With close to 200 confirmed entries already - and several more late ones expected this and next week - this year's anniversary Targa tarmac motor rally in the South Island will be one of - if not the - biggest in the 20 year history of the annual day event.

"Certainly it will be the biggest in recent years," says Event Director Peter Martin.

This year is the first in those 20 that the six-day annual event has been held in the South Island and Martin says that the bumper entry has more than vindicated the decision to 'break away' from its North Island base.

"It (the South Island) was always on the radar, but it was only when we decided we needed to do something special to mark the 20th anniversary of our event that we took a serious look at it. Initially we were looking at a shorter event, something over one or two days. We also looked seriously at running the anniversary event across both Islands. When we actually went down there though and looked at what was available it was a Christchurch to Queenstown route over six days that made the most sense."

The entry of just on 120 competition and just over 70 tour cars will also be supplemented on the opening day by at least 200 Ford Mustangs in Christchurch for the annual New Zealand Mustang Owners convention.

They will line up with the allied but non-competitive Targa Tour cars at the event start at Christchurch's Addington Raceway and tour over the prologue stage in the Port Hills before returning to Mike Pero Motorsport Park to complete a day of speed-based activity.

On Tuesday the field heads south for stages in mid-Canterbury, before the first of two overnight stays in Dunedin where the cars will be housed overnight in the Forsyth Barr stadium.

After a day full of stages in the North Otago hinterland (and lunch and service stop in Oamaru's historical precinct) on Wednesday the field returns to Dunedin before heading south on Thursday to Invercargill - and a day's end stage at Teretonga Park.

Friday October 31 is then spent completing stages through Eastern Southland, West and Central Otago before finishing at Cromwell's Highlands Motorsport Park (owned by five-time Targa NZ winner Tony Quinn, pictured).

Competitors then spend the final day (Saturday November 01) in the Lakes County with stages to and from Glenorchy and across the Crown Range before the official finish in downtown Queenstown and the prize giving function the next day.

All told, competitors will contest 807kms over 34 closed special stages linked by 1828km of open road transport stages.

Stage length varies from the short and sweet - the 9.99km Kia Ora south-west of Oamaru on Leg One - to the marathon 44.69 of Catlins - from south of Owaka to north of Niagara  - on Leg 3.

The event has proved popular with regular entrants and first-timers alike, the entry list headed by five-time previous Targa New Zealand winner Tony Quinn and co-driver Naomi Tillet and including last year's winning pair Martin Dippie and Jona Grant from Dunedin (Porsche GT3), Targa Bambina winners Glenn Inkster and Spencer Winn (Mitsubishi Evo 8), and Targa Rotorua winners Leigh Hopper and Simon Kirkpatrick (Subaru Impreza).

Entry numbers have also been boosted by a large number of resident South Island drivers including rally drivers Dean Buist and co-driver Andrew Bulman (Ford Escort), Marcus Van Clink and co-driver Dave Neill (Citreon C2) and Gary Cliff and James Cowles (Mitsubishi Evo 5) all from Christchurch, and classic circuit racer Scott O'Donnell and co-driver Scott Milne from Invercargill (BMW Mini).

The South Island event will also have special significance for Barry Kirk-Burnnand from Auckland and Mike Lowe from Rotorua, the only two drivers who have entered and completed all 19 main Targa events held so far.

TARGA HISTORY

Dubbed 'The Ultimate Road Race,' the annual New Zealand Targa event can trace its links back to the classic open road races - the Targa Floria and the Mille Miglia - popular in Italy from the early years of the 20th century until the 1970s.

'Targa' is Italian for 'plate,' a reference either to a car's licence plate or to the rectangular bronze plate awarded to the winner of the Targa Floria.

The first Targa New Zealand event was held in 1995, its organiser, Mike John, having been inspired by the success of Australia's first Targa event, Targa Tasmania, in 1992.

Since then the annual multi-day New Zealand event has been joined by several other shorter, regional events with current owner and event director Peter Martin taking the helm  in 2008.

Key to the on-going success of the main and subsidiary events is the unique New Zealand landscape with its unsurpassed network of sinuous sealed roads perfect for closed Targa stages.

Targa New Zealand events are organised with the support of sponsors Ecolight, Federal motorsport tyres, Global Security, Highlands Motorsport Park, Instra Corporation,  Kids In Cars, Metalman, NZ Classic Car magazine, Race Brakes, TeamTalk, TrackIt, VTNZ. and Woolrest Biomag.

Photo credit: www.groundsky.co.nz

 

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