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Targa Tasmania 2009: Nissan GT-R Outright Leader for Day 2 in Fine Conditions
An extremely close day of racing sees the VIP Petfoods Nissan GT-R of Tony Quinn and Naomi Tillet maintaining their lead over the field. Equal first / second has had one Lamborghini exchanged for another as the 2007 Gallardo of Kevin weeks has overtaken Jim Richards (Porsche GT2) and the Whites (Gallardo Superleggera) to end the day on par with the GT-R overall.
“I think it’s good for the event that it’s so close. There’s some good cars, some good drivers and a few surprises. The Skelta didn’t last and (last year’s winner, Steve) Glenney is nowhere to be seen.
“It’s the old troopers up the front who are pumping out times that are much quicker than last year. We all made it through and we’re ready to fight another day.”
– Tony Quinn
The top five contenders are within 21 seconds of each other including the fifth place Fabcar Nissan GT-R driven by Western Australian Steven Jones. He’s more than 30 seconds in front of sixth place but just 5 seconds behind 4th so has real potential to move up the ranks.
“We’re doing pretty good. The roads today are very bumpy compared to what I’m used to in WA, particularly in the middle of the corners. The car is just a little bit too low, we just need to adjust the suspension bit and make it suit the bumpier conditions in Tasmania. We’re just trying to keep on the road at moment, as there’s still a long way to go. I’m still getting used to it all. I’m happy with where I am and knew the front runners would go quickly, but I can’t let them get away too much if I want to stay in contention. Because this is my first Targa a lot of it is unknown and I don’t know what to expect next.”
– Steve Jones
Russel Newman is doing better today in his RGM Maintenance Nissan GT-R and has moved his way up to end 7 places better than yesterday for 13th spot in leg 2.
Team Donut King were penalised heavily on day two. Each scoring 20 minute penalties that pushed them right to the back of the pack. Minus the penalties Tony Alford would currently be in 12th place and Peter Leemhuis in about 18th. Instead these guys are towards the end of the field.
Day 3 of the Targa will be wet as it rained in Launceston overnight so the GT-Rs may now begin to really shine. Either way day 3 will be exciting indeed.
Targa Tasmania news release after the jump…
Link: Targa Tasmania 2009 Website – Results
Link: Targa Tasmania – News Website
Tokyo Auto Salon 2010 Dates Announced
It really seems like TAS2009 has just been but time flies and dates are now already announced for next years event. In case you don’t know or have never heard of it, Tokyo Auto Salon is Japan’s largest annual tuner auto show. Spread out over the many halls of the Makuhari Messe each year is everything you could possibly want Japanese car tuning related. From the subtle to the sublime from drift cars to VIP it’s all here and it’s growing in size.
This year you should most certainly plan your trip in advance and be in Tokyo from the 15th – 17th of January 2010.
Tokyo Auto Salon 2009 was huge, 388 companies exhibited 626 cars over 3,117 booths over god knows how many kilometers of hall aisles. This eclipses TAS2008 in size even without some of the bigger name tuners like HKS in attendance!
In January this year we attended Tokyo Auto Salon with guys from NAGTROC and were well impressed with the cars on show and of course, we’ll be back next year to bring you guys all the news we can from across the ocean.
If you’re planning on going, or even a maybe, post in the comments. We had many great meetups with NAGTROC members and GTRBlog readers this year in Tokyo so looking to do it all over and have an even better time in 2010.
Targa Tasmania 2009: Nissan GT-R Leading the Pack for Day 1
Leg 1 and day 1 of competitive racing for Targa Tasmania 2009 is completed and the results have been tallied and at the end of day 1 the GT-R is king. A fantastic opening day for the the VIP Petfoods Nissan GT-R driven by Tony Quinn as he takes the outright lead 6 seconds in front of the White’s Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera which trails in second.
“The day has been fantastic. Our strategy was to keep with the leaders until the rain comes, and then to see what we can do. If we are within cooee of the leaders, or about 20-25 seconds behind, we’ll be fine, hard to beat. If it doesn’t rain, we’ll just have to press a bit harder.”
– Tony Quinn
He’s managed more than that, in the dry conditions he’s shown the epic Porsche GT2 driven by legend Jim Richards why he should get back into a Nissan after campaigning in the Porsche for too long.
Steve Jones in the Fabcar Nissan GT-R is doing great as well managing 5th position at the end of day one at one stage being equal fourth at the end of TS7.
Tony Alford is also a strong contender in 12th position overall. Peter Leemhuis is in 18th and Russel Newman rounds out the GT-Rs in 20th place.
The racing continues tomorrow as the weather turns colder and, probably, wetter. Showers are expected and even anticipated by the AWD Nissan pilots. Things could get very interesting very quickly.
Update: Photos from day 1 added courtesy of Joel Strickland
Link: Targa Tasmania 2009 Website – Results
Link: Targa Tasmania – News Website
Photos: Joel Strickland (C) Joel Strickland Photographics
Targa Tasmania 2009: Prologue Results and Photos
Targa Tasmania 2009 Prologue wrapped up yesterday and the Nissan GT-Rs put up a fight. Many competitors used this leg to bed in new brake pads for the legs to come.
No problems were found by the teams fielding Nissan GT-Rs and overall a good day was had by all.
Steve Jones in his GT-R finished 4th in the overall surrounded by 911 GT2s and Lamorghini Superleggeras. Jim Richards in his Porsche 911 GT2 took the outright win in this leg.
Today the serious racing begins so we’re keen to begin to see the results roll in.
Video and news release from yesterday after the jump and expect more updates later today.
Nissan GT-R Results – Temco Prologue
- 4th – Jones – Nissan GT-R
- 7th – Quinn – Nissan GT-R
- 9th – Alford – Nissan GT-R
- 13th – Leemhuis – Nissan GT-R
- 29th – Newman – Nissan GT-R
Photos: Joel Strickland (C) Joel Strickland Photographics
Nissan GT-R Declared 2009 World Performance Car of the Year
A panel of 59 judges from 25 countries around the world have proclaimed the Nissan GT-R the winner of the 2009 World Performance Car award at the New York International Auto Show this week.
“Nissan GT-R stole the headlines in the sports car world in 2008. This GT-R – the R35 – throws even former GT-Rs into the weeds via an all-new 3.6-liter bi-turbo V-8 providing 480 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque. The drive of the GT-R, especially on a track, reveals an incredibly flexible all-wheel-drive chassis that lays down the rubber whenever you request it. Acceleration to 60 mph from a stop takes just 3.5 seconds, or a tick behind fellow Performance finalist the Corvette ZR1. This is a complete effort put forth by the normally conservative Nissan and the pleasure is in doing laps of a favorite circuit and feeling the sheer capabilities of the car. For $77,000 it may be the world’s best enthusiast car.”
– World Car of the Year Judges
Yeah that’s direct from the press release, errors and all…
The initial list of entries was 23 cars strong but was whittled down to just three finalists, the Corvette ZR1, the Porsche 911 Carrera and of course the Nissan GT-R.
For the full press release click the giant red Read More link below…
Source: World Car of The Year
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