Targa Catalunya 2014

[piggdekk]

Hi Guys,
yesterday we joined the "Targa Catalunya" here in Spain with my '71 T. It was great fun. We first lapped at the F1 track of Montmeló, then drove for a hundred KM or so in the mountains, and then went to an oval with huge 60 degrees banks built in 1923.
I'm pretty confident photos and videos are always welcome
Here is the car with the race numbers on:



Here are some videos:

Targa Catalunya 2014, Master lap - YouTube


Targa Catalunya 2014, more laps - YouTube


Targa Catalunya 2014, Circuit Terramar - YouTube

luca

[Bill Douglas]

Excellent, thanks.

[piggdekk]

You're welcome!

here is a picture form the bank:


When we lapped in the oval we tried to keep the car on the uppermost concrete junction. To be there You need to go at 120 km/hr, which is pretty scary on such a bumpy road. On the top the angle is 60 degrees, so I guess we were somehow close to 45-50. Even walking further up it was almost impossible.

Here is the car resting in the shadow during lunch time:


luca

[gamin]

piggdekk - Lucky you. I wish I were back in Spain. Tons of great memories if driving the 70T all around Spain in the 70's. No speed limits on the open roads then. Bought the 70 new in Madrid. Driving the F1 track must have been a hoot. Your car looks great. Any more pics?

[piggdekk]

I'll dig out some more pisctures later today.
Yes, the F1 track was a hoot. It was my first time on a race track and we only did 25 minutes. I tried to be very carefull as I had no idea of how the car would have handled it (brakes, suspensions...). So I was carefull braking long before the curves, and not pushing the engine too close to the rev limit. I later found out that the old 2.2 can still make 100 MPH, at least this is what the track speed trap says
luca

[jpnovak]

Sounds like a great adventure. Love the video of the Terramar oval. I just daydreamed about driving it at speed with good concrete.

[piggdekk]

We were told this is the last track left with such high banks, and trust me videos and pictures don't make them justice. At some point during the 40's rules changed and the maximum allowed angle for banks was set at 34 degrees. To retain the homologation all tracks were forced to modify their banks, including Monza, for example. However, Terramar had already been dismissed by then, so they didn't modify it. The concrete is in pretty bad shape, but you can still drive at 120km/hr on most of it (there is a red bull video out there with Carlos sainz going a lot faster ).
After just a few years of racing the whole area was sold and transformed into a farm. In the middle of the track there was a chicken farm, and to get there the trucks had to drive over one of the 2 straights, which is the most damaged one. Of course very few could drive on the banks, and they were built very nicely, that's why they are still there. Being an engineer I gave a good look at how they were built, and the it's pretty amazing how well they designed expansion joints between the concrete blocks.

But of course I'm daydreaming too

luca

[Starless]

I'll be back home in Pego/Denia, Alicante in June for a month or so. Love driving up the mountains to Guadalest. Coll de Rates is a great road. Unfortunately I'll be driving a VW Polo diesel.....