1931 Targa. Varzi putting a final tune on the Bugatti s new twin cam...and waiting for the start.

Transcription

1 1931 Targa The weather around the island had been pretty rough the week leading up to the race. There had been flooding and mudslides throughout Sicily. The damage to the roads and bridges of the 67-mile Madonie circuit resulted in the 90 mile Long Madonie course being used for this year s competition. The race would consist of four laps of this longer, and for many unfamiliar, course. The rough conditions hadn t prevented the Alfa works team from testing the entire week. Jano was on the island personally overseeing what looked Jano directing the action in the Alfa pits with Campari - left & center - Nuvolari - right. to be a rather military operation. He wasn t going to let his new car be embarrassed by a repeat of the Mille. With Enzo Ferrari acting as his second, Jano had twenty-five mechanics stationed around the island at team depots. The depots were connected to each other and Jano through a radio hook up. This kind of prerace preparation harked back to the early twenties, as did the setup of the Portello s cars. Five cars were brought from Milan: two new 8C 2300s and three Testa Fissa 6C 1750s. All looked as if they had rolled out of Merosi s racing department of a decade ago. The cars were basically bare rolling chassis, with radiator, bonnet, scuttle/instrument cover with a sheet of aluminum wrapped around the bucketed seats and an exposed fuel tank mounted behind the cockpit with two spares. All cars were fitted with fenders, save Arcangeli s 2300, so Nuvolari s 2300 and the 1750s of Campari, Borzacchini and D Ippolito looked quite contemporary coming at you, and like historic racers going by. Varzi had gone back to Bugatti and brought to Sicily one of Molsheim s new Type 51 s liveried out in Italian racing red. This was the 2.3 liter version of the new twin-cam. Bugatti had adapted the twin-cam concepts of the Millers he had bought from Duray at Monza two years earlier to a fixed head design for this car. Like the T-54, its supercharger was Varzi putting a final tune on the Bugatti s new twin cam...and waiting for the start

2 mounted on the side of the engine, driven by a shaft geared off the front of the engine. It was a compact package. It was said to have been producing about 200HP at 4000rpm at the Targa that year. Though that much power wouldn t be of much use in the prevailing weather conditions. The Maserati brothers were represented by Fagioli, Biondetti and Dreyfus piloting a team of 26Ms. These were 2495cc straight eight twin cams. Each had a crank driven roots supercharge with a Weber carb mounted to abling this 185HP car to weigh in at 1804 pounds. Though one would expect that Jano s stripped down team of 8Cs didn t weigh in at much more. Considering the weather on the island the week preceding the race, which was expected to continue, it is surprising that both Bugatti, whose reputation was made at the Targa, and Maserati showed sans front fenders of any form. The spectators around the island were anticipating another episode in the personal rivalry between old teammates Varzi & Nuvolari. This was obvious by the attention shown both of them by the Italian cameraman throughout the race. Fagioli waiting to be flagged off. the blower in the Sunbeam style. Alfiere s long standing working relationship with Isotta Fraschini allowed the Maserati brother s to take full advantage of their advance foundry capabilities, which were in great evidence in the 26M. In spite of the light iron casting of the engine s block most of the ancillaries, from top end to bottom, clutch housing to transmission and brakes, everything requiring casting for that matter, were of Elektron. En- Nuvolari getting under way It s interesting to note here that both of the 8Cs were running experimental chassis, or Muletti in factory idiom. They had been constructed specifically for brutal conditions of the Targa. Jano wanted to see just how much damage they would sustain under the most trying of conditions. A destruction test in other words

3 By the clock the opening lap showed Fagioli and Varzi posting impressive and similar times. Impressive in the fact that the surface of the Sicilian roads had, by days of rain and in spite of the sun at race start, been reduced to rain slicked mud offering little traction for the light and powerful Bugatti and Maser, and limited visibility for the drivers. Fagioli s fight for the lead was short lived. Putting some power down coming out Patralia it didn t transfer from tire to road. He slid across a corner s apex and smacked the Maserati broadslide into a low stone bridge structure. His day and car were finished. Varzi putting in some hot laps in front of the main grandstand corner

4 Borzacchini heading out of the main spectator area in Campofelice on his 6C 170 testa fissa......and off into the foothills leading to Cerda. These shots make clear just how spare the rolling chassis were. Jano s strategy was simple, drop the bodywork to offset full front fender weight

5 The battle of the Sicilian countryside soon settled into the promised rivalry. Varzi was seen getting the better of his Mantuan rival, but not by much

6 Biondetti was mixing it up with Campari, Borzacchini and D Ippolito. Dreyfus was having plug trouble so he was never a threat to the trio of 1750s...then the rains returned. Varzi immediately, well as immediately as a 90 mile lap will allow, came in for a cigarette and brimmed hat to keep some of the rain out of his eyes. Nuvolari came in as well, as did Campari. The roads went from mud to morass. Arcangeli s insistence of running sans fenders turned on him. He was struck in the eye by a rock and forced to retire, turning the car over to Freddy Zehender. Biondetti s battle with Campari and Borzacchini ended when he crashed the Maserati

7 The battle between Varzi and Nuvolari went in Nuvolari s favor as the conditions deteriorated. At the end of nine hours of battling the elements, and each other, it was Nuvolari first, Borzacchini with his Testa Fissa 6C and Varzi in third. This was the first significant victory for the new 8C