A two-man team of GTA lawyers is racing in this year’s Targa Newfoundland, a week-long, 2,200-kilometre rally across the island running from September 11 to 18. We’re following Dean Novak and Rob Hansen’s journey here at lawandstyle.ca, and posting updates from the racers throughout the week.
You can also check out background info about Dean and Rob’s race team, and donate to their fundraising effort (a friendly competition with a team of racer-bankers to see who can raise the most money).
September 13:
Up at 5:30 a.m., and heading to Gander!
September 12:
Rob: “An early start to the day today. We were at the Remax Centre by 7:30 a.m. to blow into a breathalyzer. We all blew 0.0 and passed with flying colours. Both H1 and H2 had to do odometer calibration tests to ensure the newly installed odos were accurate — basically involves just following really simple rally instructions over a distance of almost 40 km to calculate a “correction factor.” H1 nearly crashed — best for the navigator not to wait until the last minute to give instructions to the driver and good idea for the driver to always check blind spots!
“After a drivers’ safety meeting, all the Targa cars (55 this year) rolled out of St. John’s via a ceremonial start on the waterfront and headed to Flatrock. Beautiful small community set up among cliffs overlooking the ocean. Even in the rain, this place was far too beautiful for words. We did a closed road (practice) competition stage on some crazy roads next to the ocean. Then we headed to a local public school for a chili lunch. After a quick meet and greet at a lovely community centre in Flatrock, overlooking the pounding surf of the ocean, all the cars headed back to St. John’s for some fast laps on closed roads around Confederation Park. Despite the nasty weather, there were still quite a few spectators out cheering us on.”
Read older updates here.