Targa Tasmania 2016 ran over the 11th to the 16th of April and featured a healthy collection of Lotuses vying for victory or out to enjoy the event.

Martin Duursma and Richard Wodhams ran in the GT Sports category in the classic Australian event, and did us all proud with a third place finish. Read on for their story, illustrated by some great shots thanks to Martin.

Thanks to Martin Duursma

2016 was the 25th anniversary event for Targa Tasmania and saw a record field hit the road, with over 300 cars entered.

We had a number of Lotus in the event, including four in the GT Sports Trohpy. This is a speed limited category to 130 kilometers an hour. This rule means that entrants can go as hard as they like or are able to, as long as they never exceed the 130KPH number.

In practice this means is that you need to watch your speed on the straights but on all the windy sections you are as fast as the rest of the field. As with all Targa events the trick is to race at around 80% so that you always have a margin of safety.

We had a very competitive GT Sports category with 25 cars. The Lotus contingent was an Elise 111s, a 2004 Elise and Elan Coupe S4 and my Exige V6.

After 6 days of completion we had a clear winner in the form of a 2000 GT-R N1 that finished about 5 minutes ahead of second and third. We enjoyed a great battle all week long for the 2 and 3 positions, and on day 6 were only about 40 seconds behind. Unfortunately the rain that fell on that day slowed us down such that we could not catch the 2nd place Subaru WRX.

In the end we finished a credible 3rd and got the car home with no issues at all. Now on to Targa High Country at Mt Buller in November!

Images thanks to Martin Duursma