1. Nino Vaccarella was an Italian sports car racing and Formula One driver.
17 Facts About Nino Vaccarella
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Nino Vaccarella's principal achievements include having won the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Targa Florio in 1965,1971 and 1975, the latter year when it no longer was a World Sportscar Championship event.
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Sicily-born Vaccarella was well known for being a Targa Florio specialist.
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Maglioli had previously won the race twice; Nino Vaccarella was a schoolteacher in Palermo with a great passion for motorsport.
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Nino Vaccarella finished 2nd at the 12 Hours of Sebring in the United States, but during the 1963 Nurburgring 1000km, during practice he crashed a brand-new works-entered Ferrari 250P, and broke his arm and was soaked in fuel.
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Nino Vaccarella came back to the race a year later to win it with Ludovico Scarfiotti, driving for the factory.
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Nino Vaccarella then found even greater success by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Jean Guichet, reaching the pinnacle of sports car racing.
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Nino Vaccarella was paired with Lorenzo Bandini in the 1965 Targa Florio when they won with an average speed of 63.7 miles per hour, finishing in 7 hours and 1 minute.
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Maglioli and Nino Vaccarella drove a Ford GT-40 to fifth place in the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring.
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The 8 May 1968 edition of Giornale Di Sicilia proclaimed in its headline, Only Nino Vaccarella Can Bring Off The Miracle.
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Nino Vaccarella was up against four German competitors who were driving Porsche 910 models.
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Nino Vaccarella drove the big V12-powered Ferrari 512S in a heroic yet ultimately losing effort in 1970, damaging the car in the final stages.
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Nino Vaccarella would win the Targa Florio one more time, in 1975 driving an Alfa Romeo 33TT12- the Targa was no longer part of the World Championship but was an Italian national event.
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Nino Vaccarella's son Giovanni had been born in 1972 and he wanted to be alive to raise his son in this very dangerous era of motor racing.
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Nino Vaccarella admitted in this interview that Le Mans was his favorite circuit.
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Nino Vaccarella was joined by John Surtees, Mike Parkes, Willy Mairesse, Lorenzo Bandini, and Ludovico Scarfiotti.
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Nino Vaccarella participated in five World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 10 September 1961.