Targa Tasmania 2022

Posted on 28/06/202228/06/2022 by admin

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

Posted on 19/10/202116/02/2022 by admin

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!

Posted on 07/05/201907/05/2019 by admin

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.

2018 Showroom 2WD, Australian Tarmac Rally Champions

Posted on 15/10/201815/10/2018 by admin

2018 Showroom 2WD, Australian Tarmac Rally Champions

The team are chuffed to announce that that is back to back championships for team Redback Racing.

Day one say us punching well above our weight, mixing it with the big boys in Evo X’s, Audi TTRS’s and chasing the 5.0L Shelby Mustang. All this whilst competing in possibly the worlds longest single day of tarmac racing – all 186km’s of it. The little Clio was well suited to the undulating roads throughout the Victorian High Country.

Day two, was….. more challenging, with long fast straights, suited more to our higher horse powered competitors. And whilst the Clio had some issues with breaking, we doubled down knowing the championship was at stake.

So all in all, a terrific weekend and year of racing, finishing 2nd in class and 13th outright today, which makes it two firsts and two seconds to win the 2wd Australian Tarmac Rally Championship. A huge thanks to everyone who has supported us this year.

Penultimate Round – Snowy River Sprint WIN

Posted on 30/09/201830/09/2018 by admin

Penultimate Round – Snowy River Sprint WIN

The team spent a great deal of efforts over the break period to do a number of upgrades on the car. These upgrades ended up being successful and the team featured a number of top 10 outright times and ended up with a 12^th outright result and win in showroom 2WD.

The rain on day 2 of the event helped the team achieve these results.

This leaves the team in the lead of the 2018 championship in showroom 2WD with 1 round to go on the 13^th and 14^th of October.

Click here to view the gallery from the event.

Mt Baw Baw Wrap-up – Electrical Gremlin almost steals the show

Posted on 15/03/201815/03/2018 by admin

Mt Baw Baw Wrap-up – Electrical Gremlin almost steals the show

Mt Baw Baw Rally is an event where the tight and twisty roads really suit the teams Renault Clio RS220.

On the Saturday the team ran solid top 10 times and captured the lead of showroom 2wd.

Then just before lunch on the Sunday the team half way through a stage collected a large stick under the car that dislodges some of the car wiring which meant the car was not able to select a gear.

With some quick thinking and reaction time from the service crew they arrived at the car and made some quick repairs. These repairs allowed the team to compete the final stage of the event and take out the Showroom 2wd category to put us in the lead of the 2018 championship.

Best result so far for team

Posted on 18/02/201831/07/2023 by admin

Best result so far for team

The rally last weekend was the teams best performance to date with 6th outright out of 33 starters and 2nd in 2wd Showroom, as well as taking out the Championships first Renault Cup.

The wet weather conditions on Saturday really suited the Clio well, the team where very happy that a couple of long standing small issues with the car, where ironed out over the course of the weekend which will help provide confidence in the car for the coming rounds of the championship.

The team are now really looking forward to the second rally of the year, Mt Baw Baw a team favourite happening on the 10th and 11th of March if you are in the area come and say hi!!!

As always a high thank you to the team and sponsors.

2017 Championship WON!

Posted on 31/10/201731/10/2017 by admin

2017 Championship WON!

The final round of the 2017 championship was a success for the team taking second place at the rally and in doing so taking out the 2WD Showroom Category in the Australian Tarmac Rally Championship. The team would like to thank everybody involved in giving us the opportunity to compete in the 2017 season where the team secured 4 second positions.

Click here to view our gallery

Snowy River Sprint 2017 – Another 2nd in Class

Posted on 24/09/201724/09/2017 by admin

Snowy River Sprint 2017 – Another 2nd in Class

The team ran yet another 2nd in class at this weekends Snowy River Spinrt held in Victoria at Lakes Entrance.

Unfortunately the team had some issues that effected performance for most of day 1 which unfortunately meant that times were effected and they slipped down to 12th position overall and 2nd in class.

On the Sunday the team left the service park with a well performing car that unfortunately was not going to run in the remainder of the event as the event was cancelled due to bush fires closing in.

These points will be valuable in the hunt for the championship title where the team are in the top 10 overall and second in class.

Adam and Lee would again like to thanks team sponsors, family and helpers. Also a special call out to Reno Tech who have build a great new car for the team.