Courtesy Targa NewfoundlandAUBURN HILLS, Michigan - DaimlerChrysler Corporation will launch an all-out assault on Targa Newfoundland 2005 with a spectacular two-car entry in the new Unlimited Division, the company has announced.The two cars a 2006 Chrysler 300 C SRT8 and 2006 Dodge Charger SRT8 will be prepared by the Chrysler Group s in-house performance specialists, and fielded by a pair of Chrysler executives with motorsports backgrounds.
The company is determined to be the first manufacturer to earn a coveted Division win in Targa Newfoundland in its four year history.
The two-car effort is characterized by a number of firsts , including the Targa debut of the Chrysler Group s star designer in the role of competition driver. American-born, Montreal-raised Ralph Gilles will pilot the Charger in its first competition in Canada, and likely in one of its first competition outings anywhere (the car will only go on sale for the first time this summer).
The Chrysler 300 C SRT8 will be driven by American Dan Knott, director of the Street and Racing Technology (SRT) Group within the company. SRT will prepare the cars. Details on the co-drivers for the new cars have not been released.
"This is the perfect Targa entry and the best way for a company like DaimlerChrysler to take its performance story to the world," Targa organizer Robert Giannou said. "The setting is ideal real world conditions and real motorsport competition. And the new Unlimited Division is the perfect home for the kind of innovation you would expect from this company. It just doesn t get any better!"
The bold designs of both the 300 and the Charger are Gilles work. But it won t be design that wins North America s longest and toughest rally. It will take preparation, endurance and driving skill to see both entries through the week-long competition.
Power certainly won t be a problem. Both cars start with 6.1-litre Hemi V-8 engines that produce 425 hp at 6000 rpm and 420 lb/ft of torque at 4800 rpm before the SRT Group goes to work. The standard Charger SRT8 registers 0-60 mph times in the low 5-second range and has a top speed of 165 mph (265 km/h). The Charger SRT8 is factory equipped with Brembo brakes, aerodynamic aids and suspension enhancements.But the Charger also has a reputation to live up to.
The original Dodge Charger was a revered two-door muscle car from the 60s and 70s, and the reincarnated version is a four-door sedan. Gilles is not concerned. "The new Charger would run circles around most of the muscle cars from any era," he told a Detroit newspaper. "That s what an automaker is supposed to do evolve the species, not be paralyzed by it."
While it is not the first two-car entry from an auto-maker, the Chrysler Group assault is one of the highest profile trips to Targa of any manufacturer. Last year, two-car efforts were fielded by BMW(MINI), Kia, Mazda and Subaru, and while manufacturers have won individual class honours, none have won an overall Division in the three previous Targa Newfoundland events.
The fourth annual Targa Newfoundland rally for historic, classic and modern sporting cars covers 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.
Competitors have come from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Holland, the Bahamas and the U.K. for the first three editions of Targa Newfoundland, the Ultimate North American Motorsport Adventure. The rally starts in the capital city of St. Johns with registration and technical inspection on Saturday, September 10 and finishes back in St. John s a week later. Targa Newfoundland is owned and organized by Newfoundland International Motorsports and is sanctioned by the Canadian Association of Rallysport (CARS) and ASN Canada FIA.
For more information contact:
Media: Ruth Marks (709)576-5790 Doug Mepham (613)966-4969
Sponsors: Scott Giannou (709)576-7537
Competitors: Frank Nossereau (709)722-2413
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