Brescia-Rome-Brescia, 15th - 18th of May
There is a lot written on the most famous race in the world,
following the red arrows through Italy over 1000 miles, back in the
glorious era of road racing all the greats came to challenge the
long distance race, mostly with Italian winners on Italian cars.
After the last race in 1957 it just took 20 years to resurrect the
Mille Miglia as a historic rally in the spirit of the origin, open for
those cars running the original race as a regularity event. Right
from the beginning the MM was a huge success and once
planned as a tribute for the 50th anniversary it soon became an
annual event attracting both spectators and entrants from all over
the world for some unforgettable days in Italy, enjoying the food,
landscape and enthusiasm of the locals to all things fast and loud
(particular in Italian red). This special ambience along the road is
the major key to the success of the MM as this is an event lived
by a whole country rather than just a few individuals.
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Last week this year’s edition was held again with start and finish
in Brescia and the turning point in Roma but several changes
were made in the second year after the MAC-intermezzo. As the
Brescia Car Club had the impression that the commercialisation
was going too far they decided to organize it with external help by
themselves. After a year of transition with the same route as the
year before the new concept was revealed earlier this year. Most
important was a prolongation to a fourth day rather than the usual
three and a changed route both on the way down to Rome and
also back. Furthermore the amount of cars was increased to 430
making this a record year including the known Ferrari tribute and
its Mercedes-counterpart.
Taken over from the last years was the scrutineering in the Fiera
di Brescia. Certainly the fair ground is not as charming as the
chaotic procedure in the Brescia city centre but with this amount
of cars it was not manageable anymore. So from Tuesday
afternoon to Thursday morning the driving and supporting crews
had the possibility to check in to get their road book, transponder
and the race stickers. Beside some new entrants and a lot of
repeaters again the works supported teams were numerous, led
by the main sponsor Mercedes-Benz. The German manufacturer
was the only marque outside Italy that was able to win the
original, both in 1931 and 1955 with legendary models and drivers.
Most important and famous is without doubt the drive of Sir
Stirling Moss and Dennis Jenkinson in the record time of about 10
½ hours in the 300 SLR and although the original car is kept in
the museum for several years now one of the sister cars was
again on display in Brescia on the blue race transporter and even
without driving it was a crowd puller.
The second win was on the legendary SSKL in the hands of
Rudolf Caracciola in 1931 and this year the entry list looked very
much like a meeting of the Mercedes Supercharger Club as more
“white elephants” (although not all of them were white) could be
seen in Brescia than in previous years. The new organisation
decided to loosen the regularities so again several shortened
versions of the “ordinary” 710 SS were allowed to take part.
Although some might discuss their originality the bystanders
certainly do not care whether a particular car was born as a short
or long chassis version. The Mercedes entry was rounded of by
two W194 300 SL prototypes, the racing version of the famous
Gullwing that also could be seen in large numbers, one was
entered privately, the other in the hands of Jochen Mass. He was
joined by former DTM Champion Bernd Schneider and Klaus
Ludwig and whereas the later drove one of the Gullwings
Schneider discovered slowness in a Mercedes 220 A, sometimes
one forgets that the MM was not just about sports car racing as
numerous smaller displacement classes including Diesel cars
featured cars like these.
The second German manufacturer that won a Mille Miglia
(although the 1940 triangle edition around Brescia), BMW entered
again their special streamlined 328 models from Touring and
Zagato.
Less fortunate in the original race were the British manufacturers
but nevertheless Jaguar was present in full force with several C-
and D-Types and XK120 race models. Lined up with the recently
sold Ecurie Ecosse transporter outside the fairground they made
an impressive entry for the marque with the cat. They were either
piloted by racers like Marc Brundle and Bruno Senna but also by
car addicted celebrities led by Jay Leno. The American talk show
master took the chance after his “retirement” to experience the
MM by himself and wherever he appeared he was the star both
with spectators and journalists. Starting with the scrutineering in
Brescia he gave countless interviews and posed for fan-photos
along the road, being a professional always with a smile. When
entering the piazza in Siena an American tourist couple
recognized him by chance and handed its crying small child into
the open Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar XK120 for a photo to remember
very much to the enjoyment of the bystanders. Leno is very well
known for being a petrolhead; others like US actor Jeremy Irons
or ACDC frontman Brian Johnson are less known for their car
affinity. When looking at the spectators on the road one could see
all types of visitors including school classes, priests, nuns and
business men but groups of long hair heavy metal fans in ACDC
T-shirt might be a novelty for the MM.
But the majority of cars were entered by privateers and again a
variety of different sports cars could be admired. As soon as one
of the Ferrari opened its bonnet numerous Ferraristi were
checking every number, other curiosities on the other side
remained ignored. One of these obscurities was a Healey with
very unusual body called “Drone”. Reportingly about 15 of these
were made and after all these years this was the very first entered
at the Mille Miglia retrospective. With a rather ugly body one was
interested in learning the story behind it and not few were
surprised that this was for tax reasons. Back in these days there
was a luxury tax for cars over 1000 pound and so these were
bodied in the cheapest possible was to be sold at 999 pounds,
after being registered the car could be rebodied in a favoured
style, but this car was entered in this form in the original MM and
therefore restored back to this original specification. One just
have to imagine one of the Ferrari of this era would have left the
factory like this before being rebodied by Touring or Pinin Farina
leaving the question what to do with it to restore it to original
configuration.
After the crews finished scrutineering they were led to the city
centre on Thursday morning for the sealing of the car making sure
that they actually drive with the entered car but also to show the
cars to the people. The sealing this year was back at the Piazza
Vittoria where most of the pictures of the original MM were taken
but this was not because the organization wanted to change from
the previous one but because the building of the subway finished
earlier this year that blocked the place the years before. One
could see who was a first timer at the MM as most of the regular
entrants were more than surprised when entering the previous
location that the tents disappeared, on the other side this way a
very good spot to see all the cars coming by in one of the cafés
as this was the only entry to the Piazza Vittoria. Later the cars
were parked on the various piazzas in the crowded city centre in
perfect sunshine before the traditional start in the evening on the
Viale Venezia.
With a field that large the cars were sent off by presenter Simon
Kidston without much comments so the last car left just about
two hours behind the first making this maybe the fastest start in
recent years. After passing Desenzano and Sirmione the route
made a sidestep to the foot of the Dolomites at Bassano del
Grappa, the playground of another Italian rally, the “Mittiche Sport
a Bassano”. Unlike in previous years the day did not end in
Ferrara but in Thermae Abano Montegrotto near Padua. The
thermal bath was ideal with a lot of good hotels to take the
hundreds of guests and although the first car just arrived about
midnight the streets were crowded at every city drive through until
the last cars passed.
Early at the next morning the journey led south, first to Ferrara
and then to the traditional stop in San Marino. Being later on the
timetable San Marino was also the lunch point after a morning
drive through the traffic of the region. Completely different was the
further route down the Adrian coast to Ancona whereas the
journey led to the inner country in previous years. Certainly it is
good to change the route from time to time but it took a while
before the cars finally could leave the traffic at the coastline to
make some miles. Being a regularity event it was difficult to keep
up with the timetable with the numerous passings of the city
centres and less miles on wide country roads. Finally the road
climbed up the mountains to L´Aquila and whereas the first cars
were well before the bad weather the later had to deal with rain
and the darkness on the way up, the last cars arrived about
midnight in the historic city centre. With more than two hours still
to drive down to Rome this meant another short night after half
time.
The biggest change was made on the third day as the Saturday
did not lead all the way back to Brescia but just to Bologna for
the first time. Although this was a reduction of several hours the
first car already left Rome at 6:30am for maybe the nicest part of
the MM. Going all the way through Tuscany Viterbo was crossed
on the way to Radicofani. The old town on top of the mountain is
one of spectators’ favourites as the cars were awaited by a lot of
people, unfortunately construction works made a passing of the
old church impossible, normally the stairs in front of the ancient
building were used as tribunes by the visitors. After the creep
through Siena the next big change was made in this year road
book as Florence was left to the right and the route led to Pisa
instead before the Passo Futa and Radicosa were taken to arrive
in Bologna for the final night. This additional stop was very much
discussed upfront this year’s Mille Miglia. Many had the
impression that this was a good step to make the MM safer as
normally the last leg from Bologna through the flat Po area was a
blast of tired drivers to make it to Brescia as fast as possible,
followed by even more tired drivers of the support vehicles (as
those had to spent good parts of the short night to service the
car), others mentioned that this was even part of the feeling of the
MM to arrive late at night in a crowded Brescia centre, tired but
happy to finish, something that will be lost within the new format.
Now the last stage was done on Sunday morning with an arrival at
noon. But this did not necessarily mean that the day on Saturday
was much more relaxed as the Futa and Radicosa was passed
much later. Another downside of this Sunday arrival is that those
who usually trailer their car home the following day had to prolong
their holiday for another day, so a lot of cars just disappeared
straight from the ramp for their way home. Others stopped in front
of the numerous cafés to have a deserved beer and pizza after a
1000 miles drive.
“How was your MM” might have been the first question people
were asked by friends and other entrants, especially the opinion
of those who came back after several years (as not few seemed
to skip the MAC-era coming back after a year looking at the new
organization) was very interesting. Everyone had a different story
to tell as it does make a lot of difference what type of car and with
what starting number one was driving. For those with the lower
numbers the day usually starts very early and features some
business traffic in the morning making it difficult to keep up with
the timetable. Especially on the leg to San Marino (and this year
through Ancona) this leads to a very own interpretation of the
traffic laws in the cities when new lines are opened at traffic lights
and a lot of passing to get through the traffic. The pre-war cars
also have to deal with inferior drum brakes in modern traffic but
they are rewarded with less pressure as they do not risk to get
out of the classification due to the closure of the check points
when dropping back a few minutes due to a technical issue like
the cars at the end of the convoy do. They also drive most of the
stages in daylight whereas the later cars tend to run into dusk
with a lot of miles left. The weather was another difference as the
early cars were driving in front of the bad weather to Rome
whereas the later had hours of heavy rain spoiling the fun. The
later cars on the other side have less traffic and usually do not
have to wait as long at the check points compared to the cars in
the middle, a problem especially for the race cars as their cooling
is not designed to creep up the hill in San Marino in MM traffic.
But not all of the later cars are the powerful Porsche, Maserati
and Ferrari as there are also VW Beetles and Renault 4CV who
need to drive most of the day at the limit to stay in their
designated time window, maybe not exactly the fun one is
thinking of when driving the Mille Miglia.
For some the best and most interesting places are the ones in
the middle, mainly occupied by the many Eceterini like the
beautiful Stanguellini, Ermini, Gilco, Giaur and others. These tiny
cars mostly based on Fiat parts are basically the backbone of the
Mille Miglia, today as they were in the past.
So this was another memorable Mille Miglia although the timing of
the new route was very much a favour to the early cars as the
timing was not great for the later ones. Running with numbers of
the second half of the field meant that the more interesting parts
of the rally were driven at night, even the Futa and the Radicosa
became dark when the last cars passed. Basically the first car
arrived there when the last passed in previous years. Presumable
the route might change in the years to follow to make the MM a
little bit more different for those coming every year but on the
other side some fix points like San Marino, Radicofani, Futa and
Siena should be kept reducing the possibilities of changes.
To make things complete there is also an overall classification for
the regularity trial and as in previous years the first places are
reserved for pre-war cars because of the better coefficient. The
first five places were taken by all Italian crews with the most
consistent being the team Mozzi/Biacca in their Lancia Lambda
from1928. With a lot of champagne the prestigious overall victory
was celebrated but beside a few of the runner-ups no one has to
be disappointed as finishing the Mille Miglia after four days is
reward enough for the exertions of the long days and short nights.
Certainly the MM does not only see sun but there are also
shadows that should not stay uncommented. This year (like in
previous years as well) saw again several severe accidents, most
of them involving upcoming regular traffic when rally and support
cars were passing at high speed. Unfortunately some of the
entrants take Simon Kidston too serious when he sends them off
the ramp with the words “the road is yours”, some really pretend
to be in a race (just look at the stickers on the supporting cars
stating “race support”) but tend to forget that they share the roads
with the normal traffic. As mentioned before driving though the city
centres is sometimes fun with all the enthusiastic spectators but
makes it difficult to keep up with the intended average. Later the
cars try to catch up time with stupid overtaking manoeuvre, not
few of them ending in tragedy. Most of these accidents usually do
not make it to the newspapers as no one wants to spoil the party
but this year one case was discussed especially in Germany.
With the “celebrity” sons of a German rental car company family
crashing their Mercedes-Benz 300 SL at high speed in upcoming
traffic one should think that such an accident in the future ending
with a fatal of an uninvolved person might be the end of the Mille
Miglia as it was after the crash in the original race in 1957. Those
taking part in the MM should be aware that they have a
responsibility as there are certainly political forces who do not like
the fact that this is a tour “of rich people” in times of economic
pressure and one should not give them arguments with people
being harmed during these four days. The rally in its present form
is just possible with the good will of the responsible local
governments, on the other side the organization has to find the
compromise between the blast led by the police being part of the
fun and the danger of several hundred cars on the limit on public
roads so that the following generation also have the chance to
enjoy the “Corso piu bella del mondo” rather than ACDCs
“highway to hell”.
Report & images … Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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