The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo.

A magazine was initiated, Rapiditas, which aimed to enhance, with graphic and photographic reproductions of the race, the myth of the car and the typical character of modern life, speed.

[1] One of the toughest competitions in Europe, the first Targa Florio covered 3 laps of a 92 mile (148 km) circuit, totaling 276 miles (444 km), traversing through winding bends and multiple hairpin curves on treacherous mountain roads, with around 2,000 corners per lap and over 3,600 feet (1,100 m) of elevation change, at heights where severe changes in climate frequently occurred.

By the early to mid-1920s, the Targa Florio course had been shortened to 67 miles (108 km) and had become one of Europe's most important races, as neither the 24 Hours of Le Mans nor the Mille Miglia had been established yet.

The wins of Mercedes (not yet merged with Benz) in the 1920s made a big impression in Germany, especially that of German Christian Werner in 1924, as he was the first non-Italian winner since 1920.

Despite a number of incidents, the Stirling Moss/Peter Collins and Juan Manuel Fangio/Karl Kling cars finished minutes ahead of the best Ferrari and secured the title.

The longest version of the circuit went south through Caltavuturo (whereas the shortest version of the open-road circuit went east just before entry into Caltavuturo, through a mountainous section directly to Collesano) through an extended route through elevation changes, and climbed uphill through the nearby towns of Castellana, Sottana, Madonnuzza and Miranti, twisting around mountains up to the highest point- 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) at Geraci Siculo, dropping down 620 metres (2,030 ft) into Castelbuono, twisting around more mountains and passing through Isnello and the village of Mongerrati and then rejoined the most recent version of the track at Collesano.

Originally a narrow 2-lane country road, the Buonfornello straight became a lot wider in the late 1960's thanks to the development of the Autostrade motorways all over Italy.

To even finish this punishing race required a very reliable car- and it being a slow, twisty circuit it was very hard on the gearbox, brakes and the suspension of a car.

Some manufacturers and entrants, particularly non-Italian ones would sometimes outright skip the Targa because of the difficulty of learning the layout and were unsure if their cars could stand the brutal pace there.

Helmut Marko set the lap record in 1972 in an Alfa Romeo 33TT3 at 33 min 41 s at an average of 128.253 km/h (79.693 mph) during an epic charge where he made up 2 minutes on Arturo Merzario and his Ferrari 312PB.

The lap record for the 146 km "Grande" circuit was 2 hours 3 min 54.8 seconds set by Achille Varzi in a Bugatti Type 51 at the 1931 race at an average speed of 70.7 km/h (43.931 mph).

[5] The lap record for the 108 km "Medio" circuit was 1 hour 21 min 21.6 seconds set by Varzi in an Alfa Romeo P2 at an average speed of 79.642 km/h (49.487 mph) at the 1930 race.

The Targa's international demise was compounded by widespread concern about the organizers' inability to properly maintain the race on such a massive circuit.

There were not enough marshals, most spectators sat too close to the roads, and also the international automotive governing body, the FIA, mandated safety walls on all circuits that hold FIA-mandated events from 1974 onwards.

Also during this race Alain de Cadenet in a Lola was going down the Buonfornello straight and a piece of bodywork flew off a car in front of him and hit him on the head.

This is probably due to the fact that the very twisty nature of the mountain roads used kept average lap speeds very low, never going above 80 mph (130 km/h), even with the very long straight at the northernmost end of the track.

The event, tours Victoria’s coast and countryside from November 29 to December 3 and features over 150 of the world’s most admirable cars and is expected to attract fans, celebrities and media from across the globe.