Wednesday, October 16, 2013 at 8:13PM Just found this great period footage of Brian Redman giving a practice tour of the Targa Florio in 1970. You have to love the way he threads his way through the village traffic.
Brian Redman, Onboard, Porsche 914, Targa Florio in Video of the Week Friday, June 15, 2012 at 6:36PM This French or Swiss documentary has some spectacular period footage from the 1973 Targa Florio, which was to be the final year of the race as a Championship event. I know this weekend is Le Mans, but for me the Targa Florio really was the ultimate in insane road racing, even if it was never as much of a true test of machinery as Le Mans. Where else could you find prototype cars practicing on open roads with family sedans and ox carts driving around?!
Automotive History, Targa Florio, video in Video of the Week Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 12:08PM I recently acquired a book about the Targa Florio, and discovered an unusual vehicle I hadnt really seen before. The Lancia Fulvia HF Barchetta is essentially a Fulvia HF with the top sawn off. Given the tall, spindly nature of the standard Fulvia's greenhouse, this probably didnt affect chassis stiffness much, and probably improved aerodynamics vastly. Supposedly 3 of these cars were made by the factory and 2 were made by privateer tuners, and were campaigned around Italy, most notably at the Targa Florio. I am not sure if the dark red one at the bottom is a "real" one or not, but it is pretty darn sexy. Below is a descriptive exceprt from a 2008 Coys auction of one of these cars:
Perhaps the most highly developed Fulvias were developed for Lancia by Cesare Fiorio and Claudio Maglioli whose trio of F&M Specials were produced to race in the Sport category. Up until that point, the Sport class was the platform for Zagato-bodied Fulvias, but whilst these had proven fast, they were also fragile and unbearably hot with little in the way of cockpit ventilation. Thanks to the funds provided by Lancia, Fiorio and Maglioli developed three cut down Fulvia F&M Barchetta's that were bristling with advanced features. Each F&M Barchetta was very different and most notably, these hot rod prototypes took class victories at the Targa Florio and Nurburgring 1000km. No doubt inspired by the level of performance this trio of Lancia prototypes had displayed, two Sicilian Lancia tuners also manufactured their own Fulvia Barchetta's for competition use.
