Targa High Country Tour Group

[donR]

Just wondering if anyone has done any of the Targa Tours such as Targa High Country and what was it like?

https://targa.com.au/tc/page_standard.asp?asset_id=35577

I know the Porsche Tour groups book out very quickly (already checked) but I notice you can still register as an individual with the Tour Group.

The entry fee is $2k which doesn't seem too bad for a 3 day organised event on closed roads.

I know there is a 130kph speed limit but you rarely can get up to 130 around those twisty sections and pretty rare to being able to race up Mount Buller without traffic. 

Although if the pace is slow then may as well do a private tour. 

[knighty]

I have done two Targa Tasmania Tours (as well as 10 TT competition events).  The last tour a couple on months ago.  

The cars now have rally safe in them so the officials know what speed you are doing at ALL times. 120 is the official limit, but they don’t get angry unless you go through the 130 barrier.  If you break the 130, which is easy to do in the moment, as long as you come straight back down you may get a take it easy comment, but if you keep it up there then you get s please explain and if you do it multiple timed a please go home. 

On the transport stages just keep within the limits as the police can, and do review and hand out fines. 

I have not done the Porsche  tour I have kept to the Targa official tour. I have found the tour leaders excellent. You need them to be good steerers as they set the pace through the corners and once the pack catches them that is it. 

You need to organise your car order and find your balance with the faster cars at the front of the pack  Best method is to spread  out from the start before you get going in earnest 

To me the best fun is pushing through the corners, which you essentially do at race speed, the fast top speed sections is best to get gaps right again At the end of the day anyone can drive fast in a straight line so limiting this to <130 is fine  

Give me a call if you want further download on Tour

Final word is I will be doing it again next year  

 Cheers

Knighty

0412885037

[JWM]

I take it you need to organise your own accomodation etc if you book direct? I saw a price of $6k for a Porsche one somewhere, so assume that in contrast included it?

[donR]

Yes, I believe the Porsche tours are somewhere in the vicinity of $5k to $6k but that includes all accommodation, food, etc for two and they are very well organised and apparently they look after you like you're a celebrity. A nice indulgence one day perhaps.  

It is another $1.5k to $4k if you want to transport your car to a place like Targa Great Barrier Reef. The driving up there does looks incredible, but the Targa High Country does present as a reasonably economical option and also great roads. 

Yep $2k just covers entry and I believe the event dinner, but I assume given it is not the ski season there is plenty of accommodation options up at Mount Buller and in the general area. 

Thanks Knighty, I'll be sure to give you a call some time this week. 

[TwoHeadsTas]

Couple of mates from the club here compete pretty much every year in the "serious"  event, with some podium level equipment (got there year before last, they'll be back with another serious attempt I would think).  I'm thinking of trying to get over next time to have a look and perhaps help with support, with a view to bringing the GT3 over probably year after next to to do the tour.  Have got a client with a rental property at Dinner Plains, so reckon I could get the accommodation sorted, it's a big place, could be great for a PFA Tour group 🙂 

[MR901]

Targa High Country is a great event & for those without the time or funds to do a full Targa Tasmania a wonderful option. I've done 8 out of 9 THC's & will be back this year....the weather is usually good, the lunch stops each day are in great locations & the tour groups always seem very happy. Knighty is 100% correct....130km is plenty on the twisty roads which is 80% of the course. Just remember to take it easy on the flat / straight sections where we get up to 220-240km. The sections are long enough that you could go faster but we aren't that competitive or courageous so cap our top speeds. I've done most of the targa events & Mount Buller is my all time favourite stage....once you pass the entry gate at the base of the mountain 130km is plenty & you'll love it !!! Go for it & enjoy....

[donR]

Thanks guys for the responses. I must say I'm getting excited just thinking and reading about it. 

I did a recent 1600 km Road trip through Snowy River and Kosciuszko national parks the other weekend with a private group on similar roads which was great but being on closed roads and being able to use the whole of the road is going to be absolutely awesome.  

A PFA tour group sounds like a great idea one year with perhaps a group booking of a lodge. 

A quick glance at the accommodation on Mount Buller presents a multitude of somewhat pricey options so I can see why the cost of the Factory Tour Groups gets quite expensive. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for accommodation on Mount Buller or where some of the Porsche drivers are staying?

[hugh]

3 minutes ago, donR said:

Thanks guys for the responses. I must say I'm getting excited just thinking and reading about it. 

Do it. 

[Redracn]

There is also the option of 4 Mountain Motorsports events that are similar to Targa events with a number of options from a tour to full competition. 

http://www.australiantarmacrally.com/

 

[hugh]

30 minutes ago, Redracn said:

There is also the option of 4 Mountain Motorsports events that are similar to Targa events with a number of options from a tour to full competition. 

http://www.australiantarmacrally.com/

 

+1 on these too! 

[donR]

A week back from Targa High Country 2019. All in all a great event and very well organised. Only issue was the snow and wet roads on days 1 & 2. Most of the Porsche's were stuck up the mountain on day 1 and missed out. I must admit driving was slippery and not all that enjoyable. Day 2 was a little easier but still wet. I was also running Cup 2s which were ok in the wet but not confidence inspiring. I had to work very hard to keep up with other cars on all weather tires but gave up in the end to save the nerves! Quite a few of the tour group and competitors sliding off during the weekend. I think there would have been at least half a dozen. 

Dried up fairly nicely on day 3 but still a bit damp, particularly going up Mount Buller, but much more enjoyable.

I also did my own "Targa Tour" on the way down and way back taking in Alpine Way, Kosciuszko, Omeo Hwy, Bogong High Plains Rd to Bright, then to Mount Buller via Whitfield. We took pretty much the same route going back but included Mount Buffalo and Tooma Rd through Kosciuszko and Snowy Mountains Hwy on the way back up to Tumut and Sydney and all dry throughout.

I must admit I did really enjoy the closed road stages of THC and being able to let it rip a bit in the corners and use the whole road. Would be great to do it again in the dry.

Here is a few general photos of the event. I have some more but am restricted by the upload limit but there are some others at https://www.instagram.com/don.gts

 

[donR]

Here some more photos of the actual event including some Porsches 

[hugh]

3 hours ago, donR said:

Quite a few of the tour group and competitors sliding off during the weekend. I think there would have been at least half a dozen. 

This is worrying and shouldn't be happening in a "tour" category. It does any rally event a real dis-service when there are more cars going off in the Tour than the competitive classes. Conditions looked horrific, glad to see you manged to survive and come away in 1 piece! 

You definitely need to come back and have a go on those roads in the dry. 

[MR901]

I echo DonR’s comments. See attached a couple of our photo’s....I do THC every year & the weather this year was at the lower end of the acceptable range...ha ha....it’s  usually perfect blue skies. It’s a great event & worth doing either tour or full comp. In terms of accommodation speak to Alpine Holiday Rentals who I’ve found helpful. On the mountain we always stay at Reindeer Apartments which are clean, warm & decent size. If your not staying during the event why not stay off the mountain which is much cheaper. We usually stay off mountain at the Alzberg in Mansfield which is walking distance to the pub & reasonably priced. Good luck with it 👍

[donR]

I think given over 200 or so cars including a very large tour group a few cars sliding off on the corners was acceptable & at the end of the day people need to drive within their own limits although I don't think many people are experienced in those conditions so it is surprising more people did not slide off! Although as mentioned the official Porsche Tour group did not run on the first day which might have saved some cars. I believe a few Porsches slid into each other on the ice trying to get off the mountain which would have been quite awful. 

Fortunately those cars that did slide off during the event it more seemed like "falling in the bushes" rather than anything dramatic. In the tour group there was a Lotus that appeared to have powered too much out of a wet corner and slid into some nice soft ferns, no damage done. In our group an E90 M3 did a similar move but bounced off the inside mud barrier back onto the road so no damaged. 

In the Competition group the worst was a ZO6 corvette that lost the back and did a fairly gentle single roll. There is some great in car footage of the E30 BMW spinning down the road at quite high speed and hitting the bank but was able to continue. Also a GT3 RS under steering and taking out a few road marker posts. Other cars I saw was an Toyota Sprinter and Audi TTRS so certainly more offs in the competition group.

As usual those Vipers seemed to go very well!

Managed to upload another photo. This was the lunch stop for two of the days. Quite a pretty spot for a picnic.

[TwoHeadsTas]

13 hours ago, MR901 said:

I echo DonR’s comments. See attached a couple of our photo’s....I do THC every year & the weather this year was at the lower end of the acceptable range...ha ha....it’s  usually perfect blue skies. It’s a great event & worth doing either tour or full comp. In terms of accommodation speak to Alpine Holiday Rentals who I’ve found helpful. On the mountain we always stay at Reindeer Apartments which are clean, warm & decent size. If your not staying during the event why not stay off the mountain which is much cheaper. We usually stay off mountain at the Alzberg in Mansfield which is walking distance to the pub & reasonably priced. Good luck with it 👍

@MR901one of my mates was talking very highly of your car when we caught up to go and see Ford v Ferrari on Saturday night.  They also did very well taking out EM in the ex Quinn black 996 TT

[MR901]

Thanks TwoHeads, it’s an awesome car & i’m very lucky to have it....I do get a lot of people suggesting I shouldn’t use an original nations cup car for competition due to its rarity but we take pride that it’s still being used for its primary purpose & not in a temperature controlled garage. If only I could drive it like your mate in the Turbo...ha ha...

[Redracn]

The Z06 only had a scratch compared to a Lotus. Crew were ok

 

[donR]

2 hours ago, Redracn said:

The Z06 only had a scratch compared to a Lotus. Crew were ok

 

Wow, that does look nasty. I had missed that one. Glad to hear the crew were ok. That must have been the tricky extraction I'd heard about. 

This is the footage of the corvette flipping at 52 sec.

And the BMW spinning at 1:05, it actually went off I think twice, but quite a hard car to drive fast from my experience driving one back in the 90s. 

 

[donR]

Posted a few videos of in-car footage for those interested in seeing what the tour group is like. I also made a custom rally safe bracket which worked out great to keep it off the window/dash. A really impressive device. 

I was in the "mixed" Tour group and I'd have to say if you have a 'fast' modern Porsche car in ideal conditions the mixed group is probably a bit slow, but fine in the wet. Our tour leader, Joe, was in a Golf R and whilst it and the driver was impressive in ideal conditions the Porsche felt like it could go a little faster. On the Jamieson stage we actually caught up to the back of the Lotus group so it was still a good run! The Golf also started to lose its brakes and I expect over heat which didn't help with the pace. 

This is one of my better wet runs. Most of the stages were like this but worse! Lots of water on the road and slippery. 

 

These two were probably the best stages where the road started to dry up a bit but never stayed completely dry for the whole of each stage with some damp or wet patches.  

This 2019 Civic Type R was really impressive, particularly in the wet conditions. 

 

 

[donR]

Bit old news now but for all those 718 fans received a new video from Targa a few weeks ago of the actual car this time! 

 

[Beau]

Awesome video!  

Looks like a great event, Thanks for the insights on the tour, I'm really keen to try a Targa Tour event - this year's GBR maybe (since we can't go overseas anymore it kinda makes sense to go to far north queensland )

[donR]

Thanks. 

I agree Targa GBR is the one to do as you are pretty much guaranteed good weather and the roads look amazing. As long as the Premier opens their boarder on time!

There is just the logistics of getting to Carins which is costly from Sydney but I fear what it would cost from Perth! Then enticing a willing co-driver/passenger can be difficult unless your partner is up for the challenge.

Maybe Tagar High Country would be a bit closer from Perth! You could also consider coming over on the train with your car. 

I'd also recommend trying to get in the "Porsche Tour Group" as they have a slow, med and fast group. Whereas the "Random Tour Group" you are limited by the speed of the tour leader, which is likely to be a slower car under ideal conditions. The Porsche group is a little expensive but includes everything for two so you end up paying a similar amount anyway. 

[hugh]

These events are also worth a look; https://www.australiantarmacrally.com/

A few of us are looking to get together and have our own Porsche group within the "tour" category. Its a great way to get out and enjoy these roads in a managed (and safer) way. Targa High Country is definitely on my list too! 

[donR]

That would be great if we could form our own Tour Group and the entry fee is a little more affordable than the Targa. I'm sure you GT3 drivers would be great tour leaders! 😉

I just wish they had some of these events in NSW! Although the drive down from Sydney can be almost as epic as these events given you go via Alpine region.