Ducktailing it to the Targa

[CQuest8]

What an absolutely fantastic trip!

I have really enjoyed reading this, thank you both for taking the time to write it. Some really great photos too.

This has most definitely been added to the 'must do' list.

[bjmullan]

So my watched arrived today. Not worn a watch for a couple of years and this weighs a ton so it's off to ebay or maybe Jason might be interested

[murph2309]

Is that an advert or not? Need prices ffs. Or maybe not.

[Darren65]

Is that an advert or not? Need prices ffs......

Watch ads are exempt!

[Bootsy]

That's a valid point Darren!

[210bhp]

So this is a picture of Vincenzo Florio in the 1960's. He was the man with vision, travelling all over Europe as a young man, buying the very earliest motor cars and bringing them back to Sicily in the first years of the twentieth century. Must have been quite a sight to see your very first horeseless vehicle. After the birth of the road race 'The Targa' he wasn't only the founder but he also took part and finished second a couple of times.
Those early years were full of cars with names we sometimes forget, De Dion, Itala, Daimler, Berliet, Scat and Isotta but also some of the current manufacturers too that were at the very birth of the motor car, Fiat (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino), Lancia, Benz, Alfa Romeo and Peugeot.
Eventually manufacturers sat up and took notice of 'The Targa' and they began to send 'works' teams of drivers and mechanics. Between the Wars Bugatti dominated for a few years, then Alfa Romeo, then Lancia and finally Maserati.

The museums at Cerda and Collesano are both a 'must' visit. They are quite different. Antonio, the owner and creator of the Cerda archive, appears to me to have had a lifelong obsession with the event and his single room large garage (used by the Alfa Romeo racing team for some years) is crammed full of a fantastic collection of artifacts that he has acquired over his life. Hundreds of peroid photos adorn every wall, books, car parts, racing suits, cups awards and shields, oh yes, and a bent Fuchs wheel from an RSR. It's like an aladdins cave and to take everything in you could spend all day in there. It has a wonderful atmosphere. The museum at Collesano is a little more organised. Glass cabinets show a chronlogical record of the years of The Targa with results, pictures of drivers and race suits over the years. Pictures of the winning cars are framed and under lights. It feels more like a 'museum' and is well worth the entry fee.

However, the highlight of any tour is driving the roads and drinking in the history of the hills and villages which heard the roar of those engines for so many years as it echoed and reverberated off the cliff faces and solid stone walls............

Believing in your flat six that you are actually there in 1973 as you bury the throttle ascending yet another twisty section climb with a broad grin on your face........

Regards
Mike

[23e Heure]

The museum in Cerda is quite the Aladdin's Cove and a more personal collection you are unlikely to find.
Antonio Catanzaro could quite safely be described as one of the Targa's most passionate, life long fans.

This is just one corner of his place. Don't be freaked out by the spooky dummie's head!




I first met Antonio in 2003, and on that visit I video taped him as he gave me a 30 minute 'tour' of his collection.
I have been back a couple of times since, but this time I remembered to take my laptop and show Antonio the footage.
It was a great moment... both he and I looking back at the both of us in the same spot, but looking 13 years younger!



The reason I was particularly keen to introduce the guys to Antonio was that I remembered that he had in his collection some artefacts that Mike would find personally very interesting.
If you've read the Classic Porsche article about Mike's Sicily adventure, you'll know that his car was sold new in Palermo by a gentleman named Armando Floridia, winner of the Targa Florio in 1976.
Well, you wouldn't miss the opportunity to get up close and personal with the actual race suit worn by Armando when he won in 1976, would you?



I have a feeling Mike may want some of these stickers made up. "Sono un amico del Team Floridia".
By the way, those are the shoes and gloves that Armando wore in '76 too!:




Oh, and here's that broken Fuchs. Definitely wouldn't want to risk a weld fix on that one
Mike could not resist checking the date stamping on the back of this 9x15. It passed the expert's check: It is period correct and original was the response

[210bhp]

Brilliant photos James. As you know I'm not on your level with photography and pictures help the story so much. That was a fantastic day (as they all were) and thanks so much for arranging our 'personal guided tour'. The pictures show just how much there is to see at Antonio's......... Wonderful.

Regards
Mike

[210bhp]

I must post some favourite shots from Cerda. Antonio's museum is just off the main street near the petrol station. Just a few hundred yards up the relatively straight road is the vantage point from where some period classic shots have been taken. They are some of my favourites of all The Targa images,

Here's one,



And another



The town doesn't look much different today. Brendan tried to recreate the shot with my car which I hope looks the part. I dont have a copy but I'm sure he might post it. [Edit: I see it's already posted on page 5]. it's reported that Cerda main street was well over a hundred miles an hour section.


Leaving Cerda the road climbs very noticeable into the hills. The surface begins to get rough but the views are stunning. There is one section where you can see the road from afar on each side of the valley crossing narrow little bridges and lots (lots!) of bends. To sit as a spectator here back in the day watching and hearing race cars from over a mile away across the valley and then approach you within a few feet must have been a sight to see and hear. The bankings were apparently filled around the entire circuit with several hundred thousand spectators at its peak. Not very safe but brilliant viewing.

It's in this remote hilly section that quite a few accidents and some fatalities have occurred over the years. We stopped at a couple of roadside memorials to racing drivers who lost their lives here. There is a great YouTube video of Vic Elford talking and driving this section in the late 60's including some aerial shots. I'm not sure how to post a video clip here but someone might find it and post.

We drove on and soon arrived at the section of road which has simply washed away. A long detour is needed to get back on the circuit and then we are heading to another favourite spot, Collesano. It was baking hot the day we were there but the Collesano hairpin was a must stop for reproducing more famous 'period' photos. It's not easy now to recreat the 'haipin' shot as the banking opposite is steep and there is a lot more flora about now including one or two big trees that block a direct line to the best image. We did our best...........

Regards
Mike

[23e Heure]

Here is the footage Mike refers to. The road to Collesano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wnZq9KBBfc

Geek fact: The in/on car footage you see cut into this video, the stuff following Elford in his Alfa, as well as where you see nothing but road, was shot by Michael Keyser during open practise for the Targa in 1972.

Keyser mounted a camera on the bonnet of his yellow Toad Hall ST:



...The very same ST that Porsche Classic recently (over) restored, and which many DDKers have spotted displayed at recent events:



Personally I think that Porsche missed a trick, and should be displaying the car at all these events with an old Arriflex 16mm camera on the bonnet

[23e Heure]

Fortunately this year on those same roads Vic was pounding... "...Huh!... This year Mike and I did not hit a local"

[210bhp]

It was also in that hilly twisty section that Brian Redman almost lost his life in a fireball crash. Brian Redman was born in Colne Lancashire same as me.

Regards
Mike

[bjmullan]

Did someone mention Collesano?

We spent a couple of afternoons in Collesano and too be honest you could have left me in the bar which looks onto the track to keep drinking cold Birra Moretti.



The bar is just to the left of this mosaic which was one of many in the town.



Mike at the same spot.

[bjmullan]

And of course this wasn't too far from the famous hairpin which is further up the hill.

[bjmullan]

Tried to make this picture look at bit 1970's