As far as historic open road endurance racing goes, the Mille Miglia is the absolute finest. Alongside the Targa Florio and the Carrera Panamericana, the Mille Miglia was one of the must-win events of its day. Historic winners include Tazio Nuvolari, Sterling Moss and Alberto Ascari.
By way of historical introduction, the Mille Miglia originally ran 24 times between 1927 and 1957. It was banned in 1957 following two fatal accidents including a Ferrari 335 S which killed driver Alfonso de Portago and co-driver Edmund Nelson along with 9 spectators. Whilst the old events were full on road races, the new events are “regularity races”. Drivers maintain precise times and precise average speeds from checkpoint to checkpoint.
The modern day event costs $8,540 to enter. Participants should own a car built between 1927 and 1957 although the organisers do use their discretion to include vehicles outside of those years. Essentially cars that competed in the original Mille Miglia and those granted special dispensation are classed above the general entries. Last year, 415 cars took part yet only 340 finished.
The Mille Miglia 2014 will start from Brescia on 15 May 2014. The first leg will take the teams from Brescia to Padova for an overnight stop. The following three nights will see cars travel down the east coast of Italy to Roma, then on to Bologna and finally back to Brescia. In total, the route is 1,708 km long and will test both cars and drivers to the very edge of their abilities.
Cars registered for the Mille Miglia 2014 range from the a 1930 OC 665 Sport Superba to a 1957 Maserati 200 SI, both of which competed in the original race. Mercedes-Benz have some interesting cars entered including six 1929 and 1830 Mercedes-Benz 710SS and 720SS models and a 1952 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.
We will be running with the pack together with a delegation from Mercedes-Benz who are one of the main sponsors. We will of course be updating you via our Facebook, Instagram and GTspirit front page. Mercedes-Benz will be running an event 1 hour ahead of the main pack named the Mercedes-Benz Tribute to Mille Miglia and featuring a wide range of Mercedes-Benz sports cars which don’t fit the entry criteria for the main Mille Miglia event.
The photos were taken at last year’s event by our friend Matteo Grazia from Italiansupercar.net!
