Targa Newfoundland Rally – Vivid Racing to Compete in 911 Turbo

vividracing

Vivid Racing is proud to announce it's official entry in the 2012 Targa Newfoundland rally race. Targa Newfoundland is in it's 11th year of running on the remote island rock, Northeast of Nova Scotia. After competing in the Targa Tasmania event, the co-founders wanted to create a world class driving event in North America, and that they have done! The Targa Newfoundland is comprised of 2200 kilometers held on roads closed to the general public and comprise 20% of the total course. Having competed in several "renegade" rally events in the past, we thought it was finally time to enter a closed course competition. The event is held September 9-14 and features several different classes. With 5 days of competition, the journey starts much earlier to prepare our vehicle and even get there! Please join us for this crazy journey that will feature daily updates of pictures, videos, and info as we rally the Targa Newfoundland. Stay tuned to www.vividracing.com/targa for all rally updates and info.

First and foremost, a shout out to our partners for the event (click the links and join their networks):
OMP America - Safety Racing Gear, OMP Facebook, OMP Twitter
Niche Wheels - 1pc and 3pc Forged Wheels, Niche Facebook
Evolution Real Estate - Arizona's Full Service Real Estate Team
Go2 Transport - Vehicle Transportation Specialists
Toyo Tires - Gripping you to the road! Toyo Facebook, Toyo Twitter
KW Suspensions - The Best Coilovers! KW Facebook, KW Twitter
Special thanks to contributors - Status Racing, Agency Power, SSF Auto Parts

For the Targa Newfoundland event, Vivid Racing will be competing in the Grand Touring equipped class. This class is a Time-Speed-Distance group which allows the aid of timing and mapping devices. Based on several factors, each team will be given this set goal to complete the stage in. So we thought what better car to do it in then our 2011 Porsche Turbo S. Piloting the car will be myself, Dan Mermelstein, and co-driver Matt Lambert. Unlike typical road racing or "fun run" rally events, these public roads see some abuse from the strong winters of Northern Canada. So we have to prepare our car and ourselves accordingly.

No matter if you are racing the clock or racing others, safety is very important. So Team Vivid Racing has equipped ourselves with gear from OMP. OMP's Italian racing heritage can be seen in all types of motorsports from Nascar, F1, Drifting, and Rally racing. As one of the few companies that can fully equip a driver from a racing suit to racing seat, OMP made gearing up affordable and fashionable. Keeping our domes safe are the new OMP Sport helmets. The OMP Sport line is a more affordable product specifically for the USA market to rival competition with price and function. The full face helmets feature a clear shield with pre-drilled holes for a HANS device. Keeping us comfortable and fire resistant is the OMP First 2 black racing suit. Flowing with the theme of our vehicle is a set of OMP Speed 2 gloves in red. The gloves feature a contour leather palm to ensure maximum control and grip. To ensure proper pedal control and comfortability, we have red OMP Daytona shoes. The FIA shoe features a smooth leather interior with high sensitivity rubber sole. Not only are we going to look the part, we will be driving the part!

Already equipped with 530hp from the factory, we have enhanced the performance to 615hp with the addition of a Softronic ECU Flash, Agency Power Sleeper Pipes, and BMC Air Filter. Having plenty of power for the Grand Touring class, we turn to safety. Inside the 997, we have installed an Agency Power bolt-in roll bar with harness and diagonal bars. To secure both driver and co-drive in the factory carbon fiber GT2 seats, a set of 5pt FIA approved Status Racing harnesses were installed. Keeping the car handling the ever so changing road conditions will be a set of KW Variant 3 coilovers and Agency Power adjustable sway bars.

Because Newfoundland is over 4000 miles away from us here in Gilbert, Arizona, we plan on taking 2 sets of wheels and tires. Our centerlock equipped Porsche will have both dry and wet condition Toyo Tires. We will be running a set of Toyo T1s and Toyo R888 in 235/35/19 and 305/30/19 sizes. They will be wrapped to our AP wheels by Niche. The 1 piece forged wheels feature a split 5 spoke design and are very lightweight and strong for this competition. The front wheels are a 19x8.5 at 21lbs and the rear 19x11 at 24lbs. Much like our competition wheels, Niche has some very unique and familar 1pc and 3pc design wheels. We chose to go with these for the weight and strength.

Stay tuned and please click the links above to support our sponsors! View the official Gallery Here.

__________________

vividracing

On Tuesday September 4th, we set out on a journey that would take us all the way to Newfoundland in our Porsche 997 Turbo S. The 2012 Targa Newfoundland rally is not just another open road rally with parties; this is a serious motosports event with closed road ways, rules and regulations, and testing not only your abilities, but your patience. 5 days of racing activities are scheduled, but our journey started much earlier as we pre-rallied to start our rally.
Arriving in Manchester, NH at 6:30pm, we prompty headed out to make our way to Sydney, NS. With the car packed up, we cruised our way reaching the Canadian border at around 1:00am. What was suppose to be a 13 hour drive turned into 17 hours as we drove continually in a massive storm that was dumping heavy rains. The Porsche looked amazing on the red Agency Power wheels by Niche and the Toyo R888 tires. What we soon realized is that rutted highways, wet weather, and R Compound tires just don’t mix. We had to put along between 60-80 kph even stopping at one automotive shop in Nova Scotia to check our suspension and tires since the driving was so sketchy. After helping us out I asked the shop manager how much we owed him. He said, “just give him $10 for his coffee fund.” I gave him $40 and told him to get some pizza too!



We finally made it to the Ferry that takes 12-14 hours from Sydney, NS to Argentia, NF. There is only three ways to get to Newfoundland. You can fly, you can take a 2 hour Ferry to the western side of NF that comes with a 10 hour drive, or you take this Ferry. Completely loaded up with trucks, cargo, walk on passengers, and cars, we finally left port at about 4:00pm. Dinner on deck, we retreated to our definite must have 2 bunk cabin to crash out. After only a few hours of sleep and that long drive, this overnight boat ride was amazing. We awoke around 5:00am arriving to the Argentia Port where us along with locals and other Targa drivers disembarked and headed on the highway towards St. Johns. For fun we started ripping along with a Lexus IS-F but decided to back off after we saw the sign showing 660 accidents this year by moose!



After about another 1 hour of driving, we arrived in St. Johns on September 7th. We had another 2 days to get things setup before our first event day. Because of the issues we experienced with the rain and the tires, we decided to get the car lifted up and swap to our blue wheels with Toyo T1s tires that had been preshipped to our hotel. The local guys at TJ’s Garage let us hoist the car up for inspection and then swap our wheels. After that was done, we headed over to City Tire which checked and tuned our alignment to keep the car tracking straight. We connected with the right people as even though they gave us some flack, they hooked us up!




September 9th was the first official day of the event known as the Prologue. This brought us to the official start with a transit stage to our first leg. Dressed in full with our OMP Racing gear, we strapped in and fired up the in-car cameras. Going off our route book, we soon found ourselves feeling like we were in a road rally as we quickly became lost in St. Johns looking for the road to take. But when you have another 50 cars going the same place, we soon found a group and headed in the right direction. Keeping it very short, the Prologue gave us a taste of what the rally stages would be like. Running at 30 second intervals, our Fast Tour group ripped out on this 5km stage. With adrenalin pumping, we had completed the first stage and headed to our lunch checkpoint.

After lunch was a short transit drive to our next stage. Having a quick meet and greet at the local community center, we were able to show off our cars and meet some locals. Continuing on, we arrived at the next stage. This would be run twice in the same direction. Definitely more intense, this leg had us racing through the town of Flatrock. With houses on either side and crowds lined the streets, the only focus we had was the road ahead. Loose gravel and potholes made it interesting even with our slightly raised up 911 Turbo. Some turns and steep blind turns reminded me fondly of last years Nurburgring trip. This leg was a great start to our rally experience that had only barely begun.


Having run over 5 Gumball 3000 rallies and Bullrun, Targa is an experience like no other. With motorsports at the heart, the entire Newfoundland community and drivers are so friendly its unreal. Competitors come from all types of backgrounds and vehicles. Being able to drive your car how it should be in a controlled environment has more risks then that of any street rally. The better part is you are not putting the unwilling public at risk either. The challenges of driving in full equipment, following pace notes, and reaching your time, really tests your driving skill and comprehension. Tomorrow is a full day with 7 stages so make sure to keep it locked at VividRacing.com Performance Racing Parts tnf.

__________________

vividracing

The Prologue was definitely just a taste of what was to come, because today we did 7 stages in Leg 1 as we headed North from St. Johns. The rally is comprised of both closed course stages and transit stages. The transit stages are how we travel between stages on public open roads and highways. Some of these can be as short as 10km and some like today were as long as 160km as we finished up in Gander, NF.
Targa Newfoundland 2012 Leg 1 Crash BMW in House Subaru in Trees - YouTube
The day started out with us leaving the Re/Max Centre which is home to Curling champions. Oh yes Curling is real. The first stage was in Holyrood where we ran this twice in the same direction. This stage started out with a super aggressive right hander as it ripped in-between forest and houses on a narrow but smooth paved road. Entertaining ourselves, we used the Porsche 997 Turbo S launch control. Revving to 5500 rpm, you press the brake then floor the car and release the brake sending you rocketing forward in 3 seconds 0-60mph. This first stage was about 6km and really got the blood boiling. One of the most aggressive portions of the stage was a blind drop that was about 30 yards to a T where a hard left was mandatory. If you did not turn left, you would get a dose of the “drink” as Canadian’s say which was the water directly in front of us!

After this was the Marysvale stage which we ran 1 time. This was an incredibly fast section which had a jump followed up by a uphill compression. This required you to load the suspension by quickly tapping the brakes then releasing. Great for video and spectators, you have to make sure your speed is dialed as going over that whoop and headed into the compression can definitely trash your front end. The ending of this stage gave us some relax time chilling in the grass before we headed to the Sunnyside In and Out stages. This was our lunch checkpoint which had us going hard through rolling crests and off camber turns through a neighborhood to the bottom of a fishing wharf. The elevation changes and compressions resembled a mini Nurburgring to me. Few sections you could see ahead and over each crest was a different battle. This made the importance of the navigator crucial. Running this stage in reverse was just as challenging. With the spotting of 2 Canadian moose and a BMW E46 M3 that had gone off into a yard of a locals house, we had our cautious minds in action.

The final run for the day was stage 6 and 7 called the Targa North West Brook Stage. At a lengthy 29km long in Goosberry, this stage would truly test the partnership of driver and co-driver. Having wide open sections with many sweeping turns and crests, you could truly go as fast as you could imagine through the quaint little town. With a max speed cap of 130kph in our class, this could have been easily destroyed with our Porsche Turbo S. The stage did display the harsh roads of Newfoundland. Major potholes, shoulders worn, and uneven payment along with loose gravel made coming through the turns and crests difficult even at 100kph. Being 29km long, this was quite long in comparison to our previous ones. This required major focus and decision making while the adrenaline was pumped the entire time. Once the entire group completed the inbound stage, we turned around after our break and regrouped to go outbound. This stage was actually halted due to a Targa class Subaru STI that had gone off and into the trees at over 170kph! Good thing this car was fully built for rally and both driver and co-driver walked away unharmed. We finished the stage in what they called a Fast Transit. All 50 cars were lead back through single file behind the pace car.

Our final adventure was a Transit Stage to Gander, NF which was just over 160km. Gander which is another small town in Newfoundland, is known for its crazy neighborhood stage as most people have seen online. Unfortunately, we don’t know what tomorrow and Wednesday hold as Hurricane Leslie is expect to land. As a category 1 hurricane, she could also be dropped to a tropical storm. Either way this means rain and flooding so we could see the dominance of the all wheel drive vehicles. Tomorrow holds another 12 hour day with about 9 planned stages! So check out the pictures and stay tuned for more updates! Make sure to bookmark VividRacing.com Performance Racing Parts tnf.
Targa Newfoundland Rally 2012 Day 2 Leg 1 Porsche 997 Turbo In Car Video - YouTube

__________________

vividracing

Today’s Leg of the Targa Newfoundland Rally was super intense. We awoke to the edges of Hurricane Leslie dumping tons of rain and high winds on us. With a majority of the storms strength south in St. Johns, the city of Gander was getting hit hard too. Mainly flat land, flooding is inevitable. But as the Targa team tracked the storm, it was forcasted to move East away from Newfoundland and the rally would go on. The stages would have us driving in the wet conditions. Our Toyo Tires performed very well in the wet. Road conditions did have some flooding and potholes, but even on the high speed straights were we had visual ahead, we could pull 130 kph and feel safe. Like some of the previous stages, the roads that did go at or parallel the ocean water could be a little sketchy. You would crest over a hill and into a left turn that had no guard rail and the water about 10 feet away. Even with our group in “Fast Tour” class, we still wanted to push the car to a comfortable limit.


Most of the stages today we would run both in and out. In total today we traveled over 400 km running in 6 different cities. Bobby’s Cove part of Stage 2 was a great smooth, fast, and flowing section. A couple hard left handers this 7.74 km section was a good test to push speed in the wet. One of the most challenging stages for the day was Point Leamington. This covered 20.22 km each way. Consisting of fast and flowing roads, it had great elevation changes, straight aways, and some crests that tested the navigators skills. With dips in corners, making sure you were fast and smooth without unsettling the suspension was key.

But without a doubt the most epic stage of the entire rally thus far was the Gander street course. Many people have talked about it and actually seeing it first hand was mind blowing. Imagine your neighborhood being shut down and cars go racing through the streets with spectators lined the roads… that was how this was. A majority was all 90 degree right or left handers with a couple straights that would take you to about 140 kph. Few sweeping turns, it was all about the apex where the streets would meet. However because of the great weather that is found here in Newfoundland, many of these corners have strong dips, drains, potholes that challenge your fast in and fast out experience. We would run the Gander stage, 2 times.

Our first time we lined up and actually botched launch control but were able to get going and up to speed. With a total of 6.90 km, the section featured 40 turns! We came through rather fast and even with wet ground, our PCCB equipped Porsche Turbo S had no issue braking. This type of driving being much more up our avenue, we finished with a time of about 5:40. After the finish line there were still groups of kids waiving and taking pics. So I decided to give them some 4 wheel donuts, a bakers dozen actually! With cheers from behind and in front of us, it was probably something they will not forget. We headed around to stage up for our second run at it.

Feeling confident about the stage, we decided to push a bit harder. The ground had dried up a bit and the lines were known. We hit the start hard apexing each of the 40 corners like it was our job. Leaving traction control on, we did come out of some turns sideways, but the PASM corrected as we hammered the gas. Coming out of one turn the back end popped up and stepped out from a severe dip in the corner. That was a butt pucker moment. Again hitting the gas, we plowed through the turns all the way to the Flying Finish. Stopping the clock, we had finished in a 5:15 which was on Targa Class pace! After finishing we jumped out of the car to take a breather as the adrenaline was still flowing. ”How could they allow this,” we thought. The Porsche took care of business and the KW Coilovers really made the handling happen. With the only issue being our factory plastic front lip popping out, we were super stoked on todays Leg!

__________________

vividracing

If the winters were not blasted with Artic cold and snow, days like today make Newfoundland the most beautiful place on Earth. Less than 24 hours ago the island was slammed with the outer parts of Hurricane Leslie causing flooding from tons of rain, yet the rally continued on. Today was blue skys, 65-70F degrees, and some of the most epic scenery as we drove near and around Gander Bay. Leg 3 would have 8 stages that included both fast and flowing roads, in town street racing, and rural fishing village driving.

The first stage was in Main Point. This was a short and quick 4.97 km run with a couple hard turns but mainly smooth and a good day opener. After this stage we headed to run Frederickton which was a bit longer at 8.46 km. This stage had some incredibly fast straights with some tight hard to see hairpin turns. This is also what started a chain of exciting events for the rest of the day. On this stage our fender mounted GoPro fell off the car. Once we crossed the finished line and discovered this, we called to our video crew to go hunt for the camera. While on the hunt, the guys got a flat tire in the rental and after spending 4 hours, they were finally back on the road without the GoPro. However, this would change at the end of the day.

Next we ran Musgrave Harbor, New Wes Valley, and Greenspond. New Wes Valley did claim one of the Targa class cars. A BMW M3 E30 came around a left hander and landed upside down on a short grassy hill in front of spectators. They were all ok and took the car to the service point to get it ready for tomorrow. Greenspond was very short at 2.36 km. This very short, tricky stage had really narrow roads but smooth surfaces. Plenty of sharp corners that had us tracking back in almost a complete loop. Port Blandford allowed us to open the car up a bit on the 4.63 km run. It was similar to a short road course with sweeping corners that kept our Porsche 997 Turbo S in a good rhythm. This stage kept us right on the coast with houses and hills to our right and the sparkling ocean on the left.

The final stages were run in the city of Clarenville. Similar to yesterdays Gander street course, Clarenville was very intense with spectators, hard corners, hill climbs, and fast narrow roads. But before the start one of the workers stood in front of us with a sign that said, “Used GoPro For Sale”. We both stared at it blankly and then soon realized they had found our camera! Stoked from that, we lined up to the start and with Sport Plus on, we pressed the brake, revved it to 5000 rpms and used the insane launch control of the Porsche Turbo s on Clarenville Streets Stage 1. The sun was setting and as we came around to a hard left hander and climbed the hill, the sun blinded us. We fought to get back into the route notes and had a couple mistakes. But we were lucky enough that this stage was run twice. Our next go at it was taken much more seriously as we wanted to execute it like pros. Clarenville Street Stage 2 was going to be faster anyways since we had already run the course once. One of the biggest obstacles was a off camber right hander to a “jump” which was a steep down hill run.

The Grand Touring and Targa classes had a pretty safe day. Once we completed the Clarenville stage we rolled to the nightly car show at the convention center and locked her up safe ready for the next adventure ahead.

__________________

vividracing

Another amazing day here at the Targa Newfoundland Rally. Leg 4 is described as one of the most beautiful routes of the rally. With most of the stages running along quaint little fishing villages against the bay, these legs would have many high speed sections with routes heavily focused on precision driving. Leaving Clarenville, we headed on our Transit Stage 140 km to Boat Harbour. This stage was an amazing journey of 24 km with super fast elevation changes, banked turns, a wooden bridge crossing, and even some gravel. Speeds of 200 kph were easily obtainable, but our class max speed allowed was only 130 kph which required extreme restraint from exceeding. Unlike other stages, this route had pretty smooth roads without pot holes, weathered ruts, and cut aways. This stage did claim another Subaru though. This time a full rally prepped WRX wagon went into the guard rail and folded the driver side wheels. Its crew hobbled it into the finish where their service crew met them and went to work to make it road worthy. This stage we would get to run back in reverse which made it a even more knarly experience at the speeds that were carried.



Next we would run a short 2 km stage at Mooring Cove. Mooring is where you anchor your boat offshore so for rough seas it does not hit a pier, dock, etc. As with many fishing villages and the severe weather found at Newfoundland, this was a common practive and this seaside stage was popular for this. Since this stage was so short, we quickly completed it and headed to the next major city stage of the rally. Marystown South is a 6 km run through the city which has extremely hard 90 degree and 180 degree turns. It features large elevation changes and is the famous spot where the Ferrari Enzo went into the water during the 2011 rally. Because of its recognition last year, this stage had tons and tons of spectators lining the bridges and streets to watch the 50 cars tear through this town.

After Marystown we headed to Garnish which was 14 km of the roughest stage so far. What started off on a flat and quick section soon dove into a small village with brutal rippled roads, pot holes, and hairpin turns through 1 lane streets in-between houses. Some parts of the road were gravel and others were so weathered, they were harsh on the cars. But once you pushed through this short technical area, you came out to another super fast section with some crests and easy turns. However on the straightaways, the pavement was rippled and you needed to choose your line carefully or forced to be bounced hard off line.

After a lunch stop in the Burin Bay with home made food and deserts, we headed back to run the Garnish stage in reverse which was equally challenging. Once completed, we then transited back to Marystown to run that stage in reverse as well. Since this was the last one of the day, we pushed hard. Hammering the car through the course, we hit all our turns and crests with precision. Crossing the line at 4:40, we averaged 70 kph. As the first car to finish, we parked the Porsche Turbo S and gathered our stuff. High on our time, we checked with the Ford Escort rally car on their time or speed. They drove with an average speed of 89 kph. Light, nimble, and Group N Spec, this shows that horsepower can only take you so far.

__________________

vividracing

Friday was the final day of the 2012 Targa Newfoundland rally. As we raced out of Marystown, to Carboneau, and back into St. Johns, it gave plenty of time to reflect back on the day and week of Targa. For the day, we had some of the most intense in-town stages. Combined with some of the most beautiful scenery ever, another 12 hour day of driving came to an end as we cross the official finish line in downtown St. Johns to receive our medals.

Some of the first stages would be run in and out, while others would be done twice in the same direction. Carboneau was the highlight of the day as it was 3 in a row of town stages. Starting after another great hometown cooking lunch, it was go time. Lining up to the count down tree and getting that green light had us full throttle into a hard right hander. Most all of it was a blur of roads from there after as my navigator blurted out pace notes to help set me up for what was ahead. Acute lefts, hard rights up a street the width of your car with a large crest at the top, and my favorite, the drifting 90 degree turns in between houses. But the final stage was the one to watch. This featured the very popular bridge jump. A 1 lane wooden bridge had basically 2 pavement tracks leading up to it. In the years past you could see many cars go air born over this as it had a 30 yard straight in front to set you up. The most amazing photo of this has to be that of a orange Porsche 997 GT3 RS with all 4 wheels off the ground last year. On our first run of this stage, we took it conservative. After 6 days of stages and nearly 1000 miles of driving, the last thing we wanted to do is stuff our Porsche Turbo S. We were also tired and excited we only had 1 more stage. After the bridge jump it winded its way between some classic Newfoundland houses on single lane roads up and downhill. Eventually coming to a crest, it dropped down to a hard sloping right and you accelerated next to the wooden guard rail separating you and the ocean bay. With 1 more turn left, you accelerate to cross the finish.

We could not just leave it at that though. So for the final stage and now seeing what the course had to offer, we strapped in tight with our Status Racing harnesses, got our OMP Racing gear secure, and lined up to the start line. Setting up launch control, the PDK transmission revved to 5000 rpm and we released the brake and took off like a bat out of hell. Making our lefts and rights, we quickly approached the right hander before the bridge. Coming out of the turn I lined the car up and gave it gas hitting that bridge jump at about 50 kph. With the crowd in my peripheral vision and a $150,000 car on the line, we bounced the front end on landing and hammered the gas to continue on the way. Rounding through the houses, we came to the hard right hand turn that took you down by the bay. Accelerating through the apex, I noticed on my left that the guard rail was missing and broken in a section. As instructed in our drivers meeting, we continued forward to the finish. That was it, Targa was done and we had survived! But what happened to the guard rail? One of the Targa Class Fiat Abarth’s had blew the turn and punched through the rail going nose first into the sea wall rocks but not hitting the water. It was a total loss. But thanks to the strong safety standards of Targa, this team was completely unhurt.

We pulled over and the rest of our class pulled in behind us on this random residential street. Everyone got out and gave each other hugs and high fives. We had done it. No serious damage, no issues. Targa 2012 was in the bag. Each of us snapped pics of our teams and as other Targa drivers went by and honked their horns with thumbs up, we returned the favor. Our class was not about time or racing, but about having a really good experience driving our cars in a way they were meant to be driven. Called Fast Tour or Hot Tour, we had no rules, we had no bickering, we simply became a tiny group of individuals with a passion for motorsports that transited together, watch out after one another, and most importantly got to learn about each others life. With over 40 cars in the event, these 2 other Fast Tour cars I will remember forever. Russ and Karen in the Jaguar and Tim and Carrie in the Porsche Cayenne Turbo. Being able to take away something from meeting new people is a larger prize then any trophy. Having been fortunate enough to drive in Gumball 3000 rallies on 3 continents, run the Bullrun rally along the entire east coast, and even travel to drive the famed Nurburgring in a Porsche GT3, Targa goes down as one of the best experiences ever.

A big thank you to my co-driver for keeping life real over 2 weeks of travel, our film guys for helping push this footage, and our sponsors below as this was one hell of a trip. Until the next adventure!

Sponsors – EVOAZ.com Real Estate, OMP Racing Gear, Niche Wheels, Toyo Tires, Go2Transport.com Trucking, KW Suspensions, and CarBuzz for sharing our news to the rest of the non Vivid world.

__________________