The year was 2009 and Targa attracted 60 teams and cars, including some heavy hitters, even Godzilla.

The team of Frank Sprongl and Rod Hendricksen became two-time Open Division champs in a 1983 Audi Quattro (see photos above and below). Sprongl, a renowned champion rally driver and car builder along with his brother Dan, is one of only a handful of drivers who have achieved Grand Master status in the Canadian Association of Rally Sport and a member of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame. Hendricksen was also a Canadian Rally Championship winner as a co-driver.

Pairing with Nissan, legendary New Zealand IMSA racer Steve Millen and Mike Monticello from Road & Track magazine took first in the Modern Division in their modified, 620-hp 2009 Nissan GT-R, a car dubbed Godzilla. Speed TV (remember them?) aired a Targa special the following year.

Subaru Rally Team entered Targa with journalist Marc Lachapelle from The Car Guide magazine behind the wheel along with replacement co-driver and chief mechanic Stewart Hoo. They came second in Modern Division behind the GT-R and won the 2009 Churchill Motorsports International Team Trophy. Lachapelle, who ran Targa multiple times, wrote about the experience. Keith Tanner of Flyin’ Miata and a past Targa competitor also wrote blog posts about the rally.

In the Classic Division, Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes made it three class wins in a row in a 1969 BMW 2002. Grand Touring was won by Ferdinand and Christoph Trauttmansdorff running a 1990 BMW 325i while Alan Kearley and Greg Martin in a 2004 Mazda 3 Sport GT took their second of what would become three titles in GT (unequipped).

Check the Rules and Regs page for details on what is required for each division. If you have more questions, visit our FAQ and Event Info pages or contact us at [email protected].

Click the red button below and let the fun begin.

The second leg of the rally concludes in the twisty streets of the Town of Gander in Central Newfoundland. This is one of the favourite parts of the rally for competitors as they navigate the residential streets with hundreds of cheering spectators lining the course.

Gander was once known as the “Crossroads of the World” due to its perfectly positioned airport. Once the largest on earth, with runways big enough to land the space shuttle, it was a strategic location for refuelling and a bustling centre during wartime. Celebrities such as Frank Sinatra and world leaders including Fidel Castro stopped there.

The airport made this community the focal point for human kindness and generosity as highlighted in the hit Broadway play Come From Away. Gander’s airport hosted 38 planes, carrying about 6,600 passengers, after they were forced to land in Canadian airspace after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The people of Gander and surrounding communities took them in and formed lasting bonds with these unexpected visitors. Come From Away is performed throughout the summer at the Joseph R. Smallwood Arts & Culture Centre.

Gander has a population of 12,000 people and is also a service centre to surrounding communities and approximately 80,000 people. The town is home to 9 Wing Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Gander, which includes 103 Search and Rescue Squadron. The North Atlantic Aviation Museum celebrates Gander’s rich aviation history by preserving and presenting stories and artifacts highlighting the town’s role in the development of Trans Atlantic Aviation.

The Silent Witness Memorial is located in a tranquil park dedicated to the memory of the 256 individuals from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division who lost their lives on December 12, 1985 in the Arrow Air Crash.

Gander has a number of restaurants and hotels to choose from including Jungle Jim’s, Rosie’s Restaurant and Bakery, Quality Hotel Gander,  Albatross Hotel and Sinbad’s Hotel. The town is also a perfect base to explore central Newfoundland.

Learn more

Whether you are a Targa veteran or new to the rally, the key to having a successful event lies in the preparation before you turn a wheel. Who better to give advice on that than automotive journalist, Targa co-founder and multiple winner Jim Kenzie. The original version of his article appeared in the Wheels section of the Toronto Star.

What kind of car can compete in the Targa Newfoundland rally?

Chances are if it has four wheels, we’ve seen its like in the 23 years of this unique-to-the-northern-and-western-hemispheres event.

There’s been everything from a 1938 Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia Spyder to a Citroen Traction Avant (the French gangster car), to a Mercedes-Benz S-Class Sedan, to the other end of the Mercedes-Benz model spectrum, a tiny little Smart car, to the more usual suspects like Porsche 911, Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Mini, Subaru WRX, Mitsubishi EVO. Even a 1971 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck entered one year.

How do you prepare a car for this gruelling six-day, 2000-plus km event?

If you are running in the Targa Tour division, you pretty much just have to pump up the tires and do the requisite calculations for average speed, etc. on your phone. In contrast, Grand Touring means installation of a rally trip computer which keeps track of your distances, times and speeds to a fraction of a click/second. (You also need a roll bar for safety in Grand Tour and Targa 1.)

Now, if you plan to run in the Targa 2 division, the high-speed category, it is a somewhat larger kettle of fish…

How much should you budget?

It’s sort of like the income tax form:

1. How much money do you have? $_____.__

2. Spend it.

Minimally, you have three sets of criteria to satisfy.

The first two — (a) Make it legal, and (b) Make it safe — are mandatory.

The third — (c) Make it competitive — well, that’s where it gets interesting.

I have known people who spent less than $20,000 to prepare a safe and legal Targa car. Competitive? Hardly. And that low cost level can be achieved only by doing a huge amount of the work yourself (assuming you know how) and enlisting friends and family as crew.

I have also known people who have put six figures into a Targa run, with none of those figures to the right of the decimal point.

In all cases, it was well worth it.

I wouldn’t tell you what the budget was for the 2014 Nissan Juke NISMO RS Turbo that Nissan Canada entered for me, even if I knew.

But through the words of Frank and Dan Sprongl of Four Star Motorsports in Georgetown, Ont., who have built and/or prepared all but one of my 14 Targa rides, I can at least outline what went on.

Said Frank, “We take all the stuff out, and put all the stuff back in.”

Okay, he didn’t exactly say “stuff,” but you catch my drift. And that jocular little summary greatly simplifies the detail that is involved.

By far the biggest component, both in cost and in time, is the roll cage. And this is not an area where you want to scrimp.

When I first met my co-driver, Brian Bourbonniere — my original co-driver in Year Three had fallen ill and four-time Nova Scotia champion navigator Bourbonniere jumped in to help — he looked at the car and said, “Oh, it’s a Sprongl cage. At least I’m unlikely to die!”

Frank and Dan were long-time and very successful competitors on the Canadian national rally scene and have built a lot of strong and successful cars. That gave Brian the confidence to climb in.

The first step in building the cage is “taking all the stuff out.” The doors, tailgate and windshield are removed, and the interior stripped.

Says Frank, “Every modern car has pretty similar crash structure. Through years of experience building these things — and seeing how they perform when something goes wrong on a rally — we have a pretty good idea of where to put the reinforcements.

“We use 4130 chrome-moly steel and have our own tube bender. We measure every piece and cut and weld them into place. It’s all about triangulation, putting the strength where it’s needed.”

Dan sourced some Sparco racing seats that were narrower than usual; neither Brian nor I am particularly broad of beam, so we fit nicely in them. These seats have big side panels on the upper back rests to protect the head against side impacts and roll-overs — been there, done that. Five-point harnesses complete the major safety pieces.

The TerraTrip rally computer was installed, then most of the interior was replaced — although the rear seat was removed and some trim bits sacrificed to fit the cage.

The finished car looked remarkably stock, apart from the cage and seats. We even kept the air conditioning, satellite radio and backup camera. Sure, several hundred kilograms of weight could have come out of the car, but some of those transit stages are long and hot.

But you can never be too thin, too rich, have too much horsepower or too good a suspension. So, for 2015, Dan built some adjustable suspension units, beefed up the brakes and re-jigged the intake and exhaust systems to give a few more ponies. Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires were our rubber of choice.

A test day at Toronto Motorsports Park showed that the car was indeed quicker, the brakes were epic, and it was much easier to drive hard. Compared to a Targa-bound Mitsubishi EVO IX which was also testing that day, we were giving away about 100 horsepower and two driven wheels — the Juke is front drive; it’s four-wheel drive — yet our lap times were only 2.5 seconds slower than the EVO.

Even with better go, better stop and better cornering, we weren’t able to add to the three Open Division championships we’ve racked up over the years.

But we think we gave a decent account of ourselves.

Jim wrote an auto/biography, In The Driver’s Seat, which includes a history of Targa Newfoundland. Find out more and order a copy here: https://www.facebook.com/jim.kenzie.

Check the Rules and Regs page for more details on what is required for each division. If you have more questions, visit our FAQ and Event Info pages or contact us at [email protected].

Click the red button below and let the fun begin.

Targa Newfoundland is made up of four distinct divisions. There are three competitive divisions – Targa 1, Targa 2, and Grand Touring – and one non-competitive division, Targa Tour. Targa 1 and 2 divisions are further grouped by two-wheel and all-wheel-drive vehicles made before or after the year 2000.

Targa 1 is a competitive, timed event for cars with a roll bar. A base time is set for each stage with the goal to beat that time without any penalties. You are penalized for being slower than the base time for your class and road condition.

Targa 2 is a competitive, timed division for vehicles with full roll cages and has the highest speed limits of all divisions. As with Targa 1, the goal is to beat the base time for each stage without any penalties.

Grand Touring (GT) is a time, speed and distance (TSD) competition, also known as a navigational rally. The emphasis in the Grand Touring competition is on precision, not outright speed. The goal is to maintain an average speed throughout the stage and to arrive at the finish within an allowed time window.

Targa Tour is a non-timed, non-competitive motorsport adventure. It is a tour within Targa that is designed to allow the owners of sports, classic and exotic cars to drive them the way they were made to be driven without the stress of competition. Targa Tour covers the same stages as the competitive divisions but the runs are not timed and the speeds are set lower.

Check the Rules and Regs page for more details on what is required for each division. If you have more questions, visit our FAQ and Event Info pages or contact us at [email protected].

Click the red button below and let the fun begin.

So, you’ve always dreamed of entering Targa Newfoundland but you’re not interested in competing against others. You just want to have fun with your car on the open road (and closed ones too!). Targa Tour is for you.

You’ll drive the same amazing stages as Targa 1 and 2 without racing the clock. It’s all about enjoying the drive, the adventure, the scenery and the experience. Mostly it’s about enjoying yourself and your car. And you still get to ignore the posted limits on the closed stages!

Kurt and Lu Penner, aka Team Jellybean, drove all the way from British Columbia to Newfoundland to experience the Tour. “Targa has been one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done,” says Kurt. “The roads that we’re running, the scenery, the people of Newfoundland … everything is just unbelievable. It has been a fantastic experience.”

Don Bray from PEI took part in the Tour last fall with his brother Frank from New Brunswick as the Bavarian Brothers. Don called it incredible fun and “one of the best driving experiences of my life. The driving was amazing; the scenery and the sights were amazing; and the people were amazing.”

What is Targa Tour?

The Targa Tour division is not a competition. It is a tour within Targa that is designed to allow the owners of sports, classic, and exotic cars to drive them the way they were made to be driven, within the limits prescribed by the event, but without the stress of competition.

What do I need to enter?

You need a road legal vehicle, a driver and co-driver, helmets, fire-resistant coveralls, and a healthy sense of adventure. Check the Rules and Regs page for more details.

If you have more questions, visit our FAQ and Event Info pages to learn more or contact us at [email protected].

Click the red button below and let the fun begin.

You want to compete in Targa but you don’t have the right car. No worries. We’ve got you covered. Check out Arrive and Drive.

Through our Arrive and Drive service, we connect race car owners looking to rent their vehicles with competitors eager to take part in the rally. This service is completely free, designed to help competitors overcome logistical challenges and get behind the wheel at Targa Newfoundland.

If you want to run the rally and need a suitable car, all you have to do is get to St. John’s and pick up your rented rally car. Then strap in for the ride of your life!

If you own a rally-ready vehicle and are interested in renting it out, reach out and we’ll connect you with renters.

Please note, Targa Newfoundland provides the connection but does not get involved in the rental transaction or charge a fee for this service.

For Car Owners (Renters):

If you have a rally-ready vehicle and are interested in renting it out, please provide the following information:

• Make of Vehicle
• Year of Manufacture
• Drivetrain (All-Wheel Drive (AWD) or Two-Wheel Drive (TWD))
• Safety Features (Caged, Rollover Bar, or Stock)
• Location of Vehicle
• Picture of the Vehicle
• Contact Data (Name, Address, and Contact Information)

For Competitors Looking to Rent:

If you’re looking to rent a vehicle to participate in the rally, please provide the following information:

• Your Name
• Contact Information

Ready to get started? Submit your details below and let’s make your Targa Newfoundland dream a reality!

On the second leg of Targa, teams will motor to the scenic and historic Cape Shore. Teams will tackle a long, fast, closed stage from Point Verde to the fishing village of St. Bride’s on a road with a multitude of curves, straights and elevation changes as it follows along the cliffs and down into the river valleys. Then they’ll attack the narrow, winding road to the Cape St. Mary’s bird sanctuary before heading to Gander for the final stage of the day.

For those who arrived on the ferry from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Argentia, they’ve already experienced some of the area. During the Second World War, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter in Placentia Bay. The United States built McAndrew Air Force Base in Argentia and the base operated from 1941 to 1994 with thousands of American military personnel stationed there over the years. Today the area is involved in offshore oil exploration and renewable energy.

The town of Placentia, originally named Plaisance, was the French capital of Newfoundland in the 17th and 18th centuries when the French and English battled for military dominance in North America. At the Castle Hill National Historic Site are the remains of an old French fort with a fantastic view of the town and the ocean. Another attraction is the O’Reilly House Museum, a Balustrade Queen Anne Victorian Magistrate’s home that has been restored to its original grandeur.

A few of the recommended restaurants in Placentia include Hoi Pun, The Harold Hotel and Restaurant and The Three Sisters Pub and Eatery.

The charming fishing outport of St. Bride’s is named after Saint Brigid Of Ireland, as original inhabitants of the community were Irish Catholic. Situated about 170 km southwest of St. John’s, this community has a population of approximately 300 people. In addition to fishing, St. Bride’s has a long tradition of sheep farming. Targa teams and volunteers have enjoyed traditional Newfoundland dishes at Da Bird’s Eye restaurant. 

Just past St. Bride’s, an hour south from Placentia is Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve, the most accessible and spectacular seabird colony in North America. Here, just 50 feet from the clifftop viewing point, nest thousands of northern gannets – beautiful birds with a wingspan of over six feet – crowded atop a 200-foot-high sea stack called Bird Rock. Razorbills, murres, and other seabirds also nest at the reserve. If you have a question, ask one of the interpretive guides, who also lead nature hikes, or drop into the interpretation centre.

Visit the Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism website for great travel tips and check out the Our Communities page to learn about all the places that host the rally.