Watching James May's (Top Gear) wine show and he was tooling through Northern California’s wine country in a huge RV across some magnificent roads-and the thought occurred to me- why is there no tarmac rally in the USA? There is only one event Im aware of in North America – Targa Newfoundland. Seems to me, California being the sixth largest economy in the world, and full of car nuts and exoctic cars (as are many parts of the USA) there is an opportunity for this form of motorsport in the States.
In the southern hemisphere, there are quite few such events, attracting field of 200-300 cars, modern and classic. Loads of Porsches ofcourse. Staged over 2- 5 days, comprising transport and special stages. Special stages occur over a close road, which might be anything from 2 miles to 50 miles long. There are various classes of cars from Tourers (road going exotica) , travelling behind a pace car. A good brisk drive at high speed- and the competition cars, which are fully prepped rally cars. They compete on special stages for time- go as fast as you can on pace notes.
With the enthusiast community in the USA, there has to be ready made market for these events. So why aren’t there any? Would it be a problem to get the roads closed (typically for 4 hours)
Reckon this would fly in the US? Here is a taste- Lotus on wet road, Targa Tasmania, Australia.