Targa Newfoundland rallies to race another day:  New ownership could help ensure seven-day event continues

Jim Kenzie

Columnist Jim Kenzie is pleased he has not raced his Nissan Juke NISMO RS Turbo in Targa Newfoundland for the last time. Targa Newfoundland, like the proverbial Phoenix, appears to have risen from the ashes.

Whale watching, racing and wailling. All in one day! And, yes, that’s an Enzo Ferrari.

I wrote in September that this year’s event had been cancelled due to insufficient entries. Well, “postponed” was the official wording, but frankly, it did not look promising.
There were still plans to run the “Bambina,” the weekendlong mini-Targa next summer, and there remained a glimmer of hope that the full deal might go in September 2020.
But a recent announcement has given all Targa fans a light at the end of the tunnel that we hope won’t be an onrushing freight train.

This car looks kinda familiar…

Scott Vidler and Wes Thompson, car freaks from southwestern Ontario (and also dedicated Wheels readers) had planned to run Targa this year in their gorgeous Volkswagen Golf R, prepared (as have been all of my Targa cars) by Frank and Dan Sprongl of Four Star Motorsports in Georgetown, Ont.

“Honey, I’m home!”

Vidler and Thompson were among the many who were grievously disappointed when the event did not run this year. Thompson, who had sold the family farming supply business five years ago and had been spending much of his time since messing about with cars, probably didn’t get sufficiently well-off to compete in Targa by letting other people hold onto his money interest-free for a year. So he contacted Giannou and said, in effect, “Let’s talk.” He went down to St. John’s and learned more about the event, the organization and the province.

Click here for the entire article.  Thanks to Eric de Pauw for the link!

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