Images by Gino Valdes
This past weekend, over the 10th to the 12th of November, a huge crew of Lotus legends made the run to the hills in Victoria to take part in the 2017 Targa High Country Rally.
Organised by Lotus Cars Australia, the Lotus Tour was a five day tour that took place as a non-competitive category within Targa High Country. Based in Mount Buller, it traversed the same route as the competition cars and provided an opportunity to enjoy the adventure, the magnificent roads, the cars and the social side of the event.
Several amongst us took part in Targa High Country’s competitive classes, putting Lotus power to good use and adding to the marque’s glittering competition history. Justin Fengels and Lucas Mertens competed in Mt Buller GT2, finishing in 7th. In the Mansfield Shire GT Sports Trophy, Martin Duursma and Richard Wodhams tied Mark and Scott Meletopoulo to claim an outright victory.
Michael Moore from Victoria and Rick Woolford secured second in the Mount Buller TSD Trophy, with father and daughter team Brian Pereira and Stevie-Lee Rice claiming third. Father and son team Peter and Tristan Taylor finished 5th in TSD, with Ashton Roskill and Giles Cooper home 7th while getting some miles in in preparation for the 2019 Peking to Paris Rally. Mel and Gino Valdes completed the Club Lotus Australia placings in 9th.
Thanks to Lotus Cars Australia and Simply Sports Cars for the huge efforts supporting us all and putting together and supporting the Lotus Tour! Everything ran very smoothly, which meant that we were able to get down to the important business of enjoying our cars, the roads and the excellent company with complete confidence.
Targa High Country has quickly become a highlight of the year and should make its way quickly to your bucket list of Lotus adventures.
Scroll on and enjoy a magic photo gallery of the event, with thanks to Gino Valdes.
Images by Gino Valdes
