Team Hume Targa Newfoundland Blog

Targa Newfoundland 2017

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Sunday September 18th, 2016

Hello From Toronto,

Most of us are back in our respective cities or towns by now.

We had an incredible week and a bit of racing in Newfoundland.

Over six days 48 races were planned and we managed to pull off 44 of them, and that is a record number of races run for this event.

The weather was great for five days and lousy for only one (Thursday). That was the day we had 4 cancelled races due to a medical emergency in one town, that managed to delay everything for almost two hours , causing organizers to cancel races.

All four Hume vehicles took a tremendous beating through the week. Our fantastic service crew of five from Centennial College worked nonstop through the nights to patch up cars, using tie wraps, duct tape and whatever else they could find to get them back on the road.

The worst incident was on Friday when Ruth hit a patch of oil from another competitor’s car on the road and slid sideways into the Guard-rail at speed. Luckily, the 2006 MINI GP (#1334) bounced off the guard-rail and kept on racing. It will need some serious body work done on it when it gets back home, though.

Results:

Modern – car# 9 – John Jr and Justin Grant after leading most of the week finished up a very close – 2nd. Ron and Justin R. in car #333 climbed from 8th to finish 5th in Modern – A great improvement for them in the week.

GT – car #1333  – John Sr and Christina car# 1333 were leading all week, however, John managed to hit a left turn command when actually told to go right though Brigus, which cost them 15 penalty points.  They wounded up 2nd in GT. In the meantime, Ruth and Andrew #1334, despite the guardrail incident, climbed from 6th on Monday to finish 3rd in GT class. Since we had three cars on the podium in 2nd, 2nd & 3rd – our Team won the Jerry Churchill Award for best three car team in the event. All 4 cars also made their trophy times – so each earned a Trophy plate. Finally, Ruth and Andrew won Rookie team of the year award for best new driver co-pilot in the event!

All in all our team won 9 trophies this year!

Nevertheless, none of this would have been possible without the service crew supplied by Centennial College. They are, Garrett Nalepka – Dave Samalea – Mackenzie Logan – Luke White – Brian Martyn, as well as our media and transport crew of Ralph Saulnier and Calvin Williams – who made sure we were able to do our Tim Horton’s or Mac Donald’s morning breakfast stops as well as move us all over the place while shooting video and photos!

We will have a video ready by X-mas and watch for more photos to be uploaded here this week too.

Lastly, we raised over $22,000 for M S research this year doing this race – a heart felt thanks to our very generous sponsors!

Until next year.

John Hume.

 

 

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Friday September 17th, 2016

Hello from Newfoundland !
The last day of competition here on the Rock!
We had pitch perfect weather today to close out the last 8 races of the week.
Although final scores will not be official until tomorrow (Saturday), we can say provisionally, John Jr and Justin Crant in #09 finished 2nd in Modern Division.
While John Sr and Christina Kroner, #1333 finsihed 2nd in GT class. Followed by Andrew and Ruth Thorogood #1334  3rd place in GT class. Ron Bartleet and Justin Russell #333 placed a respectable 5th in Modern Division.
All 8 races were hard fought and the final outcome was only determined in the last two runs through the beautiful town of Brigus.
Once final official numbers are in we will confirm final standings tomorrow.
Thanks to our fabulous service crew from Centennial College. Without them we could not have completed the race with four cars successfully. Throughout the week we had many mechanical issues with all but one car (Mine of course) and they put them back together each night ready to race each AM. At the same time these guys were helping out other race teams with various challenging service issues. Great job Service Crew!
All for now,
John Hume.

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Thursday September 16th.

Hello from rainy Newfoundland
What a day we have had here!
Rain rain wind wind…….
We had 11 races scheduled but only managed to finish off seven races.
Scoring as shown on the Targa website is not accurate, as there are many adjustments to be made for tomorrow. However all four vehicles and crew performed extremely well today.
We look forward to the return of fair weather tomorrow!

Cheers,
John Hume

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Wednesday, September 14th

Hump Day has come and gone.
Another bright, sunny, warm day here on the Rock.
And – no wind for a change!
We ran 11 races today most of which were very rough and bumpy, pot-holed roads. All four of our cars took a beating. We had a left rear fender cover fall of the 2006 GP in the Port Rexdon race and disappear into the hands of a car parts collector!
We managed to split the skid plate on the new MINI GP, bottoming out very hard several times on it. Ron and Justin, Car #333 had to abandon one race leg to go to the aid of one competitor who lost control of his vehicle and tumbled it head over heels several times before coming to a stop in an 8-foot ditch. One broken thumb, a knee cap and a bruised ego. Later, the driver will be OK. His car, however, is a write-off.
John Jr. and Justin C. are still in the running for top spot in Modern Division. While John Sr. & Christina are battling it out for top spot in GT with two other very good DST ralliers. Our other two vehicles continue to have better and better times and are showing definite improvement in performance from yesterday.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is rain, rain, rain! Awe geez! Oh well, Friday is supposed to be good weather again, at least.
Our poor mechanics will be busy to the wee hours this evening, fixing broken and bent parts on all 4 vehicles.
All for now.

John Hume

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Tuesday, September 13th

Well today is now under our collective belts, except for our service crew. As I type they are busy cleaning up the team cars, checking fluid levels, tires and undersides of all vehicles. The roads today were very rough in spots and a few bottoming out events were inevitable.
To date, only one of the 60 odd cars entered has crashed and been knocked out of the event.
The weather has been perfect – sun, sun and more sun. Along with sub Gail force wind – constant sub Gail force wind. I guess you can’t have it all!
I looks like John Sr and Christina (#1333) have managed to remain penalty free up to end of activities today. Ruth and Andrew (#1334) are doing an amazing job for two rookies to this event. It looks like they are in 4th or 5th place in GT as of this evening. John Jr and Justin C. (#09) are running a great race and remain close to the top,  while  Ron and Justin R. (#333) are holding their own in the middle of the pack, both in Modern Division.
Today we ran a series of very long and very fast races. Everyone got a chance to put their skills and in car communications to the ultimate test. And all passed.
Spirits are high and we welcome Hump Day. – Wednesday …11 races to do Wednesday – There will be some very tired people back here tomorrow evening.
All for now,
PS – Christina only yelled at me once today – and no actual blows were landed. Seriously – she is a great navigator.
John Hume