Written by:
Kevin Krefting
09/11/2007
Gander, Newfoundland
A pair of 2002’s undergoing a quick service before the start of the day
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It's only fitting that on the anniversary of the tragedy of September 11th that we would start the day in the lovely community of Gander. This small town in the middle of the island of Newfoundland is one of the few truly flat plains on the Rock. This made it an ideal place to refuel and launch bombers attacking Fortress Europe during World War II, as well as a fantastic refueling point for transatlantic flights during the explosion of commercial air travel after the war.
This small town of 50's-era row houses still has tremendous runways even if the airliners are mostly gone, and is also the home of the north Atlantic air traffic control. On the morning of 9/11, when American airspace was closed and in-bound planes could no longer land in the U.S., it was a small group of air traffic controllers in Gander that called the ball and took control of the chaos in the skies. Hundreds of planes landed on the tarmac in Gander, and this small community banded together and supported thousands of stranded passengers for days until the skies re-opened. As I've said before, that's the spirit of Newfoundland.
As an American and born-and-raised New Yorker, I am grateful to this community two times over – for their tremendous support during the September 11th attacks, and for opening their roads to a bunch of crazy car junkies and hosting us during Targa Newfoundland. Our car hobby pales in comparison to world events, but both show how welcoming this community is to outsiders.
Leg 2 of Targa Newfoundland gave us six more stages; two short, tight town stages through the communities of Glenwood and Lewisporte, two very high speed and very exiciting stages as we run out and back on the same road to Leading Tickles, another short town stage in Appleton, and we end the day racing through the subdivision of Gander. That last one has always been my favorite, as spectators sit on chairs on their front lawns to watch us fly past their modest homes. You don't find that in WRC.
From the right seat these past few years, it has seemed so easy to run hard and finish clean throughout this event. Changing from the navigator to co-driver position has been a real eye opener. Despite lots of track experience and a very fast car, the base times we are asked to beat in this second highest-speed class (9 Modified Large-Displacement) are very tough, and some border on insane!
Our pace on Leg 1 made us the third fastest car on the road in absolute time, just ahead in the start order of two Unlimited-class cars; the factory-entered Subaru STi and a similarly-prepared privateer Subaru driven by the Kloostermans, a father and son team from Ontario. We would still have to push to make base times, and now would also have to watch our mirrors for the firebreathing monster Scoobies.
The morning's tight stages were unkind, as we collected 11 seconds in penalties in Glenwood before clearing the town stage of Lewisport by a scant 2 seconds. The car was definitely working well, and I was mistake-free in my driving, but we simply needed more from ourselves and from the car to be able to run cleaner. At this point in the event, however, everyone is collecting penalties.
The run out to Leading Tickles was certain to be more of the same. Even the most experienced and talented crews would find it difficult making their times. We calculated that we would need to average 145kph (about 90mph) on the open part of the stage. This is on roads marked from 30-60kph for regular traffic.
VIEW THE DAY 2 PHOTOS HERE
READ THE INTRO HERE
READ THE ABOUT THE MAZDA TEAM HERE
READ LEG 1 STORY HERE
READ LEG 3 STORY HERE
READ LEG 4 STORY HERE
