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Targa Newfoundland Day 2: Frustrations on The Rock & back in Ontario

September 14, 2010 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

Day 2 of the 2010 running of Targa Newfoundland is in the books, having been a frustration day for The Garage both here at home and more importantly, on The Rock. In the years that we’ve followed our friends Gary Faules and Coop as they competed in La Carrera Panamericana, we’ve had little trouble getting daily reports out of rural Mexico. Getting information from rural Canada is proving to be more difficult.

Some heavy digging today produced a few more photos from Sunday’s prologue event and some from the official event shooter from yesterday. No news of today until the time sheets were posted early in the evening. A quick glance shows our man Crash Corrigan as a DNF today, but without any official explanation and no press release. After blasting messages all over Facebook and Twitter, with no responses, I decided to break down and call Crash on his cell. Surprisingly, he had signal and actually answered the call.

Fortunately, the pumpkin is still straight and Crash and his co-driver Paul Abbott are in one piece too. It seems they’ve had a bit of an exasperating day. First, an oil line fitting sprung a leak. The resulting spray coated the underside of the Escort nicely enough until it caught fire on the exhaust. They got the fire out and began a 100 km transit towards Gander to make some minor repairs, when suddenly the gearbox lost 2nd gear. As of a couple of hours ago, Crash and his Co-Piloto were in a parking lot somewhere on the side of the road attempting to get the car to St. Johns, a mere 300 km away. Repairing the gearbox may be no small feat, as this is no ordinary Ford Escort RS. This one is hiding a Honda S2000 drivetrain under the bonnet, mainly for the sake of reliability. So much for best laid plans. The chances of finding a 2nd gear shaft bearing for an S2000 transmission in Newfoundland are likely quite slim. If it can be done, our man Crash will make it happen.
[Read more…]

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2010 Targa Newfoundland is under way

September 13, 2010 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

The 2010 Targa Newfoundland got underway at 9:30 this morning. Stuck here in Ontario, it has taken me until 9 pm Eastern time to get results and images to go along with this story. It would seem that details are going to come slowly this week! I got info out of Mexico faster!

That pumpkin up above belongs to close friend of The Garage, Crash Corrigan. I was supposed to be on The Rock acting as his crew chief, but sadly that just wasn’t in the cards. On the positive side, the Pumpkin is still shiny side up, unlike some of our other friends.

I awoke this morning to a somewhat disgruntled message from Crash, explaining how a class of 3 Targa rookies had been crashed by a class winner and a multiple overall winner, after registration had closed. It would seem that organizers were not happy with the open class being populated by only 3 cars. Fortunately, at the end of the day, our man Crash has not lived up to his name and is still on the road, in 4th place in class.
[Read more…]

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Frankly, scarlet MINI a contender at Targa Newfoundland 2010

August 4, 2010 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

Kenzie and Bourbonniere MINI lapping Mosport

Long time friend of The Garage, Doug Mepham, just sent the following press release regarding the upcoming Targa Newfoundland. Doug has been at this a lot longer than I have, so rather than re-write it…

ST. JOHN’S (August 3, 2010) – One of the most successful and popular cars and teams to compete in Targa Newfoundland, from one of the event’s most dedicated supporters, will return for 2010 with some unfinished business at the top of the agenda.

The brilliant red MINI John Cooper Works Challenge car that debuted in the 2009 event, helmed by driver Jim Kenzie and co-driver Brian Bourbonniere, will return for Targa 2010, the team announced.

The MINI Challenge car is a purpose-built competition car, created by the company as the basis of a one-marque road race series in places like the U.K., Australia and continental Europe. Race suspension, improved brakes, an on-board air-jack system and dazzling aerodynamic kit including front splitter, rear diffuser, and high-downforce adjustable rear wing make the little red rocket a serious contender.

Kenzie, Bourbonniere and the MINI Challenge car nicknamed Frankly Scarlet spent much of the 2009 event coming to terms with adapting a car built for road racing to the rigors of rally competition, finally finishing second in the competitive Open Division. But with a year of experience with the new car, the team has recalibrated its expectations.

“The car looks fantastic and goes like stink,” said Kenzie. “Last year was the MINI Challenge’s first attempt anywhere at rallying, and we learned a few things about the car.”
[Read more…]

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Sunday video: MOH Racing takes on Targa Tasmania

May 2, 2010 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

Our readers are no strangers to classic tarmac rallies, as we have covered Targa Newfoundland and Gary and the guys at Team CBR have taken us to La Carrera. The event that started it all (in modern times anyway) is the Targa Tasmania. Much like the Canadian and American events, TT now has classes for modern and classic cars.

The 2010 running of Targa Tasmania began last week and finishes up today. The good folks supporting MOH Racing contacted us earlier in the week, with an offer of some in car video. Who am I to say no to in car footage from an Evo IX rally car?
[Read more…]

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2009 Targa Newfoundland results

September 22, 2009 by Gary Grant 3 Comments

Targa09_GlenClarke_800px

Another edition of the Targa Newfoundland is in the record books. Quite possibly Canada’s most important motorsports event these days, the 2009 Targa pitted 41 rally cars against each other and The Rock. Fortunately, in most cases the cars won this year, with The Rock claiming few casualties. Competitors in the Classic, Modern and Open divisions battle it out for in class wins along with overall honors. For the 2nd year in a row, the top spot overall was taken by the Classic division entry of Hopkins & Hughes in a 1969 BMW 2002. In fact, the top 5 spots were taken by Classic vehicles. So much for some of the new monster cars! As with many rallies, sometimes patience and attention to detail are more important than overall power!
[Read more…]

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Targa Newfoundland Leg 3 Results

September 17, 2009 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

warwickmillen

The 2009 edition of Targa Newfoundland is well under way and while the on route action must be fast and furious, the results and stories are a bit slower to appear. I’m going to assume the lack of hi speed internet in many parts of The Rock slow the transfer of information somewhat.

At the end of yesterday’s stage, the overall and Classic division lead was held by Glen Clarke and Andy Proudfoot in a Porsche 911. Sitting atop the Modern category is Rally legend Steven Millen and R & T scribe Mike Monticello who are in 6th place overall in the Nissan GT-R. Canadian rally stud Frank Sprongl leads the Open class in the monster Uber Quattro and sit in 9th overall.

Follow the link below to view the full results and you’ll notice that sometimes it isn’t all about brute force. Sometimes being on time counts more than all out speed. Even still, you can be sure that guys like Millen and Sprongl are going to put on a hell of a show for the fans!

Targa results leg 3

This cool shot of Millen & Monticello is courtesy of Warwick Patterson. We’ll have more of Warwick’s shots soon when he can get connected to some hi speed.

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Steve Millen and Road & Track taking on Targa Newfoundland with Nissan GT-R

July 22, 2009 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

stillen gtr

Each year the depth of talent at Canada’s incredible Targa Newfoundland grows with ever increasing manufacturer involvement.

Nissan has just announced that motorsport legend Steve Millen will campaign a Stillen prepared GT-R at the 2009 event on The Rock. Riding shotgun will be Road & Track’s Mike Monticello.

Road & Track is documenting the Godzilla build with a series of videos that you can see at Road & Track. Also, swing by the build blog at Stillen.

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Ralph Gilles tells the tale of Challenger at Targa Newfoundland

November 16, 2008 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

One of the big stories of the 2008 Targa Newfoundland was the participation of Chrysler’s VP of design, Ralph Gilles driving a race prepped 2009 Challenger SRT8. Chrysler recently released this great short video interview with Gilles, where he lets us in on how the green monster was created.

Dodge Challenger Targa at Targa Newfoundland Rally

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Video: 2008 Targa Newfoundland

October 1, 2008 by Gary Grant 5 Comments

Its been a while, but I’ve finally gotten to sit down and watch the full 2008 Targa Newfoundland teaser compilation that Warwick Patterson and the rest of the crew at Flat Over Crest have put together. What more can I say except it is absolutely awesome!

While the FOC video completely captures the excitement, speed, camaraderie, danger and everything else that makes up this incredible event, there are a two things I have to comment on. First off, who the hell races an open top car like an E-type Jaguar, yet chooses not to install a roll bar? If you need helmets, you need rollover protection. Rules?
Secondly, what the hell was the guy in the Evo thinking when he backed up at speed in front of the Sprongl Quattro? Good way to end up munched!

Oh yes, don’t forget to watch for some candid ACP and Jen Horsey! Yes, the camera was rolling and yes he did use it!

Check out the stunning beauty of Targa Newfoundland after the break.
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Frank Sprongl makes the world a smokier place with the Uber Quattro

September 26, 2008 by Gary Grant 5 Comments

Unfortunately, not many of today’s rally enthusiasts have been exposed to the awesomeness that is an early Eighties Group B type Audi Quattro. Certainly not a common sight in Newfoundland!

Fortunately for us at home and even more so for spectators on The Rock, Frank Sprongl brought his old monster out of the barn for this year’s Targa Newfoundland. Not content to shock onlookers with glowing brake discs and bursts of flame from the exhaust, the many time Canadian Rally Champion finished up the event by turning a poor, unsuspecting, autocross into a most delightful display of tire melting hoonage.

Crank up the speakers and put on the virtual ventilation device!

As usual, our incredible Targa content is courtesy of the folks at Flat Over Crest

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