Targa Florio

A Taste of Targas Past

November 10, 2020 By pete

1972 Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato at the Floriopoli,the location of the old pits. Photo by L. Ariosto.

Photos by Gianni Petta and friends as noted

VeloceToday covers the Mille Miglia every year, but rarely have we seen photos from the similar Targa Florio event in Sicily. The following are from several recent editions of the Classic Targa Florio, when both spectators and entrants were abundant. In fact before the Pandemic, there were so many spectators that the traditional paddock location by the old pits was no longer sufficient. [Read more…] about A Taste of Targas Past

Classic Targa Florio, October 15-18, 2020

November 3, 2020 By pete

1973 Fiat Abarth 124 Rally

By Gianni Petta and Pete Vack
Photos by Gianni Petta

We’ve never covered the Classic Targa Florio, but historian and Sicilian resident Gianni Petta has photographed the event for years. Petta is known to our readers as the creator of the stunning Targa Florio dioramas, which we featured a year ago in VeloceToday (The 1970 Targa Florio). [Read more…] about Classic Targa Florio, October 15-18, 2020

Berliet, Bologna and Tyres

August 3, 2020 By pete

This wonderful cartoon drawing of the Bologna circuit was produced by the organizers.

Story by Graham Gauld

For more years than I care to remember, almost daily I have been faced with what I am going to write about, particularly when the publication is concerned with motoring and motorsport history.
This is why some of my stories might appear to be out of the ordinary. The following is one of them.

Twenty years ago, I was appointed a member of the FIA Historic Commission in Paris, which sounds terribly grand. It was an enjoyable five years, and one met very interesting people.

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Experiencing Zagato’s Alfas

June 16, 2015 By pete

Richard Stafferton's (RIP) TZ and John Winter's Coda Tronca and one of my Coda Tondas taken in Richards driveway in Toronto

Richard Stafferton’s TZ1 S/N 084 and John Winter’s Coda Tronca s/n 00195 and Oliver Collin’s round tail, s/n 00147, taken in Richard’s driveway in Toronto, 1978. See how many Alfas you can identify in Richard’s yard. Photo Oliver Collins collection.

By Pete Vack *

As early as the late 1960s, the Alfa enthusiast instinctively knew that of all the post war Alfas semi production cars, the Zagatos were the most desirable. Alfa Zagatos exemplified the era of the relatively inexpensive, coachbuilt GT car, as did the special bodied Ferraris, Maseratis, and Lancias.

They were also, for most part, aluminum, which beat the ever present rust problem associated with steel bodied cars of the era. Unlike the competition, Alfas were more numerous, less expensive and in general more reliable. They had mechanicals that could be understood, repaired and there were ample parts available. Another part of the lure of Alfas was that the 1300/1600 cars were a joy to drive; some, yes, underpowered, but all were fun and easy to drive. They were small, light, responsive and eager. Many were raced successfully at Le Mans, Sebring, and the Targa Florio.

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Inside the Walls of Autodelta Part 7: Le Mans, 1972

February 24, 2015 By pete

Story and photos by Robert Little
All images copyright Robert Little

(Read Part 1)
(Read Part 2)
(Read Part 3)
(Read Part 4)
(Read Part 5)
(Read Part 6)

Following the absolutely heart-breaking loss to a Ferrari 312P driven by Sandro Munari and Arturo Merzario by only a mere 17 seconds over the course of nearly 500 miles of the Sicilian countryside in the Targa Florio only weeks before, Ing. Chiti was even more determined to break the domination of the 312Ps and to take on all challengers to the 1972 World Championship for Makes title.

Unfortunately, a high stakes game of ‘cat and mouse’ ensued where Ferrari withdrew from Le Mans, Porsche did not enter a factory team, and Alfa Romeo Autodelta was facing 12 cylinder Matras, Cosworth-powered Lolas, Ligiers, a variety of French Ferrari dealer racing teams sporting Daytonas, the BF Goodrich Team of Chevrolet Corvettes, a couple DeTomaso Panteras and a vast plethora of privately-entered 908s, 911s.

The Autodelta team, sponsored by Alitalia, Shell, Goodyear and Koni brought three V-8 cars to the circuit along with a full and complete racing caravan of spare parts, a large Alfa Romeo autobus machining operation and a full staff…including the writer who was once again in charge of keeping the cars absolutely spotless, keeping the local Le Mans Alfa Romeo garage clean and guarding the assets of the company during off hours.

The FIA formula for the World Championship for Makes competition and this 1972 Twenty Four Hours of LeMans race specified that prototypes run with three-liter engines. The era of the magnificent 4.5-litre 917 in Le Mans was over, but a 908 long tail privately entered by Reinhold Joest turned heads. Joest, Mario Casoni and Michael Weber shared the car owned by Jo Siffert and scored third overall behind two factory entered Matra-Simca 670’s and a single Matra-Simca 660. The 908 benefited mainly from its sophisticated long-tail aerodynamics and low weight. Despite its substantially lower engine output compared to the works Matra-Simcas, the Porsche reached an identical top speed on the Mulsanne straight.

We enter the town of Le Mans...

The local Alfa Romeo authorized service facility in Le Mans kindly offered the use of its entire facilities to the Autodelta team. Note the Alfa sign on the building at right. Also peer closely on the left for a glimpse of the Alfa Romeo transporter in the process of unloading our three T-33 cars.

Combined with the Alfa Romeo machine-shop-autobus parked outside, this shop had every possible convenience required by the team to prepare the cars. Clean, well-lit, spacious enough to fit everything and relatively private. In the unlikely event that an emergency part or sub-assembly became necessary, the ride from Settimo Milanese to Le Mans was a relative short transit of perhaps six hours or so.

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Inside the Walls of Autodelta Part 6: At the Targa Florio

February 16, 2015 By pete

Story and Photos by Robert Little

(Read Part 1)
(Read Part 2)
(Read Part 3)
(Read Part 4)
(Read Part 5)

Dear Readers: I am pleased to open the door of history a tiny bit wider through the exposition of these images taken about 43 years ago. Please however remember the following:

The images themselves were captured on Kodak color slide film using a fine quality 35mm camera for the period. However, the pictures cannot be compared with the resolution quality found with today’s photographic equipment.

Secondly I hope you understand that as a worker for Ing. Chiti I had almost no opportunity to take photographs while “on duty” so many of the photographic opportunities during the many races I attended were lost to the fact that I was there to serve and not to photograph. My number of interesting images was restricted by this commitment. I hope you will enjoy the images I was able to capture and seek the true ‘atmospheric’ shots where they are to be found in commercially available books and magazines on the subject.

Meeting the Autodelta Team in Sicily for the Targa Florio

After arriving in Sicily (Read Part 5), I met up with the Autodelta team, who had rented garage space from the Motel Aurim in Cerda. As the lowest member of the Autodelta ‘totem pole’, I was responsible for keeping all of the cars in spotless condition during the season, so that history would record every Autodelta car looking its absolute fastest and shiny best at the track appearances and in all future photographs.

For the actual race I was stationed somewhere along the course in the mountains. equipped with front and rear spare tires, fuel, a few tools, gasoline, coolant and a large Alfa Romeo sign board to represent an assistance point for drivers.

Evocative; a scene which could only be from the Targa Florio. This is the Vic Elford/Van Lennep Alfa being fueled up.

One of Carlo Chiti’s Darkest Moments: The 1972 Targa Florio

Autodelta had made a major concerted effort to win here and threw the entire weight and prestige of the parent company behind this effort, under the assumption that Ferrari would not bother to enter the race, having a good lead in the World Manufacturer’s Championship. However, at the last minute, Ferrari entered a 312P to be driven by Arturo Merzario and Sandro Munari. Still with four cars entered for Vaccarella/Stommelen, Elford/Van Lennep, de Adamich/ Hezemans and Nanni Galli/Helmut Marko, Chiti was confident of a win.

I had been driving the circuit fairly quickly in my Giulia 1600 with my camera on the passenger seat...it was all I could do to avoid clipping this Ferrari 312P coming toward me at full speed while at the same moment capturing this image. The one car entry took Autodelta by surprise.

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