Tag Archives: Hobart

Targa Tasmania 2022

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Targa Tasmania 2022

 

Targa Tasmania 2022 was a special year, as the 30th Anniversary of the Ultimate Tarmac Rally, which also corresponded with Adams 14th and Lee’s 11th Targa, the 3rd year with both Adam and Lee competing together in the same car with the ultimate aim of taking the top step of the podium.

Before the race began, the team at Redback Racing hosted a number of sponsors at the Symons plains raceway, just outside Launceston. This gave a great opportunity for Bahco Sponsors, friends and families to get up close and personal with the BMW M3 CSL, including laps of the challenging supercars track. It also provided a great warm up event for Adam to get some time behind the wheel so the team could start the 30th running of Targa prep’d and ready in the best position to take on the most challenging of tarmac rallies!

However, it was very unfortunate that while the team were ready, on the very first stage the car has a computer related issues, which put the engine and gearbox into “Limp Mode” meaning the car would only run labouring and not attacking the first stage as the team would have hoped and lead to the team losing some 45 seconds on the first stage and putting them way down the position order. 

The issue was initially resolved, which led to the crew having two solid stages to close the gap that had been caused from the first stage, but unfortunately the issue returned. They had however learnt to fully reset the car and computer, which they had to do mid stage on the side of the road, again costing more time.

Root cause for the issue was still not understood but a tactical work around, resetting the car before each stage to give it a chance to complete the whole stage, hoping that it did not reoccur during the stage… which worked as the team went on to take stage win the next 3 stages and closed the prior lost time to put team Redback Racing into to top position for the Early modern category.

Its with great sadness that unfortunately a competitor lost their life in a fatal accident, which after the loss of lives in 2021 the Targa leadership team made the call at the end of day 2 to downgrade the rest of the event from competition to drive through.  This led to Team Redback Racing to an Early Modern Category & Class win by the most slender of lead, 1 second! 

It was never a way the team wanted Adam & Lee to share their first collective Targa Tasmania win and everyone at Redback Racing would like to share their thoughts and prayers with the family of their former competitor.

The car was put on display with a local Mitre 10 dealership before being returned to NSW and the team will reset, resolve the issue that had occurred throughout the  event and the team look forward to coming back even stronger at our next event! 

Click here to view the gallery from Targa Tasmania 2022

 

 

 

 

 

Targa Tasmania 2021

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Targa Tasmania 2021

The team from Redbackracing again took on the challenge of Targa Tasmania in April of 2021, competing in the Dutton’s Garage Early Modern 2 wheel drive category. This year competing in the BMW M3 CSL that was built and prepared through the COVID 19 Pandemic, which caused its challenges, but the car was setup for the tough challenge that was to be faced while racing throughout Tasmania in the worlds longest Tarmac Rally.

The car ran really well through the first two days, as the crew go to grips with the new power and control changes since stepping into the BMW. Day 3 the service team were called into action with overnight work to repair suspension lines that had worn against the rear wheels. While a challenge to get fixed with no garages open, the car was back racing the next morning.

Conditions throughout the event were very mixed with rain showing an apperance every day throughout. The latter stage of the rally of the final two days, unfortunately led to the passing of three fellow competitors. Shane Navin passed away on the fifth day while tackling the Mt Arrowsmith stage. While Leigh Mundy and former Redbackracing team member Dennis Neagle passed away on the Cygnet stage of Day 6. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Shane, Leigh and Dennis’s family, while time passes memories will not fade of our fellow competitors, Rest in Peace.

The BMW finised the race in fine form, having spent the majority of the race tusseling with Henry and Henry in their Porsche Cayman for third spot. In the final stages throughout Southern Tasmaina the BMW helped the crew get into 2nd spot, but unfortunately the stages were downgraded based on the accident that had occured, so the team finished in a very worth 3rd position, with the passing of the colleaugues there was not celebration or podium but instead all competitors spent time with each other and their familes.

An inquest was performed on Targa Tasmania and some further safety recommendations were put forward and the Targa leadership team have put these into place for all future Targa Events. With further COVID lockdowns all other events were delayed or could not be reached due to border crossings, so we await 2022 when Redbackracing will be back at Tackling Targa Tasmania 2022 – 30th Anniversary.

Click here to view the gallery from Targa Tasmania 2021

In Memory of Shane, Leigh and Dennis.

 

  

Targa Tasmania 2019, 1st & 2nd in Class, 5th & 6th in Category!

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Targa Tasmania 2019, 1st & 2nd in Class, 5th & 6th in Category!

The cars of Adam Spence & Lee Challoner-Miles, Andrew Bollom & Ryan Preston competed in this years Targa Tasmania 2019. The event known as the ultimate tarmac rally, lived up to its namesake this year, with weather conditions that would test the most experienced of drivers and navigators.

The first day of the six day competition, saw the crews test there cars on three stages North of Launceston as a shakedown and to set the starting order for the subsequent day with very little between the two RBR cars and the early front runners of the Early Modern category that the team were competing within.

As with previous years day two stages were based in the central northern area of Tasmania with the largest and last stage of the day Mountain Rolland providing a real chance to race the cars over a greater distance (27kms). Andrew & Ryan were edging out a lead over Adam & Lee by increasing their lead through each stage with just a few seconds separating the two RX8’s.

Day three was when the weather turned on the competitors, torrential rain set in and made the racing conditions challenging due to the amount of rain fall but a number of the stages reduced visibility through dense fog added to the level of difficulty of completing the stages while trying to compete with tough competition from other cars in the category. It was the Cethana stage where Adam & Lee took full advantage of their combined experience and Adam’s ability to still be very competitive in such challenging weather conditions, so much so they took a 1 min 38 second lead on their sister car of Andrew & Ryan and also were in the top rankings of all cars competing.

The forth and fifth days had similar conditions and the two redback racing cars would continue to drive hard and the time difference on each stage was between 1 and 5 seconds, showing how the freshly built RX8’s were a competitively built car and how when the cars were being driven to their best, could compete with cars ten times their value.

The final day of Targa Tasmania 2019 had the teams race around the Southern Hobart region, while Adam and Lee retained a 1 minute lead, the weather again caused havoc with changing conditions within stages, which continued to make such challenging conditions that competitors would make mistakes and unfortunately not complete the rally, this was not the case for the two redback racing RX8’s as Adam & Lee finished by winning their Class and coming 5th in the Early Modern category, Andrew and Ryan were not far behind finishing 2nd in class and 6th in category, with a gap of just 48 seconds separating the two, when considering the amount of distance they had both raced over the prior 6 days is testament to the sheer determination of both crews and the quality of the build of the two Mazda RX8’s.

The team would like to thank all of their sponsors who helped make this happen and fulfil an achievement of a two car team competing day in and day out throughout the beautiful Tasmania countryside and both being able to finish in the world’s longest tarmac rally.

 

Click here to view the photo gallery from the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Targa Mechanical Failure Frustrations

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Targa Mechanical Failure Frustrations

Targa Tasmania 2016 was an important milestone for the team.  It was Adam’s 10th Targa in a row and the 25th for the event as a whole.  It was also Ross Hynd’s first with the team.  The team spent many hours prior to the event testing and preparing the car for the event.

 

The first day of the event started extremely well with Adam and Ross tied in the lead of the GT4 category after missing a win in the street stage by 2 tenths of a second!

 

Days 2 and 3 saw the pairing finding their feet but always running in the top 5 or 6 cars consistently which landed them in 5th place.  Then on day 4 with some tuning changed done to the car the team start challenging for stage wins with a couple of 2nd’s and clawing towards 4th place with still around 50% of racing distance still in front of them.

 

Unfortunately, a podium finish was not going to happen at this event with the team halfway through a stage the gearbox failed and went into limp mode which meant the car was still mobile but not competitive in stages. With a lack of spares available in Tasmania for this specialized vehicle, it also meant a premature end to the event for the team.

 

A devastating result for the team that had so much bad luck previously and who were so well positioned at this event.

 

That being said there are many positive outcomes from this event that the team will bring into their next rally.

 

Finally, a big thank you to Ross Hynd who traveled from Scotland and swapped his normal seat in a WRC Hyundai in the Scottish Rally Championship to the teams GTR in Tasmania and proved more than capable of the switch.

 

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Irvine rally ace Ross Hynd set to join Redbackracing for Targa Tasmania 2016

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Irvine rally ace Ross Hynd set to join Redbackracing for Targa Tasmania 2016

As the team complete final preparations for Targa Tasmania 2016 starting in just over one week, news has broken in the UK that Irvine rally ace Ross Hynd is set to Join Adam Spence in the Redbackracing Nissan GTR R35.

Ross spoke to Scottish tabloid newspaper Daily record of his excitement in competing in the world’s longest tarmac rally.

Click here to read the full article.

We will be sharing updates in the lead up to Targa and throughout the event so stay tuned at redbackracing.com.au

 

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Redback make it a hat trick of podium finishes

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RedBack make it a hat trick of podium finishes

Redbackracing again made it a one two finish for the third event in a row in the 2013/2014 Targa Championship Series at Targa Wrest Point. The event which takes place around south Hobart and the Huon valley is a favorite for a number of the Redback racing team.

Adam Spence & Erin Kelly again led the Showroom category from the first stage, to the finish and with new team mate Andrew Bollom, whom replaced Bunj Noor in the driving seat, of the second Renault Megane.

With some adjustment to the suspension setup prior to this event the cars continued to dominate the Showroom category. Team manager Adam Spence “I am over the moon that as a team we have continued where we started this season. Andrew did an amazing job, the whole team did an amazing job!!!”

Andrew Bollom has returned to competing in Targa after taking 2 years out, in which time he was part of the Redback racing support crew, got grips with the Renault really quickly. Having spent the majority of his racing career in rear wheel drive rotary cars, the front wheel drive Renault would be a different challenge of which he is now looking forward to getting more experience and time behind the wheel.
The next championship event being Targa Tasmania in early the team are looking forward to carrying on their fantastic form into the biggest event of the Targa calendar.
The team at Redback Racing would once again like to take this opportunity to thank our major sponsors RDA/EBC Brakes, Hi-Tec Batteries, Motul and Corporate Impressions Australia for supporting us and thus enabling us to compete. We would also like to thank Nuance Communications, Cyara, Dimension Data and PSS for their continued support.

RedBack Racing Wins two in a row and makes history

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RedBack Racing Wins two in a row and makes history

Redbackracing has taken out Targa Wrestpoint 2WD Showroom category with Bunjamin Noor and Lee Challoner Miles taking victory, in the process making history by having a full international crew taking the win.

The team from Redbackracing arrived in Hobart full of confidence following on from their first outing in their Renault Megane RS250's back in November, in the 2nd round of the targa championship - Targa High Country finishing in 1st and 4th position.

The first stage of the event being the prologue and an easy base time, was an opportunity to get reacquainted with the cars before heading off to the Tahune stage. Adam Spence and Erin Kelly setting the pace right from the start of the first competitive stage with a fantastic time, 40 seconds ahead of their team mates Bunj Noor and Lee Challoner-Miles in second place.

Unfortunately for Adam and Erin the reverse leg of Tahune - Airwalk, was to see them have an issue off the start line. After a few kilometers into the stage the team parked the car to await service.

The teams second Renault then took on the challenge to push and take the top spot within the category.

On day 2 Adam and Erin won all stages but with were unable to bridge the gap back to the field, Bunj from Indonesia and Lee, English born, continued to set good times for the day increasing their overall lead at the end of the day to 58 seconds making them the first international team to be on the top spot of the podium for any category in Targa Wrest Point.

Chris Bayman, Director Marketing Renault Australia, said; “I would like to extend my congratulations to the Red Back Racing team for the excellent result at Targa Wrest Point. The whole team has certainly proven their competitiveness and we are looking forward to seeing them compete in the upcoming Targa Tasmania in April.”

With Adam in impressive form and Bunj fresh on the back of his first win, Targa Tasmania 2013 is going to be a fantastic event and the team are aiming to get both crews on the podium for Australia's ultimate Tarmac rally .
The team at Redback Racing would once again like to take this opportunity to thank our major sponsors RDA/EBC Brakes, Hi-Tec Batteries, Motul and Corporate Impressions Australia for supporting us and thus enabling us to compete. We would also like to thank Nuance Communications, Cyara, World Manuals, Dimension Data and Holly Connects for their continued support, and welcome South Australian Paint Tech who have come on board to supply us some advanced Tyre Monitoring systems for the up and coming events