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Porsche's history is built on its motorsport success, but of the many famous competitions where Porsche's cars have triumphed, few have such a long and glorious history as the Targa Florio - literally the Florio shield.
Founded in 1906, the race was the brainchild of wealthy daredevil Vincenzo Florio, who marked out a 92-mile (148km) circuit in Sicily's Madonie Mountains. The course's 900 curves challenged the world's best drivers to master a route that was nearly impossible to memorise, comprising snaking mountain curves flanked by sheer drops, and only one straight of note. In the first ever race, held on 6 May 1906, victorious Alessandro Cagno of Turin completed the three lap, 277-mile (446km) distance in 9 hours and 32 minutes.
Porsche's involvement with the Targa Florio dates back to 1922 and the Austro-Daimler Sascha, designed by Ferdinand Porsche. Despite its modest 45bhp engine, the Sascha took the top two places in its cylinder class in that year's race - an early hint of Porsche's potential. In 1924, Ferdinand Porsche guided the development of Mercedes' supercharged PP, which took overall victory.
It wasn't until 1956 that the event was won by a car bearing Porsche's name, though. With just a 1.5-litre engine, nobody imagined that the Porsche 550 A Spyder had a chance against its higher-powered rivals. Nevertheless, with Umberto Maglioli at the wheel, the lightweight and reliable Spyder completed 10 laps in 7h 54m 52s - nearly 15 minutes ahead of the nearest astonished competitor.
Maglioli's victory set the scene for Porsche's dominance of the event over the following 17 years. By the time of the last World Championship class race, in 1973, Porsche had chalked up 11 overall victories - making it the most successful manufacturer in the race's history.