Also thanks specifically to the boys from Porsche Centre Melbourne. These guys look after a number of Porsche Centre Melbourne customers in Targa. I enjoy the time I get to spend with these Guys.

Thanks Pete (the car technician), Brett, Karl, Bryan, Steve and Matt. Had lots of fun guys and enjoyed travelling up from Hobart to Devenport on Monday.

The Dial before you dig cars did ok. Rex won classic outright again, so the result for the team was a good one.

Finally thanks to my wife, she is still the official owner of the car. I keep threatening to change that, but its better to have the boss feel like she is involved. She has to give me permission every year to use the car, so she feels like she has some control over proceedings.

I am happy, she is happy.

The party is on at wrest point, and we settle into a relaxed state … but wait. at 9:00pm Sunday night the timing issue we had been penalised for in Strahan had not been resolved. A quick discussion with the CRO’s (Competitor Relations Officer) leads us on an emotional roller coaster ride. Results have  nearly gone final, and the txt message they had sent us at midday saying the issue had been resolved was quickly eroding to nothing.

“Lodge a compaint with Clerk of course” was the only option at this late stage. $200 needed to be lodge along with the protest. If the protest was upheld we get the result and the money back. This was going to be a good night, or a lousy night. To lose places on a technicality was hard to take…. 1/2 hour later I was rung by control and our protest was upheld. Money back for the bar and we were once again happy chappies.  12th outright in classic was not as good as I was hoping, but it is still a good result. Certainly against comparative cars we did ok.

Next year Paul and I have the opportunity for our Platinum Plate. Sixth year, so I think we are going for this … still need sign off from the bosses (Cleo and Michelle) and maybe we can get a leave pass for one more round. 6 would be great, but we will take a breathe and decide where we sit in a month or so.

2009 over. Car is great, driver and navigator intact. Ready 2010.

I have decided that there is no real hope for us mere mortals when someone like Jim Richards has a crash. Jim has tackled many Targa’s - 16 - winning approx 7 or 8, and he has never ever had an off. Today Jim retired from the event, and this has really refocused most of the field on what we are up against.

As I continue to repeat, this is one tough event.  We are approx 1/2 way thru the event with 2 days to go. Maybe rain tomorrow, but we will see. The car suffered a broken exhaust claim yesterday, but that was welded and refitted last night.

The expo was great, and dinner even better. Paul and I had the foresight to book the local steak house and we were really looking forward to the meal we had to offset the “weight watchers” lunches they have been giving us each day …

I am hoping that everyone has taken the chance to view our google maps with our telemetry over laid for each stage. This is the quickest and easiest way to keep up with our progress.

visit PelicanCorp at www.pelicancorp.com and click on News and Targa.

Today 400m from the start of a stage, 3 cars came to grief, including 2 that rolled. Every night Paul jokes that we are winners, and he is right. Every day is a race, not just against your competitors, but against the clock and yourself.  You need to pace yourself and as they say, “be there at the end if you want to win”.

We are reminded every night about the battles each of us have with this event, and many competitors end up losing that war.

Reliability, tyres, weather, fuel, navigator and driver need to function for 8 to 10 stages each day at 100%, and then some, just to complete each day. It seams easy, but many stories are told of competitors that come to Targa only once, having not come to grips with the intensity and challenge this event offers.

There are other more famous tarmac rallies from yester year, but in this modern day, I suspect that Targa Tasmania can be put up as one, if not, the most difficult tarmac rally currently available for the average punter. (I don’t expect many of us will ever get to sample the WRC tarmac rallies)

On that note I will close today, feeling comfortable in continuing to achieve our main goal. Arriving safely each night and to be in Hobart on Sunday.

Glyn Crimp’s 924 GT - one of those battles that was lost.

We had a great pasta meal tonight, so hopefully a good day tomorrow.

Unfortunately we had to contend with failure in our electronic gadgets. No video for prologue and no tracking. The first was due to a small problem with the Archos being reboot, and the second a small problem with the driver forgetting to start the tracking function.

All was good and we completed the prologue (which seeds the starting order for Day 1) with no problems other than the brakes catching on fire at the end of stage. No problem as this has given them a heat cycle that is need to bed in the brakes.

Rain has become the topic of conversation as Targa hasn’t been really wet for a number of years. Not to worry, we love the wet.

Early to bed (9:00pm) so unlike me, but we need to expel the drink before the morning … that should not be a problem, we didn’t have that much for dinner.

To: Paul Girt
Time: Monday,27th Aprill 2009 7:31 AM
Glad i took the saturday boat. I am just waiting for breakfast in bed…. Shit no one here to get it for me…. Shit, there is no food either. Looks like a bacon roll at the silverdome!! See you at the dome.

Monday late afternoon - Paul has arrived, car is totally ready, so thats it, ready for tomorrow. Off to drivers briefing at 5:00pm, then out for a feed before resting for the start …

On good friday I spent the day at Winton, and fortunately it rained in the morning and I got to play in the rain. That was good for my confidence, as I suspect Targa 2009 is going to be wet. We have continued with the Dunlop tyres this year, but maybe this was a chance to switch back to the Michellin TB15’s. Only time will tell which decision was right.

I travelled by myself on the saturday boat (previous events the Friday boat), as Paul is flying in on Monday morning. Sunday was spent getting off the boat at 7:00am, touring up the road 40km’s and eating at the infamous  Raspberry Farm Cafe. I then traveled to Launceston following Klaus Bischof (Porsche Museum Stuttgart Director) in  a 1961 356 GT Abarth.

It was a slow start and not being able to access my room until 11:00am, I spent the morning walking around the town, drinking coffee, reading a car magazine and getting retail therapy at Officeworks and Supercheap. I decided to check the chance of doing registration and documentation early at the Silvedome, but the queues looked a little slow. I returned at 3:30pm and walked in and out in 5 minutes. Scruitneering was also a breeeze, and before 4:00pm my car was sitting in the Silverdome parc-fume.

First day over and all thats left is the obligatory group restaurant meal in Launceston. The group concensus appeared to be chinese, so twelve of us banqueted and finished up around 9:00pm ready for bed ….

This is Paul and my 5th campaign together, but with a new baby and new family pressures, I am sure 5 times sitting beside me in the Navigators seat is enough. Paul has recently acquired another race car, this time a rally prepared mini. I suspect it will be soon joining the tramac rally scene in anger with Paul at the wheel.

Entries are in and final paperwork is being organised, and then there is the car and the driver. I will try to complete in a number of club events this year to clear the cobwebs.

Looking forward to another event …. stay posted