BOB MONTGOMERYjoins the adoring masses at the famous Mille Miglia, a one-of-a-kind motoring event that's truly at home in Italy
CAMERA FLASHES light the path as the cars thread their way between spectators at the annual motor racing extravaganza that is the famous – no, legendary – Mille Miglia.
From Bologna to Rome, the crowds have been three-deep at every town and village – through Spoleto, Leonessa and Terminillo and onto Rome itself, where light is fading as the first cars reach the ancient city.
Rested, the crews resume their drive at 5am the next morning, rushing back towards Bologna on what has become known as the Brescia leg of the Mille Miglia. The names of the towns through which cars and weary crew pass read like a history of the event – Viterbo, Siena, Firenze – names evoking the greats of the past, before finally the crews reach the finish at Fiorano.
The Mille Miglia could only take place in Italy. Where else would several million people turn out to watch the 375 starters in this unique event pass by? Where else would entire towns be given over to the event for several days? Where else would every spectator know the event’s history?
The Mille Miglia was born in the third-floor apartment of Italian motoring journalist, Giovanni Conestrini, in Milan on the evening of December 2nd, 1926. Conte Aymo Maggi, who will always be known as the father of the Mille Miglia, was a well-known racing driver. In 1926, he dreamed of establishing a race for sports cars unlike any other then held in Italy.
Over dinner at the famous Vecchio Cova restaurant in Milan, he extolled his ideas to two friends, Conte Franco Mazzotti and Flaminio Monti. After a good dinner and much excited discussion they called to the apartment of their friend, Conestrini, where the four agreed the details of this new event.
Between the first Mille Miglia in 1927 and the last in 1957, the 1,000-mile race over open roads became famous as the greatest and most unique challenge a racing driver could face and attracted all of the sport’s “greats”. But by 1957, cars had become impossibly fast and it was inevitable that, sooner or later, tragedy would strike. And strike it did in the 1957 event, when the Ferrari of Spaniard Alfonso De Portago crashed into the crowd.
That was the final Mille Miglia as the authorities would no longer give permission for it to take place – however, two decades later, it was revived as a retrospective rally, the format in which it continues today.
To be eligible, a sports car must have been manufactured before 1958. The result is a vast field of classic sports cars, many of which will have taken part in the original event.
Today, this is by far the biggest event taking part in Brescia and this is reflected in the competition between towns and villages for the event to pass through “their” town. For weeks before the event, it seems that every store vies with its competitors for the best window display on the Mille Miglia.
In Bologna itself, towns many city centre squares are given over to the assembling cars and crews on the day of the start. As the cars wind their way between scrutineering and the start, huge crowds throng the city streets to catch a glimpse of their heroes while small boys run excitedly from street to street marking off in official programmes the cars they have spotted passing by.
The official start takes place on the Viale Venezia, with the first car away at 7.30pm. This year, spectators were treated to the additional sight of a cavalcade of no less than 150 Ferraris travelling ahead of the official entries.
The honour of being first away in this year’s Mille Miglia belonged to a group of OM 665 cars, all of which had taken part in the event between 1927 and 1930. Several hours later and in the dark, the final car of the 375 entered gets away to an accompaniment of flashing cameras – the honour goes to a Maserati 250S.
The crowd is still enormous and just as enthusiastic as when the first car left – but then, this is Italy, this is the Mille Miglia, and Italians are, above all else, passionate about their motor racing.
The Irish connection
AMONG ALL THE exotic sportscars taking part in this year’s Mille Miglia there were two Irish crews who had made the long overland journey from Ireland to Brescia. Dungarvan’s Shane Houlihan (pictured, accompanied by John Boland) started at number 60 in his immaculate Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 with John Boland on maps. They had a trouble-free run to the finish, although Houlihan found his debut very tough, particularly the straight 18 hours spent at the wheel on the run to the finish.
Tom Callanan from Castleknock is no stranger to historic rallying and elected to drive a Triumph TR 2 in the event. However, starting at number 236, his was a constant battle to the finish. Alternator troubles persisted throughout for Callanan and necessitated several battery changes. At one stage, they were left with no lights as darkness fell and were only able to continue by driving close behind other competing cars until 2am when the problem was finally solved.
Despite their widely differing experiences, both crews enjoyed the event and promise to return to it in the future.
