TASMANIA, Australia -- Wednesday, May 10: The final day of stages in the Northern Midlands was cool and
sunny, for the most part; fortunately, the Yokohama Intermediates work very
well on dry tarmac as well as wet, and the All American Girls spent another
successful day working their way toward Targa trophies---but not without a
bit of education in the capricious ways of Targa Tasmania.
With the little blue Saab Sonett running on all four cylinders again,
today's glitches would come from non-mechanical error. First, Cheri called
"Right three at T," which Teresa acknowledged---before turning LEFT instead.
Coming to her senses, she brought the car up short and turned it around
before taking out any bunting tape or stray spectators. But today is not the
easy, forgiving structure of yesterday; the Devonport stage had a base time
of 9:12 for Class 4A cars, but a maximum trophy time of only twelve minutes
flat---and the girls flashed across the line just half a minute from there
with a time of 11:28. Remember, to trophy, they have to finish EVERY Targa
stage below the max---and the game gets ever less forgiving as the week
wears on.
One other all-woman team, for example, would be out of the Targa Trophy hunt
after a minor "off" yesterday---no damage, but it took too long to extract
them---except that this year the first day's scores do not affect Targa
Trophy qualification.
Everybody is now aware that any mishap can spell the end of the Targa Trophy
quest---but as the confidence levels rise and the competitive urge starts to
flow, the line between mastery and disaster gets thinner and thinner. Teresa
found more gravel in one corner than she anticipated, sliding sideways to
kiss a dirt bank with both left tires. This excursion probably cost less
time than the "Right no your other right" at T, but while awaiting their
start time at Longford (home of the erstwhile Tasman Series), other
competitors mentioned the peculiar shape of their left front tire. . .
somewhat flattish on the bottom. A quick check showed twelve
pounds---quickly remedied, but the fast dash through Longford's streets
could have been interesting.
The pair handled Longford with casual aplomb, however, and returned to the
Silverdome, where their pit boys took the suspect tire off to be broken down
and remounted with somewhat less dirt and gravel in the bead. The pair will
start tomorrow's jaunt down the legendary twisty mountain roads of
Tasmania's east coast with new Yokohamas up front---and a renewed focus on
concentrating on the task at hand: 31 more stages to go over the next four
days, each to be completed within the allowed time. No off-road excursions.
No deflated tires. No burnt clutches, bent valves, holed pistons, or thrown
rods allowed!
Reprinted with permission of the author.
