Suicide Hill
That's what the locals call it. The afternoon Prologue stage introduced Newfoundland road conditions to competitors. Due to the extreme weather conditions, age of the road, use of studs, and heavy truck traffic, Newfoundland roads develop ruts. These prevent normal water drainage, resulting in two streams of water in each lane. Sudden, severe, hydroplaning is the result.
Note rescue boat.
Crews entered the road from the top corner of the picture, making a downhill sweeping right that tightened slightly on exit. Then, after the straight, there was a hidden left, with cars exiting in the foreground.
This was our first encounter with the CHC camera helicopter. It distracted me, and shouldn't have.
Cassidy/Carrick attack. Besides the KIA and the Honda, John's Subaru was the horsepower wimp of the Targa Newfoundland Modern competitors. He gave up 85hp to the next-lowest horsepowered car, our 944. John's response to this was "maintaining momentum," which in an AWD rally car translates into left-foot-braking, and full-opposite lock in each corner. His fifth-fastest time in the morning Prologue (only two seconds behind the Viper) showed he knew what he was doing.
Seko/Morrow attack. From lunchtime telephone calls, I knew we were looking at missing the first day and a half of the rally getting and installing the bearing kit. I decided that if that was going to happen, I might as well wail on the car now - there's no need to conserve it as we would have lost our chance at a Targa Plate before the rally even started.
Volunteers were everywhere at Targa. Thanks!
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All images Copyright 2002 - Craig Hamm, Karen Hamm, or Craig Seko, as appropriate. All rights reserved. All text Copyright 2002 - Craig Seko. All rights reserved. To obtain copies of photos, please e-mail kchamm@sympatico.ca. For all other inquiries, please e-mail craig@seko.ca