The Targa Florio has been revived in a fantastic new event aimed at Ferraristi worldwide
You have to go and see the Floriopoli grandstands on the main road between the coast and Cerda, to get an idea of just what the Targa Florio was once like.
The abandoned structures, the rudimentary line of pits, now little more than a cracks in the road, and the fact that there is nothing else at all in this remote area, all drive home just how enticing it must have been for drivers to tackle these treacherously narrow roads. To shoot along a route that wound its way through towns and villages around the Madonie Circuit before turning towards the sea where the long Buonfornello straight provided a welcome moment of respite.
I experienced that very adventure just last weekend at the wheel of a 1957 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France and I can scarcely believe how Vaccarella, Merzario, Phil Hill, Gendebien and so many other champions managed to drive Ferrari sports cars and sports prototypes on those same roads in a race that went on for the best part of 1,000 kilometres.
The Targa Florio was part of the World Sports Prototype Championship which meant 13 laps of a 70-kilometre course. The most incredible thing of all is that the race began in 1906 when the roads were little more than mule tracks and the cars little more than horseless carriages! Renowned Marsala wine producer and shipping magnate, Vincenzo Florio managed to convince the drivers of the day to come all the way to Sicily by making his own cargo vessels available to them. Since then, the Targa Florio has vied with the Indy 500 for the title of the world’s oldest motor race. It was, however, finally suspended in 1977 for safety reasons. This made it even sweeter that it fell to Ferrari to reopen the Florio’s history with the Tribute to Targa Florio which saw cars from all over the world line out at the start and generated a wave of authentically warm Sicilian enthusiasm at the finish-line.
Italy has many different types of tourism to offer, of that there is no doubt. Not least amongst them tourism for enthusiasts of all kinds. Like the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio is very much a part of that opportunity and we believe that 2011 hails the revival of the great race of the Madonie.
PUBLISHED IN Editor's corner BY Antonio Ghini ON 10.08.2011
Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)
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