Here’s your chance to own the 1968 Targa Florio-winning Porsche 907

At Broad Arrow’s auction at The Amelia, Florida, this 1968 Targa Florio-winning Porsche 907 K comes up for sale on March 4^th. It’s with this car, Vic Elford wrote one of the finest pages in racing history.

1968 was Elford’s year. He would win at Daytona, make his Formula 1 debut, and finally win the Monte Carlo rally. But his finest moment came on May 5^th. Vic Elford was still in his first year as a Porsche works driver on the sports car program. Prior to that, he was mainly entered as a rally driver in the Porsche 911, winning the Monte Carlo rally in 1968. This was the cue for Porsche motorsport director Huschke von Hanstein to ask Elford: ‘would you be interested in our circuit program?’.

One lap = 72 kilometres

The Targa Florio in Sicily was very much tailored to his talents; the circuit consisted of a 72-kilometre lap close to Palermo. The ‘Piccolo Circuito delle Madonie’ was a specialist’s affair, none better than local Nino Vacarella. But over the last years, the nimble Porsches had made their mark at the Targa Florio, beating Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. For 1968, the Targa Florio put a 3-litre engine limit on the sports car category. As a result, the Ferraris stayed in Maranello. But with the 2-litre Alfa Romeo 33s, Porsche had serious competition at hand.

Instant trouble

The race started of badly for Elford, who lost drive on the first lap after a wheel nut at the rear had worked loose on his Porsche 907. A temporary fix only meant the problem surfaced anew, this time in a fast corner, causing Elford to have a small off. The result was a flat tyre at the front, which Elford changed. With the smaller-sized spare wheel, he limped to the pits. At that point, the race seemed lost. “Already, we were 19 minutes behind,” Elford would remember.

Eleven minutes behind

With nothing to lose, Elford went back out, and smashed the existing lap record by going a full minute and seven seconds faster. When he handed over the wheel to his teammate Umberto Maglioli, Elford was back in seventh but still over eleven minutes behind the leader, Scarfiotti in a Porsche. Maglioli kept reducing the gap as the race saw a change of leader. Scarfiotti dropped out, and now it was Ignazio Giunti in the Alfa Romeo 33 who led the Targa Florio.

“We can still win this”

A refreshed Elford went back to the Porsche stand, pleading with the team call Maglioli in and let him go out. “We can still win this.” Helmut Bott at Porsche countered; “yes you can, if all your laps are record laps.” The look on Elford’s face convinced Bott. Elford said later; “I wasn’t interested in second place. It would be first, or nothing.”

Maglioli of course was unhappy, but had little choice. And behind the wheel, Elford set out to wheel in Giunti. “I attacked each corner as if it would decide over victory, but I have no memory of them in particular,” Elford explained later.

One for the books

With the Targa following a time pattern where the cars are released one after the other with a time difference in between them, the race is decided by the clock. Giunti and ‘Nanni’ Galli were first across the line in the Alfa, but it was clear that Elford was going much faster on the course. In the end, he completed the distance almost three minutes faster than the Alfa crew. Considering the time he lost at the start, it’s an incredible achievement. It would be Elford’s only win at the Targa, but he made sure it was one for the history books.

Sebring

Broad Arrow has that car up for auction at the sale at The Amelia, on March 4^th. For Broad Arrow, it’s their first auction at The Amelia Concours and the Porsche 907 is one of the star lots. Chassis #025 not only won the Targa Florio – one of eleven Porsche wins in Sicily – but it also drove at Sebring in 1968 (Scarfiotti/Buzzetti). After the Targa, Porsche sold the car to Siegfried Lang, who raced it in hill climbs in 1969 and 1970. By 2000, chassis #025 resided with Julio Palmez, who had the car restored. It was twice a class winner at the Amelia Island Concours – now The Amelia – and comes with an estimate of 4.5 to 5.5 million dollars.

More on Broad Arrow’s The Amelia auction here.