A stunning short video starring racing driver Derek Reginald Bell has just been published on Youtube.
Before the new 718 Boxster and Cayman, there was the Targa Florio-winning 718 RS 60. Porsche’s mid-engine race car legacy started with the 550 RS which was then replaced by the 718 RSK and later updated to the 718 RS 60 in 1960. This model was what won them the Targa Florio, an open road endurance race held in the Madonie Mountains of Sicily.
It was a vehicle before Bell’s time and here, he finally has a chance to drive it on the Targa Florio track for the first time. He’s raced in and won the Le Mans 24 hours race five times but the RS 60 still proved to be a challenge on the hairpin curves of the track and this was after the original muddy mountainous tracks have been paved over with asphalt.
The RS 60 may not have been as powerful as the cars he has raced in during his career with 160 horsepower engine but the feeling he had was indescribable.
“I had a very special feeling that I can’t really put into words, but it was almost choking me when I put it into 1st gear and driving it up the road, and that feel—it’s actually the feeling of freedom,” Bell says, “…because I was on my own, on this amazing course, nobody around, and I was driving through corners that the greats had actually gone ’round those corners.”
Porsche has been improving their vehicles over time and every race they take part in has to involve the development of something to put towards their road production models. The RS 60 now spends most of its days sitting in a collection but its legacy lives on.
