Okay, so this is gonna be a mix of Beni's and my photos. And yes, some of mine are vertical aswell as phone pictures with questionable quality; I apologize for doing so... and a lot of pictures and stories are probably missing. But enjoy the show!
Beni and me were always vivid Targa Florio fans. If you don't know what the
Targa Florio is: It's essentially the oldest continuous motor race in the world, run as a rally event in today's world. Both of us always wanted to visit the track; and I've always wanted to go and see sicily in person.
Don't forget what Goethe wrote after visiting the Island in 1787:
“To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything.”
In mid-october the Targa Florio Classic event is held in memory of this greatest of the great races, though (as we'll find out later on), the event nowadays is mostly a showevent for modern Ferraris to fill the grid.
Anyway, onwards. Italy is calling.
I actually haven't been in italy since 2010-ish, and I can't quite understand how I could have lived ever since without visiting this (in my eyes) great country. In may of this year, I was visiting Beni, Dr. Grip and Jules in Berlin to sell the Sierra to Beni and that was the point where both of us said we should just go and do it - visit this great island and its legendary race venue. So why not do a 5000km roadtrip relatively spontaneously in this year's autumn?
Off I went from my home town to Beni's via train, entering the Sierra and feeling right at home. We went via Augsburg and its German Mazda Museum where we encountered a rally RX-7 FC and a rotary powered JDM-only passenger bus, aswell as a teenager in a beater E36 estate with a warning light on the roof, driving around like a fool, apparently because he was so ecstatic to see a Sierra in the wild.
Luckily we had a couple of days to rest in the Dolomites, as Benis family had a small house for us to use. Gave us the chance to see the mountains and the roads in all its details, sadly not finding powersliderlover himself, only just a couple of traces from his doings.
What we did find though is the Dolomiti Street event, which apparently is held there every year. Being held there since a couple of years every autumn, it's essenatially a wildcard for petrolheads to run their cars legally a little faster than allowed on mountain roads. We also photobombed a couple of sports cars doing a little photosession on top of one of the passes. While I have not yet gone through all my DSLR pictures, you have to believe us that we saw everything from Lancers and Imprezas being thrown around sideways in the hairpins, E30 M3's giving it the beans, an Audi Quattro LWB rally car, all the Lamborghinis and Ferraris you can imagine, and, of course, all the VAG in the world.
So far, have a picture of the car which Chris Harris values as the best road car he has ever tested.
Sometimes, I was wondering if we suddenly left the Dolomites and entered the scottish highlands or the Lüneburger Heide!
Mountain Goat.
No Quattro needed.
On the foot of the Marmolada.
Ford
Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Leaving the Dolomites and entering a river bed on the way to the coast of Adria and visiting the Adria Raceway on the way down.
On the way down to florence, we visited the Autodromo di Enzo e Dino Ferrari - otherwise known as Imola...
Aswell as Mugello. Astonishing circuit, both of us didn't expect that. On the one hand, you see the first sights of the stunning Florence, on the other hand the whole mountain range including a storm rolling in, all while some bikers enjoyed some free sessions on a trackday:
Entering Florence...
...and getting to see this stunning evening sky. While taken with my phone, I swear that this picture is not edited in any way. It really did look like the sky was burning.
On the next day, after having had a look at the circuit of Magione (can you spot the trend?), we visited the
be-au-ti-ful! town of Perugia, which not only had a self-driving tram leading into the city but also a stunning view over all of Umbria:
We went through all Rally Monte Carlo stages of the Apennines to come to a stop in the evening in a beautiful nature reserve, seeing a pink sky...
... and waking up in a big cloud of fog. Mesmerizing experience to be in the middle of nowhere, having no phone signal (while actually being outside of Germany), spending the night in a shed originally built for sheeps next to a small lake in this nature reserve at a height of a bit over 1000m asl. The couple who owns and runs this b&b shed are probably the most friendly and wholesome people we have met along the way.
Driving past the Vesuvius and the coast of Amalfi (bucket list stuff)...
... heading towards the ferry to Messina, which we just about got in the very last minute. Finally entering sicily felt very awesome and unforgetful indeed.
Poking around Messina at the next day for an hour...
... before leaving for the Etna, which sadly was within the clouds, making the view up the big crater and down to Catania quite difficult, but still a memorable experience.
On our way towards Campofelice di Roccella, where we'd be staying for five nights on sicily.
And this is quite literally the view I was lusting for since my childhood. Entering the last part of the Targa Florio towards our hotel, seeing Campofelice and the Tyrrhenian Sea in the background. Start of said Targa Florio Classic was in Palermo this evening, which we did drive towards and had a look onto all of the modern and old cars at the starting line.
The next pictures are from the days on the island, in no particular order. We visited one of the three (yes) Targa Florio museums - but it's also the biggest, owned by an absolute passionate petrolhead, who insisted we can and should not just look at, but also touch and sit in the street and race cars he had on offer.
I did not dare to ask to sit in his Targa Florio'd Alfa Romeo 33, which I highly regret. He told us the story of this particular chassis, showed us how you're sitting in front of the V8 and between 300 liters of race fuel, being able to do 315 kph at the long straight down at the bottom of the track (which he has also done for himself at the Autodromo di Pergusa (another track, more on that later)), yet still having to manage all the bumps and dips of the brutal Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie at race speed.
There was a nicely widebody'd Fiat Ritmo though, which was nice.
And, being German, I've never sat in an original Beetle. I did so at his place, aswell as compared it to a Fiat 500, 600 and Innocenti Mini. Sorry Käfer, you lose.
Over the next couple of days, we explored the Targa Florio and its surroundings - sadly failing to find any old race car parts.
The old Floriopoli:
Probably the most beautiful spot of the Targa Florio.
I can't help myself but just love these small, stereotypical italian villages. Collesano in this case, with all its traces of the Targa Florio.
Or Cerda.
Exploring the Targa Florio some more ...
... and getting to know its current state of affairs. This is the reality of some of the track's sections today, sadly.
Of course we also saw some on-track action of the Targa Florio Classic. Sadly, the trucks were going faster than the Ferraris (not even kidding, actually).
On sunday the 13th, I managed to fullfill another childhood dream as Beni was kindly enough to let me enter the car at a trackday at the Autodromo di Pergusa (aka Enna Pergusa), going around the only natural lake on sicily. When it's not in use, the track is actually open for the public and is being used as a footpath or for cycling and running around, as the lake is a nature reserve.
Entering the trackday wasn't easy at all, since sadly no one was really speaking and form of English. Luckily, our (now) good friend Diego with his Variocam'd 993 C4S helped me to enter the first 30-minute-session of the day. He told us a lot about the island, some of the track's history and how it's essentially all fucked and wasted opportunities. We also saw an F40 LM on old Catania-plates, but sadly it wasn't running on the trackday.
Later on, we drove to yet another track that we used as a stop for a short lunch break, the Circuit Valle di Templi (aka Racalmuto), where we saw yet another bike trackday.
Our time on sicily comes to and end with a visit in Corleone (actually fairly boring) and Monte Erice with its hillclimb course (very good!), and onwards trying to catch the ferry from Palermo to Genua, and back via Brescia, visiting the Mille Miglia museum and (of course) the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, going past Lago di Iseo and going over the stelvio pass, seing an unforgetteable colourfull autumn.
On the Stelvio Pass...
... towards Switzerland, Austria, and back to Germany.
And that's about it. Car did flawlessly except for a small puncture we inflicted ourselves because we trusted Google Maps too much and had to off-road and overland for a bit. Sadly we carried a brand-spanking new 1993 spare tyre on a very clean and brandnew 14 inch rim with us. We switched the tyre on the Targa Florio itself, just like race car mechanics back in 1973.
Unforgetteable experience, car did so well, joyful trip. I think I can speak for Beni and myself here - 11/10, will definitely do this and visit sicily more than once in my life again.