Porsche and Petrolicious put racing legend Derek Bell in the 1960 Porsche 718 around the Targa Florio with a cameo from the new 2017 Porsche 718 Boxster S, pointing out once again that we humans got fat and lazy.
The Porsche 718 was the nicest Abarth Stuttgart has ever built, and chassis 718-041 is the most famous example of them all, having won the famed Targa Florio in 1960.
The last time I saw Derek Bell, we were at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting, and he was just about to jump into a Gulf livery 917 fresh out of Porsche’s restoration workshop. He was more than familiar with that, but when it comes to a car powered by a 1600cc air-cooled flat-four with a power output of 170 horses, he gets just as curious as you would in a 917.
What’s more, Bell has never driven around Sicily’s Targa Florio either, so experiencing its 800 corners somewhere above 7,000 RPM in this tiny car must have been a real blast.
You know who else was there? Jim Glickenhaus.
His Ferrari P 3/4 (#0846) was driven around the course by Nino Vacarella, winner of the 1965, 1971 and 1975 Targo Florio as well as the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hours.
We will catch up with Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus very soon at the Nürburgring 24, but Jim and the Ferrari will also be at Le Mans, where James May will drive a Ford GT40 next to him for the former Top Gear trio’s upcoming Amazon show.
In other news, I would really like to stop being poor.