The 48° Targa Florio took place on 26 April 1964, on the

Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 a ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

(

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

took the overall victory. pp. 56-7

Race

The event was marked by the absence of

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari (; ), currently racing under Scuderia Ferrari HP, is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "the Pranc ...

: FIA refused to

homologate Homologation (Greek ''homologeo'', ὁμολογέω, "to agree") is the granting of approval by an official authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or an academic or professional body, any of which would normally work fro ...

the brand new 250 LM as a GT-class racer, and Ferrari boycotted the race in protest. The Ferraris that took part in the race were all driven by

privateers A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

.
The prototype-class Porsche 718 RS Spyder driven by

Jo Bonnier Karl Jockum Jonas "Joakim" Bonnier (31 January 1930 – 11 June 1972), commonly known as Jo Bonnier, was a Swedish racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Bonnier won the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix with BRM. ...

and

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver, rower and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "Mr. Monaco", Hill won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles ...

took the lead, but had to retire during the second lap. Then the leading Porsche 904/8 of

Edgar Barth Wilfried Edgar Barth (; 26 January 1917 – 20 May 1965) was a German racing driver who competed under the East German flag in Formula One in , and as a West German between and , taking part in five Grands Prix in all. He also competed in spo ...

and

Umberto Maglioli Umberto Maglioli (5 June 1928 – 7 February 1999) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One at 10 Grands Prix from to . In endurance racing, Maglioli was a three-time winner of the Targa Florio. Maglioli participated in 10 ...

suffered some time-wasting issue and was overtaken by the Ferrari 250 GTO '64 of Carlo Facetti and

Jean Guichet Jean Louis Marius Guichet (born 10 August 1927 in Marseille, France) is a French industrialist and former racing driver. He is best known for winning the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans with co-driver Nino Vaccarella, driving a Ferrari 275 P for Scude ...

, which had to retire during lap 6 for

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

issues. The

Shelby Cobra The AC Cobra, sold in the United States as the Shelby Cobra and AC Shelby Cobra, is a sports car manufactured by British company AC Cars, with a List of Ford engines#8 Cylinder, Ford V8 engine. It was produced intermittently in both the Uni ...

's debut at the Targa Florio was disappointing as they soon proved too heavy and unwieldy for the narrow and twisty track. In the end, the podium went to 3 GT-class, with Porsche scoring a double victory with the 904 GTS of Antonio Pucci/Colin Davis and Gianni Balzarini/Herbert Linge, respectively.

Official results

References

Targa Florio

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo, Sicily, Palermo. Founded in 1906 Targa Florio, 1906, it was the oldest sports car ra ...

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