By Callum Ludwig
The car collectors community in the Yarra Ranges is strong, and now collectors from near and far gathered in the region to celebrate their shared passion for all things cars.
The Healesville RACV was the start and finish point of the first day of the Targa Classica, a driving event inspired by the world-famous Championship 5 Italian ‘Grandi Eventi’.
Event organiser James Lawson said the four-day event features a whole range of different cars and their owners from across Australia and New Zealand.
“We’ve got vintage Bugattis, Porsches, Alfa, Romeo’s and Ferraris to a whole bunch of Australian classics in Sandmans, Toranas and Ford Escorts as well,” he said.
“It’s an event about bringing people together to celebrate the wonderful Victorian roads that we have on offer, and we really like to connect to the communities along the way.”
Monday 27 March was the opening day of the event, with drivers travelling from Healesville across to Warburton and up to Marysville before returning. Tuesday’s route is a long trip out to Mt Hotham, Wednesday from Mt Hotham to Mitchelton Wines in Nagamabie and the finale on Thursday winding up at the MCG in time for the Australian Grand Prix.
Mr Lawson said the event is a competition but is more about precision driving than speed.
“There are over 70 competition stages throughout the event and they range from time trials to more average speed sections. There’s any number in a day, the cars will come in, they’ll stop, and it’s all about precision,” he said.
“For example, you’ve got 150 metres of road and we’ve got a road book and it directs the competitors that say they have to have to do that in 12 seconds flat. So it’s plus or minus from 12 seconds, it’s about being the closest within 0.1 of a second, and then you lose points based on how far out you are from that exact time.”
The 100-car fleet in this year’s event comprises over $100 million in value, with cars dating all the way from modern supercars to 1924 vintage vehicles.
