1968 Targa Florio on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The 52° Targa Florio took place on 5 May 1968, on the
The event was marked by the absence of
The 52° Targa Florio took place on 5 May 1968, 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 ...
). pp. 60-1
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 ...
which skipped the whole 1968 World Sportscar Championship
The 1968 World Sportscar Championship season was the 16th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing and featured the 1968 International Championship for Makes and the 1968 International Cup for GT Cars.FIA Yearbook 1974, Grey section, Pre ...
in protest of the regulation change imposed by the FIA. Autodelta
Autodelta SpA was the name of Alfa Romeo's competition department. Established in 1961 as Auto-Delta by Carlo Chiti and Lodovico Chizzola, former Alfa Romeo and Ferrari engineers, the company was officially made a department of Alfa Romeo on Mar ...
thus filled the vacuum left by Ferrari by deploying the new Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/2 in place of the Tipo 33 of the previous year. 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 ...
responded by replacing the 910
Year 910 ( CMX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.
__NOTOC__
Events By place Europe
* June 12 – Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis IV (the Child), using ...
with the new 907
__NOTOC__
Year 907 ( CMVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Rus'–Byzantine War: Varangian prince Oleg of Novgorod leads the Kievan Rus' in a campaign against Const ...
. Alfa Romeo also offered a seat to Nino Vaccarella
Nino Vaccarella (4 March 1933 – 23 September 2021) was an Italian sports car racing and Formula One driver.
His principal achievements include having won the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Targa Florio in 1965, 1971 and 1975, the latter y ...
who was "orphaned" by Ferrari’s absence, by providing the Sicilian with a 33/2 with an enlarged 2.5L engine.
Though Vaccarella had to retire during the third lap for an accident, the 33/2 proved to be a match for the 907. The real protagonist of the race was Vic Elford
Victor Henry Elford (10 June 1935 – 13 March 2022) was an English sports car racing, rallying, and Formula One driver. He participated in 13 World Championship F1 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 July 1968. He scored a total of 8 championship poin ...
: during the first lap his 907 lost a wheel, and shortly later the car also suffered a tire puncture, accumulating so many minutes from the lead that he considered the race lost and rather concentrated on beating the circuit lap record as a consolation. Taking advantage of his experience as a rally driver
Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...
, he started drifting whenever possible. As a result not only he set lap records more than once, but also considerably reduced the gap from the top of the race. In the end, he decided to let his companion 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 ...
driving only for three out of ten laps, and aimed for the victory. He overtook the leading 33/2 during the 9th lap and won the race by 3 minutes., p. 101
Official results
References
{{sportscar-autoracing-stub Targa FlorioTarga 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 ...