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The Port Douglas Duo Dominating the ROAD Racing Scene

WORDS by Victoria Stone-Meadows

arga - which had its origins in the 1906 Sicilian After weeks of searching ex-racing and rally cars online, it was
Targa Florio, the world’s oldest sports car event - is from a chance call to a friend in Perth that they were able to
TAustralia’s longest and most difficult tarmac road source themselves an ex-dirt rally car. The plan was to convert
endurance race, attracting competitors and interest from it into a tarmac racer.
all over the world. “It took us about five months to find a car within our budget,”
Roads are closed and towns come to a standstill as spectators Trent said.
flock to check out the red-blooded action that only a road rally Trent was heading over to Perth on other business and while
in Australia’s most spectacular locations can conjure. he was there, he visited his friend and inspected the possible
The Targa event has been a mainstay of the Australian vehicle the guys could convert onto their racer.
motorsport scene for 27 years with events held annually in A few months later the car was packed up and on it’s way to
Tasmania and Victoria since 1992, extending overseas to New Port Douglas.
Zealand in 1995. What followed was weeks of late nights in the shed working on
In Australia, the race regularly has hundreds of entrants spread the little Subaru, experiments and trials in making new seats
across a number of categories with competitors racing against fit, changing suspension and steering setups for tarmac racing
each other in their class as well as for overall race position. with the assistance of Pat from JKC auto, all to get the car race
For the first time ever in 2018, the Targa event was held in Far ready.
North Queensland and two men from Port Douglas decided “Being it was the first time this Targa event had come to
they would try their hand. Queensland, CAMS (Confederation of Australian Motor Sport),
Rhys Bawden, of Salsa Bar & Grill Restaurant, and Trent the governing body had a lot of work to do to ensure all
Eldridge, of RAM Metalworks & Shade Structures NQ, were competitors were covered.
keen to get involved in the race when they found it was coming “So for us to get the car to scrutineering standard, we were
to the region. working most nights, from ride heights, gearbox adjustments,
Although Rhys had experience with tarmac rally racing in all with the assistance of Shane from Craiglie auto to ensure
New Zealand, driving on familiar tropical roads of Far North that the car was ready for the big event.
Queensland was an experience he could not pass up. To convert the car from a dirt rally car to a tarmac-racing car
“Having competed in Targa a few times, coupled with Trent’s was no mean feat and the guys had a few close calls with parts
love for cars when we found out this was happening, Targa before ultimately ensuring the car would run smoothly.
coming to FNQ, in our backyard, we were sold straight away.” Despite the late nights and hard work, the guys said they
And so the search for “the car” began. enjoyed every minute of rebuilding the car.

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