JetSetterJoe.com

 In my opinion, nothing embodies the spirit of auto racing in its purest form than rallying. This form of motor sport harkens back to the days before closed circuits when road racing literally meant what its name implies: two or more cars racing on public roads from point A to point B. It is no wonder that one of my favorite movies growing up was “The Great Race”.

Even if you are not so much into motor sports, rallying can still appeal to adventurous travelers not just because of the thrill of speeding through back roads and towns trying to find that elusive “X” in the map but also because of the beautiful and sometimes exotic locales that serve as a backdrop to many events. In North America, where racing is dominated by primarily oval-based series such as NASCAR and Indy Racing League, rallying is almost unknown. In Europe, however, the World Rally Championship attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators and champion drivers such as Sébastien Loeb and Marcus Gronholm are superstars in their own right.

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Nevertheless, there is still hope for North American rally fans. The sport has recently gained higher profile due to two consecutive appearances in the summer X games. (One of which feature an spectacular performance by the now deceased rally legend Colin Mcrae in which he rolled the car yet managed to continue almost as if nothing had happened only to be beaten by American adventure sport phenomenon and #1 rally ambassador in the US Travis Pastrana by mere seconds.)

Another event that is quickly becoming a classic, despite having been in existence for only 6 years, is the Targa Newfoundland. “Targa” means plate in Italian and it signifies the shape of the prize given to the winner of this event. The event is run each September on 2200 Km of public paved roads in eastern and central Newfoundland. The race is composed of 75% “transit sections” (equivalent to road or liaison stages in rallying parlance), in which crews compete on public roads following the rules of the road, and 25% “targa” or “speed” sections (special stages), which are all out time trials held in public roads closed to the public.

Each vehicle competes against itself on a handicap basis, as well as against other vehicles, within several classes that include historic, classic and modern sporting motor vehicles. This allows even privateers with limited budgets to compete against larger teams. In fact, the overall winner for the 2003, 2004 and 2005 editions of the Targa was a BMW club racer from Northern California named Bill Arnold who beat out factory entries from Chrysler, Subaru and GM. This year Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes took the overall win on a 1969 BMW 2002.

Add to the thrill of rally racing the dramatic backdrop of the island of Newfoundland with its quaint villages and rugged coastlines and you have what can only be called one of the last great automotive adventures. Best of all, it is one adventure that can be attained even by average Joes and is not reserved only for the racing elite.