Last year Australia’s premier Tarmac Rally organiser, Targa Australia announced a raft of changes to their regulations for upcoming events along with the inclusion of a new category for electric vehicles. The new category, GT Electric Competition, will be integrated into Targa Tasmania 2021 and coincide with its 30th anniversary in Tasmania.

According to Targa Australia, “It is a great way to showcase our amazing history whilst putting on display what the future will look like for the Ultimate Tarmac Rally. With a number of manufacturers already committed to an involvement, and over a year to prepare cars, it promises to be an exciting addition to the Targa landscape in future years and ensure that the Cavalcade of Motoring History continues well into the future.”

Infact, that commitment from manufacturers really started last November when Jaguar Australia entered two SUV’s in the tour section of Targa High Country; their V8 F-Pace SVR and their similarly priced (around $140,000) electric I-Pace SUV. I caught up with the guys from Jaguar after the event and they were thrilled with how both cars performed, and said the logistical exercise of organising fast charge stations to be installed at Mt Buller and places like their lunch-time stop at the small country town of Eildon, was definitely worth the effort. They also assured me it was nothing like in the photo below…..

Consequently I was also interested to read Andy Enright’s article for Wheels/Which Car – We thrash Jaguar’s F-Pace SVR and I-Pace to settle the petrol v electric debate, where he covers the weekend of competition and how the cars compared.

We thrash Jaguar’s F-Pace SVR and I-Pace to settle the petrol v electric debate

Another Which Car article that’s relevant to Jaguar, the I-Pace and electric cars in
Motorsport, is this following link by David Vegners.

Jaguar I-Pace reaps improvements thanks to motorsport

Many years ago there was a saying “if it won on the weekend, it sold on Mondays”, which related to how motorsport influenced the sales figure for manufacturers, and it appears that even though the landscape is changing rapidly, maybe adages like that are still just as relevant as they were many years ago.