Love The Beast! Speed channel.

[Speedy E]

Eric Bana Targa Tasmania doco this friday night on Speed Channel. A must for any car lover. Its a Ford, but hey....

[lkadams]

Cool beans! He was just on Top Gear a couple of weeks ago and talked briefly about the movie. I looked on Monday to see if it's on DVD yet, but seemingly not in N.America. Will have to set the PVR (provided stupid Speed Canada is showing it).

[SandyI]

Thanks for the alert. It was in a couple So Cal theaters for about a week. Looking forward to seeing it.

[turbochad]

Watched this yesterday. It really moved me. It is cool that he has video footage from when he was a kid with his car. I have pictures of my "Beast" but no video footage. I know he will rebuild the car again some day.

Here is my beast. I have had it since I was 16, I'm 37. I have experienced most of the major moments in my life with this car. I have rebuilt the car twice and have had four different motors in it. I still drag race it but no tarmac rallys.

[obrut]

I've done Targa Tasmania 3 times.

Yes - it is on the other side of the world for most of you.

Yes - it is worth the trip...

[turbochad]

Ryan,
Any pictures of your Beast in action? It looks like you guys get some great tarmac rallys down under.
Cheers, Chad

[Cornpanzer]

Yeah, great show...I really enjoyed it. Nice to see a "star" staying connected to his family and roots.

Chad...what a silly idea. A turbo on a VW?!?!?!

[obrut]

Ryan,
Any pictures of your Beast in action? It looks like you guys get some great tarmac rallys down under.
Cheers, Chad

Hey Chad,

Here you go. My rally car is a 911ST with a twin plug MFI 2.8 in the back of it.

These are from a similar event - Classic Adelaide - a 4 day event in South Australia.

1. Corkscrew - the end of this stage has ended many rallies...
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=O1ZIGv2Y_l4&

2. Basket Range - awesome stage
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=mnUL6ioxwDc&

3. Chasing and catching a Triumph TR8
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=TNkoUOFkExI&

4. Chasing and catching an XY GT HO 351 Falcon
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=GLkz70-Eq4w&

[turbochad]

Chad...what a silly idea. A turbo on a VW?!?!?!

She (Ellie Elouise) is a low 12 seconds of silliness on street tires. I think she would do low 11's on DOT's at altitude.

Ellie now runs 20psi boost on 105 unleaded at 8000 rpm (1776 short stroke turbo). You should see the look on the face of most mopar guys when they get beat by a convertible Ghia. I know you know what I mean

The funny part is that she also handles really well (IRS rear and trailing arm front) and has 914 disks all around so she also stops. The air cooled VWs share a lot of DNA with 911s, and the IRS VW cars handle much more like a 911 than the swing axle 356. Hell, even the door strike plates and hood latches are the same part numbers.

Some other 911ish stuff about Ellie- She has a dry sump oiling system with a front setrab fender cooler and hard lines that I fabricated. She has 930 half shafts and CV joints to handle the drag launches. I used tenax fasteners on the top boot, 365 headlights, and carrera engine fan, not to mention the fuchs.

I ended up with Ellie at 16 because I wanted a 914 2.0 and my parents said no way, so I bought the ghia and put a 2276 stroker in her. Problem solved.

[turbochad]

Hey Chad,

Here you go. My rally car is a 911ST with a twin plug MFI 2.8 in the back of it.

These are from a similar event - Classic Adelaide - a 4 day event in South Australia.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=GLkz70-Eq4w&

Ryan, you guys really do it right down there, thanks for sharing. We still have the classic carrera panamerica race in Mexico, one of these days I will go, but that is really it here, with the exception of ORR trials. I may be wrong but I am not aware of any true annual traditional tarmac rallys here in the US (gumball doesn't count). I spent a lot of my childhood in England watching group b rally racing and there is something about racing in conditions where safety is not the principle concern that has made for some of the best racing in history. Tarmac rally racing like you have there is the last connection to the '70s when power was barely controllable and the roads were never designed for the machines running on them. That disparity was poetry.

I love the part in the movie where Eric talked about how after they crashed some other drivers came out of the "bush" almost like aliens and then he realized that they were there because they also crashed in the same corner just further down the embankment. That really sums up the challenge and the craziness of tarmac rallying. It all seems sane until you are dead.