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Targa Tasmania, a stage rally that takes place entirely on paved roads, happens every year on Tasmania, a large island off the southern coast of Australia. Because the cars don t have to deal with the harsh gravel surfaces that normally come with stage rally, competitors enter all sorts of road-going performance cars, from Porsche 944s to new Lamborghini Huracáns.
This Viper ACR, driven by Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey, looks largely unmodified, and has absolutely no trouble navigating the high-speed bends and tight turns that come with Targa Tasmania s challenging stages. The car was so competent, it was able to win the event outright this year. America s finest at work.
Peter McKay
Contributor
Targa-style tarmac road events are massive fun, but with ever-lurking danger being part of the high-speed menu. This was emphasised during the 2021 Targa Tasmania with the tragic deaths of three competitors. Now questions are being askedâ¦
Make no mistake, these events are not without their risks. Road grip and conditions change with the weather, and occasional nasty surprises can wait around every corner. Unlike the controlled nature of a permanent racing circuit, have a mishap and emergency vehicles may be half-an-hour and 25 km away.
Some people crochet as a hobby. Others play tennis. Some do frustrating stuff like hitting a small white ball around until it goes into one of 18 tiny holes.
Last modified on Mon 26 Apr 2021 00.16 EDT
Motorsports Australia will establish a special investigatory tribunal to examine two fatal crashes in which three people died at Targa Tasmania at the weekend.
Veteran competitor Shane Navin, 68, was killed after his 1979 Mazda RX-7 rolled on Friday morning on the Lyell Highway in Tasmania’s remote west. Emergency crews were unable to revive Navin. His co-driver, Glenn Evans, escaped uninjured.
The next day, Leigh Munday, 68, from Hobart, and Queenslander Dennis Neagle, 59, died after their 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 RS hit a tree at Wattle Grove Road, near Cygnet, in southern Tasmania.
Targa is an annual multi-day rally held in Tasmania, where competitors race across 2,000km of public roadways. This year’s event began on 19 April.
Tributes flooded in for the men who died at the Targa Tasmania motorsport race
Shane Navin, from NSW, died when his car rolled on the Lyell Highway on Friday
Leigh Mundy, from TAS, and QLD co-driver Dennis Neagle were killed Saturday
Their 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 RS hit a tree in Cygnet, in the south of Tasmania
Mr Mundy walked his daughter down the aisle only months before tragic death