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Ξεκιναμε με λίγο απο Targa Florio
the year is 1967. Scarfiotti and Parkes indeed raced a Ferrari #202, but that was in 1965 and they drove 275 P2 model, the same as winning #198 of Vaccarella/Bandini. >
Dino 206 model appeared a year later. Plus I've got another pictures of 1967 event, some of them taken from the same spot:
Ferrari entered the only 330 P4 model for Vaccarella and Scarfiotti, plus some semi-factory Dinos, and also there was private 330 P3 of Scuderia Filipinetti.
Having won the practice, Vaccarella presented the main hope for Ferrari win, but in the beginning of the race he slid into a wall in a tight left-hand hairpin entering Collesano village, damaging suspension, and retired. This was one of the most frustrating mistakes in his career, just look at his face after the accident!
Phil Hill and Hap Sharp in their fantastic Chapparal 2F with Chevrolet engine and automatic gearbox (!) and a huge wing connected to the rear suspension (!) were doing well, despite having probably the most unsuitable car for that track, until retiring on one of the final laps.
Some Alfa Romeo cars battled for 2nd and 3rd (on the photo you can also see Chapparal in the background, with gull-wing doors, before the start)
But finally all places on the podium were occupied by Porsche drivers with Hawkins/Stommelen finishing first.
Here are some nice pictures that present the atmosphere of the Targa Florio:
(that hairpin in Collesano where Nino Vaccarella made a mistake in 1967)
I've collected lots more photos of Targa Florio. The most fascinating era in the history of that race for me is 60s-70s when powerful sport-prototypes competed on this 72 km (44,7 mile) racetrack called Piccolo Madonie. It was not even racetrack, just narrow public roads and streets connecting small villages in Sicilian mointains.
For a long time it was the oldest race in the world, first time held in 1906 (five years earlier than the first Indy 500 and three years earlier than the first race ever at Indianapolis). In 1973 Targa Florio was for the last time a part of the Sports Car World Championship. After that for a few years it was like a shadow of itself, and then it came to the final end. But Targa Florio did not end with a tragedy, like most famous road race Mille Miglia did in 1957. Since 1957 and until its end Targa Florio was one-of-a-kind, and it obviously couldn't exist for ages.I would especially appreciate pictures of Targa Florio that I've never seen. Post your pictures here: old pictures, scans, photos of how the track looks today (maybe somebody visited that places), links, everything. I plan to continue contributing pictures from my collection.
Good luck!
For all Alfa-lovers:
http://web.archive.org/web/200302071525 ... aT33-3.htmAscari '23
Targa Florio 1930 Varzi's car on fire.
Both drove Alfas but Varzi's was the more powerful P.2. At the start of the race Varzi stormed into the lead but trouble struck when his spare wheel worked itself lose along the jarring mountain roads. The wheel would puncture his fuel tank causing him to stop more often for fuel. At the last stop his riding mechanic grabbed a spare fuel can. While racing along a downhill stretch his mechanic attempted to refuel the car. Unfortunately a high IQ was not a prerequisite for being a racing mechanic and the car caught fire when some of the fuel spilled onto the hot exhaust. Varzi unwilling to stop and lose the race to his bitter rival continued on while his mechanic beat the fires furiously with his seat cushion. Thus they won the race in truly spectacular fashion.
(Varzi before the start of that race)
(Varzi's car again)Read how this story continued after Varzi's finish!
http://www.racingdioramics.us/alfa30.html'Achille Varzi led the 1930 Targa Florio in his super fast Alfa Romeo P3 from the start. On lap 67 his car developed a serious fuel leak from the tank. Louis Chiron, in a blue Bugatti was following closely in second place. The always intense Varzi refused to give up his lead to repair the leak. At the last depot in the mountains, they collected a can of gasoline. Varzi shouted orders for his mechanic to stand up, lean over the back of the Alfa and pour the gasoline into the tank while they were speeding on a downhill part of the coarse! This he did, but only a small percentage of the fuel got into the tank. Most of it sprayed all over the place. When it landed on the red hot exhaust pipe, the entire rear of the car ignited in flames. Louis Chiron had problems of his own. His mechanic became ill, and was vomiting and finally fainted. At times the man was nearly thrown from the race car. And this is how they came across the finish line. Achille Varzi crossed first, leaning as far forward as he could to keep away from the flames, while his mechanic, who had ripped out the seat cushion was frantically beating at the fire. Louis Chiron crossed only a few seconds later, holding his unconscious mechanic to keep him from falling out of the car on the treacherous road coarse with one hand, and steering with the other.'
Porsche.
For this German manufacturer the Targa Florio was always an important part of their spirit, or even ideology. And look how much effort they paid each year to achieve win on the twisty, narrow Italian roads!
As you see from the next picture, Alfa tried to keep pace with its competitors. At least in quantity they didn't yield to Porsche, but unfortunately they not always had that speed (and luck, what's also important).
So, you ask where are the Ferrari men? Well, Enzo Ferrari personally was not in favour of Targa Florio, and also in 60s and 70s he redecided to withdraw from the World Championship of Makes, then to return again, and so on for several times. So the factory team didn't competed regularly in the Targa, but it was usually complemented by private teams and owners. Some of them were indeed rather good equipped, like Scuderia Filipinetti, which entered this beautiful brand-new 512S in '1970 race:
And, finally, just a couple of pics showing spectator's impressions of the race:
1966
Winners Mairesse & Muller, here pictured in the tremendous bad weather conditions that happened in the 50th edition.
The prototype Porsche 8 cilinder 2,2L of Klass-Davis (n°224) laps the Carrera 6 of Heini Walter, former European Hillclimb champion. Altough the '224' looks bigger in the picture, both cars have the exact same dimensions!
Scarfiotti-Parkes (Dino 206S) had to abandon in the 7th lap after an accident, Parkes managed to get to the pits, but the race was over.
Guichet-Baghetti saved Ferrari's honour by finishing second.
'Scuderia Filipinetti' (Carrera 6) finished sixth with the duo Bourillot-Maglioli.
Beautiful 'eye-fish' picture of the Ferrari 330 P3 of Vacccarella-Bandini. Their best lap was under 41 minutes!
Gerhard Mitter, the current European Hillclimb champion is walking back to pits after he had abandonded. The '74' is the Alpine of Hanrioud-Piot.
YES! RAIN! That must have been what Timo Makinen, the 'rallyeman', was thinking in these bad and slippery conditions. With his teammate Rhodes, they drove their MGB to victory in the Grand Tourisme class!
Great battle between both the Alfa Romeo TZ2 (n°126) from Pinto-Todaro; and the Alpine from Rosinski-Delageneste.
Winners Müller (left) and Mairesse (middle)The result:
The abandons:
source L'année Automobile 1966-1967
Brian Redman is driving series car, Porsche 914, when the roads are not closed and there was traffic. This was one of the ways to memorize numerous corners of the 72km track. And often for this purpose race cars were used, so drivers could get extra information on the racecar's settings and so on. (of course there was official practice before the race when police closed the roads for traffic, but some extra testing was also useful because Targa Florio had very specific conditions and it was difficult to find a good setup for a car):
Porsche 908/3 makes a tire/refuelling stop. Note that it actually happened not on the pitlane near start-finish line (near Cerda village). The track was so long that one pitlane was not enough, and there was another famous place high up in the mountains, used for tire/fuel stops and making signals to drivers - so-called Polizzi refueling station. (Polizzi is a nearby village, however cars didn't go directly through it).
Here are some pics: (really one of the famous Targa places)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\The year is 1970, car - Porsche 908 of Martini team.
σε καποια φάση να δειτε τι σας ετοιμάζω... ετοιμαστε τις σαλιάρες
-
το είχα δει εδω και πολύ καιρο,μολις τώρα σκεφτηκα να ανοίξω σχετικο τοπικ ομως
Ξεκιναμε με λίγο απο Targa Florio
the year is 1967. Scarfiotti and Parkes indeed raced a Ferrari #202, but that was in 1965 and they drove 275 P2 model, the same as winning #198 of Vaccarella/Bandini. >
Dino 206 model appeared a year later. Plus I've got another pictures of 1967 event, some of them taken from the same spot:
Ferrari entered the only 330 P4 model for Vaccarella and Scarfiotti, plus some semi-factory Dinos, and also there was private 330 P3 of Scuderia Filipinetti.
Having won the practice, Vaccarella presented the main hope for Ferrari win, but in the beginning of the race he slid into a wall in a tight left-hand hairpin entering Collesano village, damaging suspension, and retired. This was one of the most frustrating mistakes in his career, just look at his face after the accident!
Phil Hill and Hap Sharp in their fantastic Chapparal 2F with Chevrolet engine and automatic gearbox (!) and a huge wing connected to the rear suspension (!) were doing well, despite having probably the most unsuitable car for that track, until retiring on one of the final laps.
Some Alfa Romeo cars battled for 2nd and 3rd (on the photo you can also see Chapparal in the background, with gull-wing doors, before the start)
But finally all places on the podium were occupied by Porsche drivers with Hawkins/Stommelen finishing first.
Here are some nice pictures that present the atmosphere of the Targa Florio:
(that hairpin in Collesano where Nino Vaccarella made a mistake in 1967)
I've collected lots more photos of Targa Florio. The most fascinating era in the history of that race for me is 60s-70s when powerful sport-prototypes competed on this 72 km (44,7 mile) racetrack called Piccolo Madonie. It was not even racetrack, just narrow public roads and streets connecting small villages in Sicilian mointains.
For a long time it was the oldest race in the world, first time held in 1906 (five years earlier than the first Indy 500 and three years earlier than the first race ever at Indianapolis). In 1973 Targa Florio was for the last time a part of the Sports Car World Championship. After that for a few years it was like a shadow of itself, and then it came to the final end. But Targa Florio did not end with a tragedy, like most famous road race Mille Miglia did in 1957. Since 1957 and until its end Targa Florio was one-of-a-kind, and it obviously couldn't exist for ages.I would especially appreciate pictures of Targa Florio that I've never seen. Post your pictures here: old pictures, scans, photos of how the track looks today (maybe somebody visited that places), links, everything. I plan to continue contributing pictures from my collection.
Good luck!
For all Alfa-lovers:
http://web.archive.org/web/200302071525 ... aT33-3.htmAscari '23
Targa Florio 1930 Varzi's car on fire.
Both drove Alfas but Varzi's was the more powerful P.2. At the start of the race Varzi stormed into the lead but trouble struck when his spare wheel worked itself lose along the jarring mountain roads. The wheel would puncture his fuel tank causing him to stop more often for fuel. At the last stop his riding mechanic grabbed a spare fuel can. While racing along a downhill stretch his mechanic attempted to refuel the car. Unfortunately a high IQ was not a prerequisite for being a racing mechanic and the car caught fire when some of the fuel spilled onto the hot exhaust. Varzi unwilling to stop and lose the race to his bitter rival continued on while his mechanic beat the fires furiously with his seat cushion. Thus they won the race in truly spectacular fashion.
(Varzi before the start of that race)
(Varzi's car again)Read how this story continued after Varzi's finish!
http://www.racingdioramics.us/alfa30.html'Achille Varzi led the 1930 Targa Florio in his super fast Alfa Romeo P3 from the start. On lap 67 his car developed a serious fuel leak from the tank. Louis Chiron, in a blue Bugatti was following closely in second place. The always intense Varzi refused to give up his lead to repair the leak. At the last depot in the mountains, they collected a can of gasoline. Varzi shouted orders for his mechanic to stand up, lean over the back of the Alfa and pour the gasoline into the tank while they were speeding on a downhill part of the coarse! This he did, but only a small percentage of the fuel got into the tank. Most of it sprayed all over the place. When it landed on the red hot exhaust pipe, the entire rear of the car ignited in flames. Louis Chiron had problems of his own. His mechanic became ill, and was vomiting and finally fainted. At times the man was nearly thrown from the race car. And this is how they came across the finish line. Achille Varzi crossed first, leaning as far forward as he could to keep away from the flames, while his mechanic, who had ripped out the seat cushion was frantically beating at the fire. Louis Chiron crossed only a few seconds later, holding his unconscious mechanic to keep him from falling out of the car on the treacherous road coarse with one hand, and steering with the other.'
Porsche.
For this German manufacturer the Targa Florio was always an important part of their spirit, or even ideology. And look how much effort they paid each year to achieve win on the twisty, narrow Italian roads!
As you see from the next picture, Alfa tried to keep pace with its competitors. At least in quantity they didn't yield to Porsche, but unfortunately they not always had that speed (and luck, what's also important).
So, you ask where are the Ferrari men? Well, Enzo Ferrari personally was not in favour of Targa Florio, and also in 60s and 70s he redecided to withdraw from the World Championship of Makes, then to return again, and so on for several times. So the factory team didn't competed regularly in the Targa, but it was usually complemented by private teams and owners. Some of them were indeed rather good equipped, like Scuderia Filipinetti, which entered this beautiful brand-new 512S in '1970 race:
And, finally, just a couple of pics showing spectator's impressions of the race:
1966
Winners Mairesse & Muller, here pictured in the tremendous bad weather conditions that happened in the 50th edition.
The prototype Porsche 8 cilinder 2,2L of Klass-Davis (n°224) laps the Carrera 6 of Heini Walter, former European Hillclimb champion. Altough the '224' looks bigger in the picture, both cars have the exact same dimensions!
Scarfiotti-Parkes (Dino 206S) had to abandon in the 7th lap after an accident, Parkes managed to get to the pits, but the race was over.
Guichet-Baghetti saved Ferrari's honour by finishing second.
'Scuderia Filipinetti' (Carrera 6) finished sixth with the duo Bourillot-Maglioli.
Beautiful 'eye-fish' picture of the Ferrari 330 P3 of Vacccarella-Bandini. Their best lap was under 41 minutes!
Gerhard Mitter, the current European Hillclimb champion is walking back to pits after he had abandonded. The '74' is the Alpine of Hanrioud-Piot.
YES! RAIN! That must have been what Timo Makinen, the 'rallyeman', was thinking in these bad and slippery conditions. With his teammate Rhodes, they drove their MGB to victory in the Grand Tourisme class!
Great battle between both the Alfa Romeo TZ2 (n°126) from Pinto-Todaro; and the Alpine from Rosinski-Delageneste.
Winners Müller (left) and Mairesse (middle)The result:
The abandons:
source L'année Automobile 1966-1967
Brian Redman is driving series car, Porsche 914, when the roads are not closed and there was traffic. This was one of the ways to memorize numerous corners of the 72km track. And often for this purpose race cars were used, so drivers could get extra information on the racecar's settings and so on. (of course there was official practice before the race when police closed the roads for traffic, but some extra testing was also useful because Targa Florio had very specific conditions and it was difficult to find a good setup for a car):
Porsche 908/3 makes a tire/refuelling stop. Note that it actually happened not on the pitlane near start-finish line (near Cerda village). The track was so long that one pitlane was not enough, and there was another famous place high up in the mountains, used for tire/fuel stops and making signals to drivers - so-called Polizzi refueling station. (Polizzi is a nearby village, however cars didn't go directly through it).
Here are some pics: (really one of the famous Targa places)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\The year is 1970, car - Porsche 908 of Martini team.
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