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 15:
Rob: “An early start this morning in Gander after a late night of cranking through the numbers for our route books. We began the day by heading 50 km north of Gander for competitive stages in Main Point and Fredericton. Both were very fast but straightforward. The next two competitive stages were in Musgrave Harbour and Wesleyville. It was raining extremely hard, so we managed to slide the back end of the Miatas around quite a bit and impress the spectators. It’s amazing that people will stand outside in the pouring rain to watch us speed through town. Lunch was at the Lester Pearson School gymnasium — beef soup and sandwiches. The Trailer Park Boys were swarmed by the kids. Then to Brookfield and Greenspond for the next two competitive stages. Greenspond was a short, tricky stage on narrow roads in an ancient community. Transit stages were quite scenic today too — even in the rain. Up to this point in the day, both Hammerhead teams scored perfect. And then came the North West Brook stage…
Hammerhead 2 (Investment Banking) nailed the North West Brook stage. Hammerhead 1 (Law) did not. This was a fast and flowing 29 km competitive stage that ran through the main road connecting a number of small towns. Communication issues between driver and navigator in Hammerhead 1 meant that we were not anywhere close to the target times throughout the stage. We finished only about six seconds late, but we were way off at certain points during the stage. They haven’t posted final results for today yet but we’re thinking it might be ugly.
We stopped in Gooseberry Cove, a scenic fishing village on the Atlantic Ocean, at the end of the North West Brook stage. Captain Clarence of the Seward’s Pride fishing boat was gracious enough to let us on board and have a look. Cod, turbot and crab seemed to be his focus. The stage out of Gooseberry Cove was basically North West Brook run in reverse — but it was cancelled for reasons unknown to us. So we transited out to Clarenville. And the real fun began…
Hammerhead 1 (Law) broke down. Wouldn’t start. Gauges flipping around like a pinball machine. All warning lights on. And it jerked like crazy when we tried to drive it. Very scary. But, we ran the Clarenville stage anyway and nailed it. Twice. We met up with Hammerhead 2 (Investment Banking) at the Clarenville arena tonight and, believe it or not, they had some of the same issues! Both Miatas down for the count… So as I type this, we are (i.e., Brent is) trying to diagnose and repair before tomorrow morning. Only 10 hours to go before we need to be up and running.
Video: The Prologue to Targa Newfoundland
Read older updates here.