Courtesy The Vehicle Dynamics Group (www.teamVDG.com)
TORONTO (May 31, 2005) -- An unusual Canadian team is making an unprecedented assault on both the modern and classic divisions at the ultimate North American tarmac rally.
The Vehicle Dynamics Group team is already drawing attention as a topcontender among a competitive field at the fourth annual Targa Newfoundland rally. The dual entry, a furiously fast 1967 Acadian Canso Sport Coupe anda powerful 2005 Subaru WRX STi, will be piloted by drivers Jud Buchananand Keith Townsend. They are joined in competition by co-drivers PeterWright and Jen Horsey.
The team is vying for the first outright Canadian win in the race's four-year history. They will take on 2,100 kilometres of challenging, twisty, Newfoundland terrain over six days, including more than 500 kilometres of closed-road, flat-out Targa stages.
Veterans Buchanan and Wright are proven contenders, delighting spectators year after year as they push the rare Acadian Canso Sport Coupe to stunning speeds. The duo finished a close second in the classic division and third overall in 2004. They have put up a competitive effort each year since the first Targa Newfoundland in 2002.
Buchanan has built a reputation for impeccable car preparation and a fast and precise driving style perfected in countless road race, rally, and solo events. The former Canadian Auto Slalom Champion from Halton, Ont., has also taught at the Porsche Canada Advanced Driver's School. Navigator Wright, of Mount Albert, Ont., is also an experienced competitor. The former Canadian GT1 Road Race Champion has also instructed at the Porsche Canada Advanced Driver's School.
Observers are also keeping a close eye on Townsend and Horsey. Although the pair are new to Targa competition, the 2005 race marks Townsend's return to top-level motorsports in Canada. A regular challengerat North American performance rallies throughout the 1990s, he is known for his fast times and dogged perseverance. He and novice navigator Jen Horsey, also from Toronto, have already shown promise as a team with outstanding showings in two very competitive winter rallies earlier this year.
Horsey is also a driver herself, campaigning as part of a rare all-woman crew in the Ontario Performance Rally championship. The team is backed by some of the top mechanics in Canada: Andrew Sorensen,of Fredericton, N.B., Art Visser, of Halifax, N. S., and Jim Adams, of Pickering, Ont. Between them, these talented wrenches have decades of competition experience, honing their skills on the special stages of theWorld Rally Championship and previous Targa Newfoundland competitions.
Castrol, a perennial sponsor of Buchanan, is supporting this top two-careffort for 2005 as part of the aggressive promotional efforts of WakefieldCanada, the brand's new distributor and marketer in Canada.
Team VDG is proud to compete on behalf of Show Kids You Care, aToronto-based public awareness campaign that encourages more active, frequent, and positive interactions with children.
Billed as the premier motorsports adventure in North America, TargaNewfoundland frees drivers from the regular rules of the road and gives thema chance to drive the way their cars were intended to be driven. The event draws competitors from as far away as the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Holland, the Bahamas and the U.K. The rally starts in the capital city of St. John's on Sept. 10 and finishes back there a week later. Targa Newfoundland is owned and organized by Newfoundland International Motorsports and is sanctioned by ASN Canada FIA.
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