At the end of the 2022 Targa season, the Ultimate Rally Group (URG) has plans in place for a revised Targa Competition structure and dates for the 2023 season.
Targa Bambina (17-19th March) is a two-day weekend event based around Pukekohe (Auckland) starting and finishing at the Pukekohe Park Raceway with some open track time on Sunday afternoon after the competition is finished for entrants to take guests for a ride as a final salute to the venue that hosted Targa from 1995 to the early 2000’s.
The URG are working in conjunction with Four and Rotary Productions who are hosting a ‘cruise weekend’ at the track both Saturday and Sunday so if you are unable to participate in the Targa Bambina event there is an option to join be at the track and part of the final farewell to Pukekohe Park Raceway.
Targa Hawkes Bay (19-21st May) is a two-day event based around Havelock North. The revamped route will be a great weekend away from the mid-year grind of the everyday workloads.
Targa NZ (23-28th October) is starting again on the traditional Labour Day Monday at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park for documentation, drivers briefing and a Legends of Targa Dinner to get the event started.
While the exact route is not quite final, the event will include all three race tracks, Hampton Downs, Taupo and Manfeild as stages. The route will head south via Rotorua, Taupo, Palmerston North to finish in Wellington and it is the intention to have multiple overnights in a couple of towns to make the accommodation booking somewhat easier. There will be a two-day event as the last two days as per normal with the VCC joining Targa for the week.
The Targa Tour will remain unchanged and there will be a Tour option at ever round or Targa event next year. Likewise, the VCC Targa Time Trial will also remain unchanged, however this product is only available at the October event in both the full five day or the regional two day event.
The Targa Modern Competition will cater for all types of competition cars that wish to continue racing each stage against the clock with the maximum speed still set to 200kph. There will be more emphasis on the categories and these will cater for both classic and modern cars as wells as 2wd and 4wd’s.
The big move has been the introduction of the Retro Classic Targa Competition, which harks back to the original Targa Florio started in 1906 where there will be minimum stage times and points will be awarded based on one point per second for any time over the minimum stage time. A maximum of 120 points per stage will be allocated for times that exceed 2 minutes above the minimum stage time. The development of this competition is to cater competition vehicles and/or drivers who wish to exercise their vehicle without thrashing it to within an inch of its life.
The speed limit for the Retro Classic Targa Competition is set at a maximum of 160kph, the rationale behind this is to encourage older past vehicles and competitors bring their vehicles back out and drive within the limits.
This competition is open to all production based 2WD and 4WD Competition vehicles that meet the event requirements and safety standards such as roll cages etc. There are three categories within this competition.
All the technical details are on the Targa website under Schedule TR and the Targa NZ Seria Campione Regs – 2023
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