But not only will the Safari be a new event for the Perth-based rally team, they will debut a current model Subaru Forester XT prepared specifically for the event. “There’s a lot for ‘firsts’ for us with this event”, commented Maximum Motorsport’s Dean Herridge.
“For the last few years we’ve been focusing on tarmac rallying, but the Safari is about as far removed from Targa Tasmania as you can get! As a team we have a lot of experience in gravel rallying through all the years we competed in the ARC. We’ve tried our hand at circuit racing with the Bathurst 12 Hour, and we’ve enjoyed great success in tarmac rallying, culminating with victory in this year’s Australian Targa Championship. So this project sees us moving to the opposite end of the rallying spectrum with the Safari”.
The Safari is an off-road endurance event, which takes competitors from Perth into the Western Australian outback for seven days of competitive stages.
“We’re in the middle of preparing a Subaru Forester XT especially for this event. It’s the first time we’ve used the Forester as the basis for a rally car. We’ll be running in the Safari Production category, so there are very limited modifications permitted. But we think the Forester will not only be nimble, but also tough enough for the kind of terrain we’ll encounter.”
Piloting the Maximum Motorsport Forester will be two-time Australian Rally Champion Rob Herridge. “I’m not quite sure if I drew the short stick or the long one!”, quipped the rally veteran. “The one thing I do know is that it’s going to be a very hard event. Hard on the equipment, hard on myself and Tim Batten, who will co-drive for me. And hard on our team, who’ll have to keep up as we race for more than 3700km through the bush.”
“The Safari is this regions answer to the Dakar Rally, and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great event.”
The Australian Safari kicks off with a ceremonial start at Hillarys Boat Harbour on Thursday 22 September, and finishes on Friday 30 September in Kalgoorlie in the heart of Western Australia’s Golden Outback.
For more details about the event may be found at the official event web site: www.australasiansafari.com.au
Running a Maximum Motorsport 2007 Subaru WRX STi, O’Dowd and Allen overcame a faulty intercom on the opening stage to move up through the field and into fourth place by mid-afternoon. “The only real problem we had during the event was on the first stage!”, exclaimed John after the event. “Just before the start of the stage we lost the intercom, so I was running without notes and we lost some time. Luckily we were able to fix it on the road section before the start of stage 2, and from there we just started to chip away at the guys ahead of us.”
“Fourth place outright for this round puts us into the championship lead, which is a great result for Greg and I. There are plenty of experienced competitors in this series, so keeping the top spot will be a challenge. But Maximum have given us a great car – it’s Dean’s ex-SRTA Subaru – and they’ve been fantastic with setting up the car and running the team. So to be leading the championship after two rounds; I couldn’t be happier”.
“It’s been our aim for two years to win the championship”, Dean told the assembled media at the Hobart finish line. “And we thought we’d be a chance in that, but it’s sometimes hard to have our little Subaru battling against the Lambos and the GT-Rs”.
After moving into second place on Saturday, Dean was happy to consolidate his position and ensure he and the Maximum Motorsport Subaru WRX STI took the championship title. “Overnight we decided we were happy with second, which is a good solid result, and today’s been all about conserving our spot, and the last 24 hours it’s been all about getting it home and winning the championship.”
Heavy rain had been predicated for the weekend, and it arrived on time. And while other crews run off the road or ran out of luck, Dean Herridge and the Maximum Motorsport WRX STi revelled in the conditions.
Today the crews rallied on stages to the north-west of Launceston, including the long and tricky Mt Roland and Paloona stages. And the day again provided plenty of drama. The series defending champion Jason White decided to continue, even though the 20 minute plenty he incurred yesterday effectively ended any chance of winning the event. But while one Lamborghini continued, another retired. Kevin Weeks was still in the hunt for victory when gearbox failure forced his retirement.
With Jason White still 18 minutes off the lead, the series title looks to be a fight between Herridge (currently on 420 points) and Close (400 points). At the end of the days seven stages, Close managed to jump up to second outright and 27 seconds clear of fourth-placed Herridge.
White ran over a rock on The Sideling stage this morning which extensive damage to the underside of his Lamborghini Gallado. He subsequently incurred a 20 minute penalty when he ran out of ‘late time’ while make running repairs to the car.
For Dean Herridge and the Maximum Motorsport Subaru, it’s been another ‘clean’ day of rallying. “We’ve had no issues in the morning stages. We did lose 4th gear on ‘Elephant Pass’, so we just slowed for ‘Rossarden’ and ‘Longford’. The boys have replaced the ‘box’ now, and apart from that the car has been perfect. If we can keep this up we’ll be well placed to challenge the cars ahead of us on the final two days.”
Likewise, Graham Iddles has continued his good form. The undefeated ‘Longford Challenge’ champion notched up another victory on the narrow Longford streets. Battling the flu, Graham climbed two positions today to sit 29th outright. “It was a good day today. We’re just trying to be consistent, not trying to drive beyond ourselves, and that strategy seems to be working well.”
“We’ve had an untroubled run today”, commented Dean. “We’re not too far from the lead and we’re not asking a lot of the car at the moment, so I’m pretty happy.”
“I was really happy with our effort today. It was a really consistent performance today, and that’s what I’m trying to achieve. We’re trying to complete each stage as cleanly as possible, keep the car straight, and make sure we’re in good shape for the rest of the event.”
“We were fourth fastest, which is around where we want to be. The Prologue results sets the starting order for tomorrow, which means we will be around the crews that we need to be keeping an eye on. There’s a bit of an advantage by not being the right at the back. Both of our Maximum Motorsport Subarus WRX STIs completed the stage without a problem. The real stages start tomorrow and there’s a few twisty and technical stages, which tend to suit our Subarus. We’d probably be happier if we had a bit of rain. The dry conditions will probably suit the larger cars a bit more than us. But there’s five days of rallying to complete, and there’s rain predicated for the weekend. This is an endurance event. You need a car that’s both quick and reliable, and that’s been one of the hallmarks of our cars.”
Along with Dean and Ben, Maximum Motorsport regular Graham Iddles and Shane Cary return for their fourth Targa Tasmania. “Unlike Dean, I’m pretty happy to have dry weather! Last year was really tricky in the rain, and the dry conditions suit me personally. We always say our goal is to make it to the finish, and that target hasn’t changed. Shane and I have been improving as a team every year, and we’re looking to improve again this time.”
“Targa is now our biggest event of the season”, commented Dean Herridge. “There’s a huge amount of effort put into, not just the preparation of the cars, but also the logistics and planning. We’ve got plenty of experience with now, but there’s always something the pops up to provide a bit of a challenge.”
“We’re not running as many cars this year and, as a team, we’ve only got two cars to think about. That gives us more time to focus on the job at hand, and with it being the 20th anniversary of the event, I’m really determined to challenge the Lamboghinis, Porsches and GTRs. We always compete to win, and we always put in 110%. But this year we’ll go even harder, try and put as much pressure on the larger cars, and hopefully come away with a good result.”
Maximum’s own Graham Iddles will be completing in the 
So how is riding a bike preparation for Targa? “It’s pretty good preparation”, says Graham. “Riding four to five hours each day gives me the chance to clear my head and there’s plenty of time to think about driving the car. Targa Tasmania is an endurance event, so I should be pretty well prepared from that perspective. I get a lot of fun out of competing in the event and a lot of personal satisfaction being a part of the charity event and putting back into the community. Kids are our future so it is imperative that we all do as much as we can to assist them – particularly those that are having a tough time coping.”
