IL TORNANTE 2006 between Sicilian Mafia and Baroque

 

WHEN ? from 15th to 20th October 2006

WHERE ? on the island of the legendary Targa Florio Rally

WHAT ? the first rally of Globe Driver was held.

 

Rally legendare «IL TORNANTE 2006»… The name of the rally indicates its specification – Sicily is famous for its extreme winding roads.

 

The first « IL TORNANTE » from Globe Driver on Sicily is a good luxury trial for teams to explore the local island spirit – in 6 days the highlights of the magnificent island.

 

The arrival by ferry was welcomed by threatening weather – grey low clouds thickened above the Rally. Furthermore the teams should manage with the first difficulties of exploration – crazy city traffic life in Palermo; incredible narrow streets of little towns; sharp turnings on winding roads… Too much food and too much wine put the « IL TORNANTE » on the verge of failure . But the super-optimistic-mood of participants helped to survive everything.

 

The first stage brought the teams out of the nosiest city Palermo, uphill to Monreale with its famous Norman Cathedral, through Corleone, the town of the Godfather Don Corleone, that covered all its mafia secrets with downpour rain; through country landscapes to Agrigento, city of Greek Tempels.

 

Moving through historical significant regions, teams could explore some ancient spirit of Sicily. Piazza Armerina with its unique mosaic collection in the hunter Villa Romana was the highpoint of the second stage. The culmination took place in the top of the hill-top-cities - Ragusa Ibla, a Sicilian pearl, where “IL TORNANTE” lived authentic overnight stay in authentic buildings with its gosts.

 

The next stage brought not only nice sunny blue sky, but a little “urban-raid” too – a drive through the Barogue highlight-cities Noto and Siracusa with one more exercise for skills in finding a parking place 

 

The relaxed regime with good food changed for time of some physical revenge: the luck to see the real floating lava is rare! “IL TORNANTE” attacked the erupted Etna, where the teams should leave their cars for a couple of hours and practice their physical shapes. And as a luxury reward - relaxing smoked evening in beautiful Taormina at the seashore.

 

Following trails of the famous Sicilian race, the fourth stage was decided to be devoted the “Targa Florio”-Spirit – let’s show your “IL TORNANTE”-driving-skills ! 14 km of the special race-track with only 2 CP-s enabled the teams to evacuate their energy before stopping at the nice comfortable relais. In the evening the results were announced: in the nomination “Engine till 1957” the winner was the team of our Sicilian guides Ignazio and Dominique ! The nomination “Engine after 1957” brought some surprises: two teams overtook the speed-limit-time, but one of them remained non-eliminated due to penalty-time. Moreover - exactly this team of Eric and Turja, even with the penalty-time, showed the best result .

 

After the picture in front of remains of race-boxes from Targa Florio history, the last stage brought the “IL TORNANTE” back to Palermo. The authentic puppet performance in one of the surviving back-street puppet theatres served a good shelter from the rain and the very genuine finish of the rally.

 

P.S. On the 1056 km there were no technical problems with the cars thanks good Sicilian roads and our wise participants .

 

The Globe Driver Team thanks everybody, who takes the passion with us !!!

See you next time 