Ultimate North American Enduro

They said it was the Ultimate North American Tarmac Rally. They were right. It’s called the Targa Newfoundland Rally. Over 1600 miles on the asphalt roads across the province of Newfoundland on Canada’s east coast in September. 36 competition stages connected by 40 transit stages throughout 5 days, excluding the demonstration and prologue days. I was intrigued about the whole enduro thing, and my race team partner said “why don’t we go for it and enter this thing? I agreed and we were off to a 9 day motorsport adventure.

Since we really didn’t have a proper car for this event, we decided to modified one of our ITA CRX’s (we have 3 of them). The car had to have everything street legal, full cage, 2 seats, spare, suspension travel, rally computer, etc. etc. Problem was, we had zero pro rally experience. We didn’t even have any TSD rallies under our belt. But we did have 12 years of IT competition racing Hondas and we were quite comfortable running the CRX at high speeds. Initially upon arrival, we decided we were a huge underdog. Big dollar, huge budget rally cars were everywhere. Entrants had everything from vintage Jag’s to Pro rally Subaru and everything in between. 62 race cars had signed up for this thing. Two main classes; Touring Class, in which any street legal car can enter. Max to posted speed limit and no competition license required. Targa Class, which is full high speed requiring a full roll cage & competition license.

We decided that we would switch between driver and navigator at lunch time. I drove the morning sessions while Steve drove in the afternoon. On day 1, Steve thought we were “going to die” as he put it, not being at all comfortable in the passenger seat. When we switched, I thought “we were going to die” too. We didn’t get comfortable with each others driving until about day 3. By day 4, a few cars had crashed out of the race and or had mechanical trouble. We were still tied for 1st place overall (with 10 others) and the little CRX was gaining some respect. I guess we got the “hang” of this rally thing. We were passing Porsches at 130 mph through the back roads of Newfoundland. This was big-time fun. By day 5 we were still in the top ten. Eventually winning our class and finishing 8th overall. Not bad for a couple of road racers that didn’t have a clue about rallying. This was an extreme motorsport adventure in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

What my point is here. If any of you IT folks would like to consider competing in a fantastic enduro event like no other ever experienced, consider the 2004 Targa Newfoundland Tarmac Rally. IT cars are well suited for this type of racing. This year’s rally had competitors from around the world. Several from the eastern States and the overall winners were from California. The 2003 event will be telecast on Speed sometime in January and Jan. 31 on Global. For more information check out their website at www.targanewfoundland.com

Photos of our car (703) and our rental car (704) can be seen at http://www.targanewfoundlandgander.com/Pho...hotoGallery.htm

Bruce McNutt

I would LOVE to do that event, Bruce. One of these days...

K

What was/is the total investment for the event???

This particular event definitely costs some money. But it is one of those “events” to put on your once and a lifetime to do list. I do think it was worth the price and I will do it again. Steve is already talking about 2004. The organizers hired a slew of pro rally guys from all across the US and Canada to design and detail the whole thing. They had over 2000 volunteers throughout the 9 days from food caters, police, fire fighters, EMTs, divers (yes divers) to bands and parties. They used over 14,000 ft of caution tape to mark the routes. It was professionally put on in it’s entirety. The organizers indicated that this years event cost over 1.4 million dollars to put on.

Getting back to the price tag. You can spend a bundle and go to this event full throttle. But you can also do it on a low budget, as we did. The entry fee for the Targa class is $3300usd. Touring class $2400. You can purchase a bundle package that includes accommodations enroute. The hotel package is around $750usd per person for the 9 days. A lot of meals are included. Also you need to get there. Several competitors from New England hired a car carrier to delivery all their race cars and then they flew into St. John’s, NF. The organizers also have a free shuttle running from the hotel to the next and they transfer all your luggage. They have crew people assigned to each team to assist in your needs. You will have miscellaneous expenses such as fuel, etc. You are only allowed 6 tires to do the whole event.

Getting to and back from Newfoundland is of some cost & interest too. We took the ferry from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Argentia, Newfoundland. 14 hour ferry ride. It’s like a huge cruise ship (7 decks) with nice berths and all the comforts. It cost $300 each way per car. People $50 and a 4-person berth was $100. I’m not sure what the cheapest way would be to do the Targa event. I prefer the motorhome/car trailer route and camp on-site at each location instead of going back to the hotels. To subsidize the cost, I also prepared another ITA CRX for the Targa Rally and rented it to a fellow from Ontario and his navigator from London, England. They flew in an “arrive and drive” situation and had a blast of a time. My team crewed for these fellows all week. All they did was drive. They had a terrific time and are already talking about 2004.

I must say that the people in Newfoundland were extremely excided to see us go though their communities. The schools were closed during that particular day and EVERYONE came out to see us fly by. I must have signed 500 autographs. All the locals were keen on helping out wherever they could. The weather was very nice – sunny & 75deg. The island is huge and scenery was everywhere. I don’t think you could put this event on anywhere else. As this event gains popularity (they expect a 40-60% entry gain per year, for the next few years), you will probably find larger corporations willing to jump on board for personal sponsorship as they expect to get national exposure. The Speed Channel will be televising this event on a monthly basis in the new year. When it is televised, check out the Studebaker Commander with the 450hp Nascar engine from Alabama. Those guys drove it there. It was probably my favorite ride.

Anyway, if anyone would like to know more, just ask or you can contact me at [email protected]

I saw this event on Speed last year, I guess, when a Z car went in the drink. Looked like a super cool event. Kind like the Mille Miglia, in character, but without the history, of course.

Kirks right...I too would love to jump on this...I thought so when I saw it on TV, and your post confirms it. Thanks for the story.

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Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]

Check out some of the race cars at:
http://www.justus.ca/targa.htm

and our car at:
http://www.justus.ca/images/targa/703.jpg

our rental car at:
http://www.justus.ca/images/targa/704.jpg

and my favorite ride at:
http://www.justus.ca/images/targa/P001.jpg