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Summer has turned the page to autumn here in the Northern Hemisphere. That means Targa Newfoundland is just behind us, Targa New Zealand just in front, and Targa Canada West eight months and change away (May 23-28, 2010).

Targa Newfoundland proved a mixed result for Team Targa Canada West. Glyn Trafford and I came 2nd in Class 8 (1991-1997), and won that same Modified category. Normally a day out with a blown motor would preclude such lofty results, but unfortunately the number of direct competitors reaching the finish was limited.

Weather for the 2009 Newfoundland event reverted to the mean (wet, cool), after the sunburns of 2008. Congratulations to Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes for their third consecutive Overall victory in their Class 4 Modified 1969 BMW 2002. Thanks to the Four Star Audi (Open) and Stillen GT-R (Class 9) for the amazing show at the uber fast end of the grid. Kudos also goes out to the GM brotherhood for winning the Kenzie Team prize.

Dunlop Targa New Zealand 2009, October 25-31, will be Team TCW's first Targa entry with a legitimate prospect of (relative) success. We scoured their rules to envision a competitive car. Now Porsche specialists EuroPacific in Pirongia are finishing up a LHD 1973 Porsche 911 RS tribute which should prove a contender in the hotly contested Class 1 (1969-79 near-stock), with ten entries so far.

I'll arrive in New Zealand a few days early for road and track familiarization with the car, and driver coaching from 911 experts Steve Rasmussen and Gavin Riches. TCW's Marketing Director Duane Bentley has really taken a professional approach to the navigator role. We'll keep you posted on how things unfold for our dynamic duo Down Under.

The Targa Canada West event continues to move rapidly forward on all fronts. Thanks to all of those who took the time to read and comment upon our posted draft regulations. The non-draft version should be on the website shortly, as well as the Entry Form. Our proposed Class structure survived the user review intact, as did the Modern Champion and Classic Champion. The scoring system did get some tweaks with less restrictive limits on how early you could arrive at the end of a stage without incurring time penalty.

Discussion with interested competitors at the other Targas has often centred on how TCW's six Speed Classes would translate if they existed at these other events. The implicit concern of these particular competitors was their wish to pedal hard, rather than be "in a brisk TSD", as they put it.

To help alleviate those concern, and to guide teams to their most appropriate TCW Speed Class, we've pulled a sampling of average stage speeds required to make the Dry Base time (no penalty) in Targa Newfoundland. Bobby's Cove (Day 2) is more open and fast than 90-100% of TCW stages. Fortune (Day 4) would be tighter and slower than all but 0-10% of the stages in the TCW portfolio.

Dr. Kelly Silverthorn
CEO & Founder,
Targa Canada West