Baldhead Racing at Targa Newfoundland!

by Craig Seko, Rennsport Region. craig@seko.ca Images by Craig Hamm, kchamm@sympatico.ca.

Please note: This article was written for publication in a Porsche club magazine. Thus, the pictures show Porsches and Porsche club members, the text talks about Porsches and Porsche club members, etc. If I re-wrote the article for the web, it wouldn't have such a slant. However, I haven't.

An edited version of this article has been published in Rennsport Region's newsletter, der Auspuff.

Porsche wins marque competition and sweeps stock classes at the inaugural "Ultimate North American Tarmac Rally" – not your typical motorsports event.

Until 9-11, most people had never heard of Gander, Newfoundland. On 9-11, the 10,000 folks of Gander opened their homes to 11,000 weary air travelers. U.S.-bound flights from Europe filled Gander airport – and stayed there for days. The legend of Newfoundland hospitality had grown once again.

The people of Newfoundland, and their hospitality, showed in abundance at the first Targa Newfoundland, held in September 2002. What else can you say about people who will let you and your fellow racers run a four-mile, no-limits, closed-road course through the windy streets and crescents of Gander’s newest (and owner-occupied) sub-division? That’s "you" as part of an international group of rally teams, running anything from a 1938 Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia Spyder to a Viper.

The 2002 Targa Newfoundland was a tarmac rally, just like those WRC rallies on the Speed Channel. The week-long event consisted of about 1400 miles of "transit stages" (roads open to all, obey all rules of the road, check out the spectacular scenery) and 300 miles of "special stages" (closed roads, spectators, almost no limits, go fast). As a tarmac rally, all special stages were held on pavement, making the event ideal for Porsches. The rally’s goal was to have a variety of sports, GT, and competition cars from 1900 to the current day driven "as they were meant to be" – on real public roads.

To achieve this, four separate events were run simultaneously:

- Targa Newfoundland Modern (for cars built after 1976);

- Targa Newfoundland Classic (for cars built between 1947-1976);

- Targa Newfoundland Historic (for cars built between 1900-1946); and

- Targa Newfoundland Trials (a Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) rally open to any car).

The Modern, Classic, and Historic events had a twist – a scoring system that adjusted for the age of the car, and also incorporated the chance for any crew to win a silver Targa Newfoundland Plate. The Targa Plate was awarded to any competitor who completed each and every special stage of the rally within given time limits, i.e., consistent quickness.

Now all that sounded like a lot of fun when the event was announced back in December 2001. One event would combine elements of autocross, Solo1/time trials, open-road events like in Nevada, the One Lap, performance rallying, vintage racing, club racing, and endurance events. I signed up immediately. The Baldhead Racing team was going to try its hand at rallying!

Signing up for an event and being ready for it are two different things. On the surface, it looked like you could just put in a rollcage and go. In reality, a marathon rally requires a reliable car – which means preparation, and lots of it.

Preparing a rally car was just like preparing a racecar – only there was more of it. Besides everything involved with preparing a racecar (an endurance racecar), a rally car has to survive rough roads. With the 944’s oil pan vulnerable, I needed underbody skidplates for protection. In addition, there was a co-driver (navigator) to worry about. Thus, two seats, two sets of belts, two window nets, and an intercom were installed. The co-driver also needed his own instruments and controls, and these were installed, wired, and tested.

Well, almost. What really happened was we were running so far behind schedule that the hookup of the co-driver’s rally odometer was delayed until the day before our departure. After splicing into what I was sure were the right wires, nothing happened. Panic ensued. There were no other obvious candidates in the shop manual wiring diagrams. After all, if what was labeled as a "speed sensor" on the wiring diagram wasn’t the, well, speed sensor, then what was?

A desperate message to the 924/944 e-mail list at rennlist.com quickly resulted in a reply pointing to what was identified on the wiring diagram as the "hall switch." The "speed sensor" turned out to be the engine speed sensor, not the vehicle speed sensor. The proper wires were connected, and then the rally odometer worked.

A working rally odometer is very important a rally odometer that doesn’t work or fails is a nightmare. This means the navigator would have no idea where instructions in the routebook would occur – instructions like "CAUTION. Right tightens. Exposure on left." ("Exposure on left" could mean if you go off to the left, the Coast Guard divers pluck you out of the Atlantic Ocean. See below.)

(About halfway through the rally, we were getting started when my co-driver cried out, "No odo!" We were 22 minutes from our official start time. If we were late, we would be penalized. It took 18 minutes to find the short, then another 3 minutes 40 seconds to get the wiring back together, and then finally a short drive to the time control. We made it to the time control with four seconds to spare.

Preparation over, our Targa Newfoundland experience started at the ferry dock in North Sydney, Nova Scotia. Our arrival corresponded with Hurricane Gustav, which brought a 12-hour delay. Most of the competitors were booked onto the same mammoth ferry, leading to much trash talking – or so I was later told. We were doing some final checking of equipment on the Porsche when the rear hatch release failed. In earlier 944’s, if you turn the trunk key, then the key mechanically releases the hatch pins. In later 944’s, the key only actuates a micro-switch, which turns on a motor, which pulls a cable, which releases the hatch pins. This works great until the motor sticks and the cable breaks. Then, one has to crawl into the back to release the hatch. Unfortunately, my 944’s rally-specification rollcage wouldn’t allow any human being to crawl into the back. The 12-hour delay passed quickly searching for a solution. The motorhome’s awning extension tool reached in to release the hatch, and rigging some aircraft cable from the hatch release linkage eventually solved the problem.

Once the ferry had landed in Newfoundland, competitors formed a police-escorted parade to the capital city of St. John’s. This was a great idea, except the parade left while we were still unloading the car off the trailer. Two small problems then arose: one, there was no gas in the Porsche (makes for a lighter tow), and two, we had no idea of where to go. It took a while to find the stadium where that night’s car show (and registration, and tech, etc.) would be located.

The car shows were a nightly part of the Targa Newfoundland experience. At the end of each day’s competition, the cars were directed to a car wash, usually manned by the local high school senior class, and then into the town’s hockey arena. (It’s Canada, eh?) Local service clubs would man the gate and concessions, and people could see the cars and talk to competitors while any servicing was done. The proceeds of each show went to the community, the high school seniors got lots of tips to help with their grad ball, and everyone was happy.

Except me. The car failed tech inspection for the dumbest thing – a dud headlight. Want a big crowd around your car at a car show? Raise the hood and get the tools out. I tested the bulb. The bulb was good. I checked the fuse. The fuse was good. I checked for voltage at the bulb contacts. The voltage was good. I hooked everything back up; the high beam worked, the low beam didn’t. I took everything apart again. Everything again checked-out okay. I put it all back together; the low beam still didn’t work. I repeated the cycle two more times. One guy stayed, and watched, and commented the entire time – over an hour. The fourth time the low beam worked. No reason was established, but my co-driver quickly got the chief scrutineer. The scrutineer said, "Okay, show me your flash-to-pass." I flicked the high-beam switch a few times, and then put the lights on high. When I then flicked back to low, the low beam was no longer lit. I uttered curses better left unquoted. Then the scrutineer said, "You pass – it’s the flash-to-pass signal I needed to see. You don’t need to run with your headlights on – just use your fog lights instead." A sound then escaped from my mouth that was peculiar enough that some of those present turned and stared at me oddly for the rest of the evening.

The next day was a pre-event "Demo Day." It had been about 25 years since a large-scale motorsport event has taken place in Newfoundland. This implies it had also been about 25 years since anyone has been a marshal in Newfoundland. The demo was a short in-town street stage used to evaluate novice competitors and complete the training of the marshals and timing and scoring staff. The day was over when it became obvious there were too many spectators – just like those WRC rallies on the Speed Channel! That was the first taste of the impact Targa was having on the island.

I have had my 15 minutes of fame, and it was Targa Newfoundland. TV reporters stuck cameras and microphones in my face nightly. Print journalists asked for interviews. Photographers were everywhere. The team was profiled on the nightly news on TV. I was quoted on the front page of the sports section. Helicopters followed us on stages. But none of that compared to Beachy Cove School.

The day after the Demo Day was used to run prologues. These were special stages that had no bearing on the results, except the times would be used to determine the initial start order. Lunch that day was one of the top memories of this event. All 400 students of Beachy Cove Elementary School were lined up in the rain beside the school’s parking lot. Each grade was dressed in a different color, with different colored pom-poms, and the students cheered us as we arrived. Lunch was in the gymnasium, where Targa Newfoundland artwork from various grades adorned the walls. After lunch, the students were still outside looking at the cars. When we got back to our car we quickly found out why. A chorus of, "Can I have your autograph please?" quickly arose. If you’ve never had young schoolchildren come up and ask for your autograph for a solid hour and a half, try it sometime. Your ego will thank you.

The prologue stage after lunch was run in heavy rain. Most of the competitors were taking it easy, as start order is unimportant in a tarmac rally. However, I wanted to see how well my tires worked in rain. As a result, I tied for third fastest time in the stage, behind two Australian vehicles, the 1995 993 turbo driven by Mark Saxby and Martin Rees and the highly-modified 1967 Ford Mustang of Len and Gayle Cattlin. These two veteran Targa Tasmania crews were among the pre-event favorites. Sharing third-fastest time was a real rally car – the SCCA ProRally Subaru Impreza of Downeast Region member John Cassidy IV and Steve Carrick. John said, "at least it has a boxer engine," and hoped for continued rain to maximize his all-wheel-drive advantage (and minimize his relative lack of horsepower).

Besides the Impreza, filling out the rest of our competition in the Targa Newfoundland Modern was the aforementioned 993 turbo, a Viper GTS Coupe, a modified BMW M-coupe, hopped-up Mustang’s, a Honda, a Toyota rally car, and – a Kia? The Targa Newfoundland had two factory teams, from opposite ends of the automobile spectrum: Kia – and Porsche.

The Porsche factory entry was, somewhat surprisingly, not in the Targa Newfoundland Modern, but in the Targa Newfoundland Trials TSD event. The car was a brand-new 2002 911 Targa, piloted by journalists Ronald Ahrens (Automobile), and Dave Menzies (the National Post). Porsche Cars North America sent PR person Fred Hammond and noted Canadian racer/Porsche Driving Experience instructor Rick Bye to take care of the car – which proved to be a great blessing to me.

Five more Porsches were entered in the Targa: a beautifully prepared 1963 356C driven by Kerith Buckingham/Carol Fitzgerald from Australia ("Hers"), complemented by an equally clean 1965 911 driven by husband Peter Buckingham/Keith Richardson ("His"); a 1972 911 Targa driven by Targa Newfoundland co-organizer Scott Giannou and navigated by vintagerally.com’s Tim Winker; a 1990 944S2 piloted by yours truly and co-driven by Jim Morrow, and the Saxby/Rees 993 turbo.

The first day of competition proved uneventful except for a few off-road excursions. The event was deliberately designed to become harder each day to ease crews into the competition. The first day was supposed to be the easiest day, but rain made driving challenging early on. Even though crews were warned by organizers, downhill braking in a corner on standing water caught a few of the novice crews unaware. (Yes, that’s right. Standing water on a downhill. Studs, heavy truck traffic, and extreme weather conditions combine to instantly wear ruts in Newfoundland roads. In heavy rain the runoff doesn’t run off; it stays in the ruts forming streams that can cause hydro-planing and interesting vehicle dynamics.)

We made it through the first day’s stages without issue. Then, while parking for the nightly car show, the gearbox locked solid. We couldn’t shift into any gear. It was 7:30 p.m. The only blessings were that the transaxle locked after the day’s competition, and that it happened in Clarenville, Newfoundland.

By 8:00 p.m., the car was up on stands, wheels off, skid plate off, exhaust off. Nothing was obvious, and the linkage looked okay. Ken Pond, the Clarenville coordinator for Targa Newfoundland, asked if I needed anything. "A garage with a hoist and transmission jack, and a flatbed to get the car there." He ran off. I pulled apart the interior to see if the shifter was at fault. It wasn’t. I was on my knees (physically and mentally), staring at the shifter rod, when a head popped in through the driver’s door window. "Need any help?" It was Rick Bye, the Porsche rep. Oh, the joys of having a factory presence at an event. Rick is also a former racer of 944S2’s and 968’s (and 962’s, etc.). After diagnosis and discussion, a plan of attack was developed. It was now 8:30 p.m. I was to drop the transmission, something I had never done before, in two hours. Then, I was to call Rick. He thought there was "some simple thing" he could try.

Ken Pond, the organizer’s representative, re-appeared. He indicated a short, lanky man in blue coveralls who was lingering around the edge of the crowd, "Stan here can tow you out to the Petro-Can (service station) out on the (Trans-Canada) Highway." Stan nodded. I asked Stan how long we could use the garage. "Just shut the door and turn out the light when you’re done, but don’t worry, we’ll fix you up right," he replied.

By 9:00 p.m., the Porsche had been off-loaded from the flatbed, and was up in the air. I have never had, and probably never will have again, so much fun dropping a transmission. I would read out a cryptic instruction from the manual, point at the relevant picture, and Stan and his mate Lou would execute whatever was required, bantering back and forth, all the time insulting each other’s weight and height in unfathomable Newfoundland slang.

By 10:30 p.m., the transaxle was ready to come out. Then Lou pulled out the contraption. There is no other way to describe it. It was a shopping cart with the cart part ripped out, just the metal frame, with a table made out of an old hubcap welded on it. In the middle of the base was a large bumper jack (like off-roaders use) mounted upside-down. Welded to the base of the jack (which was now the top) was a two-foot diameter iron plate. The contraption proved to be one amazing transmission jack.

11:00 p.m. and Rick Bye had arrived. He stared at the transaxle, removed a small side plate, and stared at the revealed transaxle internals. Then, he asked for screwdrivers, which he used to manipulated the transaxle internals. A bolt was then undone, more pieces were prodded, and then, the transaxle was in neutral again! We were still in the rally! Rick stayed until 1:30 a.m. to supervise the re-installation of the transaxle and ensure that the linkage and coupler were adjusted properly. We could get back to competing in the rally.

Day two of the competition didn’t change anything, but on the third day, things started to get serious. Cars started breaking, and crews started to make mistakes. The last stage of the day, Gander, had a big effect on the standings. The Gander stage was an autocrosser’s dream. There were so many corners, and they came so quickly, that many navigators could not keep up. Brakes were stressed and tires squealed. Any mechanical part that was on the verge of going went, with many cars suffering mechanical problems.

The 993 turbo, which was in first place, had something let go in the valve-train and was out. First overall was now in the hands of the Cattlins in their modified 1967 Mustang. They would hold onto first place overall. The 993’s demise also moved the modified BMW M-Coupe of Bill Arnold and Tamara Hull of San Rafael, California, into first place in the Modern competition, and seventh overall. The rally Subaru was now second (eighth overall), and we were in third (eleventh overall).

We were back behind the leaders as the Targa was a rally, not a race. This was our first rally, and our inexperience resulted in almost five minutes in road penalties – like penalties for being late because we missed a turn on a transit stage. As we were a little over two minutes in front of the Subaru before road penalties were added, this meant we had to make up almost three minutes starting at Gander.

Over the four miles of the Gander stage, we managed to get back 50 seconds on the Subaru. On the day after, we gained back 51 seconds, and the Subaru had to take a one-minute road penalty. (John had cut a tire, and had to use his spare. One of the more interesting Targa rules is that each tire replacement results in a one-minute penalty.) The net result was that we started the last day only three seconds behind the Subaru.

We caught the Subaru by over four seconds on the first special stage of the last day, and finished the event a little over one-minute ahead. This meant we finished first in Category 7, first in Modern Stock, second place in the Targa Newfoundland Modern, and seventh overall. We were also joint winners, with the other Porsche finishers, of the Kenzie Cup for marque team competition. Other Porsche placings were Buckingham/Richardson (65 911) – first in Classic Stock, sixth overall, Buckingham/Fitzgerald (63 356C) – second in Classic Stock, tenth overall, and Giannou/Winker (72 911 Targa) – first in Category 5 and twelfth overall. Unfortunately the Saxby/Rees 993 turbo did not finish. Ahrens/Menzies decided a 996 Targa was just too much car to enjoy at the Trial’s average speeds, and just had fun.

The overall standings were dominated by modified classic-era big-bore production race and historic rally cars. Only the most powerful modern-era cars can compete for the overall placing. A modern all-wheel-drive turbo Porsche would be the ideal vehicle to win the next Targa Newfoundland – either 911 or Cayenne!

Thanks to our support crew – Jeannie, Sharen, Craig, and Karen. Thanks also to: Talon Tire, the parts guys at Mark Motors of Ottawa, and the too-numerous-to-mention members of rennlist.com, the Motorsport Club of Ottawa, and Rennsport Region for helping us out. Finally, special thanks to Stan, Lou, and Rick Bye for keeping the Baldhead Racing team from DNF’ing its first event!

Join us next September for the experience of a lifetime! Entry details are at www.targanewfoundland.com

1. Get Fit. A week of competition will use your body up. If you aren’t fit, you either slow down, or make mental errors. Mental errors can be costly.
2. Skid Plates/gravel guards/mud guards. You don’t need them, but you’ll be slower due to worry without them. Note the oil pan is the lowest point in a 944.
3. Suspension travel. This is not the place for a severely lowered car, but is a good place to exercise your bump stops.
4. Service Crew. In Tasmania, where a similar event has run for over a decade, serious competitors have at least five support crew: two to meet you at major service points, two at each stage, and one co-ordinator. While a Targa can be done with no support (and most of the teams ran with no support), at least one support vehicle is extremely convenient.
5. Spare Parts. Bring lots. The closest Porsche dealer is two time zones away. For anything else, try the local Canadian Tire store. Think PepBoys plus NAPA plus all the good parts of Sears.
6. Prepare for variable weather. Anything from sunny 70’s to foggy 50’s to hurricanes. Besides personal comfort, cold weather has quite an effect on road traction.
7. Tires. Either gamble on full-tread-depth R’s that will work in cold weather, and watch for hydro-planing on rutted roads, or go with the best rain tires. Remember that, for the entire event, you only get four tires in Modern, or six in Classic.
8. Learn to rally beforehand. Rallying is a sport where only experienced crews win. Driving is only one-half of the equation; a navigator can’t win a rally, but can lose one.
9. Drinking tubes. I don’t know what these things are really called, but bicyclists use them. The part that normally goes on one’s back is strapped securely to the roll-cage, and the tube is run through the seat’s shoulder harness hole and tied to a shoulder belt. Works fine with a full-face helmet, and as a bonus, the driver can pretend he is Richard Burns (British rally driver who is seemingly always drinking from a tube).
10. Extra Nomex. Driving suits get awfully sweaty very fast. You do not want to wear a day-old Nomex balaclava. Trust me.

1. Vision. The farther you "see" down the road, the better able you are to position the car, adapt to changing conditions, etc.
2. Late apex. Always. Running out of room on corner exit is not good.
3. Car Control. Sooner or later, a corner will be mis-judged. Then, you’ll have to be able to dance with the car. Got an old set of tires? Wait for a rainy day and practice! You have to be comfortable with the car sideways, and on low-friction surfaces.
4. Rain and cold. You can expect rain, on average, for two of the five competitive days. You have to be comfortable in the wet.
5. Autocross. The stage that was worth the most overall was Gander. The Gander special stage had many second-gear corners in quick succession. Autocross has lots of second-gear corners in quick succession.
6. Yumps. There are very few of these, but you do not want to follow the WRC example. Bad landings from yumps break cars, and any landing can break an unprepared car. A good landing is nose up, tail down. To get the nose up, you must always accelerate up a yump. This means you have to brake before a yump, and never at a yump. If necessary, the nose can be lifted higher by combining braking with acceleration to "bounce" the front end.
7. Depressions. The opposite of yumps, but can also break cars. Do not brake into a depression.
8. Terrain. Uphill and downhill terrain affects car balance, especially under braking. On steep uphills, braking can be left fairly late, but braking into downhill turns must be done early and gently.
9. In slow, out fast. You only get one shot at each corner. It is better to go in too slow and get on the gas early than go in too fast and have to brake in the corner.
10. Cut! Cutting corners is a lost driving skill. While not absolutely necessary to master, it is necessary to be able to handle a gravel-strewn corner, the result of other crews cutting that corner.

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