by Robert and Judith Porter
LIEGE TARGA LIEGE- The Last Motor Endurance Challenge of the Twentieth Century- A 13 day 7000kilometer event for Specialist and Kit cars to start in Spa at the end of September travelling down to Monte Carlo, and then down through Italy crossing into Scicily . Two laps of the Targa Florio circuit and back up through Italy following one of the Mille Miglia Routes eventually back to Spa.
A chance reading by Judith of a short article about the above in February this year led to quite a complicated chain of events, a short chat with the organiser Peter Davies implied that we could probably still get an entry. At this point although we did have a kit car, it was a Rickman Ranger utility vehicle great for carrying racing bicycles but not really a motor sport car, an ad in the owners Club magazine led to a quick sale. The hunt was then on for something more suitable. A Marlin Roadster seemed a good choice, a simple car that we could use for Trials or Autotests even if we failed to get into the Liege. At this point Judith, apart from a day out at a Rally School, had not even seen a motoring event let alone take part, and although we didn’t know it yet the Liege was to be our Honeymoon!!(The Ultimate Challenge?).
We found a car after a couple of attempts, in the Lake District, a tidy car that had already been used in PCTs, built with a 1300 Ford crossflow a good reliable engine.
The fun was about to start – we both drove it in a grass auto test and a trial and then entered the Liege to be accepted as 1st Reserve followed by a letter to say that we had a firm entry.
Time for some preparation-first a 5 speed box- easy just move the g/box mount change the clutch plate said the magazine, an afternoons job on the grass behind our house (no garage you see). So two weeks later after a new prop shaft and new holes in the transmission tunnel and a happy hour or so with the two of us wrestling the gear box and a trolley jack in the grass (an interesting way to test a relationship) saw the job done. Followed by another Ilkley & Dist Club Trial to see if everything was OK. So far so good.
It is now late June and the enormity of driving 7000k in 13 days was beginning to sink in; were we up to it, 170 pages of Tulip roadbook with only one of us having seen tulip navigation before, would the car last-possibly? Panic set in, we decided on an engine rebuild. More wrestling and a trip to Autosprint in Birmingham and back a week later with a shiny new engine. A bit more lying on wet grass then visiting everyone we knew to run the car in. Three weeks to go and as we had a day or two off work together we got married –silly to waste a day.
Ten days to go and 1500 miles on the clock and a check on a rolling road to set the car up finally, and suddenly we heading down the M1 for the Channel Tunnel.
We met the other entrants at the Terminal, in particular Dave Smith and Cath Woodman in another Roadster (in fact the first one that we had looked at-had I picked the right car?). There were 58 cars of which our two roadsters seemed to be the oldest, built in `86 originally. Everyone seemed very relaxed here, on the 200miles run to Spa and at scrutineering that evening. The following morning at the start was to be very different with both of us as nervous as cats.
The object of the event was to visit seven controls a day, the Start, Middle and Finish Controls were identified in the roadbook but the four Passage Controls were not; we were to leave the start at 1 minute intervals, we were at no. 15,and Dave and Cath at 17, as a result we were to spend a lot time together. There was no schedule set for the cars, but the marshals travelled to their appointed positions at an average speed of 50kph effectively as car 00 and opened the controls for one hour only (we began to smell a rat) still 50kph is not very fast is it?
Saturday 25th Sept. I navigated and Judith drove from the drizzly start for a first day of 545kms miles out of Belgium and into France to a middle control on the wooded Col du Donon to finish at Montbeliard after driving along two very enjoyable and scenic Forest roads and having a little thrash in the company of the works Marlin Sportster. The first day complete and we managed to find all the controls.
Sunday 26th Sept .Day Two and still a little nervous we faced a misty and rainy day of 561kms and six major Cols including the Col D`Iseran and the Col du Galibier 2770m and 2645m respectively another good day with spectacular scenery in spite of the weather, sleet on the Galibier.
Monday 27th Sept. Day three was to start cold and sunny and improve all day, we started with a climb of the 2109m Col de Vars only to be turned back by a rock fall in a tunnel. The detour was an additional 90kms on a beautiful road that followed the shores of a mountain lake leading to the Col de Larche 1991m with a great descent down a ladder of hairpins, in the company of two other Marlins, across the border into Italy, then back into France via the Tunnel de Tende and then down to Monte Carlo and a drive round the traffic packed GP circuit. Then onto the days finish at Marina de Massa after 682kms. The engine is definitely loosening up now! We stayed in a Youth Hostel this night with three couples and a father and son in one dorm-Different!
Tuesday 28th Sept. The next day started with p-----g rain in Pisa turning to sun later with the middle Control at Anguillara on Lago di Bracciano near Rome. Then into the mountains again and a passage control on a misty mountain top and a warning from the marshal that the roads were poor with rock falls and slippery surfaces, this just when we realised we were running late and in the company of five other cars and it was dark. A slightly hairy chase down off the hills, with Judith making a good job of calling the junctions using a cheap torch, to make it just in time at Monte Cassino at 22.30,a long day of 14 1/2 hrs.(Still it is an endurance event).
Wednesday 29th Sept. Fortunately the fifth day started fairly easily with a civic reception at the Town Hall and a procession up to the Abbey and the start proper from there. It was another sunny day with easy roads to start with but after a while we were back on very winding mountain roads and in a fast procession of half a dozen kit carts and a local in a Peugeot making the pace to start with, but he only stood the pace for a short while and let us go. The second leg ran well for while until we were caught in some evening traffic so that by the time it was dark we once again exploring the limits of the Roadsters road holding again with the other half of the unofficial Marlin Old Roadsters Team to make it in time for an evening meal not to mention bed, with another 472kms in the bank.
Thursday 30th Sept was the 560kms leg to Sicily crossing the foot of Southern Italy to the Ionian coast and back. The day started well enough with fast roads and great long open corners, welcome after all the mountain roads but it was soon business as usual as we turned inland onto slow but picturesque mountain roads again, crossing to the East coast a short run along the coast in lunchtime traffic only resulting in having to rush again for the middle control back on the West coast on the heels of a V8 Hawke (cu.ins. aren’t everything).
After this it was just 50kms to the ferry and an interesting climb out of the port in Sicily on an old road with numerous cobbled hairpins again in the company of the Hawke. We had a 200km leg to the night stop along the coast it was now getting dark and it was rush hour again; by the time the traffic had cleared there were still 100kms to go and we were running late again along with Dave & Cath`s Roadster a couple of Caterams a Robin Hood a GTM and a couple of others. The next problem was a Level crossing closed with a long queue waiting with a large artic at the head.
Dave came alongside and suggested it was time for a more positive approach. With that we drove down the line to the front and asked the truck driver to let us through first. Fortunately he was sympathetic and Dave’s move got us in with 5 minutes to spare, I hesitate to think what might have happened if things had gone the other way, with a Marlin only weighing in at 2% of an artic, still this was Targa Florio country.
Friday 1st Oct. Halfway at last and a rest day, well, only a 160kms including a lap of the Targa circuit, 70kms and 900 corners, for each crewmember -some rest! The circuit is great if a bit rough we both had a scrap on the good bits and went steady through the villages and the long straight, it would be good with no traffic. At least today was more like a honeymoon with a leisurely swim in the sea and a run out to Cefalu for a 15" pizza between four I might add.
Sat 2nd Oct. Setting off the next day back towards home and back to the grind with 538kms to do including a lap each of the Pergusa race circuit, which every one treated as a sprint it’s a pity no times were published. A drive to the top of Mount Etna, back across to Italy and 340kms up the West coast to Scalea again, and some clean clothes that we had left to be laundered-the smell was beginning to intrude.
Sunday 3rd Oct. Scalea back to Monte Cassino via Amalfi and the very spectacular but very busy and hot (30oC) coast road. A run through Pompeii then inland for some more country roads including on with a warning in the roadbook, care falling rocks, we didn’t see any ! We arrived at Cassino in the light, a pleasant change that.
Monday 4th Oct. Cassino to Cattolica on the east coast another 439kms. We set off in cloudy and rainy conditions and within 40kms had climbed another 1400m pass with a very slippery descent followed by some more reasonable if misty mountain roads until at about 160kms the sun came out. We delayed dropping the hood while trying sort out an error in the instructions, just as well , within the next few miles we ran into a torrential rainstorm it was difficult to see and the roads were awash. The rain had just about stopped when we arrived at the passage control at the foot of the 16km Coppa Bruno Carroti Hillclimb (we’d never heard of it either), it was a long fast climb with open fast corners more suitable for high powered cars but still good fun. The descent again in misty conditions was another slippery one, then another 130kms across country to the midday control- a Pizzeria that served everything but pizzas very slowly. Nothing`s perfect. The last 160kms was through more picturesque country with lots of photogenic hilltop villages, we have a picture of one, and on to a Hotel with a sea view in Cattolica near Rimini.
Tuesday 5th Oct. To Venice on a boring flat coast road, and two hours free for a lightning tour of the City. Leaving Venice the skies gradually cleared as we worked our way into the Dolomites. We climbed over four or five passes on the way into Cortina the scenery was the most spectacular so far, vertical faces leading to sharp peaks and as the day turned to evening the rock took on the pink hues of the setting sun. Definitely worth travelling three and a half thousand miles for. As night fell the sight of villages lighting up was also worth seeing. We arrived in Cortina to be directed into the main street, which was closed to traffic for the event and the cars were looked after overnight by a security guard, that’s service. A very good meal that night and a good sleep in a triple glazed hotel, it was –5degrees C overnight, and we were ready for the Stelvio Pass.
Wednesday 6th Oct. Cortina to Mulhouse. Within 70kms we had crossed another few passes over 2000m and as there had been a snowfall the day before the scenery was different again. There was a hold up in one of the gorges while workmen made safe and cleared up after a rock fall, so were running late again and for the next 80 or so kms to the Stelvio where we guessed the next passage control would be, we were in a hurry again. The route followed quite a lot of main roads and as the line of traffic rounded each corner into any worthwhile straight, at least six kit cars popped out of the line to move up a few places, a sight to see. The actual climb up the Stelvio was great forty-eight hairpins and steep enough to need first or second gears out of each one. Further up at about the 25th hairpin the rest of the road looked like a ladder amazing. The convoy of about ten cars just made it in time to the 2760m high Control A descent into Switzerland followed with the compulsory purchase of a £20 toll to use Swiss roads. A further 120kms saw us out of the mountains and at the middle control, with a 210kms dash down some main roads a motorway to Mulhouse and the Schlumpf Motor Museum for the evening. All the participant s arriving here had the run of the Museum to themselves . An amazing place, much bigger than we expected with 30 to 50 Bugattis among examples of many other makes charting the History of motoring. On top of this we were treated to a first class meal in the Museum restaurant and taken by bus to our Hotel a bit late due to a misunderstanding by a French bus-driver, 01:30 in our case.
Thursday 7th Oct. Mulhouse to the Finish at Spa 495kms away. A struggle to be up early for the 0700 bus saw us on our way for the last nerve-wracking day. It was a beautiful frosty clear morning with a scenic and easy drive along the Route des Cretes, on such a nice morning it was difficult not to be running too early and be in danger of missing a control. One highlight of this drive was being accompanied at close quarters by a Buzzard gliding alongside the car for a couple of hundred metres. We arrived at the control about on time with a sigh of relief after stopping to eat our takeaway breakfast on a hilltop a kilometre or two before to waste some time. The final 250 miles were on easy road through clear open undulating country; we found the final (although we were not sure it was the last) passage control about half way through this leg. It was very difficult to keep the speed down on these rolling roads, so we stopped for lunch in a small village to find five other crews with the same idea. We continued in company again with Dave and Cath toward the finish worrying whether a cruel twist of fate might produce a terminal fault on the car or perhaps we might become lost and arrive after the final control was closed. At one point we could see a figure at the end of a long straight with gyrating hip and dancing in the road, was it one the call girls advertising? It turned out to be dressed in a one piece waterproof and a flying helmet –Dave Low of Lomax fame.
We thought it would be perfect if we arrived at the finish right on time, a hope dashed, when a diversion just ten kms from the finish saw us rushing about like headless chickens trying to find the right way in. It seemed ages but it was in reality only a few minutes later when after directions from a local Belgian walking his dog we arrived at the finish feeling very emotional and a few tears of relief were shed by men and women alike, stupid wasn’t it as it was only a motoring event, admittedly a rather long one.
Just the last supper sorry, dinner to come. A great night with everyone more relaxed now, with more than a little alcohol flowing and some good food. Peter Davis then announced the results. First the list of finishers, then the Bronze awards, those missing two controls-then the Silvers-those missing one control and Golds, for those who found every control including us and the other Roadster. Great, just what we had hoped for. Peter continued with the best in each category Best self-built was the Westfield of Wyn Gray and mat Walker. We were Best Pre-built with Dave and Cath runners up. Best Works was the Teal Bugatti (another Marina based kit) of Norman and David Durban. Finally a bottle of Champagne for a Pure Gold performance, we were speechless as our names were called for this award, we didn’t even spray the Champagne. A perfect end to a great event, (and Honeymoon) where is the next one going??
Robert and Judith Porter
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Moved here from The Classical Page on 1st July 2001