Image rich - Targa Nfld Car Race

[Manfred M]

This is a short photo essay from the Targa NFLD car race, a week long tarmac car race that happens in Eastern and Central Newfoundland every September. The race runs for 7 days with somewhere between 50 and 80 vehicles and runs for around 1600km / 1000 miles on some of the back roads.

We happened to be in Trinity the day it happened to be in town. The town roads were blocked off for about 5 hours. In the morning the cars raced into town, had a break for lunch and afterwards, they headed back out. I have not ever done this type of photography before, but seeing that we were stuck in town, we got up on a nearby hill with our cameras and took some shots as the cars headed into town. We wandered through the area where the cars were parked over the lunch break and then stood in front of our B&B as they headed back out of town on the next leg of the race. The cars are released with one going every 30 seconds.

More information at: http://targanfld.com/

Not all the images are as good as I would like, but I've included them to help tell the story.


#1 - the Town of Trinity is on Trinity Bay, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador. Europeans first landed here in around 1500 and the permanent settlement started in the 1700s.





#2 - all of the driveways and roads that were not part of the race route were "closed" with safety tape.





#3 - This Lambourghini was the only "super car" in the race. Apparently, the backup vehicle was a Ferrari.





#4 - There were a number of vintage cars in the race, like this old Corvette.





#5 - Yes - they really did race through the town streets. Marshals kept people away from the roads and away from anyplace they could be in danger of being hit by the fast moving cards. Sorry about the "soft" power line in the shot. I didn't bother cloning it out.





#6 - Time to stop for lunch





#7 - Getting out of some of the cars mean crawling through the window...





#8 - There's always something under the hood that needs to be looked at.





#9 - and those lugnuts need to be torqued down...





#10 - Lunch is over an the next leg of the race gets under way...




#11 - Last, but not least, and old MG, piloted by a couple of ladies...

[John 2]

A nice and an intersting set of images Manfred. A very diverse set of vehicles. What's the objectitive of the race given that they are so unevenly matched?

[vaez]

You have a very good collection of photos
All photos are beautiful and for us to tell a story with him.

[madcrow]

A good series of images, well captured and they give a great flavour of what happening.

[Manfred M]

A nice and an intersting set of images Manfred. A very diverse set of vehicles. What's the objectitive of the race given that they are so unevenly matched?

There seems to be some kind of handicap system that attempts to normalize things among the different types of cars. There are also different classes, but not being into car racing, I'm definitely unclear as to how everything works out. Some folks are definitely quite competitive and while we did not see any cars get airborne, there were instances where all four wheels were not on the ground while cornering.

[John 2]

................ Some folks are definitely quite competitive and while we did not see any cars get airborne, there were instances where all four wheels were not on the ground while cornering.

Not the best way to enjoy that wonderful coastline for me.

[joebranko]

Nice set of images; nice cars too. Does the race go all over Newfoundland?

[Mike Buckley]

Interesting images and narrative!

[Manfred M]

Nice set of images; nice cars too. Does the race go all over Newfoundland?

No just the eastern and central parts.

[Shadowman]

This looks like one of those races featured in a few youtube videos where the cameramen are setup very close to the road's edge and usually one or two photographers get plowed over. Nice series, that one biker by the side of the road confirms that it is a similar style race.