Written by:Steve Hart
9/13/2009 3:36 PM 

Started the day with the drivers meeting which ended with a blessing with the official Targa Pastor (who is competing). After some coaching on how to use our rally computer, we drove down for the ceremonial start at the Keg which is on St. John's waterfront. After the start we all headed to the the Flatrock stage. Of course we got temporarily lost (along with many other drivers) and we made our way to the first stage. The Flatrock stage is 5 km and we took off with gusto when we got the green light. There were hundreds of spectators as the competitors flew around the course. There were straight-aways and hairpin turns and the objective was to maintain and average of 60 km around the course. We had some difficulty with our computer which we will correct before the start of the race. After the first stage we all drove to the Cape St. Francis school for a delicious lunch of Cod soup (it was great) and sandwiches. When we got to the schools there were many youngsters who were asking all the drivers for their autographs. After lunch we drove back to Flatrock for the second stage(same as the first). There was a delay due to one of the Targa cars having an accident and rolling over twice. We were told that it was a Subaru and they were a professional team. Unfortunately their Targa is over. We finished our second stage and then drove to Confederation Park where they set up a 2.5 km circuit course where the cars could unwind. And boy did they! On our initial run we went flying around the course and saw some coolant steaming when we pulled into the parking lot. Our service crew quickly got to work and eventually found a hole in the top of our radiator. The repair was to insert a plug with JB weld into the hole. We will find out tomorrow if the repair works. Tonight we have the opening dinner at the Keg! Oh yea Tom & I passed the breathalyzer with flying colors this morning. Tomorrow we will be driving 460 kilometers. I would like to congratulate Pat Coughlin for winning this years Trap Shoot.

Before the practice race

Before the ceremonial start at the Keg

Our Stallion

Lunch break after first stage

Old Mini

Radiator repair

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Location: BlogsRace for Hearing - Targa Newfoundland 2009