Experiencing the SCCA New England Targa Time Trials!

It is no secret I do ALOT of track days, however getting my foot in the door with SCCA was something I always wanted to do. 

Dan, our resident GR Supra expert is no stranger to the SCCA competing with his other car, in the Mazda Miata Club Spec CSX Time Trials.

SCCA has recently come out with a new experience in time trials called Targa. The concept is a multi-day cumulative competition of TT sessions amongst multiple tracks. The challenge comes on and off the track as part of the competition is driving your car as you brought it not just on the track but also street driving it to the next track!

Dan and I signed up for the New England Targa copiloting his ex-CSX car. The competition started Wednesday July 15th at Palmer Motorsports Park and would continue on to Lime Rock Park on the Thursday, Canaan Motor Club on Friday and end at Pocono Raceway on Saturday. 

Palmer was the first meeting of all the Targa folks, many coming from as far Texas to see the New England tracks. It was such a pleasure to meet everyone there who was just as crazy about driving as we are. We were joined by the Canadian wild fire smog which made for some epic sky views as we carved the mountain. 

The Targa was set up in a way that every driver had a practice session and a competition session. A total of four sessions so those who shared cars could both get a practice in. We had the learn the track quick, which definitely favored those with autocross experience! Dan and I struggled a little bit learning the tracks and getting up to speed with such little reconnaissance.

The following day we hit Lime Rock Park! My home track and definitely an advantage for the both of us. For Dan, this was a much needed return to regain confidence and conquer West Bend after making sweet sweet love with the wall with his Miata.

Following Lime Rock we had quite the hike up to Canaan NH. Around a 3 hour drive, the Miata on 200TW (basically bald) tires trudged on. Luckily we only caught a little bit of rain on I91 North, that was definitely not sketchy at all...

Canaan was quite the experience. We ran sprint sessions in multiple configurations. The track facility was what we called more "grass roots" which featured immaculate porta potties a car storage garage..and that is about it for infrastructure. We found that it takes us a little bit more time than the competition to learn a track so at Canaan we felt at a slight dis-advantage. The guys with a ton of autocross experience tend to learn a new track very quick!

After Canaan we had a further drive ahead of us. From Canaan Motor Club we had to head to the Poconos, a total trip of 6 hours. Luckily for us we broke this drive up and stopped halfway at the GRPP headquarters to pick up Dans truck and trailer and my GR86. Because we thought one competition was not enough, we also signed up the Miata and the GR86 for the SCCA Nationals TT competition at Pocono Raceway which started Saturday right after the Targa ended. 

The Targa Saturday morning was eventful. We were met with rain and lightning which ultimately cut the sessions short as the schedule was butt up against the national TT event. Everytime there was a lightning strike we had to hold 30 minutes before getting back in the car.

There was a slight change of tune as the schedule switched over to TT in the afternoon with the GR86. My first time competing with SCCA, I found myself feeling the pressure of mastering my outlap. After finding myself fastest in the run group, I also quickly learned how to be the outlap leader and pace the group.

I placed the car in Sport 4, the car is on Bilstein struts, Eibach lowering spring with a Verus camber plate. Due to times and a (illegal) Alcon front BBK, I replaced myself in T3 to have a more honorable podium if that were to happen. 

Running two configurations at Pocono, one Saturday and one Sunday, I found myself to be pretty competitive in cumulated times in T3. After all was said and done I placed third with the GR86 which I was more than pleased about!

I can't thank Dan enough for pushing us to do the Targa event and introducing me to all the SCCA guys. It was a great way to get into the organization and experience TT for the very first time.

I certainly will be back.