Targa Times Two

November 12, 2006


Targa Times Two was advertised as a driver's delight and it was!  The first challenge to would-be rallyists was to find the starting location - the rally's flyer was a bit vague on this point.  But Google was our friend and we learned that McCarthy Ranch Shopping Center is in Milpitas.

Uncharacteristically, we started early and stopped off for a mini-breakfast at Bernal Bagels.  We only took one wrong turn on the way to the start so our confidence was stirred, not shaken.  At the start we learned that rallymaster Jeff Trimble is also an owner of the rare and antique Whitmore Rally Computer (Jim Whitmore built these by hand back in the 1970's when we were both members of  Tropical Sports Car Club).

The rally itself was about a hundred miles through beautiful back roads through Livermore vineyards and over Mount Hamilton with 3 manned checkpoints and 3 do-it-yourself checkpoints.  Jeff made it clear at the start that this was a straightforward event with no traps, so knowing this was a comfort to paranoid nitpickers like us.

The last rally we ran was back in the 1980's, so this was a back-to-the-future experience for us.  After we learned about the rally, we wondered what equipment to bring.  Our old double clipboard still has its minutes-per mile factor table so we brought that.  We used to have a Halda Tripmaster for mileage, a Siliconix thousandths-of a-minute watch for time, and a Curta for calculation.  The Tripmaster hasn't been hooked up since we sold the Porsche, the battery of the Siliconix was long-dead, and it was going to take too long to re-learn the Curta.  So we decided to use a four-function calculator (with big numbers for old eyes) and a wristwatch.  At the last minute we pulled a little clock out of a picture box and taped it to our dashboard over the nav system - this worked great!

At the finish we shared a table with rookies Dan Lennon And Chris Pennello.  As the scoring unfolded, they took first overall - an amazing first effort!  We zeroed one leg and took first in stock class despite a bout of motion sickness coming down Mount Hamilton Road.  Jeff and Fiat America created a fun rally that was great for newcomers and for retreading old-timers.