Targa Tasmania returns following major safety overhaul, as organisers look to bring back culture of enjoyment

After four deaths inside two years forced Targa Tasmania to shut down, the first edition of the revamped rally has now concluded without any major incidents.

It is a considerable step forward for a longstanding event that nearly collapsed after being forced into a three-and-a-half-year hiatus.

Steeped in motorsport folklore, Targa Tasmania started in 1992. These days, organisers say it brings some $8.5 million into the state.

But its future had been uncertain up until this year.

After three competitors died in the 2021 event, and another died in 2022, organisers took the step to call it off.

The national governing body for the sport, Motorsport Australia, also decided to revoke the event's licence.

At the same time, Targa Tasmania was sliding into serious financial trouble.

Old rally, new rules

A review made 94 safety recommendations, concluding the risk to competitors was "unacceptably high" unless significant changes were made.

The majority of those recommendations have now been adopted to make a very different event in 2025.

Firstly, the number of competitors has been heavily reduced and those who are involved this year have been essentially hand-picked by organisers.

All involved now complete a two-day safety course — called the Targa Academy — in order to increase driver knowledge and test skills.

Drivers are also classified into different speed limits, based on experience and the power of their vehicles, and all new entrants must start in the bottom category with a speed limit of 130 kilometres per hour.

There's also a new rule on crashing that has been copied from similar events run overseas.

"We've got a 'one strike and you're out' policy now," Mr Perry said.

Mr Perry said the organisation talked to psychologists about how it could ensure rally competitors drove within their limits, not above them.

"They said: 'Instil the fear of loss, tell them they'll never do it again, if they get it wrong.'"

From autumn to spring

The rally has also been moved to November, rather than its traditional spot on the calendar in April or May, to increase the chance of dry roads.

The calendar change also increases the number of daylight hours to complete race stages each day.

Lynn Rattray competed at Targa for more than 20 years and now drives the number 0 car at the front of the course each day.

Mr Rattray told ABC Northern Tasmania Drive that the move to November was a good one.

"That's a big thing, especially down the west coast, when you're running along in ice and snow — and that's happened on quite a few occasions in the past."

Sam Winter is from Melbourne and has been taking part in Targa Tasmania since 2015.

In this year's event, she was navigating in car number 130, a BMW 325e.

"The safety measures that have been implemented are smart and sensible and actually slow you down where you need to slow down," Ms Winter said. 

She was sharing the car with Peter Gluskie, who said he enjoyed driving on day four of the rally across the state's north-east.

"When we finished the Sideling, we were both giggling like schoolkids," he said.

"Awesome bit of road, in the dry — nothing's better."

Cultural changes

Motorsport Australia said it had no affiliation with the 2025 Targa rally, and in September urged all competitors to be aware of the risks associated with participating in events that "fall outside of best practice structures".

But Mr Perry is convinced the event is moving in the right direction. 

He said that, for a period of time, the rally was getting too competitive, which ultimately led to drivers pushing harder than they should have. 

But that mood had now changed.

Mr Perry was talking from experience — for a number of years in the early 2000s, he placed close to the top of the Targa Tasmania leaderboard. 

Then, in 2004, he broke his neck in a heavy crash on the second-last day of the rally.

He was forced to spend months off work after multiple surgeries and said he was lucky to survive the crash.

Now, Mr Perry wanted to return to the original culture of the rally, with participants enjoying their cars and the destination, rather than just racing as fast as possible.

Mr Rattray also hoped the glory days of the rally would return soon.

"Back in its day, when everything was going fine and we had no major issues, we were doing 2,200 kilometres with 300 competitors and tour runners," he said.

"We hope that we can get this back to where it was.