Targa Florio in an NSX
Discussion
A few years ago I had an interesting journey up the Stelvio with my father in his NSX when we had a split in the water tank (documented on here).
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
This year my father decided he was going to drive the Targa Florio route in Sicily so we planned a week driving around the Island culminating in a drive of the Targa Florio in the North of the Island. The Targa Florio is a road race started in 1906 and finally stopped in 1977 because, I think, of safety concerns. It is the race that lent its name to Porsche who named their hardtop convertible as a Targa and is now commonly used for many hard top convertibles, including the NSX and our one is indeed a Targa!
Anyway, Dad drove down to Southern Italy and I flew in to Lamezia Terme and then we drove to Reggio together and caught the ferry across to Messina.
After a few days visiting various places around Sicily (Etna, Syracuse, Agrigento etc) we headed to near the start of the Targa Florio at Cerda, with Dad taking the wheel for the first stint, just at the dinner of the 6km straight. We started the drive and soon found the abandoned pits where we saw two classic Alfas who had just finished an classic car tour of Sicily.
Some shots of our car at the Pits :
We drove round the circuit with me at the wheel for the middle section, and every now and then I requested a stop for some photo opportunities:
Whilst stopping for a driver change and soak up the view, another car stopped behind us, got out and was very excited to chat to us. He turned out to be Bob Watson who is an Australian rally champion from the late 1960s and early 1970s so they were chatting happily about various sporting heroes of the era. My father was loving it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the drive (and the whole trip) but for my father it was a childhood dream come true...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
This year my father decided he was going to drive the Targa Florio route in Sicily so we planned a week driving around the Island culminating in a drive of the Targa Florio in the North of the Island. The Targa Florio is a road race started in 1906 and finally stopped in 1977 because, I think, of safety concerns. It is the race that lent its name to Porsche who named their hardtop convertible as a Targa and is now commonly used for many hard top convertibles, including the NSX and our one is indeed a Targa!
Anyway, Dad drove down to Southern Italy and I flew in to Lamezia Terme and then we drove to Reggio together and caught the ferry across to Messina.
After a few days visiting various places around Sicily (Etna, Syracuse, Agrigento etc) we headed to near the start of the Targa Florio at Cerda, with Dad taking the wheel for the first stint, just at the dinner of the 6km straight. We started the drive and soon found the abandoned pits where we saw two classic Alfas who had just finished an classic car tour of Sicily.
Some shots of our car at the Pits :
We drove round the circuit with me at the wheel for the middle section, and every now and then I requested a stop for some photo opportunities:
Whilst stopping for a driver change and soak up the view, another car stopped behind us, got out and was very excited to chat to us. He turned out to be Bob Watson who is an Australian rally champion from the late 1960s and early 1970s so they were chatting happily about various sporting heroes of the era. My father was loving it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the drive (and the whole trip) but for my father it was a childhood dream come true...
As a Ferrari 312P was unavailable - I assume - what a perfect car to drive on the Targa roads.
My biggest regret is that my student grant (loan? hell no , not in 1972) did not stretch further than getting me to Brands and Silverstone . Reports and footage I 've seen of the Targa Florio makes me realise this really was the ultimate road race after the Mille Miglia was stopped. Some great stuff on youtube- especially of Vic Elford (a man's man if ever there was one ) practicising the route while the roads were open - and encountering sheep , Fiat 500s, Piaggio Apes etc as well as driving through busy villages .
Elford was driving the 3litre V8 Alfa 33 TT/ 3 sports prototype at the time ...
My biggest regret is that my student grant (loan? hell no , not in 1972) did not stretch further than getting me to Brands and Silverstone . Reports and footage I 've seen of the Targa Florio makes me realise this really was the ultimate road race after the Mille Miglia was stopped. Some great stuff on youtube- especially of Vic Elford (a man's man if ever there was one ) practicising the route while the roads were open - and encountering sheep , Fiat 500s, Piaggio Apes etc as well as driving through busy villages .
Elford was driving the 3litre V8 Alfa 33 TT/ 3 sports prototype at the time ...
I never knew this race existed until Dad proposed this trip. I did do quite a bit of research prior to the trip and we were hoping to go to the museum but it was closed for the afternoon (and I had to catch my plane home). Most of the roads were in excellent condition as they are currently resurfacing it and most of the time we were completely alone, just enjoying the road, the car and the scenery.
The car was a good car to do it in but dare I say it, a bit too large and powerful? We actually discussed if my car would be better suited (a Mk1 MR2 supercharger) as it is a bit more light and nimble and the NSX greater power was arguably a bit redundant due to so many curves. We didn't reach a conclusion.
The other option we had was a Fiat Dino but it doesn't have air con so we ruled that out.
The car was a good car to do it in but dare I say it, a bit too large and powerful? We actually discussed if my car would be better suited (a Mk1 MR2 supercharger) as it is a bit more light and nimble and the NSX greater power was arguably a bit redundant due to so many curves. We didn't reach a conclusion.
The other option we had was a Fiat Dino but it doesn't have air con so we ruled that out.
They raced a 7 Litre Chaparral 2F at the Targa in 1967 , a 5 Litre Ferrari 512S in 1970 so big cars do have form there . But the nimble little Porsche 908/3s were the car to have .
If your dad hasn't got it already do buy him Rainer Schelegelmilch's Sports Car Racing 1965-73 , whcih has some amazing Targa pics. Huge book , but only about £35 .
If your dad hasn't got it already do buy him Rainer Schelegelmilch's Sports Car Racing 1965-73 , whcih has some amazing Targa pics. Huge book , but only about £35 .
Vic Elford at Targa Florio. From Speed merchants, an excellent DVD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BT3RPGu2P8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BT3RPGu2P8
In our F1 -centric age when some folk get very excitable about the fact that Alonso is at Le Mans and Indy (and bloody good for him) it's instructive to remember 'Quick Vic' 's 1968 -
- January, and he wins the Monte Carlo Rally in a 911
- one week later he wins the Daytona 24Hours in a Porsche 907
- in Spring he wins the Targa Florio , again in a 907. He makes up the 18 minutes (yes , 18 ) lost in a pit stop
- in Summer he races in his first Grand Prix, the French , in a Cooper , and finishes 4th
Some mensch was Vic , and still is , happily.
- January, and he wins the Monte Carlo Rally in a 911
- one week later he wins the Daytona 24Hours in a Porsche 907
- in Spring he wins the Targa Florio , again in a 907. He makes up the 18 minutes (yes , 18 ) lost in a pit stop
- in Summer he races in his first Grand Prix, the French , in a Cooper , and finishes 4th
Some mensch was Vic , and still is , happily.
coppice said:
They raced a 7 Litre Chaparral 2F at the Targa in 1967 , a 5 Litre Ferrari 512S in 1970 so big cars do have form there . But the nimble little Porsche 908/3s were the car to have .
If your dad hasn't got it already do buy him Rainer Schelegelmilch's Sports Car Racing 1965-73 , whcih has some amazing Targa pics. Huge book , but only about £35 .
His birthday is in August so that ties in quite nicely! Thank youIf your dad hasn't got it already do buy him Rainer Schelegelmilch's Sports Car Racing 1965-73 , whcih has some amazing Targa pics. Huge book , but only about £35 .
They are on the route along with these ones :
However, on their own, they wouldn’t be any good. We used an old fashioned paper map from amazon (those ones that fold like a concertina) and a print out of the route so we plotted that onto the big map. The signs on the route just confirmed we were on the right road.
The Dino was just not practical for the trip there and back despite being interesting whilst actually there. The NSX behaved perfectly and never skipped a beat. And it has air con.
However, on their own, they wouldn’t be any good. We used an old fashioned paper map from amazon (those ones that fold like a concertina) and a print out of the route so we plotted that onto the big map. The signs on the route just confirmed we were on the right road.
The Dino was just not practical for the trip there and back despite being interesting whilst actually there. The NSX behaved perfectly and never skipped a beat. And it has air con.
As for the road surfaces, some of the roads are truly awful and I was on pothole watch but most of the Targa Florio had been worked on. I say most, there were still some spectacularly bad bits and I was very pleased we had swapped drivers just before, by chance. If we hadn’t, I would have just stopped and got out. No way was I taking his pride and joy over them.
Pericoloso said:
Thanks for the info.
This is tempting me into a Sicily trip,have to be next year though.
Go for it. We did it in a lovely vehicle but that was icing on the cake. I would have enjoyed it in any car. The route is only about 44kms but it took us about 4 hours as we kept stopping to soak it all up. This is tempting me into a Sicily trip,have to be next year though.
Also worth building in some time to visit some other places in Sicily, we loved Syracuse, Villa Romana and Etna.
And Sicily is massive, much bigger than most people think.
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