Talked to Vic Elford & Nino Vaccarella about Targa Florio

[RDMcG]

Here some stuff I posted in the US, When I was in Sicily I took the opportunity to sit down with Nino Vaccarella who won the TF three times as well as the Le Mans 24. A wonderful fellow . I additionally talked with Vic Elford who won the Targa for Porsche as well as numerous other important races. For those with any interest in this stuff here are some links.

Current road
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120612/carnews01...

Vic:
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120619/CARNEWS01...

Nino:
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120620/CARNEWS01...


There were some other pics that did not make it, so I will post them here. Mercedes Benz, Porsche archives and Anita Elford sent me the pics

Everyone knows car 722, the Moss/ Jenkinson Mille Miglia winner. However I was unaware of its complete history. Its the same car that won the Targa Florio in single seater form, driven by Moss and Colllins, and was also the car that was directly behind the Le Mans disaster, driven by Fangio. . The race pics show how much it was beaten up at the TF.Of the 9 300SLRS built, one was lost (Levegh) in the Le Mans crash, two were built as the Uhlenhaut coupes, and the remaining six were open racers. Five of them were entered in the 1955 Targa Florio.







Nino in the 333SP Ferrari. Imagine 180mph down the street........




Vic and Nino jointly being honoured in Campofelice. They are revered here.........





I expect that the Targa revival will grow to be like the Mille Miglia...there are fascinating cars that could be entered that are not MM eligible...

[Shuttle Cock]

Surely thats a 312, not a 333?

[SlipStream77]

Shuttle Cock said:

Surely thats a 312, not a 333?

Yes, according to the data I have on it, it's chassis no. 0892 at the '73 Targa, his teammate was Merzario.

ETA. Have a look at Vic's website, there's some really good stuff on there.

http://www.vicelford.com/

[RDMcG]

You are of course right. A slip on my part.

[Dr JonboyG]

Thanks for the links! Nice to see Autoweek show up here, they're a great bunch of chaps (and I'm excited I'll get to write some stuff for them in the near future).

[rallycross]

Thanks for these links.

Vic Elfords book Reflections on a Golden Era of Motorsport is well worth a read - its a superb book