Mustang

CHAMPIONS & HEROES

Page 3

Craig Dean Inducted into the

TARGA TASMANIA  HALL of FAME

Craig Dean Hall of Fame!!
It really hit home coming away with being inducted into the Targa Tasmania hall of fame, amazing how time flies, I was asked by Glenn Ridge why do i come to Targa Tasmania i could only say i like driving Fast, the challenge in competing in such great event is challenging to the Car you are driving and the crew as well, there only needs to be one corner that lack of concentration or failure in the car to occur and it's all over, I cannot explain the joy that comes when you finally finish the last stage after 15 Targa's Tasmania has become my second home, the local support and the people in Tasmania are just amazing if you have problems the locals are always willing to lend a hand and get you going! So i will keep on racing for as long as i can and while i enjoy it,
Craig Dean

Craig Dean & Emma Quigley

Targa Champions

Mustanging on Targa Tasmania 2012
By Craig Dean and Emma Quigley.
What an adventure – back in the office after almost two weeks of adrenaline packed preparation, racing and celebrating Targa Tasmania 2012, it becomes difficult to remember every detail of this awesome event, and the fabulous people and comradery that make every competitor return for the challenge year after year.
Team Mustang Motorsport started on the Spirit of Tasmania with a Thursday night trip across the water, docking early at Devonport where Craig and Emma set off for the first of three days’ reconnaissance over the course. Halfway through Recce day 1, so far covering 11 stages (including Mt Roland, Craig's famous crash stage!) all is well… except discovering an oil leak over all of our clothes bags in the boot from an oil container. Resolving the issue roadside by Craig with some rags, water and hair shampoo, we continue on. So far the Saleen is still in one piece, and we haven't run out of fuel (despite being close!). Off for another 6 stages, we arrive late into Strahan for the night. Packing the recce in, the last two stages were by head and interior light as we neared the wild west coast.
On the way down we met a local policeman who pulled us over to advise some people had seen the car on recce stages and reminded us to observe speed limits (which of course we were...), and then we bumped into him again at a breathalyzer station some 200kms down the road. Small place, Tassie! Of course, Craig was 0.00BAC, so we cruised on through to Strahan avoiding wallabies, Tasmanian devils and what we thought was an emu (but was actually a tree stump, haha) to arrive tired, hungry and ready for a feed at the Strahan fish cafe! After chatting with some fans at the pub, we sat down for a feed before dinner and bed!
Day 2 Recce, an early start from Strahan up to Reece Dam, where we thought we'd get fuel at one of the service stations on the way but they were all closed! After Pieman stage, running low on fuel we be-lined to Roseberry for fuel where the service assistant beamed with joy when she realized Craig was a real Targa driver! We headed back to the Plimsoll stage full of fuel, then down the Rinadeena stage which we run in both directions, in reverse as 'Strahan'. We stopped in Queenstown for more fuel, where Craig popped the car on the hoist to tighten up the front end and check it over. Dropping posters and 'go mustang' flags to many kids, we went through Queenstown stage, then the 56km of Mt Arrowsmith - what a mega stage that is! From there to Tarraleah we noticed a noise at the start of the stage when turning. Pulled up at the Tarraleah hydro station to check out the wheels - nothing. So we continued on despite the noise, stopping just past Bothwell where we realized we're in the REAL country out here - no servo workshops in sight for miles! Stopping by chance on the side of the road, Craig diagnosed the problem - a front sway bar bracket we broke at Wrest Point in Jan had broken again! Luckily we met a lovely man Dave who invited us into his backyard to jack up the car, find some scrap metal to use a welder and some bush engineering to get us back on the road. Back in to Hobart for the night increasingly weary from the long days concentrating.
Day 3 recce we ran over most of the course covered by the first 2 days of the rally. Starting in Hobart and finishing in Launceston, we snuck in to car documentation to ready the car for pre-race scrutineering the next day. Stopping into the house where we’d stay for the next three nights, we readied ourselves for start of the event. Monday the car went into the Silverdome for the start of the event, the Georgetown Prologue and Lilydale stage to decide the starting order of the event’s competitors. Well we blitzed both stages in the mustang, making it to the official targa news video and starting 9^th last car (ordered slowest to fastest) in the field. With the cobwebs blown off and the first day nerves settled, we were ready to race!
Day 1 of the race and we started out on a fast cresty stage where the mustang launched into the air and landed with an unnerving bang! Luckily the only damage we could find was some bodywork hanging off the side - only superficial! After clearing the first 2 stages and the car feeling great into our Sheffield lunch stop, an unfortunate drama on the Paloona stage has put us back to 18th modern. The computer cutting out mid stage cost us about a minute, 2 cars passing us and losing precious time. Though we still made our trophy time and over the week of racing we'll come clawing back! Rain after lunch on the Holwell and Kayena made for some slippery and wild driving, and looks like the weather tomorrow is forecast for more of the same. After some last minute checks on the hoist thanks to Rob and Sharon at Advanced Automotives in Launceston, our wonderful crew Keith and Andrew freshened the car before retiring for the night to the Silverdome.
Day 2, another successful day, with a great run through some very slippery wet stages. Fast stages to start the day, with some 8th places on stage to see us claw back to 14th place from 18th yesterday. Some big smashes on the stages, not surprising given the conditions with little grip on the roads. Great lunch in St Helen on the water before the last few stages of the day. ...The Sideling stage lived up to it's notoriety today with fog across the top so thick we couldn't see 50m ahead! Some slipping and sliding, but great driving from Craig to deliver us home safely, let alone 4 spots up from yesterday! Finishing with a crowd- pleasing mostly sideways run through the Longford stage, we're checked the car over prior to the Targa Fest event in the Launceston Mall. With a forecast of rain tomorrow, it was looking like we were in for another slippery day tomorrow!
An eventful Day 3 saw us finish in the beautiful town of Strahan late in the evening. Starting out reasonably rainy and the first stage, even though it was wet the grip of the road was good. However through high speed corners the mustang was a little unstable and needed to have some more adjustment on the Konis, tweak suspension for the next wet stage, adjust tyre pressures and off we go. Now we're talking - the mustang is starting to feel confident as Craig and Emma work like clockwork. At the lunch break, checking the car it looks like the front disc pads won't make the end of the day, with only 15 minutes for lunch we have to work fast! We slipped in a new set, kicked the tyres, well done crew we’re off again! The afternoon got better and better as everything felt just right - the new dunlop Tyres are great, Emma's calling is just awesome and the mustang is firing and flying! Hellyer Gorge lived up to its reputation, the Whites in the Lamborghini caught up and distracted Craig from hearing a critical call hair pin right - nearly ended in tears, heading straight towards a stone cliff wall with no grip and too much speed… look out for the video on YouTube! Though some luck saw us get back on track, finishing up the day with the Strahan stage in reverse - and what a blast! Got through Day 3, Craig and Emma were so happy to discover we’d moved up to 12th place!! Now for what Day 4 has in store for us - already a wet start, could be another eventful day...
Day 4 and guess what? We'd made it with only 1 more day to go! We started the day fast through Reece Dam, but into the second stage of the day, Pieman, realised the car wasn't happy and we needed our crew. They were there waiting, we changed spark plugs and checked coils but still nothing improved. A monster effort to race to the next stage start before it closed..., we made it to Mt Roland with 60 seconds to spare before they closed it - PHEW! Missing the stage would have meant losing our place in the event, not to mention our targa trophies... We coughed and spluttered through the next two stages with a very unhappy car, arranging for our crew at lunch to strip coils from the Saleen for the race car, despite a shortened 20min break. Our crew did an excellent job under pressure, but sadly no luck - the car was still sad!
Next through Gunns plains and into the famous Riana stage, where we came up to an incident, Matt and Tracy Close crashing their Audi and blocking the road. With 2 cars stopped to assist, we continued on to alert the officials of the incident, shaken up having seen a top-3 car in such a way.
We finished the day with a very sad car, popping and cracking, running on only 5 cylinders. But we got through - in 6th place on the final stage, even!! Checking the scores today we moved up to 10th place modern, sick car and all. The crew met us to diagnose our problem - turns out to be cracks in the supercharger's cooler. So again the Chaplain's saleen is a donor car and the team worked busily to get the supercharger bolted on and ready for the final day of racing. Tomorrow is the true test of the event, with the Mt Arrowsmith stage running almost 60km before our final 3 stages deliver us to the Hobart finish. A few hours sleep and we’re ready to go!
Day 5 – we don’t know how, but were pleased to make it to the lunch stop. At the first stage of the day, the mustang overheated at first stage today and dropped water at the start line, then ran hot so we cruised (mostly rolled) through the stage. Filling with water and knowing out crew were trapped on the other side of the closed roads past Mt Arrowsmith, we nursed thr car through the steep uphill climb of the Queenstown stage, where the car started to come good. Surprisingly, we even got through the 59km of Mt Arrowsmith… 8^th fastest on the stage! Being very wet was working for us. Still not a happy car, but we simply hoped it would stay together in 9^th place with only 2 short stages to go. Cruising through the last two stages of the day, we managed to hold out 9^th position for a top 10 finish, and a class win. Craig and I were ecstatic, not only just to finish the trying event, but with such an excellent result despite the difficulties with the broken car. Though we couldn’t have done it alone, and we’d like to thank all of the special people who helped us get there.
Firstly thanks to our fabulous crew, Andrew Marriner and Keith Criswell, as well as young Anthony for their tireless efforts into the wee hours of the morning maintaining and fixing the mustang, waiting on the roadsides for hours and answering our every beckoning call. We couldn't have finished the race without your amazing support. Not without mention Marty and Maudie, our greatest supporters and fan-club poster distribution! Thanks to Rob and Sharon at Turboworx Launceston (Advanced Automotive) for allowing us access to the workshop to service the car, use of the hoist and tools, a tremendous help.
Of course all our wonderful sponsors, represented in the top 10 and with us on the side of the car and in spirit all along. Thanks to everyone at Octagon, all of the workers and volunteers who put together another awesome event working in rain, hail and... very little shine! A great job well done, without you we wouldn't be racing, a job well done. All of our friends, family and supporters, fellow competitors and people who are with us in spirit as we race - we can't thanks you all by name, but you know who you are! You're all equally important and part of the Mustang Motorsport team. Thanks for your support!

Dick Johnson
Australian Touring Car Champion
1981 - 1982 - 1984 - 1988 - 1989

JIM READ
Drag Racing Champion

Jim's career has been one of constant achievement, with almost more titles than he can count, including 17 National Championships and 16 Australian Championships, 10 Winternationals, NSW Championships, Grand Finals, USA V Australia and Australia V New Zealand Match racers, plus many, many more.

He's held numerous ANDRA records, including the first drag racer to break the seven-second barrier, the six- second barrier, the five-second barrier record and then, the first racer to record a speed of over 300 mph (483 kmh) on the quarter-mile in Australia.

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