Targa Florio

The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held near Palermo, Sicily. Founded in 1906, it used to be one of the oldest sports car racing events until it was discontinued in 1977 due to safety concerns. It is since run as a rallying event.

History
The race was created in 1906 by the wealthy pioneer race driver and automobile enthusiast, Vincenzo Florio, who had started the Coppa Florio race in Brescia, Lombardy in 1900.

Always one of the toughest competitions in Europe, the first Targa Florio covered 277 miles (446 km) through multiple hairpin curves on treacherous mountain roads in Sicily, at heights where severe changes in climate frequently occurred. Alessandro Cagno won the inaugural 1906 race in nine hours, averaging 30 miles per hour (50 km/h).

By the mid-1920s, the Targa Florio had become one of Europe's most important races, as neither the 24 Hours of Le Mans nor the Mille Miglia had been established yet. Grand Prix races were still isolated events, not a series like today's F1.

The wins of Mercedes (not yet merged with Benz) in the 1920s made a big impression in Germany, especially the one of German Christian Werner in 1924, as it was the only non-Italian winner in 50 years. Rudolf Caracciola repeated a similar upset win at the Mille Miglia a couple of years later. In 1926, Eliska Junkova, one of the great female drivers in Grand Prix motor racing history, became the first woman to ever compete in the race.

In 1953, the FIA World Sportscar Championship was introduced. The Targa became part of it in 1955, when Mercedes had to win 1-2 with the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR in order to beat Ferrari for the title. They had missed the first two of the 6 events, Buenos Aires and the 12 Hours of Sebring, where Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati and Porsche scored. Mercedes appeared at and won in the Mille Miglia, then pulled out of the 1955 Le Mans disaster, but won the Tourist Trophy at Dundrod. Stirling Moss/Peter Collins and Juan Manuel Fangio/Karl Kling finished minutes ahead of the best Ferrari and secured the title.

So, over the years, the greats of Grand Prix racing and Formula One such as Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio, Belgium's Olivier Gendebien and Britain's Stirling Moss came to challenge Italian champions, Tazio Nuvolari, Alfieri Maserati, Achille Varzi and other, like local hero Nino Vaccarella.

Several versions of the track were used. It started with a length of 148km (92 miles) for a lap, then was shortened twice to the 72km lap that was used in the last decades, for usually 10 laps in the race. Start and finish was at Cerda. The counterclockwise lap lead from Caltavuturo and Collesano from over 600 meters down to sea level, where the cars raced from Campofelice di Roccella on the Buonfornello straight along the coast, at over 6 km longer than at Le Mans. Also, even full tours around the island were done before and after the wars.

The race cars were started one by one for a time trial, as a start from a full grid was not possible on the tight and twisty roads. Helmut Marko set the lap record in 1972 in an Alfa Romeo T33 at 33 min 41 s or an average of 128.253 km/h. The fastest ever was Leo Kinnunen in 1970, qualifying the Porsche 908/3 at 128.571 km/h or 33 min 36 s. Due to the long track, drivers practised in the week before the race in public traffic, often with their race cars fitted with license plates. Porsche factory drivers even had to watch onboard videos, a sickening experience for some.

After winning the race several times, Porsche named the convertible version of the 911 after the Targa. The name of the car with the large roll bar was a wise choice, as targa means shield.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, race cars with up to 600 hp (450 kW) such as Nino Vaccarella's Ferrari 512S raced through small mountains villages while the people were sitting or standing right next to or even on the road. Porsche, on the other hand, did not race its big Porsche 917, but rather the nimble Porsche 908/03 Spyders.

Due to safety concerns, the last real Targa Florio as an international professional race was run in 1973. In that year, even a Porsche 911 won as the prototypes suffered crashes or other troubles. The Targa was continued as a national event for some years, before a fatal crash sealed its fate in 1977. It is since run as a rallying event.

Pre-WWI races

 * 1906 : Alessandro Cagno, Itala
 * 1907 : Felice Nazzaro, Fiat
 * 1908 : Vincenzo Trucco, Isotta-Fraschini
 * 1909 : Francesco Ciuppa, SPA
 * 1910 : Tullio Cariolato, Franco Automobili
 * 1911 : Ernesto Ceirano, SCAT
 * 1912 : Cyril Snipe, SCAT
 * 1913 : Felice Nazzaro, Nazzaro
 * 1914 : Ernesto Ceirano, SCAT

Between the Wars

 * 1919 : André Boillot, Peugeot EXS
 * 1920 : Guido Meregalli, Nazzaro GP
 * 1921 : Giulio Masetti, Fiat 451
 * 1922 : Giulio Masetti, Mercedes GP/14
 * 1923 : Ugo Sivocci, Alfa Romeo RLTF
 * 1924 : Christian Werner, Mercedes PP
 * 1925 : Meo Constantini, Bugatti T35
 * 1926 : Meo Constantini, Bugatti T35T
 * 1927 : Emilio Materassi, Bugatti T35C
 * 1928 : Albert Divo, Bugatti T35B
 * 1929 : Albert Divo, Bugatti T35C
 * 1930 : Achille Varzi, Alfa Romeo P2
 * 1931 : Tazio Nuvolari, Alfa Romeo 8C Monza
 * 1932 : Tazio Nuvolari, Alfa Romeo 8C Monza
 * 1933 : Antonio Brivio, Alfa Romeo 8C Monza
 * 1934 : Achille Varzi, Alfa Romeo Tipo-B P3
 * 1935 : Antonio Brivio, Alfa Romeo Tipo-B P3
 * 1936 : Constantino Magistri, Lancia
 * 1937 : Giulio Severi, Maserati 6CM
 * 1938 : Giovanni Rocco, Maserati 6CM
 * 1939 : Luigi Villoresi, Maserati 6CM
 * 1940 : Luigi Villoresi, Maserati 4CL

Post-WW II races

 * 1948 : Clemente Biondetti/Igor Troubetzkoy, Ferrari 166
 * 1949 : Clemente Biondetti/Aldo Benedetti, Ferrari
 * 1950 : Mario Bornigia/Giancarlo Bornigia, Alfa Romeo
 * 1951 : Franco Cortese, Frazer Nash
 * 1952 : Felice Bonetto, Lancia
 * 1953 : Umberto Maglioli, Lancia
 * 1954 : Piero Taruffi, Lancia

World Championship races

 * 1955 : Stirling Moss/Peter Collins, Mercedes-Benz 300SLR
 * 1956 : Umberto Maglioli/Huschke von Hanstein, Porsche 550
 * 1957 : Fabio Colona, Fiat 600 (as regularity test, following the Mille Miglia accident)
 * 1958 : Luigi Musso/Olivier Gendebien, Ferrari 250TR
 * 1959 : Edgar Barth/Wolfgang Seidel, Porsche 718 RSK
 * 1960 : Jo Bonnier/Hans Herrmann/Graham Hill, Porsche 718 RS60
 * 1961 : Wolfgang von Trips/Olivier Gendebien, Ferrari Dino 246SP
 * 1962 : Willy Mairesse/Ricardo Rodriguez/Olivier Gendebien, Ferrari Dino 246SP
 * 1963 : Jo Bonnier/Carlo Maria Abate, Porsche 718 RS64
 * 1964 : Colin Davis/Antonio Pucci, Porsche 904 GTS
 * 1965 : Nino Vaccarella/Lorenzo Bandini, Ferrari 275P2
 * 1966 : Willy Mairesse/Herbert Müller, Porsche 906 Carrera 6
 * 1967 : Paul Hawkins/Rolf Stommelen, Porsche 910
 * 1968 : Vic Elford/Umberto Maglioli, Porsche 907
 * 1969 : Gerhard Mitter/Udo Schütz, Porsche 908/2
 * 1970 : Jo Siffert/Brian Redman, Porsche 908/3
 * 1971 : Nino Vaccarella/Toine Hezemans, Alfa Romeo T33/3
 * 1972 : Arturo Merzario/Sandro Munari, Ferrari 312PB
 * 1973 : Herbert Müller/Gijs van Lennep, Porsche 911 Carrera RSR

Non-WC races

 * 1974 : Gérard Larrousse/Amilcare Ballestrieri, Lancia Stratos
 * 1975 : Nino Vaccarella/Arturo Merzario, Alfa Romeo T33 TT 12
 * 1976 : Armando Floridia, Osella
 * 1977 : Raffaele Restivo, Chevron