hard on tyres.

I arrived at the start of the stage to see the Taranaki cars leave. Second to last was Grant Rivers in the Mustang who laid 20 metres of rubber. Next was Stuart Rose in the Toyota Hilux complete with a soft toy farm dog attached to the roll bar. No ordinary Hilux – it has a 4 litre Toyota V8. He too launched with maximum noise and wheelspin – worth the trip already!

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