This race was the brainchild of the wealthy race driver and automobile enthusiast, Vincenzo Florio, who in 1906 created the first race run over 3 laps equaling 277 miles, over the most treacherous mountain roads on Sicily, Italy. Alessandro Cagno won the inaugural race in 9 hours and with an average speed of 30 mph. Over the years, the race length was repeatedly altered, the track had many hundreds of curves and bends over the unclosed public roads with sheer cliffs and very little means to prevent cars and driver disappearing over the edge.
Neither were there any safeguard provisions for the many daredevil spectators, perched on the outside of corners, cheering on their heroes literally inches away from the speeding cars. As the years progressed, so did the cars’ power and speed, culminating in several very serious accidents. One driver called the race, “totally insane”, and during the 1977 event after several very bad accidents, the police forcibly stopped the race. The venue still exists, but on a completely different level. With the variations of track lengths used, the fastest lap times ever set on these treacherous public roads were just under 80 mph
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