"He died doing what he loved," younger brother Paul Mansell, supported by wife Gayl, said outside the Supreme Court.

The Dunorlan couple, who live close to where the fatal race crash occurred more than two years ago, attended the first day of the inquest in Launceston on Monday.

"There was something funny that day and we sensed something wasn't quite right," Mrs Mansell said.

Mr Mansell, who was wearing a special vest in John's memory, said his brother had been racing cars as soon as he was old enough to drive and was a key player in establishing Symmons Plains.

He described his death as "a terrible accident".

David Barclay, counsel assisting coroner Simon Cooper, opened the inquest with an introduction about John Mansell's death on April 17, 2013.

He said Mr Mansell, driving his red 2009 Porsche Cayman, was competing on the first day of the Targa Tasmania event on Porters Bridge Road, near Exton, when he was on a straight section of the road and encountered a crest at 200km/h.

Mr Barclay said the car became airborne, landed heavily, veered off the road and hit a tree about five kilometres into the first stage about 9.14am.

He said Mr Mansell died at the scene and navigator Tristan Catford sustained serious injuries.

Mr Barclay said the crest was unmarked by any signage, there were no speed limiting devices and Mr Mansell had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.012, which alone would fail to greatly impair driving performance according to a toxicologist.

He said the inquest would examine how the crash occurred, what safety procedures were in place and if appropriate, recommendations would be made to prevent future deaths.

Mr Catford, 28, of Adelaide, was the first witness to give evidence.

He said he and Mr Mansell arrived in Tasmania a week early to do reconnaissance drives, which included covering the Deloraine stage – where the crash occurred – twice.

Mr Catford said the crest was identified as a hazard in his pace notes, which he used to navigate the course.

Barrister Ken Stanton, for the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, asked Mr Catford about the moments before the crash.

‘‘At the point the car hit that drop and became airborne and landed ... I was surprised that he lost control,’’ Mr Catford said.

Later, he said he felt it was ‘‘unusual’’ when the car landed centre to the left of the road after it went over the crest.

Barrister Dan Coombes represented Targa and event organiser Octagon at the inquest, which is expected to run for a week.