Targa Tasmania 2022 is underway and one of the fans favourite go to event is seeing the cars lined up in the Silverdome Launceston for Targa Expo. Not everybody manages to get the time to go watch the cars out and about, so this is the next best thing. Car enthusiasts do love a good show and shine, coffee and cars, etc etc and if it’s full of race cars, then even more enjoyable.
The big surprise for me, was the traffic jam getting to the Silverdome and then lining up for 45mins just to get in! Hindsight, prepurchasing the tickets would have saved me about 30mins of standing around in the cold. Such is Life. But once inside it was well laid out with a great variety of interesting cars. The usual suspects of course are always present – Porsche, Subaru and Mitsubishi. Who doesn’t love a big winged GT3RS? I know I love them and yet I’ve seen them quite a lot, driven and worked on them. Still props to one amazing machine and I personally love the sound of a screaming flat six hitting 9000RPM! It’s just magic. Pictures never do it justice and if you get a chance, get out and about and watch a race or three.
It’s not too often you get to see a car, that you have only seen on posters, and the reality exceeds your own expectations. Like I said, photos really do not do justice to cars. This Mercedes 300SL is one of those cars. Arguably the original supercar. It’s spectacularly beautiful and timeless. Perfect for something as risky and dangerous as Targa Tasmania! I’d hate to see what else the owner has in his stables if this is what he chose to drive.
The Ultima RS – Tarmac Edition on display was certainly a crowd favourite and mine too. It’s presence with its (i hate to say it) “Lambo” style doors open and monsterous wing in pure white was like an oversized toy. A toy that I would love to drive through the winding country roads of Tasmania. The build specifications are impressive and the performance specifications are even more impressive. Again, photos really don’t do it justice.
Seeing cars all lined up, you wish you could jump in your own car and go for a quick blast around the country roads without worry of fines or jail time. Maybe build your own race car and join Targa or start with skid pad exercises? Makes you wonder, do you need a high powered car to enjoy driving on the road safely or competing in hill climbs? Probably another topic to talk about?
Something I did love is the Daytona. The sound of that engine is just magnificent. YouTube it for a bit of fun. Plus it just has fantastic road presence. Will the age of electric cars start making an appearance next year in Targa and what will it do to the atmosphere of the event? As a Petrolhead I’ll be sad once the last ICE race car is permanently garaged – due to “environmental” reasons more than likely (I’m looking at you California). The Jetsons sound will become the norm and the new generation of errr….Electricheads??? will love it and call us Petrolheads ‘dinosaurs’.
