Page 102 - Port Douglas Magazine 27
P. 102

“It was never all too hard,” Rhys said.
          “It  was  more  like  this  is  cool.  We  had  our
          moments of concern, such as our special
          order  brake  parts  arriving  only  two  days
          before the event. That said, we were pretty
          excited that what had started out as a chat
          over a beer was now about to come to
          fruition.  The final hurdle was delivering the car
          to the scrutineers for inspection to determine
          if it was race worthy.
          The car passed with flying colours and they
          were ready to take to the road.
          They had entered the event with the chilled
          out attitude that is emblematic of the Port
          Douglas area but were both surprised with
          their final result.
          “We didn’t have any huge expectation and
          really we weren’t trying to win the race,” Rhys
          said.
          “We just wanted to compete, have fun, and
          finish the event.”



              “The main thing that was
            going through our heads was

              ‘don’t crash, don’t crash,        Were they happy with the result?   “Normally  with  any  racing  event  in
                                                                                   Australia,  the  stages  are  held  in  different
                                                “Way better than we thought we would do, I
                    don’t crash.’”              was happy to be in the top half of the field,”   towns but with the Queensland Targa, it
                                                                                   was all focussed in Cairns,” Rhys said.
                                                Trent said.
                                                “We really could not have done this without   “It  was  great  for  Cairns  and  worked
          Rhys  and  Trent  shared  the  driving  the support from our mates in business in   out  well,  but  we would  love  to  see  that
          responsibilities over the four-day event so   Port Douglas and Cairns,” Rhys said.   prosperity extended to Port Douglas as the
          both  of  them  had  a  chance  to  take  on  the   “Thanks  to  all  of  our  sponsors  especially   Targa event continues to grow in popularity
          twisting roads and incredible vistas that only   David  Goodman  Chartered  Accountants,   in our region.
          the tropics can offer.                Crystalbrook Marina & Portobella along with   “This year was such  a great event  and
          “Having  the  chance  to  tackle  the  roads  we   lots of other business who without their   even if you are not a car enthusiast it is the
          drive  every day  in a  race car that  we had   support would have left a deeper hole in our   perfect spot to persuade your family and/
          effectively built ourselves. And to actually have   pockets.”            or friends to come and be your support
          those roads all to ourselves now too, it was   “They were the ones who really made this   crew.”
          awesome!” Rhys said.                  possible - it’s so great to have the town rally   “Similar to the Ironman Event, we would
          “To be honest, the main thing going through   around you like that.”     also really love to have the opportunity
          our heads though was ‘don’t crash, don’t   Rhys and Trent are keen to see the event   to  race  on  the  coastal  road,  just  on  four
          crash, don’t crash,’” laughs Trent    extended into the Douglas Shire region to   wheels instead of two” adds Trent.
          The guys finished 29th out of out of 220 cars   take  advantage  of  the  roads  and  scenery   Look out for the Port Douglas team in the
          and took fifth spot in their class.   the Port Douglas region can offer to racers,   blue Subaru next year in Targa’s Great
                                                spectators and all involved with the event.   Barrier Reef event from 30 August to 1
                                                                                   September 2019.




























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