Some may call him obsessed, but for the 1980 Porsche 924 GTS driver, the lure of some of the best rally roads in Australia ensures that he continues to make the journey to the Apple Isle.
“The [Tasmanian] roads are unbelievable,” Crimp said.
“I do mainland events like Classic Adelaide and Targa West, but the roads here in Tasmania are a stretch above everything in quality and fun.”
Crimp first ventured to Australia’s ultimate tarmac rally 13 years ago.
“I first entered with my 14-year-old son as my navigator,” Crimp said.
“I’ve been hooked ever-since.”
The Porsche enthusiast has a new navigator for the 17th Targa Tasmania, Paul van der Mey, who competed in the Australian Rally Championship series, placing second in 1998.
“We’ve done a lot of work since the last Targa and we are going to try and be really competitive.”
Crimp has gone to great lengths to maintain his prestigious Porsche and tailor it into a feisty machine.
“We’ve managed to find an original GTS motor out of Porsche in Germany, which we imported with an original gearbox. Porsche only made about 40 of these cars, so finding parts is quite difficult,” Crimp explained.
The highly-prized Porsche keeps the enthusiast busy between rallies, with precision alterations being made to the spare parts.
“… with the [Porsche] 911s, everything is on the shelf, you just go and buy it and bolt it on and go. With our Porsche we’ve got to tune it and develop it. I really enjoy the work and seeing the progress we’ve made.”
Crimp does not have long to perfect his latest add-ons to his car, with Targa set to start in Launceston on April 15 and come to a grand finish at Hobart’s Wrest point on April 20.
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
