Mini Challenge a mighty good ride

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Jim Kenzie (right) and Brian Bourbonniere completed this year's Targa Newfoundland rally in a Mini that fared better than its predecessor.

Jim Kenzie

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

BEST moments

Given how the 2008 Targa Newfoundland ended up for me – "end-over-ended-up," actually; twice, at about a buck-sixty – just about any other result would have to rank pretty high with me.

The Mini Challenge race car wasn't ideally suited to the rough road conditions we face on The Rock. As my navigator Brian Bourbonniere said, "The suspension couldn't have been stiffer if we'd given it a Viagra the size of a hockey puck."

And the Toyo Proxes 888 tires were great in the dry, okay in the damp, but hopeless in really wet conditions, which is to say about half this year's event.

But like I say, bringing it back on those four tires and not on a flat bed (or a blotter) felt pretty good to me. Especially because we finished second in the Open division.

And Sebastien Loeb himself – I consider him the greatest competition driver out there right now – couldn't have beaten Frank Sprongl and Rod Hendricksen in Frank's killer World Rally Championship Audi quattro.

Honourable mention goes to driving the Tesla Electric roadster. Not that I think electric cars are necessarily the answer, maybe not even a very big part of the answer. But it was fast, rare and cool.

Worst moment

Do courtroom battles count?

Helping TSN's Motoring 2010 host Brad Diamond fight his egregious ticket for flashing his high beams to warn of a radar trap was pretty demoralizing.

First, it patently is not illegal.

The charge levied against him has to do with tow-truck operators installing "alternating" headlights – the right one flashes, then the left, and so on – in an attempt to mimic police, fire or ambulance vehicles so they can get to the crash site faster.

There is nothing – nothing – in the Ontario Highway Traffic Act that says anything at all about warning other drivers of radar traps.

Okay, so we won our case. The cop was in the courtroom, but as soon as the prosecutor saw we were fighting it, we heard: "The Crown has no evidence in this case, your honour.''

Cowards.

They knew they'd lose if it went to a judgment and they didn't want to set a precedent.

But the Toronto cops still keep laying these spurious charges.

Hey gang, there is enough illegal activity going on out there that you should be dealing with, so you don't have to go around making stuff up.

If the police think it's that important, they can always get the legislature to make it illegal.

Just like the OPP did with this so-called stunt driving law.

It has been judged unconstitutional in a court of law twice and still the OPP says it's going to ignore the Constitution.

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