AUS: Targa High Country news

Victoria's High Country to host Targa Championship

A legendary American muscle car will be one of the 225 entrants in November's inaugural Targa High Country, to be based on Mt Buller.

Melbourne duo Andy Clempson and Jervis Ward will drive a 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback in the Classic competition of Targa High Country, the first round of the new Australian Targa Championship.

The new event is gathering momentum as the first multi-stage closed road tarmac rally to be held in Victoria, and has attracted the cream of Australia's best tarmac rally drivers, including Jason White, Jim Richards and Steve Glenney.

This will be Clempson and Ward's second Targa event, and as patriotic Victorians it is one they are looking forward to with great enthusiasm.

Married with two teenage children, Clempson will steer the mighty Mustang along the twisting roads of Victoria's north east, in an event that begins with a competitive stage through the streets of Mansfield on Friday, November 5.

The rally consists of eight competitive stages each day, heading north to Wangaratta via Whitfield on the Saturday, and to Eildon via Jamieson on Sunday. Each day will end with a 20 kilometre stage to the summit of Mt Buller.

"Victoria has some amazing scenic roads and it will be great to have the chance to drive on them and to be a part of the first ever Targa High Country event," Clempson said.

"Jervis and I have competed together several times, and after a competitive showing at Targa Wrest Point in Tasmania at the start of the year, we're hopeful of putting in another strong showing."

Their 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback was imported from the United States in 1997 after spending most of its life as a standard road car. It has since been modified with safety enhancements and a few performance tweaks to contest tarmac rallies and circuit sprints.

The Australian Targa Championship comprises of three events, beginning with Targa High Country. The Hobart-based Targa Wrest point follows at the end of January, before the week-long Targa Tasmania concludes the championship in April.

-source: targahighcountry.com.au