A wonderful view in any year.
Tag: Targa Florio
What could be better than a spirited drive in the mountains and a picnic lunch with friends? Ask “Quick” Vic Elford, seen here doing just that. Pausing to relax during his own spirited drive in the mountains, indeed.
Of course, the mountains in this case are those surrounding Palermo, Sicily. The lunch is served on the short tail of a Martini International Racing Porsche 908/3. And his fellow diners are the team and competitors of the 1971 Targa Florio. Perhaps this was to celebrate his fastest lap of that year’s race-rounding the 72km course in 33:45.6, an average over 127km/h.
This is how I’ll be taking my meals from now on.
Beautiful. Elegant. Purposeful. I’ve caught myself fantasizing about this particular variation on the Maser A6GCS since it got so much camera time in the BBC2 program, The Real Italian Job: James Martin’s Mille Miglia. While the program is a fairly poor trip through the contemporary Mille Miglia Rally, and the chef’s Maser gave out far too early to really see the beautiful sights of the Mille, there is a shining highpoint that made the program well worth watching: the absolutely captivating A6GCS. Although the dealer doesn’t mention it, this car appears to be the very example featured in the program—notice the Mille Miglia rally number featured on the car here, James Martin’s car bore the same number.
Maserati created a variety of different sportscars under the A6 model designation, from rather luxurious coupes to open-top enclosed-fender sportscars. This stripped-down, (mostly) open wheel variant though is, for me, the title holder. She’s absolutely marvelous, looking something like a machine that somehow successfully combines the Formula Car, Sportscar, and Hot Rod. There’s nothing here that doesn’t need to be, there are no dramatic design flourishes—it is the very essence of form following function.
This example, chassis #2006, is currently among the stock of London dealer Cars International Kensington. One of only 3 of this variant made, she was supplied new to Baron Nicola Musmeci in May, 1948. The Baron wasted no time preparing the car for the Targa Florio the following March, where it placed 4th. He repeated the trip around Sicily the following year, bringing this little machine home in 5th place. The car also raced as a Formula 2 car with the passenger seat blocked out and the road equipment stripped out, and even entered the Mille Miglia in 1951.
Musmeci apparently didn’t tire from the car after the string of successes because the car didn’t change hands until 1972. Sadly the next owner largely mothballed it after a body restoration, and we haven’t seen it on the track until Cars International, after acquiring the car (presumably for Martin) in 2007, entered her in the 2008 Mille Miglia. It has since been restored again, this time with a complete engine rebuild as well. Count ’em. That’s 3 owners since 1948. The James Martin program went into some detail about James buying this car, but was Cars International the “owner”? When Cars International says they “acquired” the car, they did so on Martin’s behalf? This is all assuming I’m right and that this is indeed the James Martin car, which seems more than likely.
I’ve been obsessing about this car for quite some time now, even pouring over this Gilco chassis construction diagram. Why should I let my non-existant welding skills get in the way of building my dream? After all, I’m going to assume it’s HIGHLY unlikely that one of these will come available in my price range any time soon.
More photos and information on the dealer’s info page.
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Targa Florio 1966 Film
Is there anything more romantic than the Circuito Madonie?
Professional Italian Production:
And amateur shot 8mm:
Bellissimo.
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Targa Florio ’66 in Photos
The Baghetti/Guichet Ferrari Dino Coupe would finish 2nd, 9 minutes behind the winning 906. 
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Your Own Private Florio
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dreamt of having my own private racetrack. A few dozen acres in the countryside that my friends and I could spend years circling around. Sadly, it is but a pleasant fantasy. I can see now that there’s nothing standing in the way of my dream, I just have to reduce scale.
Slot Car Forum member JMSWMS has assembled a truly remarkable 1:32 scale digital slot car track that evokes the spirit of the Sicilian country roads that make up the Targa Florio. His attention to detail is absolutely incredible, everything from the texture of the cliffs that made the Targa so fantastic/dangerous, to the types of vegetation that dot the Sicilian countryside, to the stone abutments that mark the way; this is an impressive work of art.
Take for example, this representation of the Church at Campofelice. This section through town has long been a popular spot for photographers to show the immediacy of racing cars rocketing through the villages of Sicily. JMSWMS captures the spirit of the landmark perfectly. Of course, liberties have to be taken when recreating the Targa—even at the 1:32 scale that slot cars use, the 45 mile Circuit di Palermo would be nearly 1.5 miles! But this ring around the fountain square and away from the church makes the track feel like the Targa, which is even more important.
Take a moment to dig into this thread at the Slot Forum, in which JMSWMS records his inspiration, research, and build process for a bit of insight into this amazing piece of work. This really has me inspired to create my own scenic slot car track.
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53rd Targa Florio
Some wonderful footage from the ’69 Targa Florio.
I like the lo-fi digitization technique here.. you can hear the 8mm projector whirring away, presumably while the screen was shot with a digital camcorder. The more ingenuity that can bring us historic footage like this, the better.