Mille Miglia

2010-12-19T00:28:06Z

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The '''Mille Miglia''' (Thousand [[Mile]]s - pronounced miGlia) was an open-road endurance [[racing|race]] which took place in [[Italy]] twenty-four times from [[1927]] to [[1957]] (thirteen before the war, eleven from 1947).

Like the older [[Targa Florio]] and later the [[Carrera Panamericana]], the ''MM'' made ''[[Gran Turismo]]'' (Grand Touring) sports cars like [[Alfa Romeo]], [[Ferrari]] (which debuted as a marque in the 1940 event), [[Maserati]] and also [[Porsche]] famous.

[[Image:Millesign.jpg|thumb|right|Mille Miglia road sign]]

==Car Numbering==
Similar to modern day [[rally (sports)|rallying]], cars were released at one minute intervals with the larger professional class cars going before the smaller displacement, economy class cars. These steps were taken to reduce occurrences of overtaking, which was seen as an unnecessary danger to spectators given that the racers were ultimately competing with the clock and not one another. Thus, cars were assigned numbers according to their start time. For example, the 1955 Moss/Jenkinson car left Brescia at 7:22am.(See below.) In the early days of the race even winners needed 16 hours or more, so most competitors had to start before midnight and arrived after dusk - if at all.

== Before the war ==

The race was established by the young ''Contes'' Aymo Maggi and Franco Mazzotti, apparently in response to their home town of [[Brescia]] 'losing' the [[Italian Grand Prix]] to Monza. Together with a group of wealthy associates, they chose a race from Brescia to [[Rome]] and back, a figure-eight shaped course of roughly 1500 km - or a thousand [[Roman mile]]s. Later races followed twelve other routes with varying total lengths.

The first race started on [[26 March]] [[1927]] with around seventy-five starters - all Italian. The winner completed the course in just under 21 hours 5 minutes; local marque [[Officine Meccaniche|OM]] swept the top three places.

One of the most remarkable events in racing history was recorded at the 1930 ''MM''. After the legendary [[Tazio Nuvolari]] passed several other contenders and caught up to the last remaining challenger in front, he turned off his headlights at [[Peschiera]] and followed [[Achille Varzi]]'s tail lamps. Nuvolari would (miraculously) survive, and win.

[[Image:BorzacchiniCampariNuvolari.jpg|thumb| [[Baconin Borzacchini|Borzacchini]], [[Giuseppe Campari|Campari]] and [[Tazio Nuvolari|Nuvolari]]. Each a winner of the Mille Miglia]]

The event was usually dominated by local Italian drivers and marques, but 3 races were won by foreign cars, all of them German. In 1931, [[Rudolf Caracciola]] (famous in [[Grand Prix motor racing|Grand Prix]] racing) and onboard mechanic [[Wilhelm Sebastian]] won with their big supercharged [[Mercedes-Benz|Mercedes-Benz SSK]]. It was also the first of 3 wins for a foreign driver as Caracciola was German, despite his name. The win was a surprise as Caracciola had received very little support from the factory due to the economic crisis at that time. He did not have enough mechanics to man all necessary service points. After performing a pit stop, they had to hurry across Italy, cutting the triangle-shaped course short in order to arrive in time before the race car.

The race was briefly stopped by [[Mussolini]] after an accident in 1938 killed a number of spectators. When it resumed in 1940 during war time, it was dubbed the Grand Prix of Brescia, and held on a 100km short course in the plains of Northern Italy that was lapped 9 times.
This event saw the debut of the [[Ferrari]] marque (with the [[Ferrari Tipo 815|Tipo 815]]). Despite being populated (due to the circumstances even more than usual) mainly by Italian makers, it was the aerodynamically improved [[BMW 328]] driven by Germans [[Huschke von Hanstein]]/[[Walter Baumer]] that won the high-speed race at an all-time high average of 166 km/h.

== Post-war ==
[[Image:Mille Miglia 1955 Stirling Moss.jpg|thumb|1955: Stirling Moss in Ravenna is going to win the race]]

The Italians continued to dominate their race after the war, now again on a single big lap through Italy. Mercedes made another good effort in 1952 with the underpowered original [[Mercedes-Benz 300 SL]] ''Gullwing'', scoring second with the German crew [[Karl Kling]]/[[Hans Klenk]] that later in the year would win the [[Carrera Panamericana]]. Caracciola, in a comeback attempt, crashed.

Few other non-Italians managed podium finishes in the 1950s, among them [[Juan Manuel Fangio]], [[Peter Collins (racing driver)|Peter Collins]] and [[Wolfgang von Trips]]. In 1955, Mercedes made another attempt at winning the MM, this time with careful preparation and a more powerful car, the [[Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR]] which was based on the Formula One car ([[Mercedes-Benz W196]]), not the other sports cars named [[Mercedes-Benz 300SL]].
Both young German [[Hans Herrmann]] (who had a remarkable previous efforts with [[Porsche]]) as well as British [[Stirling Moss]] relied on the support of navigators while [[Juan Manuel Fangio]] (car #658) preferred to drive alone as usual as he considered road races dangerous since his co-pilot was killed in South America. Karl Kling also drove alone, in the fourth Mercedes, #701.

Similar to his teammates, Moss and his navigator, motor race journalist [[Denis Jenkinson]], ran a total of six reconnaissance laps beforehand, enabling "Jenks" to make course notes (pace notes) on a scroll of paper 15 feet long that he read from and gave directions to Moss during the race by a coded system of hand signals. Although this undoubtedly helped them, Moss's innate ability was clearly the predominant factor. Indeed, it should be noted that Moss was competing against drivers with a large amount of local knowledge of the route, so the reconnaissance laps were considered an equaliser, rather than an advantage.

Car #704 with [[Hans Herrmann]] and Hermann Eger was said to be fastest in the early stages, though. Herrmann already had a remarkable race in 1954, when the gate on a railroad crossing were lowered in the last moment before the fast train to Rome passed. Driving a very low [[Porsche 550]] Spyder, Herrmann decided it was too late for a brake attempt anyway, knocked on the back of the helmet of his navigator [[Herbert Linge]] to make him duck, and they barely [http://www.solitude-memorial.de/id15carrera.htm passed below the gates] and before the train, to the surprise of the spectators. Herrmann was less lucky in 1955 as he had to abandon the race after a brake failure. Kling crashed also.

After 10h07'48", Moss/Jenkinson arrived in Brescia in their [[Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR]] with the now famous #722, setting the event record at an average of 159,65 km/h which was fastest ever on this 1597km variant of the course, not to be beaten in the remaining two years. Fangio arrived a few minutes later in the #658 car, but having started 24min earlier, it actually took him about 30 minutes longer.

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==Mille Miglia winners==
[[Image:Millemiglia.jpg|right|250px]]
*1957 : [[Piero Taruffi]] - [[Ferrari]]
**[[Charlie Lohmander]]/[[Harald Kronegård]] - [[Saab 93]] (''Turismo Preparato'' 750cc)
*1956 : [[Eugenio Castellotti]] - Ferrari
*1955 : [[Stirling Moss]] / [[Denis Jenkinson]] - [[Mercedes-Benz|Mercedes-Benz 300SLR]]
*1954 : [[Alberto Ascari]] - [[Lancia]], Economy class: [[Isetta]]
*1953 : [[Giannino Marzotto]] / [[Marco Crosara]] - [[Ferrari 250]]
*1952 : [[Giovanni Bracco]] / [[Alfonso Rolfo]] - Ferrari 250
*1951 : [[Luigi Villoresi]] / [[Pasquale Cassani]] - [[Ferrari 212]]
*1950 : [[Giannino Marzotto]] / [[Marco Crosara]] - [[Ferrari 166]]/[[Ferrari 195|195]]
*1949 : [[Clemente Biondetti]] / [[Ettore Salani]] - Ferrari 166
*1948 : [[Clemente Biondetti]] / [[Giuseppe Navone]] - Ferrari 166
*1947 : [[Clemente Biondetti]] / [[Giuseppe Navone]] - [[Alfa Romeo 8C]]
*1941-46: no races
*1940 : [[Huschke von Hanstein]] / [[Walter Baumer]] - [[BMW]]
*1939 : no race
*1938 : [[Clemente Biondetti]] / [[Aldo Stefani]] - Alfa Romeo
*1937 : [[Carlo Maria Pintacuda]] / [[Paride Mambelli]] - Alfa Romeo
*1936 : [[Antonio Brivio]] / [[Carlo Ongaro]] - Alfa Romeo
*1935 : [[Carlo Maria Pintacuda]] / [[Alessandro Della Stufa]] -Alfa Romeo
*1934 : [[Achille Varzi]] / [[Amadeo Bignami]] - Alfa Romeo
*1933 : [[Tazio Nuvolari]] / [[Achille Compagnoni]] - Alfa Romeo
*1932 : [[Baconin Borzacchini]] / [[Amadeo Bignami]] - Alfa Romeo
*1931 : [[Rudolf Caracciola]] / [[Wilhelm Sebastian]] - [[Mercedes-Benz]] [[SSK]]
*1930 : [[Tazio Nuvolari]] / [[Battista Guidotti]] - Alfa Romeo
*1929 : [[Giuseppe Campari]] / [[Giulio Ramponi]] - Alfa Romeo
*1928 : [[Giuseppe Campari]] / [[Giulio Ramponi]] - Alfa Romeo
*1927 : [[Ferdinando Minoia]] / [[Giuseppe Morandi]] - [[Officine Meccaniche|OM]]

See also: [[List of major automobile races in Italy]]

Mille Miglia is also the name of [[Alitalia]]'s frequent flyer program.

Mille Miglia is also the name of a jacket or coat, inspired by the race, designed by Massimo Osti for his CP Company clothes lable. The garment features goggles built into the hood and originally also had a small circular window in the sleeve enabling the wearer to see their watch. The jackets were and still are very popular with British football casuals.

==Mille Miglia Storica results==

* 1977 : Hepp / Bauer - Alfa Romeo RLSS
* 1982 : Bacchi / Montanari - [[O.S.C.A]] MT 4 - 1956
* 1984 : Palazzani / Campana - Stanguellini 1100 S - 1947
* 1986 : Schildbach / Netzer - Mercedes-Benz SSK - 1929
* 1987 : Nannini / Marin - Maserati 200 SI - 1957
* 1988 : Rollino / Gaslini - Fiat 1100 S MM - 1948
* 1989 : Valseriati / Favero - [[Mercedes-Benz 300 SL]] - 1955
* 1990 : Agnelli / Cavallari - Cisitalia 202 SC - 1950
* 1991 : Panizza / Pisanelli - Renault 750 Sport - 1954
* 1992 : Canè / Galliani - [[BMW 507]] - 1957
* 1993 : Vesco / Bocelli - Cisitalia 202 SC - 1948
* 1994 : Canè / Galliani - Lancia Aurelia B 20 - 1957
* 1995 : Ferrari / Salza - [[Abarth]] 750 Zagato - 1957
* 1996 : Canè / Galliani - [[BMW 328]] MM - 1937
* 1997 : Valseriati / Sabbadini - Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Pr - 1952
* 1998 : Canè / Galliani - BMW 328 MM - 1937
* 1999 : Canè / Auteri - Ferrari 340 MM - 1953
* 2000 : Canè / Galliani - BMW 328 MM - 1937
* 2001 : Sisti / Bernini - Healey Silverstone - 1950
* 2002 : Canè / Galliani - BMW 328 Touring - 1940
* 2003 : Sielecki / Hervas - Bugatti T 23 Brescia - 1923
* 2004 : Canè / Galliani - BMW 328 MM Coupè
* 2005 : Viaro / De Marco - Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 S

== External links ==
*[http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/miglia.htm Grand Prix History], Mille Miglia
* http://www.millemiglia.it/

[[Category:Auto races]]

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