And not just any lap: 72 kilometres through the Sicilian countryside on dangerous roads had to be completed 11 times just to reach the end of the Targa Florio in 1972. It was in this year that Helmut Marko set the lap record in an Alfa Romeo 33 TT3 in 33m41s, averaging nearly 130km/h on tight and twisty roads. A winner of Le Mans in a Porsche 917 the previous year, the current Red Bull consultant was also a rising star in Formula One when his career was abruptly halted in the 1972 French Grand Prix. Racing at Clermont Ferrand, a stone flicked up, pierced Marko's visor and blinded the exciting Austrian talent in his left eye.
