Targa Wrest Point Launched

From the Event Director:

No doubt many of you have heard the rumour recently about us running our own short course event in the south of Tasmania.  I am thrilled to advise you all today that after receiving the last of the required approvals that we will be running the inaugural Targa Wrest Point on the weekend of 31st January & 1st February 2009 using the former Targa Tasmania Southern Loop stages including the legendary Oyster Cove, Longley, Woodbridge and Cygnet with both Woodbridge & Cygnet receiving recent major resurfacing work along with Grass Tree Hill.  The event will obviously be based at Wrest Point with the start, finish and parc ferme all being based at the familiar location.  Accommodation is currently being held at Wrest Point and the attached flyer gives you all the details to book your rooms.

There will be new stages too; to deliver a total competitive distance between 180km & 200km over 13 stages on just a 600km course!

The crown jewel in the course though will not be any of the well known stages but a new stretch of road that will see Targa Wrest Point offer the longest stages in Australia outside of Targa Tasmania.  Many of you have possibly visited the renowned Tahune Airwalk south of Geeveston and it is the 30km road from Geeveston to the Airwalk that we have secured as a competitive stage.  Even more exciting is that to ensure you really enjoy it; you will get to compete on it in both directions!  The road is as near to perfect as any in the country and has no gravel covered corners with some even having circuit like kerbing!  The Tahune Airwalk facilities are world class and will set a new benchmark for lunch breaks, with a great restaurant and of course access to the incredible cantilever Airwalk.  Check out the website to see what I mean: www.tahuneairwalk.com.au

To ensure that you only have to commit the smallest amount of time possible; documentation, scrutineering and competitors briefing will all be held on Friday 30th January at Wrest Point with a Welcome Party finishing off the day.  At the other end, the event will finish with a Champagne Shower around 1pm on the Sunday and will be followed by a casual presentation BBQ and drinks to enable everyone to make the Spirit of Tasmania Sunday night, sailing at 9pm. Block bookings are being held on the Spirit for the night sailing on Thursday 29th January and Sunday 1st February.  To book a berth simply contact Spirit of Tasmania on 1800 204 687 or email special.events@spiritoftasmania.com.au. Other sailings are available with day sailings being available on most days.

Now for the best part…… the price!  Well, we have turned back the clock on this and placed the regular price under $2,000 ($1,990).  That’s around $10 per competitive K!!  Remember those days??  It gets even better if you are one of the 190 Targa Tasmania Early Bird Entries.  How does $1,790 sound for an early bird or if you have a Fully Paid Targa Tasmania entry its even better… just $1,590.  To be eligible for the Targa Wrest Point discount rates your entry must be received by close of business on Tuesday 30th September.

If you are yet to enter Targa Tasmania, don’t despair!  If you enter both events by Tuesday 23rd September you will also get the Early Bird discounts for both events.  That’s a potential saving of up to $1,600!!!

Now the bad news!  We don’t have as large a road closure window for Targa Wrest Point, so this combined with using the Airwalk road in both directions will see a maximum field of just 130 competitors!!!  This means that less than half of the normal Targa Tasmania field will get a start and with 190 competitors instantly eligible for the cheapest entry seen for many years, we ask that if you are keen to start off 2009 at Targa Wrest Point that you don’t hesitate in sending your application in.  We have no choice but to issue invitations to eligible cars on a ‘first in’ basis.

Targa Wrest Point will now see the debut of the new Early Modern competition, which will be run alongside the Modern, Early & Late Classic and Showroom competitions.  All will have full podium status.

Some additional information that you may want to know at this stage:

The event will use the normal Targa base time system but only the first stage will be easily cleaned and all other stages will be competitive for the entire field The same tyre and fuel rules as recently announced for Targa Tasmania 2009 will now make their debut at Targa Wrest Point.  Classic cars will be able to apply for a fuel exemption Handicaps will not be used in Early & Late Classic with both being separate outright competitions Supplementary Regulations will be available in the next week and will be basically identical to the Targa Tasmania Regs, which will be released at the same time Invitations will be issued at the end of October in conjunction with Targa Tasmania invitations Targa Plates will not be on offer to ensure that we protect the integrity of Targa Tasmania and differentiate this event Welcome & Finish Party tickets are included in the entry fee along with a merchandise voucher All finishers will receive a finish medallion Category winners will receive awards

Now, how do you enter?  Well, naturally the process is the same as Targa Tasmania and is as simple as clicking on the link below:

http://www.targawrestpoint.com.au/Competitors/Forms.html


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