At 08:08 16.08.96 -0700, Malcolm Cox wrote:
>Does anyone have any information on the Mille Miglia as it is run these days.
>
>I gather it is a 3 day event in May, run more or less along the same route
as the '50's era MM,
>with overnight hotel/party stops.
As a Mille Miglia veteran (1992 in a Cunningham, 1994 and 1996 in an Aston
Martin Le Mans)
and living near by (Switzerland) I have some experience with the actual
event and will
gladly answer any specific questions. Friend of mine is a technical expert
with the organizers.
>I would like to know:
>1) Where to get regulations, preferably in English.
Try the organizers:
Musical Watch Veteran Car Club
Via Cassala, 60
I-25126 Brescia
Voice 0039-30 28 00 36
Fax 0039-30 48 093
Anything they publish is in Italian with a - bad - English translation.
>2) Rough idea of car/racing license eligibility requirements.
There is a selection committee, but rumours say that the president is
deciding the way
he wants anyway (the Italian way of doing things...). Very selective about
the cars they
admit, as they receive close to 1'000 (yep, one thousand) entry's and accept
around 300.
The official rule is that only cars who actually ran the original street
race are admitted.
Among these were many family saloons (like Fiat Topolino, or BMW Isetta, the
bubble car),
besides the racing cars. There is a list of cars admitted, and I can fax it
to interested
persons, or you get it direct from the organizers.
They also make a big thing about the car being original. You supply some
information with
your entry form, and they have, on the committee, a representative of the
national sports
authority of your country who will check back with the marque club or the
register, but
for this they take random samples of cars that sound fishy, and every year they
thoroughly check one make, like Ferrari this year, Maserati next, etc. Every
year
some cars are rejected at scrutineering hours before the start, so if you come
from far you better make sure that you arrive with the car you actually applied
for. Otherwise scrutineering is less than marginal, just checking by eye that
the original car is there, and that's it.
Officially, you need a FIA approved racing license (type "H" for historic cars),
but as many people and collectors do not normally race, they have a doctor there
to whom you pay (I think) 100'000 Italian Lire, and he pretends to measure your
blood pressure and then issues a license for the event, and that's it.
>3) More accurate dates, course, how it works etc.
The Mille Miglia takes place the weekend before the Monaco Grand Prix, around
May 5 - 10, and goes from Thursday night (first car starts 2000 hours to
Ferrara,
where he comes in around 2330 h) through Friday (Start 0700 h to Rome, arrival
around 2300 hours) and Saturday (Start 0700 h back to Brescia, arrival
around 2200 h).
Thursday morning there is the scrutineering on the main square in Brescia
(best place
to see all the cars and drivers), and Sunday morning everybody gathers in
the same
place again for the farewell and prizegiving, finishing with a lunch for
everybody.
The routing is the same every year, with some minor modifications due to
road construction
(or special events, like this year when Florence was banned because of an
international
congress).
>VIntage Racing MGA 1960 (probably not eligible)
No, unfortunately only cars up to 1957 (last year of the original MM) are
admitted.
>On Fri, 16 Aug 1996 12:14:03, Gregory Petrolati wrote:
>One of my fondest desires it to someday go to Italy and run the race...
>It'd be great... A memory to treasure for a lifetime...
Certainly is. It is like birthday, christmas and easter all in one day.
Where else
can you drive on normal roads through a phantastic country with spectacular
views
(they claim that the MM is a touristic event) at *any* speed, and have two
cops on
bikes in front of you clearing the road from normal traffic and encouraging
you to
go faster? And where else do you see 10 million (they claim...) spectators along
a route? In the villages you go through schools are closed and the beautiful
young
lady teacher stands on the side of the road with her class, cheering and waving
paper flags at you. The priest stands besides his church in his black
soutane and
gives you a big smile, and the local carabiniere (policeman) stops anything
moving
to let the MM-cars brake the (only) red light in town at 90 mph!
>I believe there's a $5,000 entry fee (which gets you in the race and some nice
>mementos). Transport for you, your car and team over and back, gasoline and
most
>of the food, if not the lodging too I believe is up to you ( could be wrong
about
>some of that).
Costs you a bundle, to be sure. Entry fee is around 4 million (Lire, not
US$), which
includes lodging and food during the event, including the final lunch on Sunday.
That includes also one Chopard watch which is edited in a special edition of
500 and
bears your starting number. You can buy a second watch for the navigator at
a special
price of approx. 2'000 (US$, not Lire). Besides you get tons of souvenirs, like
brochures and medals and stickers and the like, and yes: bottels of wine.
They throw
the stuff at you when you stop in the small town square where passage control is
located.
>The Mille goes right through Ancona...
Nope, coming down the coast the MM turns off inland approx. 20 kms before
you reach
the town of Ancona.
>Basically it's an easy TSD rally with some speed stages thrown in for snicks).
Basically it is a rolling museum and an opportunity to drive your classic
through
beautiful countryside. You go more or less as fast as you wish (most go
quite fast!),
and there are none of the ordinary traffic laws applied. Italy knows the
Mille Miglia
is coming and clears the road or accepts you driving at 50 miles against the
4 lane
traffic on the wrong side of the road through Bologna. Because they need
some means
for classification, they include around 20 average speed special stages of 1
- 3 kms
each. 50 meters before the end there is the "yellow line", and you are
electronically
measured to the hundreth of a second. So the (few) people taking this
serious practice
all year to drive 50 meters in the exact time. The first 20 places are
reserved for
Italians anyway.
>Of course if you feel profligate you can always spend more...But you may be
able
>to get away a tad more cheaply. BTW, if you take a support "crew" add approx.
>$2,000 per person.
Support crew will cost you approx. $ 1'000 for the event, including food and
lodging
(and a stickers for the support car), but you don't actually need them, as
the locals
are *very* helpful (when the dynamo broke down in the Aston I had to get a
new battery
to get me to the finish, at 2300 hours on Saturday night. A nearby farmer
drove me to
the next village in his tractor, got the local electrician out of the bar
where he
was playing cards with his friends, to hand out a new battery from his shop,
and drove
me back to the car to install and drive on...).
You would also probably not need a rental car, as your MM-car is able to do
1000 miles
at high speeds. So you use it also to drive around before and the
two-weeks-holiday
after the event.
Gerry Leumann
Glue Man
glueman@collano.ch (former address: gleuma@dial.eunet.ch)
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