If Targa charity man Nigel Karl has his way, there will be standing room only on Rotorua's Village Green when the Targa Rotorua tarmac motor rally event comes to town this weekend.
Karl is the man behind Kids In Cars, the Targa organisation's new charity, and he has invited thepeople of Rotorua and surrounding districts to come down and check out the Kids In Cars Family Fun Zone on the Green.
This year's Targa Rotorua is being run a month earlier than usual as part of a rejig of Targa events and dates, and comprises 353km of closed road special stages ranging in length from the 7.13km of Paradise Valley to the 26km of the Temiro/Buckland stage east of Cambridge.
It has attracted 60 entries across the three competition classes - Instra.com 4WD, Instra.com 2WD and Metalman Classic 2WD - and 17 for the associated but non-competitive Targa Tour.
Event HQ is at the Novotel Rotorua on Tutanekai St, with parc ferme (where competing vehicles are parked before and after each day's stages) on the Village Green opposite the hotel.
The field is set to leave the Village Green this Friday at 11.40am and return by 3.40pm, while on Saturday and Sunday, the field will leave the Village Green between 7am and 8am and be back each afternoon just before 5pm.
Sharing joint favourite status heading into the event are 2012 Targa Rotorua event winner Glen Inkster and his co-driver Spencer Winn in their new Ecolight Mitsubishi Evo8, and five-time Targa New Zealand winner Tony Quinn and his co-driver Naomi Tillett in a Nissan GT-R35.
