Scott Smith and Peter Guagenti are ready to run their third Targa Newfoundland this year. » More Photos

The Targa competition is run as hard as your car can go, but competitors do not race on pure stage time. Instead, 9 different classes – separated by the year the car was made – are given a "base time" which they must beat. Get to the end of the stage within that time, and you're good. Get there late, and you collect 1 second of penalty points for every second of lateness. In this way, Targa Newfoundland can ensure that someone in a '69 Mustang can realistically compete with another team in a '02 Porsche Turbo.

The times are difficult to beat, which makes Targa a game of penalty points. Everyone is pushing to the limits of their cars and of their own abilities. The car with the lowest penalty points in its class, wins. Trophies are also given for the lowest penalty points in your Division – Classic, for cars built from the end of World War II to 1981, Modern, covering 1982 to present, or Open, for unlimited preparation and/or low-volume cars. The biggest dog gets the biggest prize – lowest points overall gets the Christos Targa award and has their name engraved permanently on the overall winners' trophy.

There are only three names on that plate, and the one etched into it for 2003, 2004, and 2005 is that of Bill Arnold. Bill is a local Northern California BMW club racer and independent repair shop owner. Bill has managed to beat factory entries from Chrysler, GM, and Subaru, as well as very successful amateurs including winners from the One Lap of America and U.S. and Canadian pro rallying. I had the pleasure of being able to navigate for Bill for his first overall win in 2003, co-driving an unlikely ride in Bill's '72 BMW Bavaria.

That was all it took for me to get hooked, so when Bill's partner and regular navigator Tammi Hull gave birth to their son and could return to the right seat in 2004, I convinced our friend Scott Smith to build a car and enter in 2004 and 2005. Despite challenging for the win both years, we managed to crash out in our first year and have a mechanical failure in the next. Hoping to change our luck in 2007, Smith and I are swapping seats and have parked Scott's BMW M3 for a more fitting ride – a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX RS.

Our Evolved Performance/WORKS/Toyo Tires Evo has been prepared specifically for Targa. Taking a conservative approach to both suspension and engine tuning, our goal is a solid finish towards the sharp end of the field. More importantly, we want a Targa plate.

The award for which the event is named (Targa means "plate" in Italian) is presented to competitors able to finish EVERY STAGE of the event within a reasonably fast pace. Miss a stage – mechanical failure, an off-course excursion, whatever – and you lose the plate. Get a flat on a stage and have to drag the car slowly to the finish, you lose your plate. There are a number of competitors without a Targa plate, including Scott. It's our hope this year to get Scott his first, and for me to be the first person to collect a plate as both a navigator and as a driver.

Registration and scrutineering start on Saturday, September 8th, and competition begins on Monday, September 10th. Follow us here on SPEEDTV.com, where we will post daily updates, photos, and in-car footage from the event.

READ THE MAZDA TEAM STORY HERE