TARGA RALLY: Siblings set sights on safe fun

ANENDRA SINGH
When it comes to motor racing, it's always been a Quin-Quin situation for brothers Bert and Mick. Despite their heavy workload and family commitments, Mick Quin, of Hawke's Bay, and his brother, Dr Bert Quin, of Auckland, manage to get some pedal on metal when it comes to the annual Dunlop Targa Rally New Zealand that started in Auckland on Monday and finishes in the Bay tomorrow.
Due to his hectic business schedule, Waimaramara businessman Mick, 52, wasn't supposed to be in the country this week, let alone the Bay. However, circumstances changed and the owner of Quin's Building and Roofing arrived from the United States early and Bert didn't end up in Australia as planned.
So did Mick, a two-time New Zealand Speedway champion, ummm and aah before saying yes to the one-day (final nine-stage segment of the 41-stage rally) event.
Bert, who turns 60 on Saturday week, tells SportToday: "Nah, it took him no more than two seconds to make up his mind."
Talking up his younger brother's prowess, Bert, a fertiliser and environment consultant, is not entirely willing to gift Mick outright bragging rights in driving or co-driving for that matter.
"Mick is right up there with the top drivers in Targa. Given the same car, same event ... Mick would finish 10 places higher than me," concedes Bert, who four years ago got his brother hooked on Targa. And what does Mick have to say about that?
"Well, I'm not going to argue about that," Mick replies with a laugh.
So does that mean Mick is more of a daredevil than Bert? Bert: "Oh no, I wouldn't say that at all. I'm modest enough to accept that Mick is a quicker driver than me but I'd also like to think that's not always the case."
Despite the eight-year age gap between them and the healthy sibling rivalry that found its roots in auto-cross time-trials held on the paddocks of their Palmerston North home in the 1970s, the pair agree there's an inherent rapport that strengthened as they grew up in a family of nine.
The five Quin brothers inherited the competitive streak from their late father, Frank, a police detective-cum-businessman possessed.
Bert, who travelled to the US to watch Mick compete in supersaloon meetings in the Mid West, says he and Mick have never had a falling out on the road and who drove or navigated often depended on whose car it was.
Bert says: "I think our sibling relationship would be tested a little if I write off Mick's porsche."
However, Mick has since sold the porsche he drove in 2005 and today Bert was driving down from Auckland in his 1997 Ford XR8 derivative, SVO Hercules (forerunner of today's Ford Performance Racing Division), to the Bay.
"Mick will do most of the driving but I'll insist on doing some of the driving to keep my hand in during one or two stages," says Bert, who has a background in classic saloon car, circuit and street racing. Almost 90 per cent of his races were in a 1972 Datsun 1600 SSS since 1976, which he retired two years ago only to bring it back, mounted with an SR20 DET (Nissan turbo motor), before re-registering it for road use in car club rallies.
The cost of competing in a Targa rally is high so bringing his vastly improved Ford with less money tied to it makes sense.
"If we, in the highly unlikely event, have a misfortune then it won't be much of a tragedy."
Bert impresses the significance of the co-driver as a navigator, saying all it'll take is one incorrect decision and "it's all over".
His poor decision at a T-intersection in a two-day Targa in Tauranga once ended up on the front cover of a german motoring magazine.
"I sent Mick a copy of the photo of the Porsche coming out of a ditch with two wheels showing and I wrote 'sorry' on it."
The Quins speak highly of the week-long Targa.
"That's what sets Targa apart from other motor sport. We share experience and camaraderie with other drivers and their support crews.
"It's an opportunity to let off steam legally and safely," says Bert, claiming he feels much safer in a roll carriage and five-point harness of his car and comfortable in the knowledge that no-one else is coming down the wrong way.
Mick, who flies back to the US on Tuesday, talks up the Bay as a fantastic place to finish and commended the organisers for switching from the traditional Hawke's Bay racecourse venue to Havelock North tonight when 165 cars zoom in from 3.30pm.
And for the record, the Quins should be back on the tarmac for the week-long ride.