Vic Elford Targa Florio 1972

[Ghibliopencup]

Thank you for uploading!!! Great times - we miss them...

[jx1306]

Impresionante

[Gooberwalla]

Ah, the Targa Florio, a relic from the golden age of sports car racing. Many of the Porsche drivers, like Elford, Siffert, Stomellen, etc., were masters of this kind of driving in those Porsches. Nevertheless, this Alfa was quite a racer and, like Italian racing engines, are operatic.

[indyfan22k]

he was right as far sports car racing was concerned. the last real Targa Florio as an international professional race was run in 1973.

[cbkspa]

Thank you GDH1981 for posting this...Absolutely Bitching!

[Chunkychucky]

Indeed its days were numbered :(

[screaming71datsun510]

Imagen you were a car....what kind car would you be?....You'd be a sport car!.....Low to the ground. You would handle well...You would be fast.....You be turbo charged and of course you'd be a Porsche.

[Spidergeise]

Yes, Vic was the best(we in lower bavaria would say he was a cool "Pig"; that is not meant bad at all!!!He drive it all the beasts of the 60//70; Porsche (he would have earn a le mans victory); Chaparral(my all time favourite)!!!

The speed merchants is the best racing vid. ever!!

special greetings to Vic Elford, stay healthy Vic!!!

[mesawich]

Vic Elford-very brave. And that little Alfa sounds great too. I wonder how long did it take him to learn, remember the course?

[ottocars]

so great so cool so fast.

[fillefilander]

"last year...hehe...last year I hit a local!"

haha!!!

[375GTB]

My thanks to all concerned.

jcarroll330P4@

AKA: 375 GTB

[EmersonMeyer33]

The footage is really wonderfull!!

Thanks for sharing!!

[dogstar82]

Great video and truly a race for MEN. Safety is overdone now, but god forbid someone get hurt doing something they enjoy because they will sue sue sue.

I thought it was only Americans that sued everyone, but it's getting worse everywhere.

[BMWizardofOz]

it´s not because of drivers etc. sueing someone, it´s because in todays society people don´t want to be entertained and then suddenly someone gets killed (again).

[12valvepower1]

dogstar. this is why rally is god.

[PeterMayer]

God, Targio was insane. No safety, whatsoever.

Using hot Sports Cars as a Rally Race. I have this tape "The Speed Merchants" and they show these guys on the Targa flying through a street with a damn VW Bus parked on the side. Oh but there were a few hay bails to protect the spectators...................:­0

[375GTB]

I hope you die in BED

Moron.

J.C.

[dharters2010]

@375GTB hahahahahahaha

[PeterMayer]

And lahst year, hah, I hit a local...

[23eHeure]

That's Quick Vic from Sevenoaks talking

[PeterMayer]

Sevenoaks? A race track?

[fonsiplima]

race for lunatics..GREAAAT:)GREAT VIDEO:)

[FormulaOneSpy]

I'd give a kidney to see full stage onboard footage...

[flautomagiconsort]

Io nel 1972 ero lì a vedere la mitica Targa Florio,una grande gara, grandi nomi ,e grandi scuderie scendevano sulle Madonie per questo evento se non ricordo male in quella gara correvano ViC Elford e GIJS VAN Lennep Alfa Romeo 33 TT3/ uscivano di scena al 1° giro per rottura della coppa dell'olio. Si dovevano fare 11 giri per un totale di 792Km)

[VideoDotGoogleDotCom]

Beautiful! Thanks for posting.

You know, I first searched for info/pics/videos on Targa Florio a few years ago, and found very little on the Internet. Now, there's plenty of stuff, although not quite as much I'd like to see.

[laziosociaria]

this a clip from the documentary "the speed merchants".the car is 33 alfa.

[deggis4]

thanks, great (and rare?) video.

[OnTheLibraryComputer]

For anyone interested in a great book on driving skills, check out Vic Elford's 'Porsche High Performance Driving Handbook'.

[mulsanne917]

Yeah, a very good book, although the illustrations leave something to be desired.

Vic's comments about "stab braking" are worth a read: Get the nose (of the car) down quickly. 4 out of 10, in terms of pressure. If you don't the nose will plow (perhaps even plow OFF).

[Tj930]

Yeah, I assume you're referring to Vic's "PORSCHE high performance driving handbook"?

It's a good read!

Pours scorn on the notion that one must always be in gear to have any 'control' - Vic recounts a time where he was travelling along the autobahn (at autobahn speeds) in freezing weather. Suddenly saw people crashing around him on the ice.

So he knocked the car into neutral (to take the engine out of the equation) and relied on brakes and steering to bring the car safely to rest.

[Mr911Carrera]

Thanks so much great clip!

[mauownage]

Now the Targa is a rally, but it's not the same.

[indigoblue555]

Safety levels have always been actually poorest at Targa,and were vanishing year by year being constantly increasing the cars' performance so they had to stop it,avoiding a fatal crash that was easily going to happen -

Targa has been quite a lucky circuit for over 20 years

(approx.) - foolish pushing luck any further...

[adrenachrome1964]

I know they closed the road,I'M NOT STUPID!.What I meant was that having driven much of the route & seen the conditions etc, its amazing they could drive that quick, road closed or not!.

[indigoblue555]

Well,at the time safety wasn't felt as a main problem

(recall stock cars which were not much safer than the Alfa 333 in the clip)- It's amazing thinking of how many today's stock cars(Subaru Wrx,Audi S3,Bmw M3 etc)

[indigoblue555]

....amazing how many today's stock cars could match the performance of a sport proto of the 70es running that kind of circuit =

[adrenachrome1964]

Hmmmmm, go and give it a go then!. Its not so much the car, its the driver having the 'balls' on those roads, I've driven on them.

[indigoblue555]

Of course they had 00...I just point out that Elford could currently run a good stock car scoring equal or better laptimes on the same roads and this is amazing,isn't it? Nanni Galli with a stock Alfa 155 at Mugello circ.scored a better laptime compared to his laptime with GTAM of the early 70es! That's all=

[ladaladaladalada]

lada=fiat

[GDH1981]

At the end of the day we're not selling these clips we're just sharing them with other motorsports enthusiasts.

[23eHeure]

It is Vic Elford's birthday tomorrow (June 10th).

He'll be 72 years young!

[23eHeure]

That clip is from the excellent Michael Keyser film - The Speed Merchants.

Not sure how I should feel about copyright on all this youtube stuff.

[GDH1981]

I think the last one was about 73/74

[indigoblue555]

Thx!

They stopped it on time - cars were already so fast

and the circuit was 72 Km.- too long for any seriuos safety service = Rarest video - look at the hard steering work!Nowaday we drive on rails!

[indigoblue555]

Not so crazy at the time!Porsche tested even the 917!But thx to God they didn't run it anymore from about 1985 I think=

[imbok]

Absolute complete madness

[GDH1981]

I know, never been but would love to drive the old Targa circuit. What got me was they practiced whilst the road was still open, as if it wasn't dangerous enough!

[pkeeghan]

@GDH1981, If you have a steering wheel for the pc, do your self a favour, buy rfactor, download the historic touring and GT cars mod v1.9 and download the targa florio track...

[adrenachrome1964]

Having driven around Sicily,I don't know how they did it..brave or mad?.Vic Elford,top bloke!.

[ladaladaladalada]

closed roads, thats how