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Classica

Targa Classica to Turn One

By Classica, News, sponsors, Supercar

Across four autumn days in Victoria, 95 crews set out on a journey defined not by speed, but by precision. In a 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet, one Porsche team discovered the quiet discipline – and immense joy – of regularity rallying, among friends old and new.

From city streets to country rhythm

Leaving Melbourne behind, the road turns south toward the Mornington Peninsula, where traffic fades into vineyards, farmland and wide coastal skies. Autumn light settles across the landscape, the air cool and clear enough to sharpen the senses.

At first, it feels like any road trip. Then the details begin to matter. Distances are measured. Times are noted. Conversation narrows to numbers, directions and instructions.

We are no longer simply travelling. We are driving with intent.

Precision, not speed

Targa Classica celebrates a different kind of driving. This premier four-day regularity rally honours classic and modern automotive culture. Rather than racing outright, crews aim to hit precise target times and speeds over defined sections of road. Too fast or too slow – even slightly – and penalty points accumulate. What sounds simple quickly proves otherwise. Gradients alter momentum, corners interrupt rhythm and every small input suddenly matters.

From the beginning the experience belongs to two people. My wife, Kerry, and I share the roles of driver and navigator. The navigator interprets the road book and calls distances and timing points. The driver listens and responds.

Gradually a rhythm forms between the numbers and the road ahead. Regularity rallying rewards patience, communication and trust.

Read the full article on newsroom.porsche.com

Celebrating The 40th Anniversary Of The BMW M3 At Targa Classica

By Classica, sponsors, Supercar

The engineers at BMW’s M Division could hardly have known their M3 – initially a by-product of the company’s racing ambitions – would anchor a decades-long dynasty on road and track. The very first M3, known as the E30, was produced as a homologation special: a road-going version built specifically to allow BMW to enter a full-fat race car bearing its resemblance in the DTM series. Not a bad move, considering it went on to become the championship’s most successful race car of all time.

It was a Frenchman who coined the phrase “the more things change, the more they stay the same”, but a quick look at the M3’s lineage suggests the Germans were listening in. The neat, friendly styling of the earlier E30, E36 and E46 generations hinted at their youthful, playful driving dynamics, before the approach was turned on its head in 2007 with the arrival of the monstrous, V8-powered E92. The squared-off bodywork of the first M3s gave way to the angry, flared shapes of the E92, F80 and G80, with an equivalent shift in driving manners.

While enthusiasts can argue in circles about this evolution, the M3’s DNA has never wavered: more performance than it has any right to, with almost no compromise on day-to-day liveability. Forty years on, the car has outlasted trends, rivals and entire segments of the market. What it has built along the way, perhaps more than any performance car of its era, is a community.

With three generations of M3 (an E36, E46 CSL and G81 Touring) offered to me by the team at BMW Australia, I found myself in the thick of the travelling circus that is the Targa Classica. A four-day rally paying homage to Italy’s storied Targa Florio and Mille Miglia, stretched across 1,200 kilometres of meticulously planned Victorian roads. Ninety drivers and their navigators got behind the wheel of cars ranging from moving barn-finds to the sharpest two-door machinery fresh out of Modena. But for BMW, and for the M3’s 40th, the Targa was in many ways more reunion than rally.

Read the full article on bosshunting.com.au

Italy’s Hottest Sedan Is Nearly A Decade Old. Rivals Still Can’t Match What Matters Most

By Classica, News, sponsors

Standing trackside, watching more than 100 machines, Porsches, Ferraris, the odd Holden Torana, thread through some of Victoria’s best roads, it’s easy to feel like a kid with his nose pressed against the glass. The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio sitting behind you is not helping.

That’s the thing about Targa Classica, Australia’s version of Italy’s legendary Targa Florio. Four days, 1200km of hand-picked Victorian roads, almost 80 timed stages. From the Mornington Peninsula to the Yarra Valley, wrapping up in Melbourne during F1 week. It gets under your skin fast.

The spectating is good. The driving? It’s even better when the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is your steed.

Why a Targa Event and a Quadrifoglio Belong Together

The Quadrifoglio badge traces directly back to a Targa. In 1923, Ugo Sivocci painted a four-leaf clover on his Alfa Romeo before the Targa Florio and won the race. Sivocci later died testing a car that did not carry the badge. The symbol has meant something ever since and duly appeared on Alfa Romeo performance flagships.

Read the full article on dmarge.com

2025 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Australia’s Best Driving Roads

By Classica, News, sponsors

It’s 5 am on a slow Wednesday morning in Albury, NSW, and I’m prepping the 2025 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio for Australia’s best driving event, the Targa Classica. This four-day event is based on the famous Targa Florio in Italy where Alfa Romeo has a special connection.

The story goes that Italian racing driver Ugo Sivocci couldn’t win a race. Then, one day he decided to paint a ‘lucky’ four leaf clover on his car. When he did, he started winning races. The first race he won was the Targa Florio in 1923, and this was the first race where the Quadrifolgio symbol appeared on an Alfa Romeo. Sadly, one day Sivocci was testing the new Alfa Romeo P1 at Monza without the four leaf painted on it. During a high-speed test lap, Sivocci crashed and was tragically killed and the brand’s four leaf clover, which has one corner missing, symbolizing his absence, has been fixed to every performance-focused Alfa Romeo since.

Together, the 2025 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio and I will drive some of the best roads in the country while competing in 70 to 80 time trials, including Gymkhana-style courses, point-to-point legs, average speed tests, and even some time on a race track to explore the car’s full potential.

READ the full article on manofmany.com

Targa Classica competitors roll into Melbourne to kick off Grand Prix weekend

By Classica, News

A convoy of 100 modern and classic sporting cars arrive in Melbourne this week – here’s where to see them.

Australia’s take on the infamous Targa Florio road rally, the 2025 Targa Classica concludes its 2025 event with a display of all competitor vehicles this Thursday March 13 at Melbourne Olympic Park.

The 200-odd competitors, fresh from four days and over 1250km of touring and competition stages will gather for public viewing at Garden Square (behind Rod Laver Arena), at the Melbourne Park Tennis complex, between 3:30 and 7:30pm Thursday afternoon.

The Targa Florio road rally has been run in Sicily since 1906, and in 2017, with the support of the Palermo Car Club, the Targa Florio Australian Tribute was launched. It became the first event to ever carry the famous name outside of Italy.

AXA Sydney Harbour Conours D’Elegance 2022

By Classica, News
AXA Sydney Harbour Conours D'Elegance 2022

The third time is a charm – having established a tradition with James we look forward to everything that is the Sydney Harbour Concours each year with great excitement.  Each year James and his team have delivered a great event – one filled with cars, colour, charm and champagne!  Pommery flowed from start to finish – Inge promised me that you can’t get a hangover from fine French Champagne – we certainly put the theory to the test.

 

How has James managed to run a world class event year in year out and continue to make it better.  In 2020, No GP / No Targa Florio – March came around and up we drove to Sydney for the SHC.  2021 the same again.  In 2022 March again and in a backdrop of flooding waters surrounding Sydney and a late change of venue due to the local council at Swifts deciding the events were off until parking can be sorted out, James moved the whole event into the centre of Sydney – the Hyde Park Barracks the perfect setting for 2 great days.

How has James managed to run a world class event year in year out and continue to make it better?

Andrew LawsonTarga Florio Aus
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Girls posing in front of Historic cars

For the first time and facing flooding roads and no hood Paul and Linda decided to put the Alfa on the trailer for the drive to Sydney.  With more than 120,000km under our care it was the first event in Australia that the car had been on a trailer for – whilst Nuvolari would have driven his Alfa in 1938, the Lawson’s are getting soft and opted for the comfort of a 4-wheel drive for the trip north.

It was the right decision as the trip ended in sheeting rain and flooded roads – walls of water crossing median strips deluged the Nissan Patrol as the car pulled to a stop in Waverton.

The rain would come and go for the next few days but happily Saturday afternoon saw the sun come through for an enjoyable afternoon at the Barracks.

Thanks as always to James Nicholls and the Distinguished Gentleman’s Club for a fantastic event – as we drove south from Sydney the sheeting rain did not dampen our enthusiasm, we were very happy to have enjoyed great times with family, friends and all that is the magic of the Sydney Harbour Concours D’Elegance!

www.sydneyharbourconcours.com.au