06/29/2026
Ernie Jakubowski: Targa champion.
Ernie Jakubowski of Oakville, Ontario was a two-time champion in the Targa Modern division in the rally's early years. He won the title with co-driver Bill Comat in 2003 and 2005 in a 1981 Porsche 911 SC. He later sold that car to Scott Giannou who won the Classic division three times in it. That's the car flying across the one-lane bridge in Brigus with Scott behind the wheel. Ernie later competed in a Porsche Cayman in 2007.
Ernie wrote about that Porsche 911, Bill and their experiences together: "One of the surprises on one of the stages was there were no instructions from what I can remember. I think it just said ”just drive.” And I would call this an 'adventure race.' Bill Comat, my co-driver, was absolutely awesome. They’re pretty good reasons why we finished first in modern large bore category. Another time we were having such a great time, but were way over the average maximum so we slowed down and I think we crossed the finish line like at 10 km an hour to get the average speed down below."
And there was something about knocking over someone's fence and running into a porch ...
Ernie was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2023 in recognition of all his accomplishments in motorsport as a competitor and builder. He was a winner on road and off, on two wheels and four. Here's his bio:
Ernie Jakubowski started his motorsports career in off-road racing, where he was the Canadian Off-Road overall or class champion between 1973 and 1984. He participated in other forms of racing early on, including the CASC Studded Ice Race, where he was the champion in 1976. He was also named to the Wheelspin News All-Canadian Racing Team, alongside notable names such as fellow CMHF inductees Junior Hanley, Gilles Villeneuve and Pete Bicknell.
Jakubowski was the Molson Supercross champion in 1984; he finished third in Montreal and first at the Hoosier Dome, in Supercross competition, all while driving off-road Dune Buggies. He won 28 of 32 features in a three-year period, winning his last race in a customer Mantis Spyder at the 1986 Oktoberfest in Kitchener, ON.
Jakubowski ran 121 races in Porsche Club Racing from 2004 to 2019, winning in nearly half of those events. He was a Modern Class winner in the 2003 and 2005 Targa Newfoundland events and won GTS Rookie of the Year in the Pirelli World Challenge, where he raced from 2010 to 2013. More recently, he competed in the CTCC series and CASC/VARAC vintage races.
Away from the driver’s seat, Jakubowski was a driving instructor for Porsche and BMW, teaching Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain at CTMP ahead of the NASCAR Truck Series race in 2013. He founded Mantis Racing in 1976, designing several off-road cars, including the Mantis Spyder, while building customer cars, engines and transmissions until 2021. He also developed a four-year wind tunnel program for motorsport testing at UOIT.
https://cmhf.ca/ernie-jakubowski/
https://youtu.be/Mip-2SWjcUU?si=2Foxhb8iQFO-VJHC
https://targanfld.com/past-winners/
