St. John’s, Newfoundland - Mini will be the Honoured Marque at the Targa Newfoundland 2009 road rally in September, with Mini owners invited to special events during the seven-day race. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2009, the Mini will be featured prominently on the event posters, programs, website and literature, while special Mini Corrals will be set up to display Mini competition cars and street versions. Targa Newfoundland co-founder Jim Kenzie will debut a new 2009 Mini John Cooper Works Challenge car with his co-driver Brian Bourbonniere in the Targa division, while Tom Thornton and Ron Bartleet of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario will drive a Mini Cooper S Clubman in the Grand Touring competition under the banner of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada. A special two-day Hot Package has been created to allow Mini owners VIP access to the Sunday demonstration stage in St. John’s, special stage access, Mini Corral participation, luncheon, dinner, clothing package and more. For more information, visit Targa Newfoundland.
By the way, has anyone heard whether Jim (McKenzie, the driver of the "slightly modified" MINI above) is returning with another this year?
Lose the Mc... Targa Newfoundland co-founder Jim Kenzie will debut a new 2009 Mini John Cooper Works Challenge car with his co-driver Brian Bourbonniere in the Targa division. See Wheels.ca - Kenzie's race comes to a crashing halt - Canada's Most Trusted Auto Resource
Doh! Dumb-xxx oversight there on my part. How'd I miss that? I know, it was too obvious.....or maybe I just wasn't paying attention.....give me a minute, I'm sure I can come up with a better excuse..... Moving on..... That's great news. Here's hoping he can get right back to his winning ways of recent years.
I'm gonna need a high res pic of the 2009 car. Thanks. I must do Targa Newfoundland someday. Would be nice in a Mini.
This is what he has been given to Rock the ROCK this year! It is a Bonna-fied MINI Challenge fully prepped spec. race car... With a few Mods for Rallying (like the addition of a navigator seat) It was at MINI Durham in Ajax Ontario for all the pre Race Prep. This thing sounds AMAZING!!! And I got to Sit in it! Wish I could have done the tour down there, but alas...I did MINI United at Silverstone... my accountant said I could only do ONE big MINI event this year... Good Luck JIM!!!
I will be there in spirit . . . the passsenger seat in the Targa car came from my Factory Challenge car. The factory supplied seat was too small so I replaced it with a RaceTech (those Europeans have very small backsides!). I drove my Challenge car to a second place podium in the NASA National Championships last weekend in Salt Lake. It's a great car and perfect for the Targa. Best of luck to Jim Kenzie and co-driver Brian Bourbonniere. Randy I believe there are now 4 Challenge cars in North America. One each in AZ, CA, NC and now, Canada.