When Australian Targa Tasmania gets underway with the official Prologue in George Town on April 17, at the start line for the first time will be a diesel-powered vehicle. Australian motorsport veteran, Phil Buggee and his co-driver Paul Freame, will be behind the wheel of a Fiat Grande Punto, competing in the Showroom category.

Not only will it be the first time that a diesel-powered vehicle has entered Targa Tasmania, it will also be the first diesel-entry in any tarmac rally in Australia. The Punto meets the toughest emissions standards of Europe, EN590, and will use BP’s latest generation 10ppm low sulphur diesel. The Fiat will be the most economical and environmentally friendly vehicle in the field. "We are looking forward to contesting the Modern section after five years of competing with the Classics, in a brand new car, literally straight off the showroom floor," Buggee said. Buggee and Freame are past class and category 5MS winners in Targa Tasmania, and are making their competitive return to the event after missing the action in 2006.

Buggee, a life-member of the Fiat Car Club of Victoria, has been racing and rallying Fiats for over 30 years. "Fiat has returned to the Australian market after an 18-year absence, so it’s great to see it back and in such a high-profile event. When the opportunity came up to drive the Punto in Targa we jumped at the chance, and with the support of BP in Tasmania and Pirelli, we’ve made it happen. The Fiat Car Club of Victoria is 50 years old this year and entering Targa is a great way to celebrate. The chance to be the first turbo-diesel to compete in Targa Tasmania is just one of the firsts for this project.

"Diesel really is the way of the future. We’re probably going to use less fuel than any other car in the field. We reckon our total usage will be less than 250 litres for the whole trip, which is pretty amazing. I know that the organisers of the event are really looking forward to growing the Showroom class and we’ll certainly welcome any others who want to join us in the future."

The car will also be eligible to compete for the M3C2 class, against several Mini Cooper S vehicles. The Fiat Punto Sport, with a 1.9L turbo diesel, producing 96kW (130hp) at 4000rpm and 280Nm at 2000rpm, will also be a visual stand-out across the 2000 kilometre course in its bright orange livery

The Targa Tasmania

Targa Tasmania is an exciting International Classic. A tarmac rally with competitive stages on closed roads for the best touring, sports and GT cars in the world. Its inaugural year was in April 1992 when Tasmania hosted this distinguished International motoring Classic. The competition concept is drawn directly from the best features of the Mille Miglia, the Coupe des Alpes and the Tour de Corse. However, Targa Tasmania is not a slow-motion re-run. It is a genuine "red-blooded" motor sport competition. It is also a unique annual opportunity for the owners of sports cars and GTs to drive them the way they were designed to be driven, on some of the most exciting and challenging tarmac roads in the world.

Targa Tasmania caters for up to 300 select cars. Entries are selected from Applications to Compete, by a Vehicle Selection Committee. Invitations to Compete in each year's Event are announced on a progressive basis from August through to February (close of applications). Targa Tasmania has quickly established itself as an annual event, conducted in April each year. The present format is to conduct the event over six days (including a Prologue) on some 2,000 kilometres of tarmac roads.

Targa Tasmania entrants comprise a wide range of media-attracting personalities including former World Champions and other well-known motor sport competitors from both Australia and overseas, as well as national and international celebrities. In short, this is not only a competitive motor sport event. It is a unique commercial and tourist attraction capturing the imagination of the Australian public as well as the national and international motor sport fraternity.

Tourism Tasmania has announced that more than 200,000 people per annum watch Targa Tasmania each year over the six days, while an international viewing audience of over 480 millions has been estimated for each event. Targa Tasmania has the support and backing of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS). The Tasmanian Government rates this special event as having a substantial commercial contribution as well and being a major tourist attraction to the State, and active support is provided by the Department of State Development. Thus, Targa Tasmania is another example of the successful partnership between Government and Motor Sport, attracting between AUS$4 and AUS$10 million new tourist dollars to Tasmania each year.
 

The goal of organisers and the Tasmanian Government has been achieved - to see Targa Tasmania develop into the premier motor sport event of its type in Australia, ranking alongside the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and Rally Australia in Perth.

16th Targa Tasmania (2007)

In a major move by Targa Tasmania event organisers, twenty five per cent of the 2006 course will change for this year’s 16th annual staging of the international tarmac classic from April 17 – 22. Among subtle alterations which have tweaked some of the course’s more regular stages, the momentous change to the Targa Tasmania 2007 course includes eleven major stage changes or additions. Starting in the northern city of Launceston and finishing in the state’s capital Hobart five days later, the 43 closed competition stages included in the 2000 kilometres of the Island State’s grand touring roads will comprise the 445 kilometre competitive element of this year’s event.

Targa Tasmania Event Director Mark Perry says a major course change was vital in achieving Octagon’s main objective, which from 2007 onwards is to each year deliver a Targa Tasmania to remember to its competitors. "Not since Targa Tasmania’s 10 th anniversary in 2000 has the course changed this dramatically,” explains Perry. "This course takes in some of the world’s most challenging tarmac rally roads as well as branching out to parts of our beautiful island currently untouched by the event."

Two notable changes are a special evening stage to be held within the stunning surrounds of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hobart and a visit to Beaconsfield, Tasmania’s famous mining town. After having 500 metres deducted from the Targa Town Stage at George Town last year to accommodate Anzac Day celebrations, in 2007, the Temco George Town Prologue is back to its traditional length of 4.82km.

Six of the stages on the event’s first leg conducted in the state’s north have been changed. The 8.44km Deloraine Targa Stage, last used as an introduction to Leg Two in 2000, replaces High Plains; this is followed by the 5.28km Reedy Marsh stage – Quamby Brook in reverse to ease competitors into the event. The action hots up on the 14.57km Paradise stage; a reverse of the original Sheffield stage. Following the event’s lunch stop in Tasmania’s ‘Town of Murals’, Sheffield, the stages increase in difficulty with two of the four stages held after lunch being new to the 2007 course. The 5.5km Harford stage is a reversed version of the Moriarty stage and is followed by an extended and reversed version of the Holwell stage. Leg One concludes with a 2.2km tour around the town of Beaconsfield.

As the cars make their way from Launceston to Hobart on Leg Two, via the state’s scenic East Coast, there are three changes. The 7.7km Moorina stage is a lengthened version of Winnaleah and the exciting new conclusion to this second day of competition is the planned Botanical Gardens night stage starting at 6pm with the Grasstree Hill stage being held over to Leg Three. The first two stages on Leg Three held in the state’s south are Grasstree Hill Reverse, a reversed version of the Targa regular which takes the field towards the historic township of Richmond, and the 3.3km Tunnel Hill stage, which is a short sprint past the foothills of Hobart’s Mount Rumney. The people of Ross will have something to look forward to next year with the 2.78km stage on Leg Four reverting to its original direction, which will have the competition cars launch themselves over the town’s arterial train lines.

In an effort to draw the weekend crowd, the Targa Town Stage held in Tasmania’s historic motor sport town of Longford has been moved to Saturday morning April 21. The only addition to Leg Four is the 4.40km Fern Glade stage as the concluding stage. The 47.24km Mt Arrowsmith stage on the final Leg, Burnie to Hobart, remains the event’s longest and most testing stage. Ellendale and New Norfolk will not run this year, with the field finishing the event in the old Hydro township of Tarraleah, before heading back to Wrest Point for the Official Finish in Hobart.

To date, 221 applications have been received for this year’s event. Some names in the Shannons Classic Competitions include Rob Sherrard in his stunning 1967 Bizzarrini GT America, two-time almost Classic winner, Porsche front-runner Bill Pye in his 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3 and making his return to Targa Tasmania 2007 is 2003 Classic winning co-driver Jon Siddins in a 1971 Datsun H510. Entries in the drivetravel.com Modern Competition include eight-time Targa Tasmania winner Jim Richards in a brand new Porsche Turbo, Tasmanian Lamborghini powerhouse Jason White who took honours at the November 2006 Mount Buller Sprint and V8 Supercar stalwart Tony Longhurst.