Lotus Tour Targa Tasmania 2021
“Thank you so so much to Mark and Gemma and everyone else on the Lotus Tour for one of the best experiences of my life.
It was an honour and a privilege racing for team lotus and thanks to Nadine the best navigator for soldiering on all week. Without you I could never have come second in the tour and getting a silver medal. Looking forward to our next Targa”
We helped Lotus Cars Australia host another large group of sports car owners for the 29th running of Targa Tasmania, one of the world’s toughest tarmac rally events held over 6 days that travels on some of the best roads in Australia. Lotus supported a number of driving crews in the competition classes with the husband and wife combination of Tony & Sandra Seymour in Rookie Rallye following their previous success in Adelaide, High Country & Great Barrier Reef events. Steve Sher & Robert Bryden returned to Targa Tasmania in 2021 to continue their battle for GT Sports Trophy honours with the two drivers fighting it out in previous tarmac rally events with some close stage battles.
The annual Lotus Tour was run again which enabled a number of people to try a Targa Rally for the first time and we even had a couple of participants driving other marques who were keen to find out about the Lotus lifestyle in Australia. It made for a great group of driving enthusiasts keen to enjoy some spirited driving on the closed rally road stages. There was a mix of vehicles with everything from a Series 2 Lotus Elise to current model Evora and Exige Sport 410’s participating. That is one of the great things about this event is that it can be suitable to nearly any vehicle type.
Lotus Cars Australia makes it simple for anyone to participate, either in the Tour or competitive classes, by provided all the logistics support, organisation for accomodation & group meals so that you can spend more time enjoying yourself & the company of others. It makes it a great driving event for best mates, couples or family members to enjoy together.
A tarmac rally perfect for first timers to try
Many people think it is too hard to try and participate in Targa Tasmania, but generally speaking, they are wrong.
Lotus Cars Australia makes it very easy to do your first Targa Tasmania or to compete every year through the logistics and organisational support provided. We take care of all the tricky bits like car preparation, transport, event entry and the biggest bonus is our roadside event support.
Lotus Cars Australia has crew members along the rally stages to give you the help & assistance needed, while the Lotus Tour participants we have a group leader providing co-ordination during the event.
This means it is really easy for anyone to try the competitive rally racing classes or just come along and enjoy some spirited driving as part of the Rally Tour.
Every night there are group dinners where lots of stories are shared, we have Competition and Tour groups mixing together and it is a very inclusive, open atmosphere amongst the group.
GT Sports Trophy competition class
Lotus sports cars dominated the GT Sports Trophy class at Targa Tasmania 2021 with five crews finishing in the top 10 with all three podium places going to Exige V6 sports cars.
Less than 2 minutes separated the top three finishers after six days of gruelling competition with Gibbens – Jurd taking out the class win ahead of Sher – Murphy in second and Bryden – Noble in third place. Robert & Steve continued their Targa duels from High Country at Mount Buller with the combination of Sher – Murphy getting one over their rivals.
Across the six days there were some treacherous conditions & the crews all faced their own challenges like Day 2 when Steve Sher and Fergal Murphy who were provisionally 3rd, found themselves relegated to 5th after a 30 second time penalty for driving too fast on the first stage was applied. They spent all of the day clawing their way back to 4th & over the coming days eventually got past Rob and Ian.
Rookie Rallye
In the Rookie Rallye, husband and wife combination of Tony & Sandra were lift pondering what could have been in their Lotus Exige after placing second with a margin of just 8 seconds behind the leader.
Even in mixed, damp conditions over the 6 days, the Seymour’s Exige was super competitive although a mix up during one of the transit stage speed limits saw them receive a 5 minute penalty to their finishing time. They clawed their way back into contention but it wasn’t enough to secure the win, nonetheless they showed great speed and composure to secure a podium position.
Without the penalty they would have dominated their class by many minutes, but also finished in the top 20 outright in a field full of experienced competitors. Putting that into perspective they were up against all wheel drive cars on many damp road stages.
Meanwhile there were some other great results in the GT Outright class with Cuthbert – Cuthbert and Hilton – Vanderpoel both finishing in the top 15 positions up against many 4WD cars that took advantage of the wet conditions on many of the stages.
