Like the semi-legal rallies happening around the world, such as, the Bullrun (not Spike TV's, the real one) and the Gumball 3000, Canada has its own too. Although…there is one huge difference, it is 100% legal and in fact communities close their local roads for it. Most people probably do not know about it, but it is in the province of Newfoundland, Canada. Targa Newfoundland is 2,200km long and runs on all sorts or roads and even right through small towns and cities. Drivers compete against themselves, all other drivers and within all other classes. This year was huge for Mazda!
In their 2004 RX-8, Jeff Mckague and Mike Gayowski finished first in both the Class 9 and the Modern over-all division (getting the 6th best over-all time). There was also a 2004 Mazda 3 GT (that finished in a higher position than the Mazdaspeed 3, in fact it finished 1st in Grand Touring! Alan Kearley and Greg Martin beat the turbo MS3 by 7 spots in the over all Grand Touring division and every other car from many types of Porches (911-944-Boxsters), to a wicked 06 Factory Five Cobra, all the way to a 68 MG.
The Mazdaspeed 3 ladies ended up getting 5th in the Equipped class and 8th overall in the Grand Touring division. Sandra Lemaitre (Mazda’s Corporate Communications Manager) was the navigator for Nika Rolczewski in their 2007 Mazdaspeed 3. She claimed “it was a life changing event”. They mentioned that if they were in the Unequipped division (which they could have been in) they would have been in 4th place overall. In my opinion they both did very well and their car got "favorite car - Targa Newfoundland 2007” award. Do not take that lightly; from across the globe there are classic porches to old mustangs all the way to full out Rally ready Sti’s and Porche 911’s. To win favorite car is a great thing!
Zoom Zoom!
In their 2004 RX-8, Jeff Mckague and Mike Gayowski finished first in both the Class 9 and the Modern over-all division (getting the 6th best over-all time). There was also a 2004 Mazda 3 GT (that finished in a higher position than the Mazdaspeed 3, in fact it finished 1st in Grand Touring! Alan Kearley and Greg Martin beat the turbo MS3 by 7 spots in the over all Grand Touring division and every other car from many types of Porches (911-944-Boxsters), to a wicked 06 Factory Five Cobra, all the way to a 68 MG.
The Mazdaspeed 3 ladies ended up getting 5th in the Equipped class and 8th overall in the Grand Touring division. Sandra Lemaitre (Mazda’s Corporate Communications Manager) was the navigator for Nika Rolczewski in their 2007 Mazdaspeed 3. She claimed “it was a life changing event”. They mentioned that if they were in the Unequipped division (which they could have been in) they would have been in 4th place overall. In my opinion they both did very well and their car got "favorite car - Targa Newfoundland 2007” award. Do not take that lightly; from across the globe there are classic porches to old mustangs all the way to full out Rally ready Sti’s and Porche 911’s. To win favorite car is a great thing!
Zoom Zoom!
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