Four-time winner Bill Arnold plots a 5th Anniversary Targa victory

Courtesy Doug Mepham

His car is still in pieces, he doesn t have his engine and a thousand details are still to be determined, but rest assured that four-time winner Bill Arnold is coming to the 5th Anniversary of Targa Newfoundland.

Arnold, of San Rafael, California, is the only competitor to have won his class in each of the four previous Targa Newfoundland international rally events. He was also the first competitor to earn the coveted gold Targa plate for three consecutive years of consistent finishes in the annual event for historic, classic and modern sporting cars. That makes him both an idol and a target for the legions of drivers, co-drivers, crew members and fans who will converge on St. John s for the start of the fifth running of Targa on Sept. 9-16, 2006.

As the event's man to beat, Arnold is both gracious and coy.

The event absolutely gets tougher every year, he says from his shop near San Francisco, where he specializes in BMW repair. The first year, we were all kind of finding our way. Since the second year, it s been getting tougher, the event s been fine-tuned and the level of competition has gone up. The margins are down to a few seconds one second, two seconds, five seconds at the top of the field. It s tough.

He should know. In the inaugural Targa Newfoundland in 2002, Arnold and partner Tammy Hull won the Modern Division in their BMW M Coupé without the aid of proper navigation instruments or much preparation. Both Arnold and Hull had been road racers and came to Targa on a whim. We didn t really know what to expect, he recalls.

But when he came back for the second annual event, he was prepared. He built a 1972 BMW Bavaria for the Classic Division, and promptly set the event on its ear. The cleverly designed big sedan, with Californian Peter Guagenti subbing for then-pregnant Tammy, set a blistering pace that few could touch. They won Classic in a last-day shoot-out. When Arnold and Hull returned with the big car in 2004, their competitors raised their game but the results were the same another win.

With new co-driver, Canadian Alan Ryall, Arnold and the Bavaria returned in 2005 to find a much tougher field. The results were uncertain until the final stages of the last day, but the old BMW stood atop the podium again and Arnold had established a high-water mark: Four class wins in four events.

Bill Arnold has been something of a reflection of Targa, observes organizer Robert Giannou. He was a little confused at the beginning but muddled through. And with each passing year, he s gotten better, more sophisticated, more focused. Bill s a terrific asset to Targa, and you know that anyone who wants to beat him has to be at the top of their game.

Arnold won t predict how he ll do in 2006. In addition to the steadily increasing level of competition, a comprehensive rewrite of the event s rules means he has to make some changes to the car. You know what s weak and you try to make it stronger, he says. But knowing what it takes to win must surely be a help. You know how to drive the car in a make-or-break situation. You know which stages are going to be important in the results, he says. Hopefully, you know how to get the last tenth out of the car on those corners that are covered in gravel, before the car spits you into the ditch!

The 5th Anniversary Targa Newfoundland will start and end in St. John s and will cover more than 2,100 kilometres of the challenging, twisty roads of the central and eastern portion of the island of Newfoundland over six days, including more than 500 kilometres of closed-road, flat-out Targa Stages. In addition to the two primary competitions for Targa and Grand Touring entries, a new category known as Targa Tour has been added for 2006. The latter gives motorsports enthusiasts and collectors of unique and rare vehicles the opportunity to enjoy all that Targa has to offer without the pressure of competition or the need for stringent vehicle preparation.

Competitors have come from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Holland, the Bahamas and the U.K. for the first four editions of Targa Newfoundland. Entries continue to arrive daily for the 2006 and 2007 events. Targa Newfoundland is owned and organized by Newfoundland International Motorsports, and is listed on the FIA international motorsports calendar.