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Skelta Targa Tasmania Prologue summary
Managing Director of the Queensland based Skelta Sports Car Company, Ray Vandersee has shown he's no slouch behind the wheel, recording an impressive first up run during today's 4.5 km Prologue stage of the International tarmac feature, Targa ...
Published: Apr 28, 2004, 8:20 PM
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Managing Director of the Queensland based Skelta Sports Car Company, Ray Vandersee has shown he's no slouch behind the wheel, recording an impressive first up run during today's 4.5 km Prologue stage of the International tarmac feature, Targa Tasmania Rally.
The Skelta G-Force designer clocked a time of 3 minutes 22.4 seconds in his Westfield Clubman to be the fastest finisher in the Modern Clubman category.
The Prologue stage of the rally was run through the peaceful surrounds of Georgetown, near Launceston and has determined the starting positions for tomorrow's Northern Loop stage at Devonport.
"Of course it's only the first of six days of competition but very pleasing to go through without any dramas and be leading the category," said Vandersee.
"Once we'd driven about a kilometre and given the new tyres time to warm up the performance and handling of the car was first class.
"I saw that our main opposition in Modern Clubman had his nose cone out of shape possibly from an off into one of the hay bale chicanes, so they'll be working hard overnight to get it right.
"The Clubman is handling the surface well and we're looking forward to tomorrow's Northern Loop.
"The morning period should be quite easy, however traditionally the stages at Devonport and Sheffield in the afternoon prove quite challenging so we'll need to be showing a lot of patience and control."
Vandersee is joined by regular navigator John Allen, who also experienced the highs of capturing outright stage honours during the 2002 Targa Tasmania rally up against the likes of Australian racing icons Jim Richards and Peter Brock.
"We probably finished about tenth overall today but this is certainly not an exact gauge of how things will pan out, especially up against cars with higher horsepower than the Clubman.
"The quickest outright today was defending champion Jim Richards in a Porsche GT2 so once again he'll be the one to watch."
Vandersee had initially intended to debut his new creation, the Skelta G-Force Sports Car during this year's Targa Tasmania rally, however the high powered machine is still undergoing specific component testing and having a revolutionary body mould developed.
Instead the Toowoomba based designer is confident of having the Skelta G-Force operating at optimum performance during a proposed launch date of August 21 during the historic Leyburn Sprints.
"I'm shooting for three straight wins at Leyburn too, so there's added incentive to have the Skelta G-Force primed for that.
"Beyond Leyburn we'll have the car ready to be introduced on the Australian Sports car market where I know it is bound to turn heads, especially for drivers looking for a no frills, performance based vehicle.
Vandersee is using the Targa Tasmania Rally as a marketing opportunity for the Skelta G-Force with all support vehicles and the Westfield Clubman emblazoned with Skelta imagery.
The Skelta Sports Car workshop is based at Vanderfield Pty Ltd on Carrington Road, Toowoomba.
-ssc-
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