September 16, 2011 - Last year, Hurricane Igor rocked the Burin Penninsula just after the Targa was over.
It was the reason so many of the roads in the area were freshly paved, for example. And here we were, facing another. So the organizers made the decision to scrap the first two stages of the day, a pair of high-speed, long runs through isolated areas. Every competitor I talked to was relieved, including myself. The downside was that this meant a long, long transit to the first stage. And it was a nasty one. Deep standing water, heavy rain and very high winds. Both Janel and I were quite happy not to be actually racing.
Part of the plan was for us to have breakfast at the little town of Harbour Mille before we turned around and raced back. I don't know the population of Harbour Mille, but it's probably just a few hundred at most. Unfortunately, they didn't get the word that the stages were canceled and they went ahead and prepared a feast for us. A few people such as 2/3 of our film crew did make the trip so it wasn't completely wasted, but that's a shame.
We did learn that a Maserati MC12 will throw a very impressive rooster tail from the diffuser at 100 km/h, though. The Lamborghini Murchilago, not so much.
Yuk.
tags: 2011 race, day 5, hurricane, Harbour Mille, Little Bay East |
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