Monday September 15th, 2014

Our first full day of rallying is behind us now.
Weather was sun, rain, mist, fog and mid teens Celsius.
Perfect Newfoundland weather.

John Sr. tried co-piloting for the first two races, which he and Craig managed to zero out! However, motion sickness got the better of John, so he had to drive the last three races.

End of day standings: John Jr. and Justin, car #9, first overall, tied with four others. John Sr. and Craig, 2nd in GT and Nicole and Cody 4th in GT.

The Minis were bashed around a bit but held up to beating. The M3 however, lost a rear shock absorber strut support in the 2nd last race. A friendly local supplied tools. Then along with the Rittenhouse team, he and Justin were able to cobble it back together temporarily and well enough to finish the last race within the minimum required time line.

Team spirits are high. And everyone is enjoying the experience on the Rock so far.

30

Sunday September 13th

Car #2222 – Brian Donato and Rick Bye, in the Mitsubishi Ralliart, were the first car wreck of the week this year. They took a fast uphill left curving course too wide. His right side wheels hit gravel and they were consequently dragged into a culvert. Smashing head on into a driveway over pass. Their car definitely looks like a write off and is about a foot shorter than it was earlier. The navigator Rick was injured. And Brian was shaken up. This is the vehicle Mitsubishi was sponsoring, as Brian has no use of his legs and so was operating the vehicle strictly with hand controls. It appears he took the hill too fast running out of talent at the crest.
At this time we are awaiting news from the hospital on Rick’s condition. But we were told it was nothing too serious.

Our three car team did very well, keeping it on the road. Cody and Nicole #1334 took turns driving and co-piloting. As did John and Craig #1333. Both vehicles finished the practice races penalty free. So we two start off first on Monday in GT class..
Car #9 john Hume Jr. And Justin Crant did very well in the modern division and finished the prologue practice races with the second best time overall, behind Mr Davenport’s Brand new Blue Subaru car #557.

Our team is meshing nicely now with high spirits all around. We have adopted Stewart Wigg and Simon Thomson into our team, as they have no transport to and from the arenas. They drive in GT class sporting car #1066. A 1987 Red Golf GTI . These guys are new to this race. So we are showing them a few basic how to’s as it pertains to times and speeds in each race. But not too much.

Monday looms large now. We expect rain off and on all day. We shall see what challenges the weather and road conditions bring our way.

Until then, signing off.

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From Team Hume – July 23rd.

July 23rd already!

This past Sunday we did our Track day here in Ontario at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Formerly MOSPORT), on the Driver Development Track (DDT).

The weather was perfect Newfoundland (pronounced Newfunlnd) mix – i.e. rain, fog, wind drizzle. Perfect for practicing high speed driving on a wet, twisty slightly hilly road surface.

Our newbie to rally racing Nicole also performed brilliantly on the skid pad and slalom course. However, our poor old 2006 MINI GP, suffered a high fever with overheated brake fluid issues mid way through the day and had to be shut down to cool off the brake juice. The cause was simple, two Suicidal Ninja drivers (Nicole and Cody) combined with old worn out brake fluid. It has since been rectified and the 2006 GP now race ready.

The 2013 GP and  2004 M3 were brilliant on track each equal to all that  drivers, weather and track could throw at them. Aside from being filthy dirty end of day nothing else to complain about.

Our earlier challenges with one critical and reluctant supplier were resolved when we found a replacement a new, more than willing supplier to step in. Thanks to Dave Barr and the Worden Agency. Life savers!

So, we are all set for September now, 7 weeks and counting…….

From Team Hume.

Targa 2014 first blog July 11th, 2014

Well it is Friday July 11th. We are now 60 days away from our annual Race on the Rock.

We  now have 3 cars entered this year. Our 2004 M3, 2013 MINI GP and recently purchased and now ready to roar 2006 MINI GP. There are three new staff additions to our team this year. Centennial College  here in Toronto, has graciously loaned us Mr. Garrett Nalepka to accompany us as our mechanic. In case we have any breakdowns or break ups (heaven forbid!). And sharing driving and co-piloting the 2006 MINI GP, will be Cody Morch (a Targa veteran) with (Greenhorn) Nicole Troster.

MINI Canada announced the MINI Challenge is back again for Targa this year. So should the 2013 MINI Win,  driver and co-pilot share a $3,000 cash award. And should the older 2006 MINI win, driver and co-pilot share a $1,500 cash award. There is bound  be a strong rivalry between these two teams me thinks.

We have had a few administrative hick-ups with one of our suppliers  this year, still to be resolved. But I am sure everything will work itself out before we fly to the edge of Canada.

To date we have pledged over $17,000 in donations for M S research. That is always a good thing.

All for now.

Team Hume.

Targa Newfoundland 2013 results

First and foremost, thank you to our sponsors.
You are the best and make it all worth while.

Xerox Canada Ltd

Catprint

GBC CANADA INC

Peace of Mind Courier

Shurway Contracting

Tower Litho

Unisource

Basman Smith LLP

Bob & Joanne Brown

Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario

Clarke Electric

Clarke Henning LLP

Is Five Printing

Ivor Thompson

Lynn Acton

Marquee Packaging & Display Group

Matthew Ng.

Mr. Dave Wilson

RCJ Graphics

Sprott Private Wealth LP

Suchan McQuaid Financial Planning Partners Inc.

TD Commercial Banking

Victoria Pasquarelli

Worden Insurance & Financial Services

Zahid Kahn

We at Hume Media Inc. were very pleased to be able to hand over to MS Society a cheque for $24,600!

The cars have rolled across the finish line and the 2013 Targa Newfoundland race has come to a close. The champaign bottles have been popped and amply poured all over the winning drivers and copilots of Hume Team!

Jon Ridell and Briar de Lange placed 1st, Grand Touring Equipped

Craig MacMullen and Justin Russell placed 2nd, Grand Touring Equipped

John Jr. and Ron Bartleet placed 2nd, Modern

AND STILL MORE AWARDS!:

Sadly John Sr. and Justin Crant, car #1888, won the Puffin Award for first car wreck of the race. A dubious honour to carry around for the next year to be sure.

John Jr. and Ron Bartleet, car #9, captured a silver plate for making all their Targa times.

John Jr. and Ron Bartleet, car #9, also placed 1st in Group 7 Modern division

Our three podium placed cars won the Jerry Churchill Team Award for teams of three nominated entries from any combination of divisions, all cars registered in the same country.

Justin Crant, not able to race as co-pilot in the wrecked #1888 moved on to the critical job of service crew for our M3 team in car #9. Justin also assisted other competitors who needed service help. He was so good at it, (without him the M3 we discovered, surely would have had a catastrophic suspension failure during a race). Justin won the Best Service Crew Award.

So, despite ruining one fine automobile, we still managed to win eight awards.

Anyone interested in buying a slightly used but winning racer (a 2011 BMW 335is) contact John Hume.

A heart felt thanks to our video and service crew members. Michael Engel, Calvin Williams and Rein Raamat. They took excellent care of the racing crews, shot some incredible video, wrote some magnificent script, narrated the same and uploaded to YouTube daily. An almost impossible feat!

Check out www.targanewfoundlandnews.com and you will see for yourself.