SCCA Time Trials

For more than seven years, a Facebook group titled “Targa Southland” sat mostly dormant. A couple times a year, competitors from 2016 and 2017 would chime in, often when someone drove past Bart’s Bait and Tackle shop in northern Georgia, or when an old picture memory cropped up of one of many adventures that were had between events. All of this changed on Nov. 26, 2024, when a certain Heyward Wagner (SCCA’s VP of Experiential Programs) made a not so cryptic post. It said “6.11.25-6.15.25.”

The stage was set.

A few weeks later, the 2025 SCCA Targa series was officially launched, and just like that, in this writer’s not so humble opinion, the greatest SCCA® event that no one knew about was about to return. Or, more aptly put: Targa’s back, baby!

A Plan Forms: RRRRR You Ready?

The plan was on.

My first order of business for participating in the June 11-15 Targa Southland? Find a teammate.

Targa’s a team sport, and when you’re doing multi-hour transits between events, having a buddy that you can more than tolerate in the car makes a huge difference. Lucky for me, this was an easy choice. David Nolan and I have been autocrossing together as codrivers for several years, consuming copious amounts of barrel-aged stouts together when not dodging cones. A quick text later, and Team Type RRRRR was born (though the name didn’t come until much later).

Second order of business? Find a car.

After weighing the options, considering the tires, fuel economy, space, and comfort for transits, we settled on my 2019 Honda Civic Type R. It’s a proper fire-breathing dragon on track and autocross, yet settles down to become a car that can get you from Point A to Point B with no drama (or minimal, as we’d soon discover).

Finally, a theme was needed.

While I’ll profess to being the “boring” half of the duo, David wasted no time in coming up with ideas, and after much deliberation, the aforementioned “Team Type RRR” plan grew to fruition. Were we pirates? Were we Honda fanboys? Were we a spinoff of a Bollywood film? No one knows (including ourselves, for the record).

Packing, Tech, and More: Down to Business

Administrative matters settled, we were getting close to the first day of Targa Southland.

Targa Southland 2025’s June 11-15 route would take teams from Atlanta Motorsports Park in Dawsonville, GA, to Road Atlanta outside Braselton, GA, where the second day of competition would take place. From there, we’d have the longest transit of the event to the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research (NCCAR) in Garysburg, NC, which we’d run on Friday. We’d end at the Tire Rack SCCA Time Attack Challenge at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC, for competition on Saturday (and Sunday, for teams choosing to compete in the Time Attack Challenge all weekend – of which, Targa teams received one free entry). In all, from our home base in Atlanta, over 1,000 miles of transits across five days.

Car loaded up, we hit the road for our first event on Wednesday morning. Pulling into the paddock was a reunion long overdue, with several faces from Targas past joining in with those enjoying Targa for the first time.

After introductions and tech (and our rules briefing, succinctly summed up as “The rules don’t matter and the points are made up”), no time was wasted getting to the first competition: TrackSprint. Spanning around half of AMP with a standing start, it’s basically a high-speed autocross, and a warmup for the full track. Four runs later, we cleared the front straight and started practice on the full circuit.

And for Team RRRRRR right, into trouble…

Day 1: Personal Problems

A couple laps into the first practice session, just before the final turn onto the front straight, the dashboard of the Civic lit up. I lost all engine power, and the car came to a stop just after Turn 1. After a minute or two, the car cranked back up, but not before the session was black flagged due to the stoppage.

Limping the car to the pits, David and I began discussing causes and potential fixes. We tried again on his practice session with the same result, which left us scrambling for alternatives.

(Targa Southland's start was strong, with the group heading to Atlanta Motorsports Park.)

We were about to call it and drive to his house to pick up another car, when Aaron Buckley of Team Navigation Required suggested to just fill the tank. Realizing that the gauge was at a quarter full, at this point, David and I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. One quick trip to the gas station later (and realizing that the fuel gauge lies; the car was almost empty), we were back on track, and from that point on, the Type R never failed Team Type RRRRRRR.

Two timed sessions later, and it was party time.

That Night: The Party Begins

That evening, Team Duff Beer Racing was gracious enough to invite the whole Targa Southland contingent over for burgers, brats, homemade beer, and the first of our transit challenges, as we all jumped in the pool for team pics.

Thus began an integral part of Targa: challenges between events to get us away from just sprinting from site to site, and a core part of making the whole event fun (not to mention, bonus points). Us Targa veterans knew, but this set the stage for all the newbies (including my codriver) that more than anything, the spirit of this whole event is fun first, serious business second.

Many pool selfies later, we all split for the night and prepared for Road Atlanta.

Day 2: A Backyard Gem

We arrived at the main paddock in the infield, where the only autocross of the event greeted us bright and early.

After a few DNFs and a quick course modification later, everyone got their runs in, and we were face-to-face with one of the greatest racetracks in North America.

Despite living in Atlanta for years, prior to Targa I had never driven it at speed, so about two weeks prior, I took the Type R out for a shakedown at a Track Night in America® Driven by Tire Rack event there. Along with burning up a set of brake pads, I left with a newfound respect, awe, and hunger for more.

(Road Atlanta proved to be a treat for this article's author.)

For Targa competition, I took the first timed session (best single lap of three), and David took the second (cumulative time over three laps).

Suffice to say, I’ve struggled to describe how fantastic Road Atlanta is to drive. From brushing the brakes going into Turn 1 and finding the groove at the apex, to attacking the Turn 5 curb and using every bit of that track, pushing the braking zone deeper and deeper into Turn 10, and the commitment required to get through the absolute roller coaster Turn 12 – what a truly amazing facility to have in my backyard. If Targa ended there, I would’ve left a happy man.

But it did not.

A Long Transit: No Brisket

Next up, a seven-hour transit and NCCAR.

To break this one up, our next transit challenge was to stop at the home of North Carolina BBQ, Lexington Barbecue. As we pulled off the highway, David couldn’t hide his excitement about finally getting to sit down for some good brisket. Oh, sweet summer child, we’re in North Carolina, and when we say barbecue around these parts, we mean pork. Hate to break it to you, but there’s no brisket around for miles.

I thought he had a heart attack. “What do you mean, there’s no brisket? I thought you said we were going to get barbecue! Why is the coleslaw pink?”

Thankfully, at least some of us enjoyed the diversion and the food. Roanoke Rapids wasn’t too far, and after we all checked in, an impromptu beer share broke out outside the front lobby until we all called it a night.

Day 3: The Track No One Knew About

The North Carolina Center for Automotive Research was new to almost every competitor, and North Carolina Region welcomed us with open arms.

Friday brought us another TrackSprint and more timed sessions, so we quickly familiarized ourselves with the track. NCCAR is unique in that it could be run in both directions, so we ran the TrackSprint clockwise and the full-track timed sessions counter. NCCAR proved to be a perfect blend of fast, technical, and fun. Despite most of us being brand new to the facility, between the track and the hospitality of North Carolina Region, it stood out as the biggest surprise of the event.

The Final Challenge: Double Secret Bonus Points

After NCCAR, our final transit challenge was straightforward: Capture as many pictures as possible of others in transit. As the rules did not define what “transit” constituted, a few intrepid individuals (of which Team Type RRRRRRRRR may or may not have been part) elected to park by the site entrance and snag a photo of each team as they passed us by.

You see, Team Type RRRR had ulterior plans.

Unbeknownst to most, the two of us elected to take a slight detour on the way to Carolina Motorsports Park to stop by the Tire Rack SCCA Charlotte Solo National Tour, happening the same weekend. Our plan was to convince the powers that be that by attending a totally unrelated SCCA event and getting a picture of our car running the course, that we could attain double secret bonus points. That, and Bryan Hayes was making brisket and I couldn’t miss out on that (and neither could David after his “misfortune” in North Carolina).

(A secret stop at zMAX for some brisket may have made all the difference in the world for Targa Southland points. Or maybe it didn't...but it was yummy.)

An autocross run and a couple plates of brisket later, we were back on track to CMP (and with additional brisket in tow for bribes…I mean, out of sheer kindness).

Day 4: The Points Don’t Matter…

Carolina Motorsports Park was a new track to me, but David had well over a day’s worth of track time there, so we jumped right into pace laps with him providing some pointers.

As the Tire Rack SCCA Time Attack Challenge kicked off, Targa would wrap up after the morning sessions, so we took to the track for our two timed sessions. Despite a valiant effort, Team Type RRRRRR (which at this point also went by Hype RRRR) could not quite snag the top position in class, with Team Boxsturd leading the S2 pack.

(Carolina Motorsports Park brought Targa Southland together with the Tire Rack SCCA Time Attack Challenge.)

As it turned out, because the rules are made up and the points don’t matter, we all won, with Heyward and team assigning all of us superlatives and certificates of completion (or incompletion, in a few cases).

While a few of us still had a day of competition at CMP ahead as part of the Time Attack Challenge, four days of adventure were wrapped up by lunch, and the 20-plus Targa teams parted ways.

…But The Experience Does

How does one sum up Targa Southland?

It’s the best of the SCCA! Between the events, tracks, and the people it brings together, there’s nothing like it. If you love cars and fun (#funwithcars), it’s made for you! And if you don’t like cars and fun…well, how did you make it this far in the article?

(And for the record, we still don’t know how many Rs are in our team name…)

Want to compete in a Targa event? There’s one more left for 2025: Targa Chicagoland. Taking place July 30-Aug. 3, the Chicagoland event sends competitors from Autobahn Country Club to Putnam Park, GingerMan Raceway, and back to Autobahn, where teams will receive one free entry into the Aug. 2-3, 2025, Tire Rack SCCA Time Attack Challenge.

Targa Chicagoland Info

Photos by Aditya Madhavan