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TARGA NEWFOUNDLAND: Along For The Ride
Written by: Peter Guagenti   
Richmond Hill, ON
 
Bill Arnold and Peter Guagenti celebrate the overall victory at Targa Newfoundland 2003 » More Photos

There you are, sliding sideways as you try to make a hard right turn through a four-way stop. As soon as you know you're not going to hit that concrete curb looming in your window, the accelerator is flat to the floor and the revs climb. BANG. That's 3rd. You're doing about 70mph when you scream past the yellow signs reading SCHOOL ZONE, but you don't hesitate. BANG. You're in 4th and your foot is still flat. Neighborhood residents holler at you as you pass, their faces a blur as speed climbs. The road veers hard left ahead – every fiber of your being is saying BRAKE NOW… but you wait 3 more seconds before NAILING the brake, banging down through the gears while your tires threaten to lock and slide you straight into the pretty white picket fence of the house in your path.

No, this isn't a video game and, no, the cops are not right behind you. In fact, the local constables are blocking the next intersection for you and they're screaming just as loud as everyone else as you fly through streets that they use to get to work every day. Not only is this very REAL and very LEGAL, but I am not Marcus Gronholm or Petter Solberg and I'm driving a car that was built in my 2-car garage in suburban California. The event is the Targa Newfoundland, and there is nothing else like it in North America.
Evolved Performance/WORKS/Toyo Tires Mitsubishi Evo » More Photos

Little more than 50 years ago, road racing was actually the sport the name implied – motor
racing events held on paved public roads, and included all of the hazards of pushing hard on public roads. Things like trees, fences, houses, and lots of other hard objects that ended your day. Fast. Temporary road courses built in small towns across the U.S. and Europe lived alongside major events like the Isle of Man TT, the Monte Carlo Rallye, and the famed Targa Florio. As safety became a very real issue, and money in the sport allowed for the development of permanent road courses, events like these fell away.

If you live in North America, Targa Newfoundland is the closest thing you will find to the old days of real men in real cars on real roads. An annual tarmac rally held on the streets and byways of the furthest northeast province of Canada, the Targa Newfoundland is in its 6th year of offering one of the biggest adventures in motor sports. Held over 5 days of competition, 80+ driver and-co-driver teams drive hundreds of kilometers of stage roads in a competition won or lost by seconds. Imagine it as WRC with street legal cars and a healthy mix of pro drivers/teams alongside experienced club racers and rallyists from across the continent. They all are after one thing – a much-coveted Targa Plate and victory in their class, their division, or overall.

READ THE MAZDA TEAM STORY HERE
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