The Globe and Mail (Canada)
September 9, 2011 Friday
Frankenstein takes on The Rock;
‘They say this is the iron man of motorsports events and I’m expecting
it to be a very special challenge’
by BOB ENGLISH
More than 80 competitors will click their cars into gear and
accelerate out of St. John’s next Monday morning to face five days of
the best, and maybe the worst, this rugged part of Canada can throw at
them as they take part in the milestone 10th annual edition of the
2,200-kilometre Targa Newfoundland Rally.
Included in the strong international field facing what promises to be
one of the toughest Targas ever staged will be factory-backed rally
racers and some very serious private entries driving modern machinery
bearing the badges of Dodge, Fiat, Porsche, Subaru, Mini, Kia, Lotus,
Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Nissan, BMW, VW and Toyota as well as
classics such as a Ford Falcon Sprint, Acadian Canso, Chevy Camaro and
a Datsun 240Z.
Plus a lone 1973 Porsche 914 – affectionately known as Frankenstein –
steered by an American more familiar with facing the challenges of
rugged coasts from offshore at the helm of a twin-hulled yacht than on
twisting shoreline roads behind the wheel of a vintage mid-engined
rally car. Adding to the drama is that Targa will also be he and his
co-driver’s first rally.
Gregor Tarjan of East Setauket, N.Y., is a very unusual guy in many
ways, but not untypical of those who decide to test themselves in
Targa. “I love to drive. It’s the core of my love of cars,” says
Tarjan, and he expects Targa to represent a unique challenge.
“My brother Michael and I have dreamed of doing the Paris Dakar rally
and the Carrera Panamericana, but they’re big-ticket events and far
away.” And maybe they’ll do them, he says, but Targa was right on the
doorstop.
“I’d been eyeing Targa for six or seven years, but never had the right
car, or the funds or the time. But this year I said I’m going to pull
the trigger.” His brother’s schedule won’t allow him to be in the
co-driver’s seat, but good friend Peter Archey, a mechanic and
ex-racer, will fill that role.
For Tarjan, now 49, Targa likely will, as it has for many, prove the
high point of their involvement with automobiles, which in his case
goes back a long way. Born in Vienna into an Armenian family, he
developed an early passion for motor sport and sailing, which
developed further on his arrival in New York as a teenager.
After completing a degree in art history, he tacked into a job as a
photographer with the New York Times, then altered course into yacht
design, helping to create America’s Cup winner Stars and Stripes in
1986. He then found a berth in high-end auto auctioneering before
moving back to Europe to establish a couple of art galleries and
manufacture carpets.
He’s also an expert on pre-Columbian textiles, on which he’s written a
book. But he now earns his living as a specialist in, and distributor,
of cruising multi-hull and international catamarans – he’s written a
couple of books on these too – through his company Aeroyacht Inc.
Plans to compete in Targa began to coalesce with the purchase of the
1973 Porsche 914 a couple of years ago.
Tarjan had spent time on the track driving about as fierce a car as
most would ever want to run, a Porsche Turbo S, but decided to back
things down a notch – “I’m not a superhero” – and go vintage racing as
” a form of risk management.” This he did initially in a 1958 Peerless
GT (he also owns a 1925 Stutz 695 Speedster), but decided he wanted
something that handled like the twin-turbo but without its “killer
instincts.”
Enter the Porsche 914, fresh from winning the Porsche Club of
America’s California autocross championship in 2009.
The Porsche 914 was the product of an alliance between Porsche and
Volkswagen in the late 1960s when the former needed a new entry-level
car and the latter wanted something sportier than its Karmann Ghia.
The partnership would combine VW production brawn and Porsche panache
and brains, but the result wasn’t quite what either had hoped for.
The car that emerged was mid-engined – in 914/4 form with VW’s 80-hp,
1.7-litre, flat-four and in 914/6 versions with Porsche’s 2.0-litre
flat-six – and clad in two-seater bodywork that was immediately
controversial.
The 914 was produced from 1969 to 1976 and sold in Europe as a
VW-Porsche and in North America as a Porsche only. Porsche-philes
proved 914-phobic, however, and only 3,360 914/6s were built, but the
914/4 did better with a total of 115,646.
Tarjan’s 914/4 has been improved to GT spec and its engine modified to
make 140 hp. He uses it on the track and for autocrossing, and now
with some additional mods to suit Newfoundland roads, it will make its
rallying debut in the Targa class on Monday.
Having the personal signature of Vic Elford on the hood – a racer who
became a legend driving Porsches in Sicily’s Targa Florio open-road
race – should serve well as a go-fast talisman in that event’s
Newfoundland namesake.
Tarjan says that for a road-racer the thought of arriving at corner
apexes he’s never seen before in half a dozen special stages a day for
five days is a bit daunting, although after three Atlantic crossings
under sail and countless other long hauls he figures he can deal with
the mental stress. “But they say this is the iron man of motorsports
events and I’m expecting it to be a very special challenge.”
And it will likely live up to his expectations, as it has for others
over the event’s now decade-long history.
You can follow next week’s event at
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
