1970 Targa Florio

The 1970 Targa Florio was an endurance race that took place on May 3, 1970. It was held on a 44.6 mi (71.8 km) anti-clockwise circuit made up entirely of public roads on the mountainous Italian island of Sicily. It was the fifth round of the 1970 International Championship for Makes.[1]

Pre-race

The Targa Florio was in 1970 the oldest motor race in the world, even older than the Isle of Man TT and the Indianapolis 500. First run in 1906, it was run on narrow public mountain roads that went up and down, and twisted and turned around the Sicilian countryside. The race was run on a number of variants over the years- from 1932 to 1936 and 1951 to 1977 it was run on the 45 mile Piccolo (Italian for small) course- by far the longest circuit on the 1970 World Sportscar Championship calendar. It was one of, if not the last of the genuine road races still run in the world. The previous courses were 67 and 92 miles long; and there were 680 mile Island tour versions run in the early 1910s and the late 1940s. The Piccolo course went through 4 to 5 towns in the island of Sicily. The circuit was extremely demanding and very difficult to learn- over the 45 mile course, there were between 800 and 900 corners- 16 to 20 corners for every mile, and the circuit had about 2,000 feet of elevation change- twice that of the Nurburgring. There was also a number of straights joined together by a number of fast corners at the top of the circuit that measured out to about 6 miles- but the circuit was so twisty and had so many corners, average speeds never went past even 80 mph (128 km/h)- which in racing terms is very slow. The circuit was also very dangerous- although the roads and streets were closed off to the public for the race (but not for practice and test sessions- this caused all sorts of problems) the circuit was identical to every day civilian use, so it had no safety features of any kind and a crash often meant tumbling down a mountain slope or when in a town, crashing into a stone building, trees, and even groups of spectators. Although the Targa was a race where over its history very few people died in relation to other races like the Mille Miglia and the Carrera Panamericana, it was still a risky affair.

The Targa Florio, was unusual in that it was a time trial race against the clock as opposed to a race for physical position. Like most races that take place on extremely long courses such as the Isle of Man TT, the Mille Miglia and some other Italian public road races, each car was started one at a time on the road at timed intervals, much like how a rally-type race is started instead of the cars starting alongside each other, which is almost always the case in general circuit racing and on every other race on the sportscar championship calendar in 1970. So, for example, Car A would be started at 10 minutes before Car B. Once Car B starts and as more race distance would be covered, if Car B was then 9 minutes behind Car A on the road, then Car B would actually be 1 minute in front of Car A. So it was really a driving challenge to see what car could cover the 11-lap distance the quickest- this is almost identical to how a rally works; the Madonie Piccolo course used roads that would be suited for a rally. Most drivers only knew what their position was every 35–50 minutes, and that was when they reached the start-finish line in the town of Cerda; or in more organized team's cases, in another town or on some part of the isolated section of the track, where members of teams would wait for their team's car to come by and they would show pitboards showing their position and how much time their opponents are in front or behind them, which was sometimes out of date; communication in those days was very limited (compared to now).

For this event, Porsche introduced their new car, the light and nimble 908/03, which was better suited to the twisty and demanding circuit than the big and powerful 917 (although Vic Elford managed to post the fifth fastest overall time with a spare 917K on Friday practice). Porsche motorsports chief Ferdinand Piëch (a grandson of founder Ferdinand Porsche) and his team brought 4 908/03's to the island; 3 were given to John Wyer and his factory-supported team and 1 was run as an official works car. The 908/03, unlike the 917K, was of exclusive use for the factory teams.

Race distance was lengthened to 11 laps from 10 in previous years, to comply with Championship regulations.[2]

Pole position went to the Wyer 908/03 of Jo Siffert/Brian Redman, followed by the official works 908/03 of Vic Elford/Hans Herrmann, the sole works Ferrari 512S of Sicilian Nino Vaccarella/Ignazio Giunti, a works Alfa Romeo T33/3 of Piers Courage/Andrea De Adamich and then another Wyer 908/03 of Leo Kinnunen/Pedro Rodriguez .

The 908/03's had a 3-liter Flat-8 engine; so they were entered in the 3-liter prototype class; as opposed to the big-engined Flat-12 917's and V12 Ferrari 512's which were competing in the 5-liter prototype class.

There were 12 different classes of racing- more than any other race on the calendar.

Race

The turnout for the race exceeded 400,000 people; the large amount of area the circuit covered helped to spread people out.

Rodriguez was ill on raceday, so his co-driver, ex-rally driver Kinnunen took over as #1 and, in the rally-type event, sprinted into the lead in front of the Siffert/Redman 908/03. Once the car was handed off to Rodriguez, he lost the lead to Vaccarella in the lone works Ferrari. While out on the course, Redman caught up to Vaccarella, and attempted to pass him. Vaccarella blocked Redman and in doing so, nearly ran him off the road. This happened multiple times, and knowing Vaccarella knew the course extremely well, Redman decided to stay behind the Sicilian, cleverly deciding to wait for the next pit stop, knowing that the Wyer team was better at pitstops than Ferrari. And sure enough, when he came in after his 3-lap stint on the 6th lap, he handed the car off to Siffert, and Siffert got past the Ferrari while it was still in the pits, and Siffert sprinted off and went into the lead on the 7th lap, going ahead of the Kinnunen/Rodriguez car while Rodriguez was driving; Kinnunen had retaken the lead from Giunti sometime earlier in the race.

Once Kinnunen was back in, he set the fastest ever lap of the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie circuit- 33 minutes, 36.0 seconds on the last lap; and he managed to finish second to the Siffert/Redman car. There was some consolation for the Italian fans- homeland hero Nino Vaccarella in the sole works Ferrari 512 finished 3rd, the works Alfa of Courage/De Adamich crashed on the 8th lap and Elford also crashed the official works 908/03 on the first lap.

This was the 10th time a Porsche had won the Targa outright, a Porsche's first victory was in 1956. A final victory would come in 1973, when a Porsche 911 won outright. Porsche, on a track generally suited to their general design philosophy, hold the record for most victories at the Targa, a race which dated back to 1906.

Official results

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps
1 P
3.0
12 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Jo Siffert
Brian Redman
Porsche 908/03 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 11
2 P
3.0
40 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Leo Kinnunen
Pedro Rodríguez
Porsche 908/03 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 11
3 S
5.0
6 SpA Ferrari SEFAC Nino Vaccarella
Ignazio Giunti
Ferrari 512S Ferrari 5.0L V12 11
4 P
3.0
18 Racing Team AAW Gijs van Lennep
Hans Laine
Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 11
5 P
3.0
36 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Björn Waldegård
Richard Attwood
Porsche 908/03 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 11
6 S
5.0
4 Scuderia Filipinetti Herbert Müller
Mike Parkes
Ferrari 512S Ferrari 5.0L V12 10
7 P
2.0
56 Scuderia Madunina Jonathan Williams
Giovanni Alberti
Alfa Romeo T33/2 Alfa Romeo 2.0L V8 10
8 S
2.0
94 Scuderia Brescia Corse "Pam"
"Gibi"
Abarth 2000S Abarth 2.0L I4 10
9 GT
1.6
174 HF Squadra Corse Sandro Munari
Claudio Maglioli
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.6L V4 10
10 S
2.0
98 Etna Giuseppe Virgilio
Luigi Taramazzo
Abarth 2000S Abarth 2.0L I4 10
11 P
2.0
58 Pegaso Pietro Lo Piccolo
Salvatore Calascibetta
Ferrari Dino 206S Spyder Ferrari 2.0L V6 10
12 P
2.0
60 Antonio Nicodemi Antonio Nicodemi
Gianpiero Moretti
Porsche 907 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 10
13 P
3.0
26 Martini International Gérard Larrousse
Rudi Lins
Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 9
14 GT
2.0
140 Liber Marchiolo Liber Marchiolo
Antonio de Castro
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 9
15 GT
2.0
138 David Weir Alain de Cadenet
Mike Ogier
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 9
16 P
1.0
262 Nord-Oest Pier Giorgio Pellegrin
Renzo Ruspa
Fiat-Abarth 1000SP Abarth 1.0L I4 9
17 GT
2.0
120 Andre Wicky Racing Team Sylvain Garant
Bernard Cheneviére
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 9
18 GT
1.6
190 Jolly Club Raffaele Restivo
Alfonso Merendino
Lancia Fulvia HF Zagato Lancia 1.6L V4 9
19 P
1.0
260 Scuderia Brescia Corse Ugo Locatelli
Paolo Gargano
AMS SP Ford 1.0L I4 9
20 GT
1.3
278 Romano Ramoino Giuseppe Gaicomini
Romano Ramoino
Alpine A110 Renault 1.3L I4 9
21 GT
1.3
286 Scuderia Brescia Corse Giovanni Arcovito
Angelo Rizzo
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.3L V4 9
22 GT
1.6
172 Monzeglio Gianpaolo Benedini
Cesare Poretti
Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4 9
23 GT
1.6
178 Giancarlo Galimberti Giancarlo Galimberti
Domenico Cedrati
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.6L V4 9
24 S
1.6
154 Pasquale de Francisci Pasquale de Francisci
Settimino Balistreri
Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ Alfa Romeo 1.6 I4 9
25 P
1.3
218 Monzeglio Maurizio Zanetti
Giorgio Pianta
AMS Alfa Romeo 1.3L I4 8
26 P
1.3
214 Aretusa Matteo Scarlata
Giuseppe Marotta
Lancia Fulvia TS Lancia 1.3L V4 8
27 S
1.6
152 Nissena Carmelo Guigno
Salvatore Sutera
Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ Alfa Romeo 1.6 I4 8
28 GT
+2.0
82 Patrice Sanson Patrice Sanson
J. Claude Peramone
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 8
29 GT
2.0
136 Jean Selz
Pierre Greub
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 8
30 S
1.6
162 Nissena Antonio Ferraro
Giuseppe Valenza
Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider Alfa Romeo 1.6 I4 8
31 GT
1.3
274 Jolly Club Franco Lisitano
"Zerimar"
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.3L V4 8
32 GT
1.6
184 Scuderia Pegaso Giulio Pucci
Vincenzo Mirto Randazzo
Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo 1.6L V4 8
33 GT
2.0
142 Fiorenzo Genta
Piero Monticone
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 8
34 S
1.3
236 Scuderia Pegaso "Black & White"
Guido Garufi
Abarth 1300 OT Abarth 1.3L I4 8
35 P
2.0
64 Scuderia Pescara Turillo Barbuscia
Leandro Terra
Ferrari Dino 206S Ferrari 2.0L V6 8
36 GT
2.0
112 Franco Berruto Franco Berruto
Michele Licheri
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 8
37 GT
1.3
292 Scuderia Pegaso Sergio Mantia
Gaetano Lo Jacono
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.3L V4 8
38 S
2.0
96 Etna Alfio Nicolosi
Angelo Bonaccorsi
Porsche 910 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 8
39 P
3.0
44 John Chatham John Chatham
Alan Harvey
MGC BMC 3.0L I6 8
40 GT
1.3
282 Jolly Club Cristiano Rattazzi
Pasquale Anastasio
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.3L V4 8
41 P
3.0
28 Autodelta SpA Piers Courage
Andrea de Adamich
Alfa Romeo T33/3 Alfa Romeo 3.0L V8 7
42 S
2.0
90 Scuderia Pegaso Ferdinando Latteri
Nino Todaro
Porsche 906 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 7
43 GT
1.6
200 HF Squadra Corse Amilcare Ballestrieri
Raffaele Pinto
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.6L V4 7
44 GT
+2.0
86 Porsche Club Romand Claude Haldi
"Mirage"
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 7
45 GT
1.6
62 Ed Negus Edward Negus
Peter Hanson
Chevron B16 Ford 1.6L I4 7
46 GT
1.6
200 Sport Trid Salvatore Cucinotta
Domenico Patti
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.6L V4 7
47 GT
1.6
194 Franco Sebastiani Stefano Sebastiani
Roberto Nardini
Lotus Europa Renault 1.6L I4 7
48 P
1.0
252 Mario Spataro Mario Spataro
Claudio Bruschi
Osca S1000 Maserati 1.0L I4 7
49 GT
2.0
122 Scuderia Brescia Corse Giuseppe Schenetti
Sergio Zerbini
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 7

Did Not Finish

Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps
S
1.6
160 Silvestre Semilia Silvestre Semilia
Giuseppe Crescenti
Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider Alfa Romeo 1.6 I4 6
GT
1.6
186 Luigi Rinaldi Luigi Rinaldi
Mario Radicella
Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo 1.6 I4 6
P
3.0
14 Autodelta SpA Toine Hezemans
Masten Gregory
Alfa Romeo T33/3 Alfa Romeo 3.0L V8 5
P
2.0
52 Etna "Peter von Serzawa"
Santo Scigliano
Fiat 124 Spider Fiat 2.0L I4 5
GT
1.6
188 Etna Checco D'Angelo
"Jimmy"
Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4 5
GT
1.3
288 V10 Kleber Ferdi Bökmann
Hans E. Böhm
Simca 1300 Simca 1.3L I4 5
GT
2.0
128 Ignazio Capuano
Giancarlo Barba
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 4
GT
1.6
180 Scuderia Pegaso Paolo de Luca
Giuseppe Vassallo
Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4 4
S
1.6
156 Scuderia Pegaso Salvatore Barraco
"Amphicar"
Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4 3
S
1.6
156 Etna Giuseppe D'Amico
Girolamo Perniciaro
Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4 3
GT
1.6
192 Scuderia Pegaso Giovanni Dell'Olio
Vincenzo Virgilio
Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4 3
GT
1.6
198 Salvatore Gagliano Salvatore Gagliano
Alfonso di Garbo
Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4 3
GT
1.6
204 Gianluigi Verna Francesco Cosentino
Gianluigi Verna
Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4 3
P
1.0
254 Romano Martini Francesco Patané
"Oras"
Fiat-Abarth 1000SP Abarth 1.0L I4 3
GT
1.6
264 Romano Martini Romano Martini
Alessandro Federico
ATS 1000 SP Ford 1.0L I4 3
P
3.0
38 Abarth-Osella Arturo Merzario
Johannes Ortner
Abarth 3000SP Abarth 3.0L V8 2
P
1.0
256 Scuderia Brescia Corse Luigi Moreschi
"Patrizia"
AMS SP Ford 1.0L I4 2
P
1.0
266 "Gero" "Gero"
"Roger"
De Sanctis Ford 1.0L I4 2
GT
1.6
276 Scuderia Pegaso Antonio Catalano
Marco de Bartoli
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.6L V4 2
GT
2.0
124 Giampaolo Baruffi Giancarlo Sala
Giampaolo Baruffi
Porsche 911 Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 1
GT
1.6
196 Giovanni Rizzo Giovanni Rizzo
Stefano Alongi
Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4 1
S
1.3
232 Aldo Bersano Aldo Bersano
William Scheeren
Abarth 1300S Abarth 1.3L I4 1
GT
1.3
272 Jolly Club Antonio Trenti
Alberto Fasce
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.6L V4 1
P
3.0
20 Porsche System Vic Elford
Hans Herrmann
Porsche 908/03 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 0
P
3.0
32 Autodelta SpA Umberto Maglioli
Nanni Galli
Alfa Romeo T33/3 Alfa Romeo 3.0L V8 0
GT
1.6
204 Antonio Guagliardo Antonio La Luce
Antonio Guagliardo
Abarth 2000S Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4 0
P
1.3
220 Jack Wheeler Jack Wheeler
Martin Davidson
Jerboa SP BMC 1.3L I4 0
S
1.3
234 Settecolli Enzo Buzzetti
Gianni Marini
Abarth 1300S Abarth 1.6L I4 0
GT
1.3
280 Scuderia Pegaso Giuseppe Chiaramonte
Giuseppe Spatafora
Lancia Fulvia HF Lancia 1.6L V4 0

Statistics

  • Pole position: #12 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Porsche 908/03 (Jo Siffert/Brian Redman) - 34:10.0 (78.321 mph/126.087 km/h)
  • Fastest lap: #40 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Porsche 908/03 (Leo Kinnunen)- 33:36.0 (79.890 mph/128.571 km/h)
  • Distance covered by cars on leading lap: 789.8 km
  • Time taken for winning car to cover distance: 6 hours, 35 minutes and 30 seconds
  • Average Speed: 120.152 km/h (74.659 mph)
  • Weather conditions: Sunny, dry, clear skies

References

  1. "World Championship 1970". WSPR Racing. classiccars.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  2. Jenkinson, D. (June 1970). "THE 54th TARGA FLORIO". Motorsport. Retrieved 29 Nov 2020.
World Sportscar Championship
Previous race:
1000km of Monza
1970 season Next race:
1000km of Spa
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