The MultiVital Clubman takes on Targa Tasmania 2000
Day 6
If we thought day five was cold, day six was worse. The inlet air temperature gauge hit zero and a few flurries of snow fell before the rain bucketed down again. I have never experienced such consistently heavy rain and one of the biggest issues became visibility. I kept a chamois close to hand to wipe down the inside of the windscreen, the gauges and my visor but in the end it was really a waste of time. We carried a small umbrella for when we stopped.
Rain, rain & more rain!
Sadly one of the leading ‘other’ clubman, the PRB, went off on oil on Mt Black, tearing off an engine oil line and retiring out of the event. The rest were to make it to the finish. And so did we! Soldiering on we managed to extend our lead a further three and a half minutes by the end of the event, improving our outright position to 25th.
The sidescreens and sidepods offer some weather protection under normal circumstances but these were not normal circumstances.
So how does a 51 year old kid with aspirations to become Michael Schumacher’s replacement at Ferrari survive or even cope with six days of torrid competition driving over 2,500 km of Tasmania’s most demanding roads at 10/10th speeds with the worst weather imaginable? MultiVital of course. This herbal pick-me-up enables me to power-on day after day just like I did when I won the Queensland Rally Championship 23 years ago.
Thanks MultiVital! And thanks to the little Van Demon Westfield I built in a shipping container.
Powering towards the finish in Hobart.
To the victor go the spoils! Here we are with winning navigator, Barry Oliver. (That wreath and Champagne belong to him.)