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The 53rd Targa Florio was a motor race which took place on 4 May 1969, on the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, Sicily (Italy). [1] It was race 5 of the 1969 International Championship for Makes.
For this event, Porsche deployed an unparalleled number of cars among the factory-backed ones, six new 908/02 and a special 911R; several others were entrusted to privateers, mainly 911 and older prototype-class cars such as the 910 and 907. [1]
With Ferrari without suitable cars even for their most loyal teams (such as Scuderia Filipinetti, which was forced to use a cumbersome and outdated Lola T70), the only brand that could challenge Porsche was Alfa Romeo which deployed five Tipo 33/2 (including the one with enlarged 2.5L engine already driven by Nino Vaccarella in the 1968 event). [1]
The event resulted in a one-sided race for the Porsche 908/02 which took first to fourth overall places, followed by an Alfa Romeo, and then by two 907. The local hero Vaccarella, teamed with Andrea de Adamich, had to retire during lap 6 for engine failure. [1]
| Pos | Class | No | Team | Drivers | Chassis | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P 3.0 | 266 |  Porsche System Engineering | Gerhard Mitter Udo Schütz | Porsche 908/02 | 10 |
| 2 | P 3.0 | 270 | Porsche System Engineering |  Vic Elford  Umberto Maglioli | Porsche 908/02 | 10 |
| 3 | P 3.0 | 274 | Porsche System Engineering | Hans Herrmann Rolf Stommelen | Porsche 908/02 | 10 |
| 4 | P 3.0 | 272 | Porsche System Engineering | Willi Kauhsen Karl Freiherr von Wendt | Porsche 908/02 | 10 |
Martini Racing is the name under which various motor racing teams race when sponsored by the Italian company Martini & Rossi, a distillery that produces Martini vermouth in Turin. Martini's sponsorship program began in 1958 as Martini International Club, founded by Count Metello Rossi di Montelera of Martini & Rossi. The race cars were marked with the distinctive dark blue, light blue and red stripes mostly on white or silver background body cars, but also red or green ones.
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 and 1973. While the first races consisted of a whole tour of the island, the track length in the race's last decades was limited to the 72 km (45 mi) of the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, which was lapped 11 times.
The Porsche 917 is a sports prototype race car developed by German manufacturer Porsche to exploit the regulations regarding the construction of 5-litre sports cars. Powered by a Type 912 flat-12 engine which was progressively enlarged from 4.5 to 5.0 litres, the 917 was introduced in 1969 and initially proved unwieldy on the race track but continuous development improved the handling and it went on to dominate sports-car racing in 1970 and 1971.
Nino Vaccarella was an Italian sports car racing and Formula One driver.
Ferrari 512 S was a sports prototype car produced by Italian manufacturer Ferrari from 1969 to 1970. As it name suggests, the car had a 5.0L V12 engine. A total 25 units were built.
The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906-Porsche 910-Porsche 907 series of models designed by Helmuth Bott (chassis) and Hans Mezger (engine) under the leadership of racing chief Ferdinand Piëch.
The Porsche 907 is a sportscar racing prototype built by Porsche in 1967 and 1968.
The Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 was a sports racing prototype raced by the Alfa Romeo factory-backed team between 1967 and 1977. These cars took part for Sport Cars World Championship, Nordic Challenge Cup, Interserie and CanAm series. A small number of road going cars were derived from it in 1967, called Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale.
The Ferrari 312 PB was a Group 6 Prototype-Sports Car introduced in 1971 by Italian carmaker Ferrari. It was officially designated the 312 P, but often known as the 312 PB to avoid confusion with a previous car of the same name. It was part of the Ferrari P series of Prototype-Sports Cars but was redesignated as a Group 5 Sports Car for 1972.
Antoine Emile "Toine" Hezemans is a Dutch former touring and prototype racing car driver in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from racing, Hezemans started manufacturing karting engines. He developed the Rotax 100 cc engines into a World championship winner in his new factory at Eindhoven Airport in Holland. His Rotax engines won 10 times the world championships in various classes and wiped out the Italian karting competition. He sold his company Bombardier Rotax Holland b.v. back to Bombardier in Canada in 1996. In 2000 he started his own team with Dodge Vipers and won numerous races in the Gt 1 Championship. He made a deal with GM in the USA and got hold of 2 Corvettes C6 and was successful privateer Team, winning 2 times the 24 hours of Spa. One of the drivers was his son, Mike Hezemans. Even today he has a European Nascar team where his sons Loris Hezemans and Liam Hezemans won the European Nascar championships 3 times. Since 1978, he is very active in real estate projects in Miami, Brussels and Amsterdam.
Udo Schütz is a German entrepreneur, who was competing successfully with racing cars in the 1960s, and with yachts in the 1990s.
The Circuito delle Madonie was a road racing course made up of public roads, situated on the Italian island of Sicily, near the capital of Palermo, which hosted the famous Targa Florio event, between 1906 and 1977. The original public roads are still used today for the Targa Florio Rally successor event, which has been held since 1978. The course was made up of three different circuit length variations; the 72.00 km (44.74 mi) Piccolo short/small circuit, the slightly larger 108.0 km (67.1 mi) Medio medium circuit, and the full 148.821 km (92.473 mi) Grande circuit.
The 1970 12 Hours of Sebring was an endurance race held at the 5.2 mile (8.3 km) Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida, United States on March 21, 1970. It was the twentieth running of the endurance classic and the second round of the 1970 World Sportscar Championship season.
The 1970 Targa Florio was an endurance race that took place on 3 May 1970. It was held on a 44.6 mi (71.8 km) anti-clockwise circuit made up entirely of public roads on the mountainous Italian island of Sicily. It was the fifth round of the 1970 International Championship for Makes.
The 1970 1000km of Nürburgring was an endurance race held at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Nürburg, West Germany on May 31, 1970. It was the seventh round of the 1970 World Sportscar Championship season.
Willibert "Willi" Kauhsen is a German former racing driver and racing team owner from Eschweiler in Aachen, Germany.
The 44° Targa Florio took place on 8 May 1960, on the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie,. It was the third round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship.
The 47° Targa Florio took place on 5 May 1963, on the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, Sicily (Italy). Porsche took the overall victory, marking the beginning of its dominance at the event which – apart from 1965 – will last until 1971.
The 51° Targa Florio was a motor race which took place on 14 May 1967, on the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, Sicily (Italy). The race, which open to Prototypes, Sports Cars and Grand Touring Cars, was the fifth round of both the 1967 International Championship for Sports-Prototypes and the 1967 International Championship for Sports Cars.
The 52° Targa Florio took place on 5 May 1968, on the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, Sicily (Italy).
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