History of the Mille Miglia
A lot of the background and history of the Mille Miglia,
the car rally Michael will participate on his honeymoon with JD in Zero Emissions, was taken from the two
websites listed at the end of this brief summary and adaptation of information
about the race. It's not exactly a science thing, and yet, the engineering and
development of the racecars that can participate in this event were very
specialized and fit right in with what Michael is trying to do with an
algae-based green gas in Zero Emissions.
Mille Miglia means one thousand miles and was an
endurance race organized 24 times between 1927 and 1957. Participants raced
with their Gran Turismo (GT) cars over the open roads of northern Italy from
Brescia to Rome and back on an 8-shaped route. Due to frequent fatal crashes
the race was banned in 1957, but since 1982 has been revived as a touring trip
for enthusiasts. Only 375 vehicles are
accepted for participation in the Mille Miglia race, selected exclusively from
the models that took part in at least one of the historical Mille Miglia races
(from 1927 to 1957) and these beautiful and special cars are driven by a crew
coming from all over the world today.
The Fiat Michael plans to drive on his honeymoon trip with JD in Zero Emissions fits the bill. So does the Maserati A6GTS his grandfather
from Milan gave him that he uses to drive Julia to her introductory meeting
with Dick Sweeney at the NJ biker bar.
The Mille Miglia started out as a very Italian event,
the idea originally of one man, the Conte Aymo Maggi who along with his
friends, Giovanni Canestrini, Count Franco Mazzotti and Renzo Castagneto met to
discuss their response to the Milanese “theft” of the Italian Grand Prix. The
people of Brescia considered their town and surrounding area the birthplace of
Italian motorsport and were shocked when the 1922 Italian Grand Prix was moved
to the new Autodromo Nazionale Monza and held under the auspices of the
Automobile Club of Milan.
An interesting fact is that in 1926 there were
only 170,000 automobiles in all of Italy, a figure exceeded by Britain’s annual
production at that time. Italian drivers were still driving on the left side of
the road while in town and on the right side while in the country. ??
On the evening of December 2nd in 1926,
returning from a local hill climb event, Aymo Maggi was intent on finding a way
to return the glory of Italian racing that had been lost to Brescia and
transferred to Milan. Over dinner at the
famous Vecchio Café in Milan with his friends Franco Mazzotti, Flaminio Monti
and Renzo Castagneto, Maggi laid out his plan. After dinner they met up with
Giovanni Canestrini the famous motoring correspondent for Gazzetta dello Sport.
Maggi, Mazzotti, Castegneto and Canestrini, the future so called four
Musketeers of the Mille Miglia, argued into the night over the lack of sporting
Italian automobiles and what could be done about it. They focused on conducting
a race. But not just any race. It had to
be one that captured the imagination of the Italian people.
Instead of following in the footsteps of their
Milanese rivals they devised a road race that would start in Brescia and finish
in Rome, with a final return trip back to Brescia. That's approximately 1500 to
1600 kilometers, and to this Mazzotti is said to have exclaimed, "That's a
thousand miles" and the Mille Miglia was born. The friends also decided
that a new automobile club based in Brescia should be the sponsor with
Castagneto responsible for overall planning and administration of the event. He was to hold this position for every one of
the twenty-four Mille Miglias.
The first edition of the Mille Miglia was held on March
26, 1927 with 77 cars participating.
Since then, the race became a yearly event (with a break during the
Second World War) attracting lots of racing legends and the general public.
However, with the cars becoming faster and more powerful, open road racing
became very dangerous. After a Ferrari crashed into the public in 1957, killing
12 people, the race was banned.
But in 1982 the race was revived as a 4-day road rally
for cars built between 1927 and 1957, the golden age of the Mille Miglia and
Gran Turismo racing. The 2015 Mille
Miglia is slated for May 2015. Look for
Michael and JD of Zero Emissions as
participants, even if only in spirit!
For more about the Mille Miglia, check out these two
websites:
Mille Miglia: One Thousand Beautiful Miles
Grand Classic Tours