1928 GRAND PRIX SEASON -

56 Albert Divo
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti
Bugatti T35B

16 Giuseppe Campari
SA Ital. Ing. Nicola Romeo
Alfa Romeo 6C-1500MMS

24 Caberto Conelli
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti
Bugatti T37A

TARGA FLORIO

Medio Circuito Madonie - Palermo (I), 6 May 1928.
5 laps x 108.0 km (67.1 mi) = 540.0 km (335.6 mi)
1100cc: 3 laps x 108.0 km (67.1 mi) = 324.0 km (201.3 mi)

No.	Driver	Entrant	Car	Type	Engine

2	Giuseppe Inglese	G. Inglese	Bugatti	T37	1.5	S-4
4	Cleto Nenzioni	C. Nenzioni	Bugatti	T37A	1.5	S-4
6	Vincenzo Verso	C. Verso	Bugatti	T37	1.5	S-4
8	Luigi Fagioli	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	26	1.5	S-8
10	Gioacchino Cocuzza	G. Cocuzza	Bugatti	T37A	1.5	S-4	DNA - did not appear
12	René Dreyfus	R. Dreyfus	Bugatti	T37A	1.5	S-4
14	Pietro di Villarosa	Conte di Villarosa	Bugatti	T37	1.5	S-4
16	Giuseppe Campari	SA Ital. Ing. Nicola Romeo	Alfa Romeo	6C 1500MMS	1.5	S-6
18	Giuseppe Vittoria	G. Vittoria	Maserati	26	1.5	S-8	DNA - did not appear
20	Salvatore Marano	S. Marano	Maserati	26	1.5	S-8
22	Margot Einsiedel	Countess von Einsiedel	Bugatti	T37A	1.5	S-4
24	Caberto Conelli	Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	Bugatti	T37A	1.5	S-4
26	Giovanni Scianna	G. Scianna	Bugatti	T37	1.5	S-4
28	X	SA Ital. Ing. Nicola Romeo	Alfa Romeo	6C 1500	1.5	S-6	DNA - did not appear
30	Attilio Marinoni	SA Ital. Ing. Nicola Romeo	Alfa Romeo	6C 1500MMS	1.5	S-6
32	Ferdinando Minoia	Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	Bugatti	T37A	1.5	S-4
34	Baconin Borzacchini	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	26B	2.0	S-8
36	Emilio Materassi	Scuderia Materassi	Bugatti	T35C	2.0	S-8
38	Ernesto Maserati	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	26B	2.0	S-8
40	Louis Chiron	Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	Bugatti	T35C	2.0	S-8
42	Giulio Foresti	G. Foresti	Bugatti	T35C	2.0	S-8
44	Cesare Pastore	C. Pastore	Bugatti	T35C	2.0	S-8	DNA - did not appear
46	Tazio Nuvolari	Scuderia Nuvolari	Bugatti	T35C	2.0	S-8
48	Diego de Sterlich	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	26B MM	2.0	S-8
50	Gastone Brilli Peri	Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	Bugatti	T35C	2.0	S-8
52	Mario Lepori	M. Lepori	Bugatti	T35B	2.3	S-8
54	Huldreich Heusser	H. Heusser	Bugatti	T35B	2.3	S-8
56	Albert Divo	Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	Bugatti	T35B	2.3	S-8
58	Elizabeth Junek	E. Junek	Bugatti	T35B	2.3	S-8
60	Saverio Candrilli	S. Candrilli	Steyr	VI	4.4	S-6
62	Amedeo Sillitti	A. Sillitti	Alfa Romeo	RL	3.0	S-6
64	Antonio Zanelli	A. Zanelli	Fiat	509 S	1.0	S-4
66	Giocchino Vigo	G. Vigo	Fiat	509 S	1.0	S-4
68	Francesco Sirignano	Prince de Sirignano	Camen		1.0	V-4
70	Eugenio Riccioli	E. Riccioli	Fiat	509 S	1.0	S-4
72	Guglielmo Esposito	G. Esposito	Camen		1.0	V-4
74	Salvatore Casano	S. Casano	Salmson		1.1	S-4
76	Clemente Biondetti	C. Biondetti	Salmson		1.1	S-4
78	Ezio Rallo	E. Rallo	Fiat	509 S	1.0	S-4
80	Erminio Fagioli	L. Fagioli	Salmson		1.1	S-4	DNA - did not appear
82	Giorgio Ciolino	Ciolino	San Giorgio	Fiat 509	1.0	S-4

Divo wins the Targa Florio, finishing ahead of Campari's Alfa Romeo

by Hans Etzrodt

At the 19th Targa Florio 36 cars arrived at the start of which half were a mix of various Bugattis, the remainder consisted of five Maseratis, three Alfa Romeos, one Steyr, plus the small cars of four Fiats, two Salmsons, two Camens and one San Giorgio. Drivers were however of greater importance at the Targa Florio to decide victory and this year's race was of huge interest due to the large number of great drivers who took part. The favorites were Chiron, Divo, Minoia, Materassi, Brilli Peri and Nuvolari in Bugattis, Campari in an Alfa Romeo, while Officine Alfieri Maserati was represented by Borzacchini and Ernesto Maserati. Chiron in one of the four works Bugattis led the first lap but when he lost much time, the astonishing Madame Junek in her own Bugatti took the lead on lap two, ahead of the elite of European top professionals. On lap three she was demoted to second place by the fast charging Campari in the 1500 factory Alfa Romeo who kept first place on lap four, while Junek still followed in second place. The outcome of the final lap was entirely uncertain before the exhausting race ended after more than seven hours. While other contenders ran into trouble, Divo in one of the 2300 works Bugatti was victorious, followed by Campari's 1500 works Alfa Romeo and Conelli's 1500 works Bugatti ahead of Chiron, Madame Junek and Minoia sixth, all in Bugattis. A total of 15 cars finished while 21 others retired without serious incidents.

The 19th Targa Florio and 11th Coppa Florio were named after their founder, Conte Vincenzo Florio. The 1928 Targa Florio replaced the French Grand Prix as the leading classical event of the year, although the Targa was staged as a formula libre event, splitting the cars into category I for cars up to 1100 cc, which only had to do three laps or 324 km, category II up to 1500 cc, category III up to 2000 cc, category IV up to 3000 cc and category V up to 5000 cc, all of which had to complete five laps of the 108 km circuit. The race counted towards the Italian Automobile Championship. The maximum time allowed was 8 hours 30 minutes for cars over 1100 cc and 6 hours 30 minutes for the cycle cars. The Driver and riding mechanic had to have a combined weight of no less than 120 kg. A driver racing solo had to carry 70 kg ballast. Refueling and wheel changes could be done anywhere along the circuit, while driver changes had to be done with a nominated reserve driver but only at the end of a lap and in the presence of a race official. The Reale Automobile Club d'Italia and Auto Club di Sicilia offered prize money totaling 430,000 lire. The first in the 1100 cc category collected 15,000 lire, the second 10,000, the third 5000 lire. The chances were the same for each remaining category, where the first one won 100,000 lire, the second 20,000, the third 10,000. Besides the monetary awards there were also several trophies, including the legendary Coppa Florio, which is addressed separately at the end of this report.
The race around the Medium Madonie Circuit totaled 540 km. In use since 1919, it included about 1400 corners per lap through the mountainous Madonie region, making the Targa Florio a race of over 7000 corners. The narrow circuit with its steep gradients was a true measure for both driver and machine. The start and finish took place at the Cerda train station just a few meters above sea level. The road led several miles up to Cerda village at 273 meters altitude. From here the course twisted uphill through Caltavuturo at 640 meters. From this village the tight, twisting circuit wound along the Madonie Mountains and turned back past a depot in the town of Polizzi, 917 meters above sea level. Next, tortuous hairpin bends followed, snaking downhill through the mountain village of Collesano at 500 meters and further on to Campofelice, just 50 meters above sea level. From there it was downhill to the seven km fast coastal straight where it was possible to use top gear and pass other cars. Then the circuit turned inland going back to the finish near the Cerda train station.

Entries and Practice:
A complete list is shown above of the 41 entries received by the promoter, twenty of which were Bugattis. Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was the favorite not only because they had won the Targa for the last three years but their cars were truly nimble and pure racecars. The team was managed by Meo Costantini, himself the winner of the 1925 and 1926 Targa Florio. L’AUTO reported on 5. May 1928, that the Bugatti factory entered five cars known for their exceptionally good road holding, which eased the life of their five official drivers Conelli, Minoia, Chiron, Brilli Peri and Divo. The latter was hired shortly before the race and acted as the replacement for Bordino who was killed during practice for the Alessandria Circuit race. Divo had raced here only once before and had little confidence for he had insufficient practice and felt handicapped.
At this point it is interesting to learn that before Albert Divo was asked by Meo Costantini to start at the Targa Florio that this position had been assigned to Tazio Nuvolari. At the Beginning of February, Nuvolari was planned to be part of the Bugatti factory team for the Targa Florio. Then - at the end of February Fiat announced that they would not take part in any of the 1928 races and therefore allowed their driver Pietro Bordino a one year vacation. Bordino was immediately grabbed by Bugatti to lead their team for the 1928 season. Bordino was expected to appear at the Mille Miglia, Alessandria and Targa Florio for the Bugatti factory. At the Mille Miglia Bugatti entered three specially prepared T43's for Bordino, Brilli Peri and Nuvolari. The three cars initially held very promising positions but soon ran into various and multiple problems. While Brilli Peri nursed his car home in sixth place, Nuvolari ended up 13th and Bordino 16th. Bordino went to Molsheim and picked up his Bugatti T35C in time for the Alessandria Circuit race which he was keen on winning. The weekend before the race he practiced with his new car at Alessandria where he crashed when a large Alsatian dog ran into his car, jamming the steering, causing his car to skid off the dirt road down a steep ravine into a tributary of the Tanaro River, killing both the driver and his mechanic, Pietro Lasagni.
René Dreyfus stated in My Two Lives that following Pietro Bordino's death, Meo Costantini, the Bugatti team manager, told Nuvolari, who at the time was considered as a future Bugatti team member for the upcoming Targa Florio, that he could not compete in the Alessandria race itself, even though Tazio had entered his own car. Bugatti management didn't want to take the risk of Nuvolari being hurt. Nuvolari who already had three Bugattis of his Scuderia entered, ignored Costantini's order, raced for the prize money at Alessandria and won. As a consequence for this disobedience the Bugatti team manager decided not to give Nuvolari the factory drive at the Targa Florio. So - that's the time when Meo Costantini employed Albert Divo, just 12 days before the Targa Florio. A quote by Dreyfus: "when he [Nuvolari] showed up at Termini Imerese to report to the Bugatti team, Costantini said no, you don't race for Bugatti. The team car was taken away from him. Nuvolari did compete in the Targa, but with his own Alessandria car; he fared not well at all."
Cesare De Agostini wrote in Nuvolari. The Legend Lives on: "He [Nuvolari] was to compete in the Targa Florio for the works Bugatti team, but he was late for practice. The team's motor sport director, Meo Costantini, telegrammed him saying it would be useless him travelling to Palermo, because he had already replaced the Mantuan. Tazio replied, with bitter and dry incisiveness, saying that Costantini had not replaced him, he had simply changed driver. "I'll still leave to compete in the Targa with my own car in the 2000 category to show him that he has made a mistake", he wrote to Varzi with fuming indignation. His independence would never be so arrogantly flaunted again."
Two lady drivers entered, Mrs. Elizabeth Junek (Eliska Junekova in her own country) from Prague in Czechoslovakia with a Bugatti 2300, the same type of car which she had raced here the year before when she learned the circuit extremely well after numerous training laps around the small Madonie circuit. Dreyfus commented about Elizabeth Junek: "Her tenacity and determination were remarkable. For this event, she travelled to Sicily with a governess and a car like the one with which she would compete, a full month before the race. She began slowly, one lap one day, two laps the next and so on - she must have put up thirty or forty laps in that car. She knew the course better than anybody. She really pounded her Bugatti; it was a very used car by race day, but she had thought ahead of course and the Bugatti team arrived with the new car she had ordered, a T35B painted black and yellow and arranged to have delivered to the course. She was ready with her plan. In the early laps of the race she started to scare the wits out of the other drivers - being beaten by a woman was unthinkable then - and she was up with the leaders until the final lap. What she hadn't considered in all her careful pre-race calculations and what she couldn't have foreseen, was that mechanical problems might interfere with her plan. When they did, she was forced to drop back. Still, she finished fifth - a terrific showing. Nobody who was in that Targa, ever forgot that formidable Lady."
The other lady was the German Countess Margot von Einsiedel in a 1500 cc supercharged Bugatti. Einsiedel was allied with the Swiss driver Huldreich Heusser in a 2300 Bugatti. Heusser had already been studying the Median Madonie circuit in December and January. Now, together with Count Caberto Conelli in a 1500 works Bugatti they were again practicing many days before the actual day when the circuit was closed on April 28, one week before the race. Another Swiss, Mario Lepori, also had a 2300 Bugatti, while last year's winner, Emilio Materassi, and Conte Gastone Brilli Peri entered 2000 cc Bugattis as did Tazio Nuvolari, his winning car from Alessandria.
Louis Chiron had talked René Dreyfus into entering the Targa, as an independent with a supercharged 1500 Bugatti. In Sicily he was coached by his friend Louis Chiron and "was adopted as a kind of mascot of the Bugatti team."
Besides Dreyfus there were nine other 1500 Bugatti entered of which three were not supercharged, the ones of Giuseppe Inglese, Vincenzo Verso and Giovanni Scianna. The supercharged 1500s were driven by Cleto Nenzioni, Gioacchino Cocuzza, Pietro di Villarosa unsupercharged T37, Caberto Conelli and Ferdinando Minoia, the latter two driving for the factory.
Alfa Romeo entered two cars under its official name of SA Italiana Ing. Nicola Romeo, the new supercharged 6C-1500MMS Mille Miglia winning car plus a second car now also supercharged. These were stripped sports cars without rear bodywork, revealing a cylindrical exposed fuel tank and only one spare wheel on the back to save weight while the cockpit was now open, with two bucket seats. They were to be driven by Giuseppe Campari and Attilio Marinoni, who was chief test driver at the Alfa Romeo works. Both were driving alone, while the mechanic's seat was occupied with a spare oil tank and batteries. Alfa Romeo had several small tire stations placed around the circuit. Independent Amedeo Sillitti drove an older 3-Liter formula Alfa Romeo RL.
Officine Alfieri Maserati was the third works team, entering two supercharged 8-cylinder cars, one type 26 1500 cc for Baconin Borzacchini and one type 26B 2000 cc for Ernesto Maserati. Independent type 26 Maseratis were entered by Luigi Fagioli and Salvatore Marano while Diego de Sterlich drove a type 26B. The last three drivers certainly received some sort of factory support.
The ten cycle car entries were made up of 4 Fiats for Zanelli, Vigo, Riccioli and Rallo. For the first time there appeared two attractive Camens, built in Naples by the Esposito brothers with Sirignano money. They had a 1036 cc, V-4 supercharged two-stroke engine and independent front suspension. Only two cars were made in 1927/28, driven by Prince Francesco di Sirignano and Guglielmo Esposito and were quite fast over short distances. The three Salmsons were driven by Casano, Biondetti and a brother of Luigi Fagioli, named Erminio, who was supposed to drive the newly available Salmson of his brother Luigi, who now drove a Maserati. There was a single San Giorgio entered by Giorgio Ciolino. This was actually a Fiat 509 Special, very neatly done by Ciolino in Catania.
The circuit was closed one week before the race. So, various teams were practicing with the greatest care and persistence. Not only had the cars to be prepared, but the drivers also had to study and learn the course with its numerous turns. During early practice Villarosa turned over his 1500 Bugatti but escaped unhurt.

Race:
In the first hours of Sunday morning an enormous pilgrimage of local enthusiasts arrived by train, car and on foot. They came to take possession of the best viewpoints around the entire circuit before these places were overcrowded. The race was well organized, and the spectators were informed of the latest developments through loudspeakers. The morning was beautiful with a cloudless blue sky. From 41 entries, only 36 cars appeared at the Cerda start. The following cars, that didn't take part, were Cocuza (Bugatti 1500), Vittoria (Maserati 1500), Pastore (Bugatti 2000), Enrico Fagioli (Salmson) and one Alfa Romeo.
The individual start began at 8:00 AM in order of the race numbers at intervals of two minutes because of the dust from the dirt roads. The 1500 cc class was released first, followed by the 2000 cc category, 3000 cc and up to 5000 cc. The tail was formed by the 1100 cc cars. Solo drive was allowed but almost every driver carried a riding mechanic on board. However, the cars were not necessarily released at 2-minute intervals. For instance Dreyfus left four minutes after Fagioli. Starting times were determined beforehand according to the race numbers and if cars did not appear at the start (e.g. #10), then the car #12 was held to its predetermined time of departure. Exactly at 8:00 the timekeeper Baron Tasca released the first car, Inglese's number 2 Bugatti, next Nenzioni's number 4 Bugatti followed at 8:02. Each driver was sent away with cheers by the enthusiastic crowd. The last car was started at 9:20 and 14 minutes later the first car appeared from its first lap.