SKELTA SECOND OVERALL ON GRUELLING TARGA TASMANIA
The 2.0-litre G-Force beaten only by 5.2-litre, 4-wheel-drive Lamborghini Gallardo
Queenslander Ray Vandersee designed the Skelta G-Force to satisfy his dream of winning Targa Tasmania and, over the last few days (April 27-May 2), came agonisingly close to doing so – eventually finishing second only to the infinitely more powerful, four-wheel-drive Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo Strada of Jason White. The Skelta G-Force of Marcus Nuutinen, which was eighth overall in 2009, recovered from an accident to come home 44th on this occasion.
The wet, squally conditions were extremely testing for all the competitors and a number of experienced campaigners crashed heavily on the ever-treacherous surface. The Lamborghini carved out an early lead, its four-wheel-drive allowing it significantly more traction out of the tight corners of the early stages. However, once he’d worked the Kumho-shod Skelta up to second place overall, Vandersee remained an ever-present threat - ready to pounce should the Lamborghini crew succumb to the slightest error or mechanical problem. He eventually won eight stages to their 11 and ate into their lead on the last day, but the opportunity to overtake never quite arose and that much dreamed-of outright victory must now wait for another year.
The Skelta embarrassed the products of numerous major manufacturers en route to the podiumOnly victory will suffice for the über-competitive Vandersee, but second place in one of the world’s premier motorsport events is a memorable achievement for any manufacturer, let alone one that has only produced 12 cars to date and most of the world has never even heard of! Penned and honed by Vandersee out of the family agricultural business in Toowoomba, Queensland, the G-Force has now won numerous events in Australia and humbled a paddock-full of Nissan GT-Rs, Mitsubishi Evos, Subaru Imprezas and Porsche 911s on its way to the podium this week alone.
Said Vandersee, “It is hard to see what more co-driver Cameron Reeves and I could have done in the unusually tricky conditions, which inevitably favoured a four-wheel-drive set up. However, yet again we have proved just how competitive the car can be, especially on the faster, more open stages where its ground-effect aerodynamics really come into play. As ever, the Kumho tyres complemented the chassis perfectly. There is no doubt we can win this event and will certainly be back again in 2011.”
And now for the UK/EuropeThe Skelta G-Force and its even more dramatic-looking sibling, the V-8 Spyder, are now available in the UK, following their European launch at January’s Autosport International. A G-Force identical to the one on this week’s Targa Tasmania is currently being prepared for UK competition by Stratton Motor Company of Norfolk and will hopefully soon be emulating its Australian counterpart and visiting the podium on a regular basis
