Targa Tasmania: Safety and culture reset needed after rally deaths

A world-renowned tarmac rally in which four competitors died in two years must “reset” its culture and safety, the boss of the event concedes.

The 1900km multi-day Targa Tasmania hasn’t been held since 2022 - the year 57-year-old Queenslander Anthony Seymour was killed in a crash.

In 2021, Leigh Mundy, Dennis Neagle and Shane Navin died in two separate crashes, prompting a review which made 23 recommendations.

An inquest, which began in Hobart on Tuesday, is probing Targa Tasmania’s safety procedures and whether the recommendations were fully implemented.

The race was meant to return in April but has been pushed back to 2025, with organisers saying they needed more time to finalise “key components”.

Targa Australia CEO Mark Perry said the organisation had endorsed the majority of the recommendations from the post-2021 review as well as from another review after the 2022 race.

He conceded there must be changes to reset the safety and culture of the event, which is run on closed-off public roads.

Mr Perry said reform beyond the recommendations was being considered, including reduced maximum speeds, real-time car monitoring and a ban on certain high-speed tyres.

He said stages near waterways and long steep downhill sections would be analysed.

“We will review the entire course … so that it still works for the competition but ensures a safer event in the future,” he told the inquest on Thursday.

Targa Tasmania groups drivers in different categories, depending on their level of competitiveness.

Mr Perry hoped the event could tap into a newly established emergency services radio network in Tasmania.

He said it was key to the future success of the race and would remove the need for messages to be relayed from reception black spots.

The maximum speed for stages categorised as “wet” would be further dropped, Mr Perry said.

The inquest has been told the Mount Roland stage where Mr Seymour crashed had been categorised as wet.

Course checker Stephen Horrobin said a pre-race examination didn’t identify any significant safety concerns with the area.

He said a right-hand bend after a cattle grid near the crash site wasn’t noted in a road book, which detailed the course and was given to all competitors.

“(However) it is one of several thousand corners that aren’t in the road book,” he said.

“They are able to be sighted by people when they are driving.”

The state government has pledged to help fund Targa Tasmania from 2025 to 2029.