Targa Newfoundland - Leg 5

Another Porsche has taken over the top spot on the Targa Newfoundland rankings.


As of the end of Leg 4 last night, the blue Porsche #510 was still in first place overall, but they picked up some serious penalty time in Stage 5-2 in Petite Forte this morning, dropping them to eighth overall by noon.


This allowed the green 1965 Porsche 911 (#304), driven by Michael Stoschek (Germany) and Philipp Spaeth (USA), to move into first overall by midday today.


The STILLEN GT-R is still in the number one spot in the Modern division, which of course also puts it in first place in its category and class.

Have to wait for the results of the rest of today's stages to see who will come out on top.

Targa Blogs

Here are some blogs by drivers at Targa Newfoundland 2009:

Jim Kenzie's The Driver's Seat
(driving a MINI Challenge Cooper S JCW)
http://thestar.blogs.com/kenzie/

Marc Lachapelle's Targa NL blog at Autonet.ca
(driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STI)
http://blog.autonet.ca/targa

Team STILLEN's blog
(driving a Nissan GT-R)
http://blog.stillen.com/

Glen Clarke's Targa NL blog
(driving a 1976 Porsche Carrera)
http://www.openroadmotorsports.com/W09TargaDailyLog.html

Follow the action!

More links:
Road & Track magazine's Targa NL coverage
www.MINI.ca Targa Newfoundland 2009
Official Targa Newfoundland website

Targa Car of the Day

Here are some photos of car number 510, a 1976 Porsche Carrera driven by Glen Clarke of Ontario, with co-driver Andy Proudfoot of Gander. Clarke drove to a first-place-overall finish in Targa Newfoundland 2006.


Apparently Clarke originally bought this car on eBay for $300! I guess they had a lot of work to do to get the Porsche race-ready.


#510 is the only car with a perfect record so far at Targa Newfoundland 2009 (having finished three days of racing without receiving a single penalty) and currently holds first place overall.


You can read more about their car build and racing at their website:
http://www.openroadmotorsports.com/W09TargaDailyLog.html

Win Speed

Rinspeed Le Mans 600Based on the Porsche 911 997 Turbo, this car has been given styling and performance upgrades from Rinspeed of Switzerland. Their Porsche tuning division is now owned by the Mansory Corporation.


With these modifications, this car is able to go 0-100km/h in 3.3 seconds and has a top speed of 343km/h!

Hot Pepper

Porsche Cayenne "Magnum"
From tuning company TechArt, this lowered Cayenne has more of a wagon (or estate) look.

Black and White

Jaguar XKR convertibleYou know a driver values their car when they take up two parking spaces!

I'm not a big fan of Jaguars, but this is the first time I've seen the XKR up close. This is definitely the hottest Jag I've met. I've heard other people say that it looks a lot like some Aston Martins and I would agree (especially that front end). Maybe that's why I like it.

Bentley Continental GTSecond black one I've seen.

Porsche Cayenne SFirst, two black Lambos and now a pair of pearl-white Porsches.

Dark Tuning

Ramadan Nights, the Sequel...

BMW X5 HamannThis dusty X5 was wearing Hamann badges.

Porsche Cayenne GemballaAnother Cayenne with the Gemballa treatment.

Ramadan is over now, so I will try to stay away from the nighttime shots from now on. Hopefully, as people get back to their regular daytime schedules, we'll be seeing a lot more exotics on the road in the daylight.

Ramadan Nights

Sorry about the dark photos. The exotics are pretty scarce in the daytime during the month of Ramadan. I think all the high-end cars are at home sleeping in the afternoon. After dark, however, some of them come out to play.

Bentley Continental GTThis is a different GT than the white one I saw last month.

Porsche Cayenne Gemballa GT BiturboA Cayenne that has been tuned by German aftermarket company Gemballa.

Two Chevrolet Corvette C6Two Corvette convertibles stopped at a traffic light. That's the front end of a Porsche Cayenne on the right-hand side.

Rolls-Royce PhantomThe driver is waiting for several ladies in black.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead CoupéThis is the first time I've seen one of these. It's the two-door convertible version of the Phantom. Gotta love the suicide doors.

The most amazing car that I've seen during Ramadan was a black Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera. I didn't manage to capture a photo of it, but I'll keep on the lookout.

Summer Spotting: France Edition I

Porsche 964 Carrera 2
A rear-wheel-drive Porsche from the early nineties.

Aston Martin DB9
Awesome car, beautiful design, V12 engine.

Ferrari 575 M SuperAmerica
Made in 2005, this car has a unique convertible "electrochromic glass panel" roof that flips over 180 degrees to the back. Apparently there were only 559 of these built.

Citroën 2CV
This is such an iconic French car that I had to include one shot of it. In production for over 40 years, Citroën made almost four million of these cars! There are rumours that an updated version of the 2CV may go into to production in the not-too-distant future.

Weekend in the Village

Porsche 911 Turbo

Turbo!

Porsche CarreraMay be convertible?

Chevrolet Corvette C6
Haven't seen this deep orange colour one before.

Bentley Continental GT
First Bentley of the day. This guy just decided to make his own parking spot. First time I've seen the nine-spoke wheels.

Bentley Continental GT
Second Bentley of the day. That makes four in a week! (red, white, sliver & blue)

Audi R8Built on the same platform as the Lamborghini Gallardo (same chassis, same transmission), just with a smaller engine. And about half the price!

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren

One of the most expensive production cars in the world, at about $500,000.

Also saw another Prowler today, deep red in colour. Didn't manage to get a photo.

North Side

Bentley Continental GTC
Two Bentleys in two days! This one was a soft top. 550bhp!

Dodge Charger R/T
I believe that is a 5.7L Hemi V8.
This Charger appeared to be locked down by the police. That's a real car capture!

Porsche 911 turbo
Type 997, I think.