Story by James Redman | Photography by Chuck Anderson
Jupiter, FL—As February drew to a close and Palm Beach prepared for one of the largest golf tournaments in America— the Honda Classic—another group of snowbirds headed south to escape the northern cold.
Brian Redman’s Targa Sixty Six Club descended on Palm Beach International Raceway February 21-23 for its 29th consecutive year of this popular motorsport gathering.
Targa is a place for motorsport enthusiasts to mingle, swap stories and stretch their legs and those of their cars before the 2020 season gets underway, with more than 100 fantastic cars taking to the track.
A cool, rainy Friday morning gave teams and drivers a few minutes longer to prepare before heading out to start three full days of exciting on-track action. Targa Sixty Six is non-competitive track days with cars split into three groups.
Some of the quickest cars in attendance included recent Formula 1 and LMP cars. Most notably a 1997 Jacques Villeneuve, Rothmans Williams Renault F1 (’97 Drivers and Manufacturers World Champions) taking to the track supported by the Williams F1 Heritage team from the UK, led by Sir Frank Williams’ son, Jonathan. Brad Hollinger was also in attendance with his F1 Benetton and Jordan with Tommy Byrne taking a few laps in the latter. Greg Galdi brought his ex-Redman/Merzario Ferrari 312 PB, McLaren Senna and BMW E46 GTR.
In contrast to the banshee wail of the Formula 1 engines, three UOP Shadow Can-Am cars shook the ground with their thunderous American V8s. More modern cars included longtime Targa member Malcolm Ross in a McLaren Senna GTR and his slightly older and historically significant factory Rothmans Porsche 962. New to Targa, experienced historic competitor Bob Blaine joined Targa stalwart Joe Hish, with a pair of Honda HPD LMP2 cars, Scott Sharp coming to offer advice.
Joe Colasacco has always brought magnificent cars here, thrilling all in attendance driving Lawrence Auriana’s superb 1965 Ferrari 1512 1.5 liter F1 (with which he has won at the Goodwood Revival) and 1962 Stanguellini F2.
One of the true stars of the weekend was in Group C, with the appearance of Miles Collier’s supercharged 1935 MG PA/PB, “Leonidis,” arguably the most famous prewar MG in America. Originally it was one of three MGs in Captain George Eyston’s “Dancing Daughters” female class-winning team for Le Mans in 1935. In 1938 Miles and Leonidis won outright the ARCA’s “Round the Houses” race at Alexandria Bay. The year following, at the wheel of Leonidis, Miles became the first American in a decade to race at Le Mans. The REVS Institute also brought a Porsche 911R, 718 RSK, 910/6 and 917 PA, all being exercised by Gunnar Jeannette.
Targa events are known for the gathering of friends and racing legends at the Saturday evening dinner. Guest speaker Australian James Davison had guests hanging on his every word as he shared his family racing history and his plans for this year in NASCAR and IndyCar. Divina Galicia MBE and Derek Bell MBE added to the fun as they, Brian Redman and Targa members swapped tale tales.
For more, visit gorace.com.