Chasing Ernst Henne

CHASING ERNST HENNE

Following in a legend’s tire tracks

MARK CERNICKY

IN 1928, GERMAN RACER ERNST Jacob Henne earned international acclaim when he crossed the Targa Florio finish line. It took mind and muscle to complete three rough-and-dusty, countless-turn, 67-mile laps, but Henne had won the grueling 201mile Sicilian endurance roadrace, considered the most challenging event of its time.

To celebrate the 80th anniversary of Henne’s momentous victory, Metzeler invited us to the Targa Florio circuit to follow in his tire tracks.

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea-it looks to be what the boot of Italy is kickingand due to its location was once crucial to shipping trade routes. Strewn with ancient ruins, its city of Siracusa was at one time considered the most beautiful in all of Ancient Greece. There is much to experience: churches, temples, coastline, volcanoes, delicious food and an incredibly varied cultural history that also happens to include motor racing.

The Targa Florio open-road endurance race was created by wealthy driving enthusiast Vincenzo Florio. He intended it to be the toughest race in the

world, meant to prove the viability of the then-new automobile.

The first Targa Florio event took place in 1906 over three laps of a 92-mile public-roads course called Grande Circuito delle Madonie, named for the Madonie Mountains the race ran around.

From 1919 to 1930, the race was run on a 67-mile rendition known as the Medio Circuito. In 1936, Targa Florio was reduced in length again to 44.64 miles, a circuit dubbed Piccolo, which was used until the last car race held in 1977.

Just like Henne in ’28, we’d be riding BMWs shod with Metzeler rubber. Our motorcycle madness ensued from the moment we passed through the gates of our hotel in Palermo, five of us eagerly heading to the old Targa Florio start-finish line not far off. This was where, like the start of the Isle of Man, officials set pilotos off in intervals for their timed race laps.

Unfortunately, our activities started with a bang! Salvo Pennisi, Metzeler’s head of tire development, who envisioned this tribute ride, was sideswiped by a panel van during a photo shoot at the very start of the day. A separated shoulder, narfed elbow and a badly bruised hip meant he wouldn’t be

joining us. Instead, it was two Metzeler test riders, Antonio Picciotto and Vincenzo Frisina, plus journalist Roberto Ungaro of Italy’s Riders magazine and I, who tackled the Targa Florio.

Seeing the old garages and grandstands helped me picture what it must have been like pulling away from the start on race day. The legendary road course’s long straights cut through farmland and fed into fast sweepers in rhythmic succession. In no time, we were into beautifully rolling countryside with widely variable comer speeds and tarmac conditions. Compared to my local twisty roads in SoCal, the Targa Florio’s two lanes of pavement were narrow-narrower still was the odd one-lane bridge.

The climb into the Madonie Mountains was accentuated by super-tight, bumpy switchbacks at either end of highspeed stretches, with the occasional cattle grate thrown in for kicks.

Some great sections of road ran through the villages of Caltavuturo, Peteralia and Collesano, and as we slowed our pace in light traffic, I imagined the buildings’ windows wide-open, crowded with smiling faces, the streets filled

with cheering onlookers as Targa Florio competitors raced through these same streets so long ago.

Out on the course, we encountered obstacles...like the oncoming Alfa Romeo speedball that we dodged.. .just in time to squiggle through a cow-crap-covered corner...while somehow avoiding the slow-moving three-wheeled Piaggio gardening truck. Close calls and all, the entire experience was interesting, enlightening, educational and, most all, fun.

To be honest, before riding the lap of the Targa Florio, I knew very little about the Sicilian circuit, or of Ernst Henne, maybe the greatest all-around rider ever, known as Der Meister aller Klassen, the Master of all Classes. So I began to research both. The more I learned, the more I was humbled and impressed by history of the course and what Henne had accomplished in his long life.

If you’re into cars, maybe the fact that Henne drove his BMW 328 to two Grands Prix wins in the mid-’30s-Belgium and Bucharest-will impress. On bikes, Henne was part of the German national Six Day Trials team that won the gold in 1935, followed in succession by two more overall wins. In all, Henne took four individual ISDT gold

medals to go with his two silver and bronze showings. Back on asphalt/concrete, aboard supercharged kompressor BMWs, Henne set multiple land-speed records. Try 76 of them-one that stood for 14 years! Then there were his two German roadrace championships, but Henne’s most monumental two-wheel accomplishment was winning the toughest public-roads race of its time, the Targa Florio.

Riding the course 80 years later at a fast street clip took a goodly amount of effort and concentration. It was challenging even with our modern brakes and suspension. Henne’s accomplishment, on rougher roads, aboard a rigid-framed racebike with anemic brakes and an entire spare wheel assembly bolted to its side, seems that much more impressive.

Here’s to you, Herr Henne, maximum respect.

To read more about Cernicky’s adventures in Sicily, which included riding six different kinds of motorcycles-sport, touring, cruiser, scooter, dual-sport and enduro-all in the same day, log on to www.cycleworld.com.