Should Targa Tasmania be scrapped? Debate rages again after another race tragedy

If calls to scrap Targa Tasmania were loud last year, they're again reaching a volume that is hard to ignore, 12 months later.

On social media, there has been an outpouring of grief from fans and fellow racers over another crash resulting in the death of a Targa competitor.

Some people are adamant the event must continue, while others are calling for racing on public roads to stop.

Whether those calls to scrap the race are justified or not is a question organisers will be forced to wrestle with — the future of the rallying event, which is celebrating its 30th year, has been plunged further into doubt.

Yesterday, a 59-year-old man from Brisbane died after his car careered off course and over an embankment on the Mount Roland stage of the race.

His wife, the team navigator, suffered what police described as «non-life threatening injuries».

The tragedy came after a disastrous Targa Tasmania last year that saw three competitors die in two separate crashes, the second of which occurred on the penultimate day of the race and led to the final days' racing being cancelled.

Last year's crashes prompted a thorough investigation by Motorsport Australia and an investigatory tribunal that developed 23 recommendations, all of which were to be implemented by Targa organisers by March 1 this year.

But on just the second day of racing this year, and despite a tightening of the rules and regulations, tragedy has struck again.

Crash investigators will determine just what happened on the stretch of closed tarmac, near Olivers Road on the state's north-west coast.

They'll analyse data from the RallySafe device within the crashed car, which tracks and times each car as they tear around Tasmania at speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour.

After three