Targa Trophy Desert Championship Finale

The Targa Trophy Triple Crown Championship came to a close immediately following the SEMA convention. With a collection of over 50 exotics, luxury, and sportscars all with the intention of causing mayhem around Las Vegas I knew it would be a good time. In the previous Targa Trophy, I participated in a modified Lexus ISF. This time around I took the ID Agency Project Lincoln MKX to put the Urban Assault Vehicle to the test. After all this project was built to drive and the 20″ HRE wheels not only look good, but perform well with the Falken rubber. The Brembo’s gave me the confidence with it’s stopping power and the Magnaflow exhaust just sounded so nice. We competed with the INNO cargo box on top of the car and that may not have been the best for aerodynamics, but probably helped keep the MKX inconspicuous amongst the bright colored sports cars while we passed many state troopers.

After spending almost a complete week in Vegas for SEMA I was burnt out and tired, but after pulling up to the staging area for the event the adrenaline started to pump I got excited. To help me on the first leg, Danielle flew out to be my navigator, and also joining us was fellow Fatlace blogger, Ernie (whom I must of scared off since he didn’t want to stay in the car for the 2nd half of the rally). I’m pretty competitive so once I figured out that we had a good chance in the luxury SUV against the super cars to finish well I was determined to show what the MKX was really made of. With great navigation from the co-pilots we stayed on-track through the scenic landscapes of the Nevada desert. Outside the “Strip” is gorgeous and I highly suggest checking out Red Rock, Mt. Charleston, and the Lake Mead areas.

So after the almost 6 hour journey complete with checkpoints. We came back to ARIA not knowing how we did, but had a feeling it was pretty good since we avoided the speed traps and the random accidents that held back a few of the cars. After a dinner at Maestro’s we met up with the rest of the drivers at the Gold Lounge within ARIA for a couple drinks and to hear the results. We finished in 10th place and I came in 12th place overall in the Triple Crown Series. Not too bad for my rally rookie season.

For more pics visit jpangilinan.com