Targa Tasmania - It Begins

After some months of tinkering with the car, and a few laps of Baskerville raceway to bed-in brake pads and heat-cycle tyres, the DWR crew headed to Legana to the quiet of the Catt residence, to get ready for our first full attempt at Targa Tas, the five day event held around the state. We also had a date to keep with the 50th birthday bash of Mick Luscombe, tyre guru and major supporter for many years through Legana Tyres & More.
Sunday saw some slow recovery, and after a day of fiddling with the car, documentation and scrutineering was sorted at the Launceston Silverdome. This was a seamless activity with some tired but friendly officials making it easy. We chose to keep the car overnight, rather than leave it there, so that a wheel alignment could be done on Monday.
Mick worked his magic on the aligner, and the car was duly placed with the 245 others on the polished floor inside the Silverdome mid-afternoon. Dave and I attended crew briefing at 5 to hear about the general running of the event, and then back to Legana for a feed.
Today is Day 0, the first competition of the event, but one that is directed more for the public as the competition counts only for the determination of the next days start order. There is a desire to get a good time to achieve a position in the field that allows an unhindered run in the stages, without catching slower cars, or being caught yourself. Just the same, all crews tend to turn it on for the public, and there is plenty of action for the spectators.
We had a good run with no dramas, and caught a mini towards the end of the stage. This slowed us a little, but our time was still OK leaving us around 30th outright, and right where we wanted to be in the field. A short service back in Launceston, and the car is now tucked up with all the others in the Silverdome again.
Tomorrow we head out to Lilydale for the first real stages, and the 1st of 5 long days.