Porsche Boxster S: On the Targa trail!

[rajoe]

    
Porsche Boxster S: On the Targa trail!

Driving on the sun-kissed roads of Sicily in Porsche's latest Boxster S gives Adil Jal Darukhanawala a chance to motor in sheer splendour on the very roads which once played host to the legendary Targa Florio road race. Compellingly quick and thoroughly involving is his verdict. Read on..

There she was glinting in the Sicilian sun, and I had eyes only for her among at least 25 others cut from the same cloth. Finished in the legendary Gulf racing blue with the single red arrow on the left flank similar to the works Gulf-Porsche 908/03 Spyder

Florio, I knew that if I wanted to experience open topped high performance motoring on one of the world's legendary circuits, it had to be the Boxster S in this livery! Call me an old fashioned anorak but when you have the past (history) on your side and the latest mid-engined Porsche to help you draw a parallel in contemporary terms, I wanted nothing less than the car you see in these pics.


And for good reason this colour scheme. The Gulf-Porsche racing team was one of the greatest sportscar endurance racing teams the sport has ever seen and while many mostly relate it with the mighty Porsche 917 with its flat-12 boxer air-cooled engine, the team also used the nimble open-topped 908/03 Spyders at special events like the Nurburgring and the Targa Florio to stunning effect. The 1970 Targa Florio (run over 10 laps of a 72km circuit around Sicily) was one such stunner, the no. 12 Porsche 908/03 driven by the Jo Siffert / Brian Redman pairing winning from the sister car driven by Pedro Rodriguez / Leo Kinnunen. It was Porsche's 10th outright victory in the Targa Florio which alas is no longer run, and this equalled legendary Alfa Romeo's tally for the most wins in this great race on open roads in Europe. By the time racing stopped on the Piccolo Circuito delle Madonie in 1975, Porsche had overtaken Alfa with one more victory! Even Ferrari with seven outright wins, Lancia and Bugatti with five wins apiece and Maserati with four couldn't match Porsche's absolute mastery of the Sicilian classic. So pray tell me what has this to do with the latest Boxster S? On the face of it not much more than the vivid colour scheme but if you can look to history to move ahead with the times, the new Boxster S clearly shows how Porsche's Cayman / Boxster range is now coming oh so close to bettering the ultimate purist's delight - the Porsche 911 - in appeal, dynamics and performance but at very affordable money.