Targa Newfoundland 2010

It's Targa time again! So you have to put up with a long thread as I live vicariously. I have to hit the road this week so updates might be spotty.

Background: Targa Newfoundland is a 5-day tarmac rally in Newfoundland, Canada. It's around 1300 miles long, with closed road special stages and transits in between. The cars are given a base time in which to complete the stage, and if they take any longer than this time then they are given penalties. There is no penalty for arriving early in the Targa class. Nobody finishes without penalties, but a few teams came very close last year.

This year, the event is essentially split into three. The Classic division is continuing as it has in the past, with the base times for various classes tweaked to give the older, slower cars a chance to keep up. The cars are classed by age, preparation level and engine size. There are 9 classic entries this year, a pretty small field. But a cool one. I'm looking for a good race between the Dart and Paul Horton's Mk1 Escort.

The Modern division has multiple classes as well, but the base times are all the same. In other words, this one's a straight-up race. There's also an Open class for cars with a very high level of modifications which operates under similar rules. There are 27 Modern and 3 Open cars this year. Some of the big dogs from years past are missing this year, such as the factory Mitsubishi and Subaru teams (I think) as well as Frank Sprongl's Group B Quattro and Steve Millen's GTR. It's tough to pick a likely winner out of the bunch, but Tom and Chris Collingwood in their GT3 RS will probably do well, especially with their experience from last year.

The Grand Touring (GT) division is essentially a TSD. But not one for the rally master to play games, they follow the same route as the other divisions and with the same notes. The difference is that they have a slower base time to hit and they are given penalties for early arrival. Because of the lower speeds, the safety requirements are much lower and normal street cars can take part. There tends to be a very wide range of cars in this class, and it would be pretty fun to bring a really slow car to run in this one :) It's a field of 16, and I have no idea how to call this so I'm going to root for a Miata 1-2.

Completely coincidentally, Flyin' Miata is sponsoring two Miatas running in the GT division. They're using our inexpensive V-Maxx coilovers and our frame rails. We know this event will test the suspension well, so we're looking for good feedback from the team on how it works for them. The ability to set the ride height is a real plus, and the sub-$700 price tag makes it Grassroots. Go Hammerhead Motorsports!

Today's the prologue. That's a series of stages for shakedown and seeding. The results won't tell us much, but we'll see the cars. So here, let's see them.

Winners of the last 3 Targas in a BMW 2002, Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes seem to have switched to a 1971 Dodge Dart Demon. It looks awesome.

Did someone say rally? Of course this means EVO vs WRX. The numbers over 1000 mean they're running in GT.

So, what kind of car do you like? You'll find them here.

The Targa is also a rolling car show - every night the parking area (a curling rink or hockey arena) is open to the public. I don't think all of these cars are running in the event, but it's cool to see regardless.

We'll find out later how the Prologue went.

More pictures

A couple more pics from Hammerhead Motorsports.

Helping another team wire up their odometer.

Lots of sponsor stickers! This takes up a surprising amount of time on the tech inspection day.

It's a long, long event. And this is only the first day!

ACP is in a Supra this year? Woot, I will have to keep an eye on that!

OH, and good luck to the Flyin' Miata teams!

I will do this before I die.

fast_eddie_72 wrote: I will do this before I die.

I keep saying that!

I just told my wife. She's up for it. Once the kids are off to College - just a short 7 years - I'll get right on it. Assuming I can get out of the office long enough.

Wondering if I've messed up this whole "life" thing a bit.

Love the pics Keith! Hope nobody uses the CPR skills taught... that pic is great! Took me awhile to figure out what they were doing... thought they were stuffing some seats at first.....

Can't wait for the updates... any more details on that Dodge? Marc

possibly the greatest race on earth. I hope to see Keith doing battle again soon up there..

Jealous of everyone there. One day...

Definitely on the bucket list. Glad to see a thread started again this year!

Love the Dodge Dart.

Also, these pictures need to be posted:

I can't believe it's already time again. Seems like I just read the GRM that covered last year's Targa.

I'd love to see some info on the Honda contingent that ran. I know some Civics ran last year.

That E36 must've gotten berkeleyed after that landing...

Wow, I totally wasn't paying attention and Targa is back! I haven't made any local events this year where I would run into Roy and Adrienne and had no idea that they weren't running Woodstock again this year. I haven't looked at all the pics - is the '69 2002 listed in Classic that car? I'm even headed to their employer, Eksten's Autoworks, for a PCA track tech session with my beater 944 this week and expected to see them there. Perhaps I can get the scoop on the Dart then.

Keith, always appreciate the the Targa stuff from you. Keep up the good work.

Luke, thanks for posting the updated photos. I was driving home from a track day in Denver and didn't get a chance to post them.

For those who want some in-car video, here's the view from our Miata in 2008: Targa Miata videos

It looks like things have changed a bit. There used to be a Prologue, a series of three stages that were timed but only used to seed the cars. Given the way the results are posted, it was actually used for scoring. So we do have a start in competition.

The conditions yesterday were Condition 2, which means wet and raining. Welcome to Newfoundland Apparently 52 cars took part in the special stage, making three runs each if I read the information correctly. But only one time is posted, so maybe the first two passes were for seeding. Hard to tell from here!

According to the Targa website, the Dart is actually running as a factory Chrysler entry. Chrysler has been involved in the race for years, Mark Gillies used to drive very cool cars in the event. Also, I forgot to mention ACP and the Supra. Interesting, that. ACP is the one who wrote the recent "how to set your car up for rally" article in a recent GRM.

In terms of speed, Matthew Oldford set the fastest time in his Subaru (photo from Jim Kenzie). If I remember correctly, Matthew used to drive a turbo Integra that was a bit outgunned in the Modified/Open class. He's got the experience and he's got a fast car - watch this one.

Jim Kenzie and Brian Bourbonniere (sp?) are previous Modern class winners. They had some trouble last year with their new car's suspension. This year, they've more than doubled their suspension travel (from 2" to 4.5", still not a lot!) and are confident about their chances. The team has the experience, as long as the horsepower and AWD of the Subaru doesn't beat them up too badly. Jim and Brian are also really friendly guys and very very helpful to novice teams driving Miatas! I don't even think I'd managed to get out of my car when I first arrived before Jim bounded up and greeted me. Brian gave Janel a lot of help and tips that got her up and running in a hurry.

There's a three-way tie for second-fastest time, between Kenzie's MINI, the flying 240 SX above and a Porsche 996 turbo. One second behind them is the Dart, now listed as an Open-class car in the results. Of course, given the Targa's scoring scheme, the cars only have to go fast enough to avoid penalties. The time for Modern and Open cars was 3:36, and 11 cars came in earlier and thus "zeroed" the stage and are tied in the standings. The times will get more aggressive as the week goes on and the penalties pile up.

In Classic, 6 of the cars zeroed the stage - including one of the Hammerhead Miatas. Good job guys!

Interesting team: Soldier On. Two Canadian vets are racing to raise awareness and funds for Soldier On, an organization devoted to helping injured Canadian soldiers regain a high quality of life. The two soldiers driving were both injured in combat, and share only three arms and one leg between the two of them. The car they're driving is an Acura TL supplied by Honda that is stock (!) other than the required Targa modifications. No special driving controls. They're shown here meeting with a couple of stars from the Trailer Park Boys. The team picked up about 10 seconds of penalties on the first day and is currently sitting 15th, a very good result for a novice team.

Great pics but the number of arms and legs in the last pic has me confused about your statements.

Keep up the great updates!

They are six million dollar men, equipped with aftermarket parts.

pigeon wrote: Wow, I totally wasn't paying attention and Targa is back! I haven't made any local events this year where I would run into Roy and Adrienne and had no idea that they weren't running Woodstock again this year. I haven't looked at all the pics - is the '69 2002 listed in Classic that car? I'm even headed to their employer, Eksten's Autoworks, for a PCA track tech session with my beater 944 this week and expected to see them there. Perhaps I can get the scoop on the Dart then.

I'd wager that it is not the same car - see below. The Targa press release claims "their now famous sponge painted BMW couldn't sustain another event!" Roy did report that it was a near thing last year to take the win.

I'll be running this next year in the Grand Trouring Division. My Spitfire and I can't wait....

Two friends of mine:

I think this is their third year. I'll go one day, but not likely until I retire since it conflicts with back to school

Thanks for the updates. Some incredible photos too

Zoo, if you hear anything from your friends about how the event is going, please share! It can be difficult to get an insider's perspective during the race, and every team sees it differently.

Looks like I was wrong about the times from Sunday counting for the race. Everyone started with a clean slate today.

Weather forecast is cold and rainy for the rest of the event. Celebrations are being held by all Subaru drivers. Looks as if it was mixed today.

Wheee!

Of course, AWD only works when the wheels are actually in contact with the ground. Everyone's okay as far as I can tell.

One of two Mk1 Escorts in the event. One is the beautiful blue one driven by Paul Horton (who ran in our class in 2008 and was a fun competitor), the other is this orange bastard. And I mean that in a good way, as there's an S2000 engine under that hood. It's missing that BDA noise, but 9000 rpm should make up for some of it.

Token Miata picture.

Results for Leg 1. Actual times aren't given on the sheets I'm looking at, so we don't know who's actually fastest. But from the competition point of view, it doesn't matter as long as you don't take any penalties. The starting order for tomorrow implies the fastest cars are Matt Oldford's WRX, ACP's Supra, Kenzie's MINI and the Dodge Dart Demon, in that order.

Classic. Three cars are still penalty free. This isn't unusual, really. In 2008, I think there were 13 cars still clean at the end of the first day between Classic and Modern. One is the Porsche 911 run by Scott Giannou. He's the son of Robert Giannou and one of the organizers. He's been running the event since the beginning - could this be his year?

Modern. 5 cars penalty free. ACP's Supra, Matt Oldford's Subaru, a Porsche GT2 (in the wet!!), the 996 turbo - and Doug Mepham in a MINI. Doug's another long-time competitor who was in our class in 2008, and it's good to see him doing so well. His car isn't too far off stock, so this is simply experience at work. Hmm, I seem to recall we beat him in 2008...

Open. One car penalty free, and it's no surprise that it's Roy and Adrienne in the Dart. Jim Kenzie is right behind with 2 seconds, but the nature of the Targa scoring is that he can't catch up. He can only hope Roy takes penalties. Which he will if the organizers have set the times aggressively enough, and judging by the number of penalties so far I suspect they have.

GT. 8 cars penalty free. Very impressive. The GT teams have a window for arrival. It was 10 seconds yesterday. I don't know what it was today. But as long as they arrive within that window of the base time, they're penalty free. That window will shrink as the week goes on. This is how the GT class gets tougher, as they're not equipped for constantly rising speeds. GT's a good category to run the first time or to simply have fun on a relatively low budget, and it attracts a fairly big range of cars. There aren't many events where a Z06 will compete with a VW Golf Trek! Both Miatas are clean, in case you're interested.

To finish. I have no explanation.

good luck keith and have a safe week to you and your codriver and team mates from frying miata.... some really nice shots on that site...i might had to save a couple though....the one day of the cars getting air..that was wild....hate to be the onwer of the bimmer after that landing

Damn you Keith! I have student loans to pay off, and a turbo targa terror Swift GTi to build for next year. Bank account - 0, Swift progress - 1.

Thanks for the information you are providing, I've always enjoyed your writing style about Targa (competing or otherwise).