These onboards from the Targa Florio during the practice period are always harrowing. When you see the occasional shepherd and daily Sicilian traffic it’s not hard to see why this footage from 1973 was the last year of the event. Let’s ride shotgun with the Claude Haldi/Bernard Chenevière Porsche 908. Almost a shame we can’t see the lovely Toblerone livery of this unusually red P-car. The car didn’t make the main event due to blowing an engine in practice. Easy to believe from where I’m sitting.
Will there ever be a way to make the motorsport viewing experience as visceral as it was in this photo from the 1970 Targa Florio? I tell you what, will you let me watch the race from the kerbs if I wear one of those Hurt Locker suits? Via Vintage Road Racing Archive
I’m consistently amazed at what Lego builders can do with nothing more than their ingenuity and a handful of Lego bricks. Somehow those little blocky chunks of plastic can be massaged into the most beautiful contours. Malte Dorowski has put together a fairly complete Lego garage of Martini Racing Porsches (and transporter… and support vehicle), but it is probably no surprise that his take on the Carrera RSR is my favorite.
Look at those iconic bulbous arches around this thing. Coming up with this collection of bricks and assorted bits and bobs and deciding that they can come together to create that arch is mind boggling. Malte didn’t just get the general shape nailed down and call it a day though—the details are where this model really sings. The peek through the door at the gauge cluster; the way the windscreen wiper is perched; the steering wheel’s center button: They all come together and get that RSR just right. Absolutely beautiful work.
More at Malte Dorowski’s Flickr gallery. Thanks for the heads up on this one, Ryan!
When I conjure a Jaguar C-Type in my mind it’s always surrounded by verdant rolling hills of Spa or the green pastures of Goodwood. For some reason it never even occurred to me to imagine her in the brown and dusty roads of the Piccolo Circuito delle Madonie.
The Sicilian mountains seem to suit her though, don’t you think? Tommy Wisdom sure thought so when he took a C-Type to finish 17th at the 1953 running of the Targa Florio. You might think that 17th is nothing to brag about, but even finishing the Targa is a proud accomplishment.
I adore this “sketch” by automotive designer Mike Kim. Bringing the movement and shake and blur that has always been a favorite element of great racing photography to illustration… Now that’s something. Shows you how great it can be when automotive designers take a break from sketching cars of the future and take up their Prismacolors to doodle the machines of the past.
This was the year of The Flying Finn’s 33 minute 36 second lap. There’s something equally magical and heartbreaking about a record that cannot be broken—Leo Kinnunen’s 79.89 mph average lap of the Targa will never be beaten.
Ok. I like old track maps as much as the next guy—ok, probably much more than the next guy—but they only do so much to tell the story of a race. Here’s another look at the ’52 Targa.
Ok. Actually it’s a postcard; but I’m willing to consider it a track map if you are. Come to think of it, I don’t recall ever seeing a Targa Florio track map. One the one hand, it seems almost senseless for the spectators to have a map describing every corner when there’s 72km of racing course to describe consisting of hundreds of corners (thousands?). On the other hand, a track map of sorts is as close as your nearest road map of Sicily.
Felice Bonetto in his winning Lancia Aurelia B20
This postcard, from the 36a Targa Florio of 1952, is much more about the entirety of the Palermo province than it is about the Circuito Modenie. It certainly wouldn’t have been much use to Felice Bonetto as he piloted his Lancia Aurelia B20 around 8 laps in 7 hours, 11 minutes on the way to his victory. As is so often the case, however, what this map lacks in accuracy it more than makes up for in other aesthetic virtues. The illustration style of the figures enjoying themselves on the island is marvelous. I particularly like the hiker and skier in the Modenie mountains.
