Targa Tasmania 2003

[Turblue]

I was just looking at the 2003 results for the Targa Tasmania Rally.

http://www.targa.org.au/results2003/leg5m.htm

The Astra SRi Turbo came 13th overall.

Not bad I figure considering the seven Porsche 911 (GT3 or turbo), an STi WRX, two Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II N1's and a couple others.....

[Rhino]

3rd in its class I think...

[BUGEYE]

And the mighty Subaru WRX STI S202 beating a host of GT3's, GT2's, GTR Skylines etc etc.
That was no run of the mill WRX though. It's an S202 which was never made available in OZ - JDM only. It's a beast. Heres a pic:
http://www.subaru-sti.co.jp/s202/image/impre_s_pic03.jpg
The car that was ran in Targa was "fairly" standard with a bit of tweaking here and there. It was ran with 240 kw at the hub but with 500 Nm of torque!!!! Believe it or not, this is not much more than what the S202 is off the shelf.
8)

[FLY-SRi]

wasnt the Astra Turbo stock apart from supsension and brake upgrages?

[ultim8DTM5]

Who cares, it was last year.
Hoorah for no mo Jimmy Richards winning this year!

[Jass]

Ahh thats a good result for the astra. How do they divide the divisions?

[imay]

That was LAST year. Not an Astra in sight this year. The race officials loved giving the new 6 series BMW the hammer though!
The whole event ended up being a race between Porsche and Skylines, with a couple of WRXs thrown in to keep the lot of them honest. Bloody won too, didn't it!
I got to see a fair bit of racing . . . standing out there in the freezing cold! Last couple of days were a bit disappointing as the stages we wanted to see were down graded to touring stages only, so we moved on and missed them. Poor Jimmy Richards was a bit upset on the last couple of days that "500 horses driving the rear wheels in pouring rain, isn't fun." Needless to say Jim dropped back and let the AWD boys take the 2 top places.
Now, what to take in next year . . . maybe the Summernats in Canberra!
Ian

[tofo]

I love my Astra turbo, but I'm pretty sure the Cameron McConville factor made a pretty big contribution to its excellent result!

[Corsa]

3rd in its class I think...

Actually the Astra turbo finished first in it's class. It was the second unmodified vehicle accross the line aafter the WRX STi and out of the top 20 cars to finish it had the smallest engine with least power and torque.
Would love to know whether or not Cameron had the Traction/Stability Control turned on or off for that event.
Corsa

[silvestra]

I have read an article on his drive, he said that he had to turn it off because it took off too much power. I've taken mine on a track day and have experienced the same thing. The car is way quicker with it off.