MINI Canada’s John Cooper Works (JCW) MINI Cooper S successfully defended its Open Division title at Targa Newfoundland from September 9-16, 2006, once again taking its place at the top of the podium. Driven by automotive journalist Jim Kenzie with rally veteran Brian Bourbonniere as navigator, the JCW MINI Cooper S dispatched a field of heavily modified high-horsepower competitors in the fastest division at Targa Newfoundland. In addition, Kenzie and Boubonniere were one of three teams to take home gold plates, having completed all Targa stages within their trophy time for the third consecutive year.
“(The JCW MINI Cooper S) is as reliable as a brick through a plate glass window,” claims driver Jim Kenzie. “It is simply the most amazing little beast.”
The Open Division boasts the toughest rally base times and imposes no restriction on modifications to vehicles. The 208 horsepower JCW MINI Cooper S was the only stock car in the heavily modified field. Legendary handling, potent performance, remarkable reliability, and a talented in-car duo all played a part in the victory. This was the third straight Targa Newfoundland rally for the 2004 Chili Red JCW MINI Cooper S, which has accumulated over 6,500kms of grueling tarmac without any technical difficulties, a testament to the quality and reliability of the MINI.
“MINI Canada is thrilled to bring home the Targa Newfoundland Open Division title for the second straight year,” said Stephen McDonnell, Director, MINI Canada. “This victory speaks volumes to the sporting and handling capabilities of the MINI and reinforces the brand’s impressive rally heritage. The hospitality and scenery of Newfoundland make it the perfect location for such an arduous event.”
MINI Canada also took home the Churchill Motorsports Award as part of the national three car team that accumulates the lowest aggregate of penalty points throughout all portions of the rally, marking the first time a Canadian team has claimed the award. Rounding out the team were the 1979 Porsche 911 of Glen Clarke and Evan Gamblin and the 1981 Porsche 911 of Scott Giannou and Ray Felice.
The new MINI, introduced to the North American automotive market in March of 2002, continues the brand’s rich heritage of racing. MINI’s supremacy at Targa Newfoundland in both 2006 and 2005 adds another chapter to the brand’s celebrated rally heritage. In the mid 60s the Classic Mini dominated the rally scene capturing championship titles in the 1964, 1965, and 1967 Monte Carlo Rally.
Targa Newfoundland is the first and only event of its kind to be held in North America. It is an annual event and forms a 2200 km long, high quality automotive adventure. It is held over a seven-day period in September of each year on the paved roads of the eastern and central parts of the island of Newfoundland. The vehicles and crews compete on public roads in transit sections which follow all of the rules of the road and Targa, or speed sections which are held on roads closed to the general public. Each vehicle competes against itself on a handicap basis as well as against other vehicles.
To catch all the action, including daily updates, photos, driver bios, in-car video footage, and much more, visit the www.MINI.ca website.
Congrats on the back-to-back wins! If anybody has any info on when/if the Targa Newfoundland will appear on TV please let us know. Last year’s was featured in the US on the Speed network and it featured some great shots of these cars in action. The show should contain a disclaimer to MINI owners advising them not to operate their MINI for at least several hours after watching the show…at the conclusion of last year’s episode I was ready to run my own Targa Boise but my wife was the voice of reason!
I gotta go print out the results and leave them in my neighbors mail box.
He owns a ’06 ‘vette and is always asking me when I’m gonna get a real car…. HA!
“as reliable as a brick through a plate glass windowâ€ÂÂ
. . . oh man, I love that! That’s going into my lexicon of daily usage. Proud to see the new MINI earn its heritage in the same giant killer fashion as its forefather.
You really need to go and read the articles on the MINI.ca site. This team is absolutely awesome.
One can only dream, but wouldn’t it be something if MINI decided to get into WRC or something like that, and made the prerequisite 500 cars or so of a WRC model with the TwinGo all-wheel drive system?
I think I read somewhere that there’s a length minimum that a WRC car has to meet,and the MINI is too short (or too short a wheelbase), but if that ever was changed………… drool…
<blockquote>I think I read somewhere that there’s a length minimum that a WRC car has to meet,and the MINI is too short (or too short a wheelbase), but if that ever was changed………… drool…</blockquote>
Clubman WRC Limited Edition FTW!
Well, the R56 MINI is indeed longer and wider than the R53 generation, so I don’t see why the next MINI won’t be able to partake on WRC racing events.
I am very excited about MINI’s victory in Targa newfounland but also lament the bad luck of the MINIUSA team during the first day of the race.
An incredible feat!
<blockquote>Well, the R56 MINI is indeed longer and wider than the R53 generation, so I don’t see why the next MINI won’t be able to partake on WRC racing events.</blockquote>
less than 3 inches longer. As I recall the R53 was about 10-12 inches too short. That’s why I’m suggesting the R55 above. 😉
In regards to MINI having a rally car. After reviewing the regulations, I can find nothing about min. sizes of cars. As long as the car meets the minimum interior size the car is eligible for competition. You can check out the reg’s here <a href="http://www.fia.com/sport/Regulations/rallyregs.html" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.fia.com/sport/Regulations/rallyregs.html</a>.
Thw WRC possibilities may be a bit premature – this Targa is much more like the original Targa Florio, the Mille Miglia, or actually much closer to the old Tour de France – road races over streets with no special stages in the forests. The WRC is a whole different kettle of fish, with purpose-built rally racers that bear only passing resemblance to a street version. Sure, a MINI is an awesome road car, but rallying at the top level is a whole ‘nother story.
Personally, I like the fact that the MINI is strong right outta the box on road courses – with races won by privateers, no less – which was the Classic Mini’s forte as well, but a huge factory effort would be required to do the WRC right, and I don’t see BMW going this route – they’ve never done so before, and show no signs of it now. Yeah, it would be fun to see a JCW in the snow at the Monte, or stage yumping at the RAC, but that’s a nice fantasy for now. Unless the powers-that-be change the regs to suit almost un-modded road cars, MINIs should stick to road racing for success for the nonce.
BCNU,
Rob in Dago
Jim Kenzie, the mini driver is an automotive journalist and quite the character. You can see some of his clips at <a href="http://www.motoringtv.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.motoringtv.com/</a>
Cheers
on the targanewfoundland website there’s an overall clip and at the 60% mark there’s a classic Mini drifting through an acute angle turn…coool
So this is a complete JCW car? Brakes, suspension, engine?
I started getting excited when I read the headlines, but after checking out the official website I read that overall in the Targa division the MINI came 22nd.
You can’t relate this to the overall wins in the Monte Carlo Rally where ouright first place was achieved.
> overall in the Targa division the MINI came 22nd
Sure. But recognize that the penalty seconds on which Targa’s overall standings are based depend on a handicap. (Otherwise, how could say, a 54 Mercury compete with a new Subaru STI?) As you’d expect, older cars get stage times that are easier to meet.
After 5 years, the organizers have the handicaps pretty well tuned. You can tell the age category of a Targa car by the first digit of its race number. 2xx are the oldest, through 9xx, with 1xx being the Open division cars like Jim Kenzie’s.
> If anybody has any info on when/if the Targa
> Newfoundland will appear on TV please let us know.
It usually airs in Canada at the end of the following January (Global on the mainland, NTV in Newfoundland). In the past Speed TV has run it a couple of months after that – usually a few times.
This year’s TV show has a new MC (Andrew Comrie-Picard – who you may know as a seriously fast performance rally driver) and new production company.
Just have been browsing the MINI Canada Website and have been reading the daily driver journals – great reading for both proud (ex-pat) Canucks and MINI lovers…
Congrats to MINI Canada for winning again! (sad to read that MINI USA were out within 3 km of starting….)
There are a couple of very good articles in this month’s Roundel about the Targa Newfoundland race from this year. One details a team’s efforts with a ’95 M3 and another looks in-depth at the preparation of a ’69 2002. There are several sidebars that look at the risks the drivers deal with in the rally (and they’re some bigguns!), as well as some of the technical details of how the entries are categorized and the race scored.