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"This year," says Martin, " we are incorporating the cost of shipping cars ex Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane and return in the entry fee of $AUD7,500. We're also putting up a prize for the first Aussie crew home. That's got to be a good deal."
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This year's Targa New Zealand event starts in Auckland on Monday October 22 and ends in Havelock North in the Hawke's Bay (on the North Island's east coast) on Saturday October 26. In-between are 900kms of special stages plus 1,600kms of touring - all on roads regularly lauded as some of the best in the world.
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Martin's company runs three Targa events in New Zealand each year, the two-day Targa Bambina out of Auckland in March, two-day Targa Rotorua in June and six-day Targa New Zealand in late October.
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While the events are by no means Kiwi-only affairs - over the years individual entries have come from the UK, the US, Japan and New Caledonia, while Australian Tony Quinn and co-driver Naomi Tillett won Targa New Zealand outright for the third time last year - Martin believes that their appeal, and the ease by which they can be entered and contested, is lost on the majority of Targa regulars in Australia.
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"Most of them seem to know about our events, and the fact that we've got some fantastic roads here. So what's stopping them having a go? Who knows? At least from now on it won't be the cost of getting their car to and from!"
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For more information on the 2012 Targa New Zealand event go to www.targa.co.nz. To find out more about the free shipping offer Australian competitors can contact the Targa NZ office on 00 64 9 298 8322.
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Australian competitors need only look to compatriots Tony Quinn and Naomi Tillett (Nissan GT-R35) who have won the past three Targa New Zealand events to see how easy - not to mention cost-effective - it is to enter Targa events in New Zealand.
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