Targa Wrest Point: Brake drama puts Tony and Naomi out

JANUARY 29, 2012.  Tony Quinn and Naomi Tillett's Targa Wrest Point challenge has ended on the second competitive stage, after a braking problem put their V.I.P. Petfoods Nissan GT-R R35 off the road.

The 390kW all-wheel drive supercar’s ABS partially failed on the 22.9km Airwalk 1 stage, causing a front brake to lock on the approach to a corner.

"The sensor on the front left wheel failed, which locked the brake for 30 metres," Tony said. “The car pulled left and slid off the road. At first I thought we’d get away with just a few scratches, because there was a clearing with what looked like soft bushes where we went off.

“But there was a small tree in amongst them – it made a quite mess of the side of the car.”

Although the...read more

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V.I.P. Petfoods TARMAC RALLY TEAM

VIP Petfoods owner Tony Quinn has been a regular competitor in the premier Targa rallies in Australia and New Zealand since 1999.

Targa ('plate' in Italian) is derived from the famous Italian Targa Florio sports car race, which was held annually on open roads around Sicily from1906-73. Modern Targa events comprise high-speed competitive 'stages' on closed bitumen public roads, separated by non-competitive 'transport' stages on open roads.

The events vary from two to six days, and the competing cars are divided into categories ranging from classic grand touring machines to the latest exotic supercars, which usually provide the outright winner.

Tony's victories include:

• 2011: Targa Tasmania
• 2010: Targa New Zealand
• 2009: Targa Tasmania, Targa New Zealand & Targa Rotorua

His current vehicle is a 360kW all-wheel-drive Nissan GT-R.