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Twenty-year old student, Natalie Horn, will make her Targa Tasmania debut this year, driving a 1973 Ford Escort Mk1.

Horn, from Cliftleigh in New South Wales, has been competing in motorsport events since she was just 12 years old. She is a former winner of the Junior and Ladies championships with the MG Car Club in Newcastle, and enters Targa Tasmania on the back of what is already a relatively long and illustrious motorsport career.

She will be co-driven by her close friend, 27-year-old Melinda Saxby, and will drive a car that has been in her family for 25 years.

“The car was originally built up for Group G rallying, then ran hillclimbs for a while and in 1987-89 won NSW State Hillclimb Series in Sports Sedans,” Natalie explains.

“It then got put into a shed and forgotten about until early last year. It has since been fully pulled apart, resprayed and rebuilt at my request.”

The dependable little Escort has been heavily modified over the years, and will front the Targa start with a seam welded body, fibreglass guards, bonnet and bootlid, and Lexan windows.

Mechanically the car features a worked 2.0 litre engine coupled to a 5-speed Getrag close ratio gearbox. The hand-made, fully adjustable suspension includes a 5-link rear end, a 3.9:1 limited slip differential and four wheel disc brakes.

Predictably, Natalie can’t wait for Targa Tasmania to begin in Georgetown on April 28.

“Both Melinda and I have never done anything like this before, and after going to see last year’s event, there was no question that I had to be competing this year,” she says.

The fact that her father, Phillip Horn, is also competing in the event in a 1979 Mitsubishi Scorpion, also means that she’ll have someone to chase.

“Just to finish the event would be good, but I would love to beat Dad at least once just to rub his face in it.”

Natalie and her co-driver, Melinda Saxby, grew up together and their fathers are both heavily into motorsport.

“There was no way they were entering this year without us!” she adds.

The six days promise to be tough on all competitors, and particularly for a girl who likes her sleep, as Natalie explains.

“Racing is the only thing I don’t mind getting up early for – as long as there is a nice bacon and egg roll to start off with,” she laughs.

Their entry into Targa Tasmania is being supported by GWH Group, Hunter Optical Specialists, Singleton Exhaust Centre, 4WD Solutions, Commercial Windows, Rutherford Mufflers and Suspension, and Brad Lantry Plumbing.

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After 10 years of trying, a British engineer has broken the land-speed record for a wind-powered vehicle.

Pushed by 30-mph winds over two miles, Richard Jenkins reached 126.1 mph yesterday in his Ecotricity Greenbird car on the dry lakebed of Ivanpah Lake, south of Las Vegas. That’s 10 mph faster than the previous record, set in 1999 by American Bob Schumacher.

As the Daily Mail put it, that makes Jenkins the fastest naturally powered human on the planet.

“It’s great. It’s one of those things that you spend so long trying to do and when it actually happens, it’s almost too easy,” Jenkins told the BBC.

The Greenbird is made of carbon fiber composite and powered only by the wind. The only metal is in the wing bearings and the wheel units. For photos, video and audio of the car, go here.

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MG’s new TF LE500 is set to take part in its first race, supported by MG Rover parts specialist, XPart. It will be one of the first MG’s to be raced since the launch of the redesigned roadster and is taking part in the MG Trophy Championship. The car has been prepared for racing by one of Xpart’s approved MG Rover specialists and will be run by technician and racing driver Paul Luti.

“We’re delighted to be sponsoring one of our own MG Rover specialist technicians in what looks set to be an exciting season’s racing,” comments Don Lindsay, service marketing manager, XPart. “It will be wonderful to see a new MG car competing in a race series again and driver Paul Luti’s strong experience of servicing and racing MG cars should stand him in good stead as he prepares to race in the popular MG championship.”

Luti came third in the 2008 MG Trophy Championship and has previously raced a unique MGZT 520.

The MG Trophy Championship is one of seven race championships run by the MG Car Club. The first round will begin on 4th April at Donington Park.

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The British Steam Car team has rebounded from last week’s aborted test with two successful runs, the last shakedowns before the 25-foot car is shipped to the United States for its attempt to break a land speed record set 103 years ago.

Team Steam hopes to achieve 170 mph when it challenges the land speed record for a steam-powered vehicle and says everything is on track. The car fired up like a Russell Hobbs teasmade and proved the water-filtration issue that stymied last week’s test have been solved. The car hit 60 mph on Wednesday, before test driver Don Wales pulled the chute to end the first run. The second test went even better: Wales achieved 80 mph.

“The car is just so powerful, you can get to feel the immense force and power of it,” Wales said in a press release. “It was just itching to get away at the top,” he said.

Team director Lynne Angel said, “It was fantastic to see. She just roared up the runway and deployed her parachute with a great big whoosh. It proves that it works, and we are going to break the world land speed record in steam.”

The team has a lot of work to do before it makes a run at the record Fred Marriott set in 1906 when he achieved 127.659 mph in a Stanley Steamer Rocket.

“Today marked the first time the car has started in superheated steam and gave both the start team and the turnaround team the chance to get some valuable practice, so it has been a great day,” project manager Matt Candy said.

There are some “cooling issues to address,” Candy said, but nothing problematic.
“We are good to go and hope to come back with the record,” he said.

Team Steam has spent more than 10 years preparing to break the longest-standing land speed record in motor sports, and they’ve shown the kind of devotion that comes only when mechanics get to tinker with truly bizarre machinery. Oh sure, the car is fueled by something as harmless and plentiful as water, but that’s where the simplicity ends.

The car uses liquid petroleum gas and a dozen microboilers to generate 3 megawatts of heat, which in turn creates a steam temperature of 750 degrees Fahrenheit. The steam flows through 1.86 miles of tubing and several valves and into a two-stage turbine at twice the speed of sound. The system can turn 10.5 gallons of water a minute into steam at 40 times atmospheric pressure. The turbine sends 360 horsepower to the rear wheels. The car features a steel space-frame chassis; the body is carbon fiber and aluminum.

Wales comes from a long line of speed freaks. He is the nephew of Donald Campbell, who broke eight land and sea speed records in the 1950s and ’60s. He’s also the grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell, who set several records in the 1920s and ’30s. All told, the Campbell family holds more than 20 land and sea speed records. Wales is confident he’ll add to the tally.

“The car really did handle beautifully,” he said. “After that run I feel more confident about breaking the record. The team has worked really hard over the winter and the last 10 years, and this test puts even more faith into the team.”

The car heads to North America next month and will make its run for the record later this summer. The goal is to achieve 170 mph, which would easily surpass the official record of 127.659 mph. Although the Steamin’ Demon achieved 145.607 during a run in 1985, it isn’t recognized by the Federation International de l’Automobile, the worldwide sanctioning body of motor sports.

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