24 Ore di Sicilia (Pergusa) - 28./29. october 2017

[Mitchi_S]

So apparently after one 24 hour race at Pergusa in 2004 there will be another iteration of it at the end of october - the 24 Ore di Sicily on the Autodromo di Pergusa.

I heard about it at the beginning of this year, but hardly any info was to be found. Now there is a facebook page online and an event in facebook, some other information (regulations etc.) can be found on the website of the organizer aswell. Sadly, everything is in italian and I hardly understand anything.

I wonder how big the entry list will be and what it will consist of - my guess is the usual mix of GT3/national GTs, touring cars, production cars.

I truly hope this works out and will be done properly.

Programme:

[NaBUru38]

http://admin.gruppoperonirace.it/fil...%20SICILIA.pdf

Pretty much every Gruppo Peroni class will be allowed: GT3, GT4, Class CN, TCR, VLN, TCT, TCS, Mitjet 2L...

I don't think they will attempt to attract foreign entries.

[Mitchi_S]

I hope they will have at least some coverage ...

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Mitchi_S

I hope they will have at least some coverage ...

Yeah

[Rob29]

Sounds fun-did not know this circuit was still in use-last F1 in '60s;F3000 in 90s.What are facilities like for spectators ?

[NaBUru38]

Pergusa hosted the Superstars Series and GTSprint Series in 2012, the FIA European Touring Car Championship in 2013-2015, and the TCR Italian Series in 2015. It hosts the local Trofeo Sicilia as well.

The main straight has a fairly large grandstand, as seen in the main page.

[Rob29]

Amazing amount of info in Uruguay-never heard of the 'Trofeo Sicilia' Do any Italians,even Sicilians post here? Looking for possible accomodation & travel facilities in the area

[NaBUru38]

I have studied English and German. My English is fine, but my German less so.
I can read Portuguese very well, and a little of French and Italian.
I have navigated STCC and Dutch Supercar Challenge websites too.

So I checked Pergusa's website, found the 2017 calendar, and learned about the Trofeo Sicilia.

[NaBUru38]

http://www.italia.it/en/discover-italy/sicily/enna.html
http://www.visitsicily.info/en/10cosea/enna/

[Rob29]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

http://www.italia.it/en/discover-italy/sicily/enna.html
http://www.visitsicily.info/en/10cosea/enna/

Thanks for those links naburru-place I have long fancied visiting but never got around to-now need to find ferovie Italie website to find how long it would take to get there by train

[TF110]

Track looks like it is fast but broken up by chicanes. The facilities don't look like they're very modern so it might be a throwback type of race?

[Bcarr6]

Last race I remember seeing was a Superstars Series race a while back.

The circuit is rustic to say the least, but it has real character


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[Akrapovic]

My first experience of this track was in the Simbin game GTR. The FIA GT Series raced here in the early 2000s. It was kinda fun but always felt more like a touring car circuit.

But if they do an English live stream then I'll happily watch. Get it on YouTube!

[NaBUru38]

The Frecciarossa (300km/h high speed train) does Turin-Milan-Roma-Naples-Salerno.

The Intercity does Rome-Naples-Salerno-Messina-Palermo.

[NaBUru38]

Milano-Salerno takes 5h 30min on the Frecciarossa.
Salerno-Messina takes 5h 0min on the Intercity.

[Speed-King]

This being a Peroni event, I wouldn't get my hopes up too high for a good grid, especially on the GT front, where they really have problems assembling a credible grid for their regular season.

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[Mitchi_S]

Originally Posted by TF110

Track looks like it is fast but broken up by chicanes. The facilities don't look like they're very modern so it might be a throwback type of race?

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Last race I remember seeing was a Superstars Series race a while back.

The circuit is rustic to say the least, but it has real character

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

My first experience of this track was in the Simbin game GTR. The FIA GT Series raced here in the early 2000s. It was kinda fun but always felt more like a touring car circuit.

But if they do an English live stream then I'll happily watch. Get it on YouTube!

This is all true, the last real proper international race there was the FIA GT in 2003. They also raced there in 2002.

The Superstars series races there in 2012, right when the track was rebuilt after having been un-rated for FIA races at the end of 2004 - here's probably the best article on the Autodromo di Pergusa to be found online, at least in English, including the infamous frog story. In 2009, Pergusa was approved again and the FIA GT3 should have it's season finale there (even the GT2 EM, which never came and was a one-off race with the Spa 24h), but that never happened. I think inbetween these years only trackdays were the only actual proper car events to be allowed there.
GTSprint was also there in 2012, and ETCC raced there from 12-15 iirc. In that GTSprint video it's quite amusing to watch the cars in an amateur way.

When watching those old and new videos you'll see they made the first chicane a little slower, but other than that, it's pretty much the same as it has been in the 80s - I love these simple nature race tracks. Pergusa is one of my all-time favorites. Sadly, the infrastructure is very basic, and very old. This is paired with the fact that the Lago di Pergusa (only natural lake on sicily, by the way) is a natural reserve since 1991 and home to lots and lots of rare birds in the beginning and end of summer, when the go north and south over the whole of Europe.

Pergusa has featured in the SimBin titles GTR, GTR2 aswell as Slightly Mad Studio's Need for Speed Shift 2 (which is just the old SimBin crew under a new name), and through mods in various other racing sims like the Race07 series, rFactor or Assetto Corsa.

While I find it interesting and kinda funny that the race track apparently is run by a stereotypical italian very laid-back organization team, the race track at least has some history for more than half a century now and has had some international race series on it - compared to that, the other race track on sicily (an island that hasn't got a lot of industry and therefor jobs due to it's natural conditions) is pretty much dead and you wonder why or how it even exists.

Anyway, I just like the track and have sympathy for it - I just want the event to be good.

[Mitchi_S]

In typical Gruppo Peroni fashion, this has appeared on the book of faces:

"NUOVA DATA 24/25 MARZO 2018"

[NaBUru38]

That's not good.

[rich07]

I don't speak Italian but at a guess 'new date 24/25 March 2018'.

Hearing about this race has inspired me to bang out some laps on Enna in GTR2.

[Aaron Rodgers]

I think race will not held anymore. Peroni organization is usual to make such a sort of proclaim but surely there is no space for a race like this in Italy...

[Mitchi_S]

Originally Posted by Aaron Rodgers

I think race will not held anymore. Peroni organization is usual to make such a sort of proclaim but surely there is no space for a race like this in Italy...

Especially not on sicily, an island that somehow might have three racetracks but not a very strong economy. Going there sadly isn't really feasible for a lot of european teams, and winning the race isn't really gonna write you in the history books, is it?

[Aaron Rodgers]

Sicily had the best and greatest race on Earth : TARGA FLORIO. That's enough

[Mitchi_S]

Sadly, these times are long gone - except if we're talking about the rally, of course.

[Mitchi_S]

So far, no real news. This is probably dead; I won't expect a race in march at all...