Wednesday, August 11, 2021, Sicily recorded the highest known temp in Europe – 119.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
In the late ’60s and early ’70s the Targa Florio lap was about 45 miles long, on public roads, and they raced 11 laps for about 492 miles. The race lasted about 6 ½ hours, usually in daylight. For comparison, the Nurburgring Nordschleife was 14.2 miles long, mostly on public roads 1000Km. A few days before the Targa Florio race, the official practice was allowed. There was a pit lane, but the rest of the race was on public roads.
Remembering recent ASCC on-track incidents: From the online article http://www.grandprixhistory.org/targaflorio6.htm The History of the Targa Florio
“At the 52nd Targa Florio held on May 5th, 1968 things were looking good for Vic Elford and his Porsche 907 when disaster struck. On the climb into the mountains after Cerda, Elford suddenly felt no drive to the rear wheels. Fearing that the driveshaft or his clutch had broken he climbed out to have a look. Instead he saw that a bad center-lock wheel nut on his Porsche 907 had in fact unscrewed itself with the wheel almost coming off. Before he could even reach for his jack, spectators had swarmed over to his car and lifted it off the ground! He tightened the nut and set off again, only to have the nut come loose again. This time, he slid into the curb and suffered a flat tire. The obliging crowd lifted the car up and he changed to the (ed. BFGoodrich) deflated space saver, limped the car back to the pits and changed all of wheels and nuts. It was only lap two of 10, and he was 18 minutes behind. With nothing to lose he drove flat out for the rest of the race. He drove seven of those 10 laps with partner Umberto Maglioli driving the remainder. He took the lead on lap nine.
Some of the cars on our list showed up at races like Le Mans in 1972 when 3-liter cars were racing for the international championship. In 1972 the Porsche 908/3’s were not present at the Targa Florio, and a specially modified Ferrari 312 #3, (Keinmitleid!) won the race.
Locally, in our races, some cars are racing with short shallow guides, while at least one has a legal slightly modified deep guide. But, the keel needs to be 17mm long or less to make the sharp turns. We had 3 Porsche 908/3 NSR cars and 2 Slot.it/Policar Ferrari 312’s including a model of the real Targa winner #3/3T. The Alfa 33/3 did not make it to the race and the fourth Porsche driver was unable to arrive at the track.
Racers ran 40 laps in order of slowest time from race 2. All cars are sidewinder.
310 seconds, Randy, NSR Porsche 908/3, 70gm, 20k shark, (needs Elford as a second driver)
303 seconds, Mark Lucas, Slot.it Ferrari 312, 71gm, NSR 20k shark
278 seconds, John, NSR Porsche 908/3, 70gm, 20k shark
267 seconds, Stephen, Slot.it Ferrari 312, 63gm, Slot.it orange bell
261 second, Dave, NSR Porsche 908/3, 64gm, 21.5k shark
Concise, funny, historical – good pix – perhaps your next career can be in motor-sports writing?
Great Job 🙂
Thanks to the Univ. of Akron non-credit course called something like journalism for club and school writing and photography. Taught by a long time Akron Beacon Journal editor who probably also covered the annual All American Soap Box Derby.