Wet start for Targa Florio Australian Tribute

Victoria’s well-known unpredictable weather has struck again, this time for the Targa Florio Australian Tribute which got underway with competitors heading to Torquay on the Surf Coast.

Unfortunately the first three days of Targa Florio coincide with a warning from the Bureau of Meteorology for Victoria to brace for a severe weather event which could dump three months’ worth of rain. It is predicted to bring the worst floods for more than a decade to some parts of the state.

Conditions are expected to ease on Monday in time for the Targa Florio’s final run from the Rochford Wines winery in the Yarra Valley to the finish at Docklands on the fringe of the Melbourne CBD.

The historic Targa Florio events on the island of Sicily date back to 1906 and were full-on road races – perhaps best known for the 1955 win by Sir Stirling Moss, driving a factory team Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, and navigated by acclaimed Motor Sport journalist Denis Jenkison.

Austrian driver Dr Helmut Marko (these days a high-profile advisor to the Red Bull Racing F1 team which includes Aussie driver Daniel Ricciardo) set the lap record in the 1972 Targa Florio event driving an Alfa Romeo 33TT3 sports car (as raced at Le Mans). At the time, Marko was battling with another racer from Le Mans, a Ferrari 312 PB, driven by then F1 driver Arturo Merzario.

Run as a round of the World Sportscar Championship, the Targa Florio was abandoned after the disastrous 1973 event which saw two drivers killed in the race and seven spectators injured as a result of crashes during practice. Marko labelled the event “totally insane”.

However the Targa Florio Australian Tribute is a regularity event for cars made between 1906 and 1976 and includes The Ferrari Trophy for Maranello-made models from 1977 until the present.

‘Visit Victoria’, headed by well-known car enthusiast and former Toll Holdings managing director Paul Little, partnered with consulting company iSTEEM Group in a bid which eventually beat a consortium from Florida, USA to secure the rights to stage the Targa Florio.

Model and RPM presenter Kate Peck is the ambassador for the four-day event being held for the first time in its 101 year history outside Italy. She is at the wheel of a Porsche 911 Targa from 1972.

The Targa Florio field will pass through Portarlington, Point Lonsdale and Ocean Grove before its first halt tonight in Torquay.

Today (Saturday, December 2), the event heads to Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula via Anglesea, Airey’s Inlet, Lorne, Deans Marsh, Forrest, Lavers Hill, Apollo Bay and Queenscliff. The cars are scheduled to sail on the 4:00pm ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento.

Sunday, December 3 takes in Cape Schanck, Arthurs Seat, Tooradin, Grantville, Bass and San Remo en-route to the final overnight stop in the Yarra Valley.

On Monday, December 4 the peloton should look spectacular on the run to the Docklands finish via Marysville, Healesville, Yarra Glen and a final checkpoint at Albert Park.