I left for Newfoundland on September 6th, worked Targa September 7th-16th, flew home to Halifax and walked in the front door at 9:30am and then was back at the airport at 1:30 to fly to Indianapolis where I was until I walked back in the door at 3am this morning. Tomorrow I’m off to AMP to work the last ARMS Sedan race of the year. My desk is going to feel like a vacation on Monday! (Until the meetings begin, anyway! )

Targa Newfoundland 2007 has now been and gone. A great event overall with its shares of drama and excitement. A few unfortunate incidents and cars not quite the same shape or length than they were at the start but NOBODY had to go to the hospital, not even as a precaution! I call that a win for an event like this. The weather was decent most of the week with the exception of some wet/cold Wednesday and there was nothing but rave reviews all around for the competitors, spectators and volounteers. I have to say it was very cool seeing kids all over Newfoundland waving around the Subaru Hero Cards made from my photos. The Subaru team is always a favorite of the youngsters and I really enjoy the thought of having my card stuck up on bedroom walls all over the place.

Sad news in the rally world was announced at the Targa Awards Gala on Saturday night where Jim Kenzie informed us of the death of Colin McRae in a helicopter crash. Talk about a shock. It was a complete surprise to almost everyone in the room and the moment of silence we observed was tough. An unfortunate cap to the week but as with all things in life we must go on. The Gala went on moments later to raise over $50,000 for Easter Seals Canada in the form of donations, auctions and entry bids. Proper thing!

Full Targa photos are forthcoming. I have over 4600 shots to go through and its going to take some time, keep an eye on the photo gallery.

Indianapolis was a complete gear shift for me. I was there to provide a training package to a customer on Medusa’s software suite. My two weeks in Newfoundland completely erased any comfort I felt I had with the material since Targa has a way of consuming the outside world. Luckily it all came back and I think the session went quite well. We even had time to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which was pretty cool. The place is HUGE and I can’t believe they only use it three times a year! The Hall of Fame museum has some pretty amazing historical vehicles and mementos and the history of the place is palpable. Next time I’ll have to try and make it for the bus tour around the track itself!

3 days until we leave for Newfoundland for the Targa Newfoundland rally. Man time flies. We’re over doing the same job as we did last year embedded with the TV crew. I think this year we’ll be a lot better prepared since we know what we’re in for. Last year it was a whirlwind of figuring things out as we went along. Still a fun experience but I could do without the stress. I’ve cleared off about 40 gigs worth of space on the laptop for photo downloads… I’m not entirely sure it’ll be enough. I loaded up the laptop with Adobe Lightroom as well so I can proof on the go and delete the obvious crap ones, assuming we have time. We’ll see how this experiment works out.

I get back from Newfoundland on the 17th for about four and a half hours before getting back to the airport and on another plane to Indianapolis for work. Won’t that be fun.

The Audi is no longer in the driveway… for the moment anyway. Its off at the muffler shop getting an exhaust… not replacing the exhaust… GETTING one. A 2.3L Inline 5 with nothing hooked up to the manifold is a bit… brisk sounding for suburbia. This will bring us most of the way to getting the car ready for prime time. A new windshield should be all it needs for a safety inspection after that and then we can register it and get ready for the dirt.

In other tidbits… I’ve driven a few cars whose monthly payments were about par with our mortgage but this is the first car that I’ve driven that actually cost MORE than our house. Of course I didn’t get to drive it anywhere near like it WANTS to be, but thats fine with me. I’m not sure I have the cojones to risk crashing my house into something.

2008 Porsche 911 GT3, 3.6L 6cyl Turbo, 415hp, 0-60 in 4.1sec, Top speed 193mph