La Targa Florio, The Dangerous Race On Sicilian Roads
We recently told you about the race to the clouds, better known as Pikes Peak. In addition to this, there are many other high-level races whose impact is very small, so much so that their existence only appears for a few fans. The Targa Florio is one of them, and it is one of the longest-lived.
As if that were not enough, the cancellation in the 50s of another great race, the Mille Miglia of which we will speak shortly, gave the Targa Florio an extra prominence in Italy for 20 years. Today the race is more of a classics rally, a beautiful homage to the real competition that it originally was.
The numbers of the Targa Florio
This wonderful race disputed on the mountain roads and towns of Sicily began in 1906, with a 146-kilometer route, which would be used until the middle of the century. Among so many editions, there was some that modified the route, whether it was less –108 km– or greater, with a complete tour of the island.
In the beginning, the winners were long-forgotten manufacturers such as Itala or SPA, although names such as Fiat and Peugeot, among others , already appeared . The French would settle for a single victory in 1919, while the Italians, playing at home, took the 1907, 1921 and 1957 editions.
Secondary successes, or at least clouded by that of the greatest of the test. These are Porsche, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari. Between the three they add 28 victories, almost half of all editions counting the unofficial post-1973 ones.
Porsche, king of the Targa Florio
Only one victory separates Alfa Romeo and Porsche, with 10 for the Italians and 11 for the Germans, which gives them the merit of being the most successful manufacturer of the Targa Florio in the 71 years that it was celebrated. The first success was in 1956, with a Porsche 550 Spyder driven by Umberto Maglioli.
The Italian driver would cross the finish line after 7:54 hours of racing and 10 laps on a track that since 1951 has been reduced to a ‘modest’ 72 kilometers. It was not the first victory of this small sports car with 135 HP of power. A year before, he had already established himself winning the Panamericana, played in Mexico.
After this first victory in Sicily, 10 more would come, and he would go on to win four consecutive editions –1966 to 1969– with increasingly prepared and capable prototypes. A clear example of the evolution of the participating cars is that Porsche set an average speed record of 128 km / h, on mountain roads.
As they say, all good things come to an end, and that of the Targa Florio was simmered. A rebound in accidents and increasingly precarious safety for pilots and spectators signed a sentence for the test in 1973, although it was run unofficially until 1977.
Heritage of the Targa Florio
To this day only two memories remain of what the Targa Florio was originally. On the one hand, we have the annual parade that takes place on the same roads that used to run. A procession of classic cars of all kinds, in which we can even find old race participants.
The other memory we have takes us back to Porsche. Since 1966, his 911 sports car has had a body that combines the best of a convertible and a coupe, which was named Targa in honor of the Italian race.
Such was the success of this that all cars of this type are known as Targa, whether Porsche or not, such as the new Mazda MX5 RF, the Targa version of the respected Japanese roadster and that replaces the conventional hardtop version of the past generation.
