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magazine / ja06
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July/August 2006 issue |
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Rock ’n’ rally
Tour the Rock at up to 200 kilometres an hour in the Targa Newfoundland auto
rally, a week-long ride through seaside villages in the province’s eastern reaches
Excerpt of story by Jen Horsey and photography by Andrew Harvey
A ribbon of pavement curls along the protective bowl of Harbour Mille, where schooners and
dories bob beside wooden docks piled with fishing nets and lobster traps. Rocky slopes stacked
with white wooden houses catch the morning light, and an eagle flying alongside the road drops
even with the grille of our car and floats for a moment, wings outstretched, before disappearing
into the sky.
I want to study this tableau dreamily through the car window, but I don’t have time.
This is no leisurely drive: this is Targa Newfoundland, an annual auto rally, and we’re
cruising at top speed. Over six days of competition, I’ll capture just a few of these
precious snapshots, but they’re the moments that make this whole improbable caper worthwhile.
As navigator, my job is to call out each turn, bump and bend in the road to my teammate,
driver Keith Townsend, allowing him to navigate corners he can’t yet see. A wrong turn
at 200 kilometres an hour could land us in the ocean. On this otherwise tranquil morning,
we’re pushing to make up crucial seconds. "Leftthree into right-four," I
yell into the intercom wired into my carbon-fibre helmet, using code phrases set out in the
detailed route book prepared by organizers. The engine wails as Keith downshifts for the
tight left. I struggle to keep my place in the book, and I’m pressed back into my seat
as he guns into the faster right turn.
For the rest of this story, visit your local newsstand or go to our store to buy this issue.
For related stories, facts and figures, visit CG’s Explorer Online
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