Mille Miglia

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Mille Miglia was one of the very few races who made the history of the sport, with Le Mans, Indy, Targa Florio. A race at full speed, one thousand miles of special stage in one go on the roads of metropolitan Italy is mind-blowing, something that unfortunately we will never experience.

I have found by chance a couple of pictures of Piero Taruffi taken at the same location, which by looking at them got me thinking, they seemed somewhat "familiar". In fact, I realized they were taken in San Benedetto, my home town, in the middle of the town, in front of the old municipal building, on the Adriatica, full speed for kilometres, at the top of a small uphill with a jump, such was the speed at that location. I have also seen, somewhere in town long time ago, photos of Moss-Jenkinson in the same spot, them airborne too, hopefully I can find it sooner or later and show it here.

This is Taruffi on the Lancia D24, 1954 edition. He retired.



This is on his winning Ferrari 315 S, in 1957, the last time. Couldn't find a bigger size.



This is the place today.

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Moss-Jenkinson on their 722 winning car at San Benedetto. Not jumping as I thought I remembered I had seen it, could have been another year, nevermind, good to document their passage.



PS: Or maybe they have just landed, at the top of the short climb, when this photo was taken.

[Carl]

Lucio,

Fascinating photographs of an epic event, a great comparison from then to now!

There was never a classic thousand mile race in my hometown. 

Cheers, Carl

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Unfortunately, I haven't seen it, I wasn't born. My father and my uncle used to go up the Nazionale Adriatica to watch it.

The city is squeezed between the hills above and the sea. They built in the '60s the north-south highway (toll, as most highways in Italy) right up the hill, leaving no room for a bypass/ring road, so all the heavy traffic goes through the Adriatica in the middle of town, it has been an issue for decades, since the '60s. Most houses along the road in the town centre are empty and dark coloured for decades of exposure to exhaust gases.

[René]

Iso Isetta, Mille Miglia 1954



It was the first car to leave the starting line at 9:01pm on May 1st and the last car to cross the finish line 22 hours, 10 minutes and 2 seconds later the next day. For those wondering, drivers Domenico Stragliotto and Adolfo Montroio came in 177th place, but at least they finished the race.

[Carl]

Apr 3, 2018 19:19:19 GMT René said:

Iso Isetta, Mille Miglia 1954



It was the first car to leave the starting line at 9:01pm on May 1st and the last car to cross the finish line 22 hours, 10 minutes and 2 seconds later the next day. For those wondering, drivers Domenico Stragliotto and Adolfo Montroio came in 177th place, but at least they finished the race.

Rene,
            The drivers may have been delayed here and there by getting out to fight laughing spectators.  Were helmets required at such low speeds?  Amazing...

-Carl

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Last year, or the previous one?, there was a team of Fiat 500 competing at Bathurst, a joy to watch. They went on with their business, mostly together, lapped by the leaders every so often, but racing just fine. Who needs Effwun?