Sicily - Targa Florio

[CraigFG]

Heading to Sicily soon for a couple of weeks and looking for some roads to have fun on. I'm planning on heading over to check out some chunks of Targa Florio, are there any other areas of note to check out? Cheers!

[LukeVX]

Spent a few weeks out there last year, great place and the roads are pretty special especially if your driving like a local!

The one that stands out was the drive from Enna to Cefalu (which as above is a great little town). Went up the SS290/SS286 rather than using the A roads.

Keep an eye out around Etna, can often find sections of road covered in gravel like volcanic ash which is interesting in a little Panda hire car!

[RDMcG]

Great fun..here is something I posted on my experience...........and some photographs

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=115...

[CraigFG]

The Crack Fox said:

I made a little documentary about the course and the history of Targa Florio recently. It's on YouTube here http://youtu.be/VOIRx_X1dSo

Some of the road surfaces are terrible, many of the towns are less than beautiful and there is tonnes of litter everywhere, the old grandstand at the start of our feature is basically now an open tip. Cefalu is a great little town to stay in and away from civilisation and up into the hills there is some great driving roads.

Please feel free to drop me a line if you need any pointers. Have a great trip!

Ah nice vid cheers!

[CraigFG]

RDMcG said:

Great fun..here is something I posted on my experience...........and some photographs

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=115...

Cheers - Nice read - Where did you rent from and would you reccomend them?

[CraigFG]

Rough plan at the moment is fly into Catania, stay a couple of days then rent a car and do Etna, Taormina then drive to Cefalu via checking out the Targa route and stay there a couple days then drive down to see family in Cianciana(OH is Sicillan) stay for a couple of days (and there's a festival on 15th August)then drive to Enna and stay there and check out the area before going to Syracuse to stay the last couple of nights.

[RDMcG]

CraigFG said:

Cheers - Nice read - Where did you rent from and would you reccomend them?

As I recall it was Avis...but getting a Fiat 500 is certainly no problem there...given the very narrow roads into the villages and the city congestion, it makes sense to get something small..

[CraigFG]

RDMcG said:

As I recall it was Avis...but getting a Fiat 500 is certainly no problem there...given the very narrow roads into the villages and the city congestion, it makes sense to get something small..

Yeah, I'm hoping to get a new gen Panda as I had one for a bit and the chassis is so much better than previous gen, it's actaully pretty fun to thrash. Of course the 500 does look the part though so I wouldn't be dissapointed with that either!

[RDMcG]

The Crack Fox said:

That was the inspiration for my video I even found the same yellowed sign!

I rent from Hertz, they have Fiat 500s and will garuantee you get it if you select from their fun collection.

i enjoy your videos…very nice indeed!…

I wrote a couple of profiles for Autoweek…talked to Vic Elford and Nino Vaccarella . Here are the articles

In Search of the Targa Florio:

Part 1:
http://www.autoweek.com/article/car-life/search-ta...

Part2

http://www.autoweek.com/article/car-life/search-ta...
Part 3

http://www.autoweek.com/article/car-life/search-ta...

[RDMcG]

The Crack Fox said:

Thanks. I think I read that when doing my research. I would have loved to meet Nino but he never replied to my emails.

I'm on a steep learning curve but love this stuff. Filming something unusual tomorrow actually

Look forward to seeing it.