REMEMBER
- IF YOU WISH TO CHECK THE TED'S POSITION AGAINST OTHER DRIVERS, SIMPLY CLICK
ON THE TARGA LOGO ON THE LEFT TO TAKE YOU TO THE OFFICIAL TARGA RESULTS PAGE
& LOOK UNDER "MODERN"!!
Click here to see other images of Ted's Targa!
THE FINAL WASHUP!!
The Targa is over for another year.. The McIntyre's had an interesting last two days of the Targa over the weekend with a big spinout at Simmons Plains plus 5 or 6 serious slides. However the Pug survived with no scratches with the Federal tyres proving their worth in the wet conditions. The Ted's final result was much better than was they ever expected with the team having a great battle with the Japanese in the Supra & the Renault Clio Sport.
Throughout the event Don & Margie have been on a rollercoaster both physically & mentally and it will be an event that you will see the Ted's a part of again in the future. The camera crew managed to shoot over 24 hours of video footage that will be made into a documentary by Southern Cross. Keep an eye on this site to see when it will be available.
The McIntyre's wish to thank all their sponsors plus all the people behind the scenes, most volunteering their time. See you next year for Targa 2004!
LEG TWO - THE SENSIS NORTH EAST LOOP - LAUNCESTON TO LAUNCESTON - 15th May 2003
The "Ted Racing Team" are doing alot better than they thought! The conditions have been atrocious so that the question of who has the most horsepower doesn't come into play so much. As a result, the McIntyre's are finding themselves consistantly ahead of cars like the Renault Clio Sport of Brown-Locker (Car 912) & the Toyota Celica SSII of Ikeda/Yamazaki (Car 917) in their class plus other Porsches, WRX's etc. in the Modern class that have much more horsepower than the little 206CC that the Ted's are driving. Their main dilemma is that they are trying to drive to the conditions whilst realising that it is all about time and you need to get to the checkpoint ASAP! So the fine line becomes just that bit thinner when visibilty is around 15 metres.
The Ted's were finding early on in the day that their tyres weren't perfroming as well as they had hoped. This was a bit worrying until they realised that the hard driving had pushed the heat up in the tyres & thus the air pressure to around 50psi. WHOOPS! A quick release of air & the Federal tyres were working like magic.
Despite the efforts of the Federal tyres, the McIntyre's had a 3 or 4 big slides, nearly had a close encounter with a white fence post and mangaged to get the 206CC airborne, whilst doing around 130km/h, in 15 metre visibility!
The team lost around 50 seconds on one stage where a car was off the road & not displaying its "OK" sign. The rules state that you must stop at a car on the side of the road not displaying the OK sign (Safety Measure). In this case, the McIntyre's stopped only to find that they were OK & didn't require help. This lost the Ted's a heap of time & they have appealed to the officials for dispensation.
The Teddy Bears have been a big hit with the crowd & officials with even the ABC doing a daily report on "Bert"..the bear who was lucky enough to get a absolute drenching courtesy of being strapped to the back of the Peugeot.
The forecast for leg 3 is for fine conditions so it will be up to the Ted's to maintain their position. This is their leg as the have practiced it 3 or 4 times & know this road better than others; especially since part of it goes past their front door! So no excuses!
The Ted's results for Leg 2 are:
STAGE NAME |
TARGET TIME |
TIME OUTSIDE TARGET TIME |
CARS BEHIND THEM IN CLASS |
| THE SIDELING | 7:00 | 5:04 | 2 (Cars 3 & 912) |
| DERBY | 2:30 | 1:36 | 2 (Cars 917 & 912) |
| WINNALEAH | 3:00 | 1:52 | 2 (Cars 917 & 912) |
| WELDBOROUGH PASS | 6:00 | 3:10 | 1 (Car 912) |
| PYENGANA | 2:30 | 1:05 | 2 (Cars 917 & 912) |
| ST MARYS PASS | 2:30 | 1:35 | 1 (Car 912) |
| ELEPHANT PASS | 5:30 | 2:37 | 1 (Car 912) |
| CRANBROOK | DOWNGRADED | ||
| PERTH | 3:00 | 0:00 | 1 (Car 912) |
LEG ONE - THE NORTHERN LOOP - LAUNCESTON TO LAUNCESTON - 14th May 2003
No news from the McIntyres today..way too busy racing! Their individual results however are posted below:
| STAGE NAME | TARGET TIME | TIME OUTSIDE TARGET TIME |
CARS BEHIND THEM IN CLASS |
| LEGANA | 4:00 | 0:00 | 2 (Cars 917 & 931) |
| HIGH PLAINS | 3:00 | 0:00 | 2 (Cars 917 & 931) |
| MORIARTY | 3:00 | 0:08 | 0 |
| DEVONPORT | 7:30 | 2:43 | 0 |
| NOOK | 2:30 | 1:01 | 0 |
| SHEFFIELD | 6:00 | 2:27 | 0 |
| QUANBY BROOK | 3:00 | 1:05 | 0 |
| LONGFORD | 3:00 | 0:11 | 1 (Car 912) |
Overall after Leg 1, the "ted's" are in 87th place with a total time over target of 7 min 35 seconds and 6 min 6 seconds behind the outright leader, Jim Richards driving a Porsche 911 Turbo. Considering the Porsche has over 3 times the capacity of the teds 206, its good going! We will keep you posted on the news as it gets to us!
LEG ZERO - TEMCO GEORGETOWN PROLOGUE - LAUNCESTON TO GEORGETOWN - 13th May 2003
Off & racing!
Margie's still nervous as all hell..but it's happening anyway! The "Ted
& Ted Racing Team" got thorugh the prologue in a credible time of 4
minutes & 9 seconds! This leg actually determines the starting order for
the rest of the rally so the idea is not to do too well otherwise
you end up with the faster cars and getting caught up with them trying to overtake
you..better to go a little easy, that way you can hold position or maybe even
sneak up a place.
As the route is signposted all the way, Margie had no need to navigate. This
had a twofold effect..one the pressure wasnt on and two she could effect her
royal wave to the crowd! The teddys also enjoyed the ride maybe not so much
as "Bert" the teddy who will be spending Targa Tasmania strapped to
the boot of car 906! The kids & the crows love the teddy's..it give an indication
of how much fun the Targa can be. The crowd was there in their thousands, standing
in front yards, waving and cheering. It is a 
remarkable
event for Tasmania & the public is behind it all the way!
The big news was that Kim in his RX-7, scored a fastest time in his class! That Top 10 possie is looking good..if he can just keep it up till Sunday!
THE DAY BEFORE! 12th May 2003
Scrutineering today was not a good time for the team. A rear camera mount, that the team had been trying to get approval for during the last 4 1/2 months was rejected today! This is obviously very important for the McIntyres as they are filming a documentary on this event. They were forced to spend that night redesigning the mount & then Rod would spend time at a fabrication shop getting it rebuilt! Margie is a bundle of nerves..Don just wants to hook in to it! Margie's confidence took a battering when she got them lost on the drive from the scrutineering area in Launceston to the Launceston Superdome where the cars are to be kept for the night! On the bright side, it can only get better!!
The team also spent today sitting with the camera crew and working out logistics of filming this. Help with the filming is Jason from Launceston & students from Lanceston TAFE Film & Production School who will gain great experience from this project!
The
team also picked up a new sponsor today..FEDERAL HOTELS who are kind enought
to sponsor the team with accomodation. The "Ted & Ted Racing Team"
retired to their villa in Launceston surrounded by the spare parts package loaned
to them courtesy of Peugeot Australia. Without tempting fate, the package includes
a great deal of front end bits. Light packages, guards, suspension etc. Hopefully,
they won't need it!
Final adjustments were made to the car. Margie's seat has been adjusted to compensate for a bad back that she has been carrying for a while. There were also two briefings today; one for the "First Timers" & then the full race briefing..then the welcome party!!
Kim, the McIntyre's driving instructor, was having his own camera problems with his car (Car 604 Mazda RX-7) in the Classic class. Hopefully they will be resolved easily as Kim is pushing for a top ten finish in his class!
The Teds managed to score three bears donated to ride in car 906 with the "Teds".
And just in case you were wondering how the weather is down there? The car had a nice half inch layer of ice on the car when they woke this morning! Leave the top on today guys!!
THE LEAD UP 9th May 2003
It's finally all starting to fall into place, Don & Margie today took the little Pug to Baskerville Raceway to do some final testing on a set of Federal Tyres and to get some last minute tips off Kim & practice on skid control! All stickers have been put on the car..it now looks the part! Its now official also that the McIntyre's Peugeot 206CC has the lowest power output (98Kw) of any other car in their class (52 in total). So if anyone in their class is behind them..no excuses!!
The "Ted & Ted Racing Team" crew has been finalised. It will be:
The team will be enjoying cocktails tonight before heading up to Launceston on Sunday to be ready for the start from Launceston on Monday morning!!
