Targa Florio 1970

John Wyer (left) with the two race winners Jo Siffert and Brian Redman (right)

Andrea de Adamich in the Alfa Romeo T33 / 3 in Collesano

Francesco Troia and Guido Garufi's Abarth 1300 OT before the start

Porsche 909 Bergspyder , the basis for the Porsche 908/03

Porsche 908/03 with starting number 40; Leo Kinnunen and Pedro Rodríguez's emergency vehicle

Cockpit of an Alfa Romeo T33 / 3

The 54th Targa Florio , also Targa Florio, Piccolo Circuito delle Madonie, Sicilia , took place in Sicily on May 3, 1970 and was the fifth round of the sports car world championship of that year.

Before the race

Except in 1965 when Nino Vaccarella and Lorenzo Bandini in a Ferrari 275P2 the overall ranking of the Targa Florio for the Scuderia Ferrari won since were 1963 more Porsche - sports car , the winning cars. Last year's world championship run ended with the success of Gerhard Mitter and Udo Schütz in the factory - Porsche 908/02 .

Preparations for the race began at Porsche in the spring of 1970. The Porsche races this year were mainly carried out by the British racing team John Wyers and the Austrian Porsche Holding . Both teams started the Porsche 917 in the world championship. The 72-kilometer-long curvy Piccolo circuito delle Madonie , however, was not the perfect terrain for the 12-cylinder mid-engine racing car. From the start in Cerda , the route to Caltavuturo was almost entirely uphill and then downhill to Campofelice di Roccella . The engine power of the 917 could only have been used on the long straight along the coast. The idea of ​​a Targa Florio Spezial matured in the racing department at Porsche and the search for a suitable chassis quickly struck gold. The Porsche 909 Bergspyder was used in 1968 alongside the 910 Bergspyder in the European Hill Climb Championship . With an unladen weight of 430 kg, the Sypder was extremely light, but only had a 2-liter eight-cylinder engine with an output of 275 hp (202 kW). In Zuffenhausen only one 909 chassis was completely present, which was brought to Sicily for test purposes in March. The main task for the Porsche technicians was to install the 3-liter eight-cylinder engine from the Porsche 908 in the 909 Bergsypder and to use the lightweight construction technology. In a short time four new chassis were built, which were given the designation Porsche 908/03. The team received three vehicles from John Wyer; two went to the standard teams Jo Siffert / Brian Redman and Pedro Rodríguez / Leo Kinnunen . The third Wyer-908/03 was driven by Richard Attwood and the Swedish rally driver Björn Waldegård . The fourth chassis was given to Porsche Salzburg and was driven by Vic Elford and Hans Herrmann .

The Scuderia Ferrari did not have a racing car suitable for the 908/03 and therefore only brought a 5-liter Ferrari 512S to Sicily, which was entrusted to Nino Vaccarella and Ignazio Giunti . The Scuderia Filipinetti reported another 512S for Herbert Müller and Mike Parkes .

The greatest opposition grew to the Porsche-Spyders from the factory cars from Alfa Romeo and Abarth . Carlo Chiti registered three Tipo 33/3 for Autodelta , Alfa Romeo's racing department . Like the 908/03, the T33 / 3 had a 3-liter eight-cylinder engine, but were far heavier. The cars were driven by Piers Courage , Andrea de Adamich , Masten Gregory , Toine Hezemans , Nanni Galli and Targa Florio veteran Umberto Maglioli . Maglioli made his debut with the Targa in 1948 , 22 years earlier. He was Giovanni Bracco's partner in a Lancia Aprilia and finished eighth overall. He had won the race three times so far, in 1953 driving alone in a Lancia D20 , in 1956 together with Fritz Huschke von Hanstein in a Porsche 550 RS 1500 and in 1968 with Vic Elford in a Porsche 907 . Abarth also had a 3-liter racing car, the 3000 SP , whose engine, however, could not match the performance of the and Alfa Romeo units. Drivers were Johannes Ortner , Arturo Merzario , Jonathan Williams and Mario Casoni .

The race

As a rule, the first practice session started on the Friday before race Sunday. In 1970, however , May 1st fell on Friday, which as May 1st is also a public holiday in Italy . Therefore the first training took place on Thursday. As soon as the track was cleared, the first accident occurred when Mario Casoni only made a few corners in the Abarth. When it hit a stone wall, the car was so badly damaged that the team could not start with it. At Alfa Romeo, Hezemans had a puncture and Gregory had an accident trying to follow Vaccarella in the Ferrari. The Ferrari 512S was already the attraction of the spectators during training, tens of thousands of whom were waiting in the towns for the very noisy 12-cylinder car. Porsche Salzburg had brought a 917 with them for training purposes, with which Vic Elford drove a fast lap around the course and set the fifth fastest time. The fastest in training was Jo Siffert in the 908/03 with starting number 12, who drove a time of 34: 10,000 minutes. Average speed of 126.439 km / h.

There was also chaos at the start in 1970. The original start time was 8 a.m. on Sunday morning. It could not be adhered to because, in addition to some Official Alfa Romeo President Giuseppe Luraghi , the entire Lancia racing team and the timekeepers were stuck in heavy traffic from Palermo . 400,000 spectators are said to have been on the track on the day of the race, which posed difficult tasks for the stewards in the narrow town passages. The first car started the race at 9:14 a.m. The time interval at the start was 10 to 20 seconds, which gave the starter some leeway in lowering the flag.

First on the street was Herbert Müller in the Filipinetti-512S; 14 seconds after him, Nino Vaccarella started the race in the factory 512S, 14.1 seconds later Jo Siffert in the Porsche, 15.5 seconds later Toine Hezemans followed in the first Alfa Romeo and then the rest of the field. It had rained in the morning and the track was wet and slippery in many places. Two vehicles from the top group fell victim to the adverse circumstances on the first lap. After 12 kilometers, Vic Elford ran the Porsche 908/03 over a stone lying on the road. The breakage of the front suspension caused a serious accident in which the Porsche was completely destroyed. Elford was unharmed. Just a few bends further, Umberto Maglioli with the Alfa Romeo skidded on the wet road and also had an accident. He was also unharmed. After the first lap, Gérard Larrousse , who drove a works Porsche 908/02, was ahead of the two Wyer-908/03 from Siffert and Kinnunen. Because Pedro Rodríguez had gotten sick the night before the race, Kinnunen had to do most of the driving time in the number 40 car.

In the course of the race a three-way battle developed between the two Wyer-908/03 and the factory Ferrari 512S from Vaccarella and Giunti. Alfa Romeo experienced a debacle when, after Maglioli, Courage and Gregory were also eliminated due to accidents. After the first driver changes, Vaccarella was leading ahead of Redman and Rodríguez, who only lost a lot of time on the two front runners by driving just two laps. The decision about the overall victory was made, among other things, by the pit work of the Wyer team and after the last stops Siffert clearly separated from Giunti in the Ferrari. Leo Kinnunen succeeded in the final phase in pushing the Ferrari out of second place by driving one record lap after the other. He covered the last lap in 33: 36,000 minutes and set the fastest lap in the history of the Targa Florio.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	P 3.0	12	JW Automotive Engineering	Jo Siffert Brian Redman	Porsche 908/03	11
2	P 3.0	40	JW Automotive Engineering	Leo Kinnunen Pedro Rodríguez	Porsche 908/03	11
3	S 5.0	6th	Spa Ferrari SEFAC	Nino Vaccarella Ignazio Giunti	Ferrari 512S	11
4th	P 3.0	18th	Racing Team AAW	Gijs van Lennep Hans Laine	Porsche 908/03	11
5	P 3.0	36	JW Automotive Engineering	Björn Waldegård Richard Attwood	Porsche 908/03	11
6th	S 5.0	4th	Scuderia Filipinetti	Herbert Müller Mike Parkes	Ferrari 512S	10
7th	P 2.0	56	Scuderia Madunina	Jonathan Williams Giovanni Alberti	Alfa Romeo T33 / 2 Spyder	10
8th	S 2.0	94	Scuderia Brescia Corse	Marsilio Pasotti Giambattista Guarnieri	Abarth 2000 p	10
9	GT 1.6	174	HF Squadra Corse	Sandro Munari Claudio Maglioli	Lancia Fulvia HF	10
10	S 2.0	98	Etna	Giuseppe Virgilio Luigi Taramazzo	Abarth 2000 p	10
11	P 2.0	58	Scuderia Pegaso	Pietro Lo Piccolo Salvatore Calascibetta	Ferrari Dino 206S Spyder	10
12	P 2.0	60	Antonio Nicodemi	Antonio Nicodemi Giampiero Moretti	Porsche 907	10
13	P 3.0	26th	Martini International	Gérard Larrousse Rudi Lins	Porsche 908/02	9
14th	GT 2.0	140	Liber Marchiolo	Liber Marchiolo Antonio Castro	Porsche 911	9
15th	GT 2.0	138	Ecurie Evergreen	Alain de Cadenet Mike Ogier	Porsche 911T	9
16	P 1.0	262	North-East	Pier Giorgio Pellegrin Renzo Ruspa	Abarth 1000 SP	9
17th	GT 2.0	120	André Wicky Racing Team	Sylvain Garant Bernard Chenevière	Porsche 911	9
18th	GT 1.6	190	Jolly Club	Raffaele Restivo Alfonso Merendino	Lancia Fulvia HF	9
19th	P 1.0	260	Scuderia Brescia Corse	Ugo Locatelli Paolo Gargano	AMS SP	9
20th	GT 1.3	278	Romano Ramoino	Giuseppe Gaicomini Romano Ramoino	Alpine A110	9
21st	GT 1.3	286	Scuderia Brescia Corse	Giovanni Arcovito Angelo Rizzo	Lancia Fulvia HF	9
22nd	GT 1.6	172	Monzeglio	Gianpaolo Benedini Cesare Poretti	Alfa Romeo GTA	9
23	GT 1.6	178	Giancarlo Galimberti	Giancarlo Galimberti Domenico Cedrati	Lancia Fulvia HF	9
24	S 1.6	154	Pasquale de Francisci	Pasquale de Francisci Settimino Balistreri	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ	9
25th	P 1.3	218	Monzeglio	Mario Zanetti Giorgio Pianta	AMS	8th
26th	P 1.3	214	Aretusa	Matteo Sgarlata Giuseppe Marotta	Lancia Fulvia T&S	8th
27	S 1.6	152	Nissena	Carmelo Guigno Salvatore Sutera	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ	8th
28	GT + 2.0	82	Patrice Sanson	Patrice Sanson Claude Peramone	Porsche 911	8th
29	GT 2.0	136		Jean Selz Pierre Greub	Porsche 911	8th
30th	S 1.6	162	Nissena	Antonio Ferraro Giuseppe Valenza	Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider	8th
31	GT 1.3	274	Jolly Club	Franco Lisitano Giuseppe Pirrone	Lancia Fulvia Sport	8th
32	GT 1.6	184	Scuderia Pegaso	Giulio Pucci Vincenzo Mirto Randazzo	Alfa Romeo GTA	8th
33	GT 2.0	142		Fiorenzo Genta Piero Monticone	Porsche 911	8th
34	S 1.3	236	Scuderia Pegaso	Francesco Troia Guido Garufi	Abarth 1300 OT	8th
35	P 2.0	64	Scuderia Pescara	Turillo Barbuscia Leandro Terra	Ferrari Dino 206S	8th
36	GT 2.0	112	Franco Berruto	Franco Berruto Michele Licheri	Porsche 911	8th
37	GT 1.3	292	Scuderia Pegaso	Sergio Mantia Gaetano Lo Jacono	Lancia Fulvia Sport Competizione	8th
38	S 2.0	96	Etna	Alfio Nicolosi Angelo Bonaccorsi	Porsche 906	8th
39	P 3.0	44	John Chatham	John Chatham Alan Harvey	MGC GT	8th
40	GT 1.3	282	Jolly Club	Cristiano Rattazzi Pasquale Anastasio	Lancia Fulvia Sport Competizione	8th
41	P 3.0	28	Autodelta SpA	Piers Courage Andrea de Adamich	Alfa Romeo T33 / 3	7th
42	S 2.0	90	Scuderia Pegaso	Ferdinando Latteri Nino Todaro	Porsche 906	7th
43	GT 1.6	200	HF Squadra Corse	Amilcare Ballestrieri Raffaele Pinto	Lancia Fulvia HF	7th
44	GT + 2.0	86	Porsche Club Romand	Claude Haldi "Mirage"	Porsche 911S	7th
45	P 2.0	62	Edward Negus	Edward Negus Peter Hanson	Chevron B8	7th
46	GT 1.3	294	Sport Trid	Salvatore Cucinotta Domenico Patti	Lancia Fulvia HF	7th
47	GT 1.6	194	Franco Sebastiani	Stefano Sebastiani Roberto Nardini	Lotus 47	7th
48	P 1.0	252	Mario Spataro	Mario Spataro Claudio Bruschi	Osca S1000	7th
49	GT 2.0	122	Scuderia Brescia Corse	Giuseppe Schenetti Sergio Zerbini	Porsche 911	7th
Disqualified
50	P 2.0	52	Etna	Peter of Serzawa Santo Scigliano	Fiat 124 Spider	5
Failed
51	S 1.6	160	Silvestre Semilia	Silvestre Semilia Giuseppe Crescenti	Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider	6th
52	GT 1.6	186	Luigi Rinaldi	Luigi Rinaldi Mario Radicella	Alfa Romeo GTA	6th
53	P 3.0	14th	Autodelta SpA	Toine Hezemans Masten Gregory	Alfa Romeo T33 / 3	5
54	GT 1.6	188	Etna	Checco D'Angelo "Jimmy"	Alfa Romeo GTA	5
55	GT 1.3	288	V10 glue	Ferdi Bökmann Hans Böhm	Simca 1300	5
56	GT 2.0	128		Ignazio Capuano Giancarlo Barba	Porsche 911	4th
57	GT 1.6	180	Scuderia Pegaso	Paolo de Luca Giuseppe Vassallo	Alfa Romeo GTA	4th
58	S 1.6	156	Scuderia Pegaso	Salvatore Barraco Eugenio Renna	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ	3
59	S 1.6	158	Etna	Giuseppe D'Amico Girolamo Perniciaro	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ	3
60	GT 1.6	192	Scuderia Pegaso	Giovanni Dell'Olio Vincenzo Virgilio	Alfa Romeo GTA	3
61	GT 1.6	198	Salvatore Gagliano	Salvatore Gagliano Alfonso di Garbo	Alfa Romeo GTA	3
62	GT 1.6	204	Gianluigi Verna	Francesco Cosentino Gianluigi Verna	Alfa Romeo GTA	3
63	P 1.0	254	Etna	Francesco Patané Orazio Scaglia	Fiat-Abarth 1000 SP	3
64	P 1.0	264	Romano Martini	Romano Martini Alessandro Federico	ATS 1000 SP	3
65	P 3.0	38	Abarth & Co	Arturo Merzario Johannes Ortner	Abarth 3000 SP	2
66	P 1.0	256	Scuderia Brescia Corse	Luigi Moreschi Silvia Strobele	AMS SP	2
67	P 1.0	266	Cristiano Del Balzo	Cristiano Del Balzo "Roger"	De Sanctis	2
68	GT 1.3	276	Scuderia Pegaso	Antonio Catalano Marco de Bartoli	Lancia Fulvia Sport	2
69	GT 2.0	124	Giampaolo Baruffi	Giancarlo Sala Giampaolo Baruffi	Porsche 911	1
70	GT 1.6	196	Giovanni Rizzo	Giovanni Rizzo Stefano Alongi	Alfa Romeo GTA	1
71	S 1.3	232	Aldo Bersano	Aldo Bersano William Scheeren	Abarth 1300 S.	1
72	S 1.3	272	Jolly Club	Antonio Trenti Alberto Fasce	Lancia Fulvia Sport	1
73	P 3.0	20th	Porsche Salzburg	Vic Elford Hans Herrmann	Porsche 908/03	1
74	P 3.0	32	Autodelta SpA	Umberto Maglioli Nanni Galli	Alfa Romeo T33 / 3	1
75	S 2.0	92	Antonio Guagliardo	Antonio La Luce Antonio Guagliardo	Abarth 2000 p	1
76	P 1.3	220	Jack Wheeler	Jack Wheeler Martin Davidson	Jerboa SP	1
77	S 1.3	234	Set colli	Enzo Buzzetti Giovanni Marini	Abarth 1300 S.	1
78	GT 1.3	280	Scuderia Pegaso	Roberto Chiaramonte Bordonaro Giuseppe Spatafora	Lancia Fulvia Sport	1
Not started
79	P 3.0	42	Abarth & Co	Mario Casoni Jonathan Williams	Abarth 3000 SP	1
80	GT + 2.0	84	Giancarlo Rondanini	Giancarlo Rondanini Mario Ilotte	Porsche 911	2
81	P 1.3	222	Daren Cars Ltd.	Peter Richardson Jeremy Richardson	Daren Mk.2	3
82	S 1.3	240	Alfonso Bellavia	Alfonso Bellavia Gaetano Lo Jacono	Abarth 1300 S.	4th
83	GT 1.3	284	Carlo Pietromarchi	Francesco Morelli Carlo Pietromarchi	Lancia Fulvia Sport	5
84	P 3.0	T	Porsche Salzburg	Hans Herrmann Vic Elford	Porsche 909 Bergspyder	6th
85	P 3.0	T	Porsche Salzburg	Hans Herrmann Vic Elford	Porsche 908/03	7th
86	P 3.0	2	Porsche Salzburg	Hans Herrmann Vic Elford	Porsche 917K	8th
87	S 5.0	6T	Spa Ferrari SEFAC		Ferrari 512S	9
88	P 3.0	14T	Autodelta SpA	Masts Gregory	Alfa Romeo T33 / 3	10
89	P 3.0	40T	JW Automotive Engineering	Leo Kinnunen Pedro Rodríguez	Porsche 908/03	11
90	GT 1.3	278T	Romano Ramoino	Giuseppe Gaicomini Romano Ramoino	Alpine A110	12

¹ Accident during training ² not started ³ Camshaft damage during training ⁴ not started ⁵ not started ⁶ training car ⁷ replacement car ⁸ training car ⁹ training car ¹⁰ training car ¹¹ training car ¹² training car

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
91	P 1.3		Stanley Robinson	Stanley Robinson John Blanckley	Unipower GT

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
P 3.0	Jo Siffert	Brian Redman	Porsche 908/03	Overall victory
P 2.0	Jonathan Williams	Giovanni Alberti	Alfa Romeo T33 / 2 Spyder	Rank 7
P 1.3	Mario Zanetti	Giorgio Pianta	AMS	Rank 25
P 1.0	Pier Giorgio Pellegrin	Renzo Ruspa	Abarth 1000 SP	Rank 16
S 5.0	Nino Vaccarella	Ignazio Giunti	Ferrari 512S	Rank 3
S 2.0	Marsilio Pasotti	Giambattista Guarnieri	Abarth 2000 p	Rank 8
S 1.6	Pasquale de Francisci	Settimino Balistreri	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ	Rank 24
S 1.3	Francesco Troy	Guido Garufi	Abarth 1300 OT	Rank 34
GT + 2.0	Patrice Sanson	Claude Peramone	Porsche 911	Rank 28
GT 1.6	Sandro Munari	Claudio Maglioli	Lancia Fulvia HF	Rank 9
GT 1.3	Giuseppe Gaicomini	Romano Ramoino	Alpine A110	Rank 20

Racing data

• Registered: 91
• Started: 78
• Rated: 49
• Race classes: 12
• Spectators: 400,000
• Race day weather: cool and cloudy
• Route length: 72,000 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6: 35: 30,000 hours
• Overall rounds of the winning team: 11
• Total distance of the winning team: 792,000 km
• Winner's average: 120.152 km / h
• Pole position: Jo Siffert - Porsche 908/03 (# 12) - 34: 10,000 = 126.439 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Leo Kinnunen - Porsche 908/03 (# 40) - 33: 36,000 = 128.571 km / h
• Racing series: 5th round of the 1970 Sports Car World Championship
• Racing series: 3rd round of the Italian Sports Car Championship 1970

literature

• Pino Fondi: Targa Florio - 20th Century Epic. Giorgio Nada Editore Vimodrone 2006, ISBN 88-7911-270-8 .
• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .

Web links

Commons : Targa Florio 1970  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Report at Motorsport Magazin
• Results

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Targa Florio 1948

Previous race, Monza 1000 km race, 1970

Sports car world championship

Successor 1000 km race of Spa-Francorchamps 1970