The Mille Miglia Storica becomes more unbelievable as each year passes. To begin with, its patrons now include the President of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. But the greatest phenomenon of all for the 2005 event was the hordes of Italians and foreign visitors who packed all the cities, towns, villages, highways and even remote mountain roadsides to cheer and applaud the historic caravan. Towns that hosted many of the timed tests reported not just double or triple, but quadruple the number of spectators that watched last year’s Mille Miglia.
Asked why the resurrected Mille Miglia was so popular, one proud spectator said, “Well, it’s because we Italians are born with motor racing in our blood. We love cars and motorcycles. They are part of our culture and they set fire to our passions, just like women do.”
Spectator Vittorio Pollini, 67, had that faraway look in his eye as he recalled the real Mille Miglia. He said, “We used to spend the whole night on the Via Emilia, in the fifties, watching the cars race by. In those days, there were not many cars on the roads: motoring was for the well heeled. And the Mille Miglia was our only chance to see those fabulous racing cars.”
The event certainly played with the emotions as the 373 cars from 35 different countries put a little pep into their stride and gave the millions the show of their lives. Competitors took just over two days to travel from Brescia to Ferrara on the first night, Ferrara to Rome on the first full day and back to Brescia on Day 3. The winner was Luciano Viaro of Italy in a 1928 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 SS, with 12,801 points. He saved the day for his country’s adored Mille Miglia by ensuring victory did not leave the Italian shores. But he only just made it: Sieleki-Hervas, from Argentina, was a constant threat in its sprightly Bugatti T23 Brescia and ended up just 61 points behind the winner, in 2nd place. In fact, Argentineans also took 3rd, with Sanchez-Zinny in an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS, and 4th with Scalese-Scalese in a similar car.
But most people were not interested in who would win. They just wanted to thrill to the sight and sound of those marvelous cars. One of the competitors who took the brunt of the public’s enthusiasm this year was double world champion rally driver Miki Biasion, who finished 210th in a Lancia Aurelia B20. He said, “This experience has been quite a surprise. People were shouting encouragement to me all the time. There has been the kind of a public enthusiasm along the route that reminded me of the reception I used to get in rallying. The affection of the people moved me deeply. One lad even showed me a poster that I autographed years ago; it was given to him by his mother when he was five years old. That moved me, too.”
One of the greatest heroes of the day was the disabled double Cart Champion Alex Zanardi, who was navigating for the president of BMW in Italy, Marco Saltalamacchia. Zanardi, whose courage is much admired by the Italians and who now races BMW sedans, finished 127th. He said, “The result of the Mille Miglia was of no interest to me. I just wanted to understand what this race is all about. I want to come back as a driver and I’ve already spoken about it to Mr. Saltalamacchia. There’s plenty of time to adapt a car to my situation. I have discovered wonderful villages and countryside in this event and I will bring my family when I return.
Submitted by Robert Newman
