Targa timing is a system of timing used in car rallying. It was invented by John Brown, the Clerk of the Course for the Targa Rusticana, a road rally organised in Wales in the 1960s by Oxford University Motor Drivers Club. Targa timing became the standard timing method used on rallies for almost 20 years following its invention in 1963. However, it was eventually banned as it became widely abused - the standard method by which organisers could set very high average speeds in a manner that left no permanent record.