Targa Florio跑车赛【人类动脉】

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背景知识

Targa是古罗马语中“武士的盾牌”的意思，在意大利语中，它代表着用汽车进行的长距离比赛。Targa Florio 是一项在开放式民用公路上举行的汽车赛事，它在意大利西西里岛城市巴勒莫周边的山区中举行。这项经典赛事起源于1906 年，是世界上最古老的汽车赛事之一。最初，比赛的赛车将走遍西西里岛的所有山路，但由于赛程太过漫长和紧张，赛道逐渐被限定在环绕圣·塞尔瓦多山区的72 公里山路上进行。

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视频欣赏

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视频文本

Once upon a time on the island of Sicily, there was a race that ran right through your village. It was glorious. It was beautiful. It was clearly planned before safety was a consideration.

The Targa Florio was founded in Sicily by a speed loving fellow named Vincenzo Florio in 1906. And it enthralled the racing world for decades to come. But this was no ordinary race. It took place in the mountains outside of Palermo. Racers encountered bandits, wolves, 500-plus hairpin turns on roads that hadn’t changed since togas were in fashion. The course went straight through towns and villages with no barricades or warnings. The first year a driver named Alessandro Cagno won. It took him nine hours and his average speed was 30 miles an hour. The Targa Florio ran for 71 years. Titans of the Car world like Mario Andretti competed, but a growing realization that the race was crazy dangerous led to it being shut down in 1977. It was the longest running car race in the world at the time. Today, the grandstand outside Palermo sits empty, but evidence of the race is everywhere, peeking out in the beautiful landscape. The Targa Florio became synonymous with a long and grueling race. In the years after its end, tribute Targas have popped up across the world, but true racing enthusiasts know it all began here.