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like The Sideling, Moorina and
Weldborough Pass, which are traditional
Targa roads. The roads in Tassie are quite
cambered and even if you stay on the black
stuff but get too close the edge it is worse.
I quickly found that I was losing fibreglass
from the front and that the muffler was
getting a few hits at the back. Having said
that, the roads are smooth but quite bumpy
in parts, which compounds the
compression of the springs.
Each morning you are breathalysed prior
to departure.
Day three and we were off north west to our overnight stop in Burnie with 8 stages making
it the longest day. A mix of short and long stages via Sheffield with the most memorable
being the 38km Cethana, 15km Gunns Plains and 36km Riana.
Talk about concentration. My eyes were wide open and almost failed to blink.
Even the transport stages are quite tight
and if you need to get petrol and not
exceed the speed limit, it is hard to keep in
front of your category sweep car. Miss that
and you have to wait for the full field to go
through.
Even if you take your helmet off for the
transport stage you will find that you are
straight into the next stage with no waiting
and in a panic, to get helmet, Hans device,
harness and lights on plus the intercom
connected, whilst the Rallysafe counts down and away you go!!! Very unusual to have a line
of cars in front.
Day 4 and we are heading south on 7 stages including the RH hairpin famous corner in the
Irishtown stage and the fantastic Hellyer Gorge.
I would hate to drive this in the wet as
no sun gets under the trees.
Day 5 consists of some very tricky uphill
roads immediately you drive out of
Strahan. Obviously the short Queenstown
stage comes to mind and I can see how
some cars in previous years had nearly
gone over the edge. This is followed by 52
km of hard concentration on Mt
Arrowsmith as we head towards Hobart
for the night.
The last day nothing was longer than 14
km however rain was present on parts of
the stages, which made downhill rather
precarious and tricky. For me I backed
right off. It was too close to the finish,
Alpine at Tarraleah
Alpine at Tinderbox
Alpine at Sheffield-Adam