Targa Bambina 2023, 18th 19th March

What a crazy few days it’s been!

Only a couple of months ago, Chris McMurray asked the Auckland Mini Car Club if anyone was interested in being his navigator. I thought “surely other people will be keen”, but no-one was. So I asked a few questions, and found myself getting a AASA race licence… Eeek, the rest they say is history, well there was a bit more to it…

Friday we had scrutineering, and of course, there was a little chat/concern about a person in a wheelchair absconding from the car in an emergency situation. So of course, I had to sign a little waver absolving the organisers from any liability. The hurdles of life as I call them.

Sat was a long day, up 430am, bed 945pm. In between that time lots happened. Chris drove very well, and I understood more about my role as navigator. What I thought I knew, I didn’t, and I had so much more to learn. We managed to smash off the exhaust near the end of the day, with 1 stage to go before service stop. Needless to say, that last stage was loud. With one phone call Herman GT (from Ak Mini Club) came out with a spare exhaust and parts, no questions asked, only “What do I need to bring?”… Legendary.

Sun, with BYGGLS repaired from yesterday just in time to get into Park Ferme (with 4mins to spare!) we set off in dense fog. It’s all a blur, but either first/second Super Stage we were travelling 80m/hr not being able to see more than 800m in front of us! Exciting to say the least.

With many more stories to share, lets leave this as, we won our category and the car finished the event, several others didn’t 🙂

Can’t finish there without saying a huge thank you to Gary and Kathrine for their service stop support plus much more, the organisers, and of course all the volunteers whom without them, the event would not happen. Thank you.

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