Totaling 770 kilometres of closed race stages plus 1500 kilometres of touring, the Dunlop Targa New Zealand tarmac rally is tough on cars, drivers, co-drivers and support teams. This year 170 cars & teams tested themselves on some of the North Island's most challenging roads.

This was SPR's fifth assault on the Dunlop Targa, and the competition this year was the toughest yet. The 24 cars entered in our category (Contemporary 1999 to new) included six GT3 Porsches, a Boxster RS, two V8 Holden Monaros, a Mercedes CLK 55 AMG, and numerous other late-model, high-performance cars. And drivers in our category included former winners Jim Richards & Will Selles, both in GT3s, plus World Superbike rider & BTCC driver Aaron Slight.

With such tough competition the chance of a high place in either category or class was extremely unlikely. Despite this, 2005 produced our best result to date. We completed all 41 stages, finishing 6th in class, and 52nd overall at the end of the 6 days - although, without the unwarranted 5 minute penalty (read below), this should have been 43rd overall.

Summary of the event...

• Sunday Oct 23rd (Day 00) Publicity Stage:
  Lost oil pressure during second run; traced to zero air pressure in pressurised oil Aqua-sump; re-pressurised in time for prologue stages.
• Monday Oct 24th (Day 0) 2 Prologue Stages - 31km closed race stages/75km touring:
  Burnt out one fuel pump, so Sabre wasn't performing well on just one pump; replaced pump ready for day one; after prologue we were seeded mid-field for the first real day of competition.
• Tuesday Oct 25th (Day 1) Pukekohe to New Plymouth - 130km closed race stages/347km touring:
  Sabre performed well - but driver could have pushed harder; finished 77th for the day (out of 170 competitors).
• Wednesday Oct 26th (Day 2) New Plymouth to Palmerston North - 166km closed stages/287km touring:
  Penalised 5 minutes for exceeding the maximum 200kph on special stage 10 (protested the penalty but lost the appeal); so finished a disappointing 106th for the day (due to 5 minute penalty).
• Thursday Oct 27th (Day 3) Palmerston Nth to Palmerston Nth - 137km closed stages/236km touring:
  Pushing harder today resulted in a 150kph high-speed spin, and a couple of low-speed spins, but overall a good day; finished 57th fastest for the day.
• Friday Oct 28th (Day 4) Palmerston North to Hastings - 146km closed race stages/250km touring:
  Ran out of rear brakes; broke rear suspension arm when forced to go 'off road' to pass another car; but still finished 65th for the day.
• Saturday Oct 29th (Day 5) Hastings to Hastings - 160km closed race stages/295km touring:
  37th fastest on special stage 40 - best stage result of the event; finished 59th for the day.
  
  Final Result : 41 closed-road race stages totalling approx 770 kilometres, plus 1500 kilometres touring. Officially finished 52nd overall for the event (43rd without the unwarranted 5 minute penalty).
  

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