Just thought I would mention this for those who may be interested.

There where two 85 RX7 and one RX8 in the race this year. I drove car 714 and think that the FB particularly a 79 (rules favor more) could win this rally if properly prepared.

If anyone has any questions about the event I would be happy to try and answer them.

My dad was the co-driver for the event and both of us would recommend competing in the event if it is at all reasonable for you to do. The event really is more exciting then what can be put in to words, but having the police close the roads and allow you to go as fast as you can through subdivisions is a fantasy come true.

P.S.

I may be selling my Targa prepared car due to lack of funds, so if it happens to get any TV footage take a look if your interested, it's in exact condition as it finished the race with safety equipment and all.

 

How much do you think the average person would have invested in one of these cars? I'm not saying the top guys, but to compete in the beginner class? I have always been really interested in getting involved in rally racing and have always thought that the rx-7 would make a great car for it. Do you know much about the rally events around Calgary? I know that there usually is one or 2 a year, but I never hear about them until after the event.

 

I saw pics of your car. I think your dad contacted me about the Targa several weeks ago. Thanks for the reminder about the show.

 

These would probably be two good sites to look at if you’re interested in finding out the dates as well as more information. I don't really know any more then that the Canadian rally series has an event in Calgary.

http://www.rallywest.com/
http://www.carsrally.ca/

As for investment there are a few people who are starting out such as myself that are basically running stock cars with Cages and racing seats. As a minimum you are looking at about $6000 on top of the purchase of the car for safety equipment. (roll cage + seats and belts) There are a few beginners at each event in Ontario that are running at about this investment.

http://www.rallyclassified.com/
http://www.targanewfoundland.com/prepare_carsToBuy.asp

Buying a prepared car is definitely the cheapest way to go.

Good luck with future rallying

 

It's on my list of 'Things To Do'.
I think two summers from now I should be ready.
For me it would be the event of a lifetime.
A friend of mine is a rider in a truck doing the Baja 1000 and I'm jealous, but I'd rather be the driver in Targa Nfld.

 

Just finshed watching it. good drive you did the gooch

As a side note, my fathers old co driver is Greg turner ( co driver of the echo with timmy the turtle). Arnold Hoar who was driving is a good friend of my family. my uncle was also on the service team.
They had an amazing wreck on the first day. They both walked away, the impact knocked Arnold out and he had a slight concussion. Its fantastic that they were both able to walk away.
Funny thing though, when they picked up the car at the garage where it was parked, it started right up and they drove it on the flat bed and took it home. lol

 

I just Saw the Show!..I came upon it while "channel surfing"..It was Good to Watch REAL driving..I think One of the Best Parts was the Porsche going into "the bay"..(Water)....you could hear the guy sayin "i'm goin out through the window"!..But I guess they got it all Fixed up/Dried off and Completed the Targa Despite this "small incident"!..that is Amazing..Good Job Gooch!..Man,that must have been a Real balast to let the Car go,ALL OUT!..without hearin Sirens..(managed to hear your Dad Say "GIV 'ER" a coiple times..haha!..that good old Ontario Twang!..fer sure Bye..Git da Boot lad!

 

From what I understand from my good friend and dentist, Rob Pacione (open class Mustang), it takes more like $50,000 to compete to win if you bring a team with you. That is including your transport costs, support vehicle, shelter, food etc. His investment to run is close to 6 figures.

 

Must be nice to have the coin to compete in the top classes. Maybe some day. That's awesome that you and your father got to compete. I watched it last night, your dad was pretty choked up at the end. Good to see all the families involved. Mine just looks at my car and see's a money pit.LOL. Looked like a real blast. Glad to hear the guy's in the turtle car,LOL, are allright. That was a hell of a crash. I had no idea what the targa newfoundland was.

Brent

 

As having been to targa twice to race in the open class (entry 101, Datsun 510) It is not a cheap proposition especially when you demolish your car. Spare parts, tires, fuel and towing your car and trailer to NFLD is also quite costly. But on the other hand it is a heck of a good time. Have fun, race hard. Maybe we'll take my FC next year.

 

As having been to targa twice to race in the open class (entry 101, Datsun 510) It is not a cheap proposition especially when you demolish your car. Spare parts, tires, fuel and towing your car and trailer to NFLD is also quite costly. But on the other hand it is a heck of a good time. Have fun, race hard. Maybe we'll take my FC next year.

Be interesting if you would post what your costs are if you would share them with everyone!

 

Sweet job Jake!!

Looks like you guys had lots of fun...I saw Steweart Hoo giving the Porsche guys a hand getting their beast running again. Great guy.

You and your dad seemed to work pretty well driving/guiding. Maybe one day I'll get to par-take.

Great show!!

 

The actual figures I am not 100% on but approx. figures are:

truck and trailer: $1000 fuel
support car: $400-500 fuel
Accomidations for 4 people $2000
Race Car $6000-$8000 in preperation for the event (tires, brakes, filters and fluids)
as well as a spare engine,gearbox,diff,driveshaft and a mountain of other little parts
Not to mention the cost of fabricating a car, the Datsun was worth 50k-60k
It would be safe to say that with food and all the other costs it is a $12,000-$15,000 excursion. Not the cheapest vacation but one you would never forget.

 

So it would be safe to say if you had to purchase a trailer and build a car, you would be over $70,000 to go the 1st year!?

 

I was just at sno*drift this weekend (prorally in the michigan)... it was definatly an unforgettable experience.

I've always wanted to go to TARGA but it's just sooo far away.

maybe one day!

 

Navigator paid for the trip $12,000 sounds about right (fuel, accommodation, entry and meals). The support team in the chase vehicle was my wife and daughter, so accommodation was fairly cheap for us because we could all share a room, or cabin. There are some great places to stay that are really reasonable. That is not a ridiculous cost for a two week holiday for four. I didn't have that money lying around either, so a line of credit from TD got us there....payments!!!!

The driver paid for the car. He had no where near $50,000 into it (really sorry to see the Datsun wrecked, could not figure out how you got it over the guard rail?). Jake bought it on this site for $3500. It was not real competitive, .needs a few more hp and a bit more down force to keep it on the road, but I think that helped to keep us out of trouble.
The trailer was got on eBay, not a huge expense.

We spent two years getting prepared to go. Learned a lot from a lot of people and still made some stupid mistakes. Our goal was: 1st, to finish the thing, and 2nd, to try for a silver plate, and we succeeded. Winning was never a consideration. That takes a lot more talent then we have, and yes it would take a better prepared car.

Having said that, I do not think there was a person there that had a better time than we did, and I would give my left ******** to do it again. You are a long time dead,........ so if you are so inclined....just do it and figure out the payments latter.

Mike (navigator, Team Gooch)

 

As long as you can work on your car yourself so that you are not bringing a mechanic and can find a friend (bonus if there a mechanic) to follow you around Newfoundland for a week you could do everything for $20,000

The entire trip cost my family about $17,000 including car, Trailer and support vehicle. So basically that is everything starting from scratch to be able to go to Targa.

8500 car purchase and prep (includes helmets)
2000 Trailer
3500 Entry fee (lunch's included) I believe this has gone up slightly
1500 Gas for Truck and car (we drove to Newfoundland towing the race car)
1000 accommodations for 4 (we booked all our own and cooked)

I only serviced my car two nights during the event. One fixing the rear end links that I ground off. The other fixing the transmission mount bolts that I sheared. I drove the car 4 stages with the drive shaft hitting the tunnel on corners.

I only finished in the lower middle of the pack but with a couple more thousand on the car, more power (ported engine) and a wing on the back I think you could be quite competitive with a FB.

I finished 37/ 58 having never driven competitively before.


Some information for those who may be interested in rallying in general as well as Targa

I would recommend anyone who is interested in Targa or performance rallying to try the Time Speed Distance (TSD) rallies around Ontario through TAC, MLRC, PMSC. Although not all the directions are similar to Targa the first set always seem to be. These rallies really help my dad and I with understanding the few calculations you have to do and getting use to running a rally odometer as well as communication between driver and co-driver. These event do not require either a rally computer (you can use one) or any car preparation and cost around $40 to enter.

http://www.pmsc.on.ca/
http://www.torontoautosportclub.ca/
http://www.mlrc.ca/
http://www.rallysport.on.ca/

This was a navigational event I enjoyed last year.

The Greenspond Go-Round is part of the Ontario Road Rally Cup, the top navigational rally series in the province, and is suitable for teams of all skill levels. This rally offers instructions inspired by Targa Newfoundland and will provide an interesting afternoon on some great roads around Guelph.

 

1987 Porsche 944
Turbo
Good, Clean Car
$12,000.00

Call Scott @ (709)576-7537

This is the car that was getting the coil fixed in the show. Its not an RX7, but it would be a cheap way to get into the event with a proven car.

Ther are also rental cars available...believe it or not

http://www.targanewfoundland.com/prepare_carsToBuy.asp

 

Haha..I just looked up the Way to Get across..From Nova Scotia to Newfoundland..they Still have the Lief Eriksonn in Comission!..When I was there a couple times(NFLD),our family Was on that Ship.there was also The William Carson (back then)..we were just kids and got "our Jollies" Riding up and down the Elevators,between Decks!..We Got Caught!..and were repremanded for pressing all the buttons!..We Skidaddled back to the "safety" of our Parents..like nothing happened!..(where were you?..uh,no where Dad!)

 

what kind of suspension do u have done to ur fb? I am considering doing the targa lol. I have no idea how I will aford it but I think it would be worth it?

 

This is basically everything that was done to the car. I would recommend the old road racing series wing for the car. I forget what series had this wing as the approved one, but if you look at pictures of the other RX7 that ran Targa that is what he was using. He said that it preformed quite well. Mine was a little unstable over 170 km/h

- Racing Beat suspension Package (springs, sway bars)
- Tokico HP struts / shoks
- New Mazda factory 4 link in the rear.
- All new MOOG chassis & steering components (tie rods, ball joints, etc).
- Remanufactured calipers.
- Weber 45 DCOE
- Header (not sure of brand)
- Flowmaster muffler.
- LSD solid rear axel (converted to 4 wheel disk)
- Dual alternator pulley.
- Sparco Evo seats
- Roll cage (Mantis Racing, good if your just doing Targa, four-star may be better if you’re looking to get into off road rallying
- Stock rims with Sumitomo HTR 200 205/60R13 (excellent in the rain not bad on the dry)

Make sure your transmission is mounted with both bolts. When mine sheared I found that the one bolt had already failed since it was rusty. If you would like to ask any more questions about Targa feel free to send me or my dad an email jacobthegooch@gmail.com or mgooch@surenet.net

I’d like to go back for next year but don’t suspect that I will be able to accomplish that.
Good luck to you and I would be happy to assist in anyway that I could.

 

well I did most of the supsension stuff already ! whoo who lol. Do you have any pics?

 

also what class did u run in?

 

Early Modern Modified Small Displacement (class 7 MS)

there was only two cars in that class


If you would like any specific pictures of things or just more let me know and I can email you some or post more on a web site.

 

Nice man. Is this a 12a powered car I assume. And were you in the targa section... the all out race against the clock, I think that is what they say on the targa newfoundland website? Or were you in the Grand Touring section?

I should have watched the rally eh lol.