Yquem - fantastic shots and thanks for sharing those! Oscar - I did spot you before scrutineering but you were too busy and we missed each other later in the event. We'll talk again soon, congrats on finishing! Julio - thanks for bumping into me and saying hi! Sorry for the abrupt talk, I was too overwhelmed and confused with things. Seems that your car at least made it, if I can go on Yquem's pictures. Very happy for you! Just want to say hats off to the guys that completed this event in the old cars - it is truly an epic thing. I think that is one thing people on the side of the road don't realise; you have no sleep and it is constant performance driving. You are broken at the end of it. I felt rough at the end but I did the luxury tourist version (the tribute to the tribute, really). Hats off to the guys who did it in the prewar stuff!!! Onno
Here's another Mille Miglia fan. He seems like a very cool guy, smiled at me from the moment my brother asked him if he could take his picture. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi JazzyO - Onno; Here's your very sexy GTC on day 1 leaving from downtown Brescia. The night before I also saw you cruising alongside lake Garda in Desenzano and I can tell you, that was one of a sight! Unfortunately my camera completely flipped out from heavy use so I have no pictures from Saturdays Maranello extravaganza.... Kindest regards, JR Image Unavailable, Please Login
And this was just fantastic... the climb to the Terminillo resort in thick rain, fog, and slush. My brother and I were cold despite traveling in a fully covered car. Look at the poor souls ahead of us. At the top of the mountain pass the organization passed out cups of hot sweet and spiced red wine... After that we drove down to Castel Sant Angelo, with the Carabinieri doing their Moses tricks with the Roman traffic. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Onno, It was good to meet you. I fully understand how you must have been feeling before the verifications amd the start, I was myself a bundle of nerves I am happy youy enjoyed the tribute. My cousin participated with a Cali and her girlfriend, I believe they got the "feminine" prize. Another good friend from Madrid with his wife did the whole thing without putting up the top of his 250 GT Pf Cabriolet, and he won a "bravery" prize. Both tell me that it was great fun, and the organization was impeccable. Mac Events truly did a fantastic job, everything went without a glitch, and unforeseen events or developments were met with perfectly coordinated flexibility. When motivated, Italians are the best managers in the world. You are right to insist on the physical hardship involved. The tension, lack of sleep, and need for constant concentration break you in pieces. I can only imagine the physical challenge that the real Mille Miglia must have presented for drivers and codrivers. Cheers, Julio
I saw during the Ferrari tribute an Enzo entering the factory on a tow truck. Very strange image, maybe funny but not for the owner! Alan
Mille Miglia 2010! In 2008 everything bad that could have happened did just that. We struggled to fix it all and managed to reach the finish, having covered less than 20% of the total distance. tt was a good fight, a great adventure, and we rightly felt proud, but our final position (dead last of those who finished) was dissapointing, and our Mille Miglia experience felt incomplete. In 2009 we broke a half shaft on the second morning. All night was spent soldering it back together, only for it to break again the next day while climbing the Futa pass. End of Mille Miglia number 2. In 2010... Yes!!!!!!! We finished! How can I describe the joy, the sense of achievement, the wonderful copmradeship with the other participants, the intoxication of the crowds and the cars... Other can do it better than I can... Allow me to just focus on the anecdotes, images, and memories that are still vibrating in my mind, in no particular order. 1. The departure glitches and the broken battery clamp. 2. The hot wine at Terminillo and the crazy climb up the passes. 3. The Fiorano circuit madness. 4. The parma ham, the parmesan cheese, and the small town mayor. 5. Our new best friend Massimo, and the shameless queue jumping on arrival at Brescia. 6. The bare-assed Aston Martin pushing spectator. 7. The sweeties asking for autographs. 8. My transformation into a world class football (soccer) player. 9. The Fchat friends. 10. The DB2 and the headlight. In the next few days I will attempt to describe them all. I hope you will enjoy reading my clumsy and passionate narratives!
Just back. Fantastic experience! To be honest much more then i expected, and i had high expectations! Ever since i read Phil Hill's article in R&T on the 1986 event, I made up my mind this event is a must. I was 16 then, it took 24 years to get it done, but now I feel like next year is a given! The OSCA drove wonderfully, without missing a beat, and although i kept the revs to below 5500 rpm, it more then kept up with the other OSCA's in our group. Perfect car for the MM. Light, responsive with good breaks. Throughout the event we had generator issues, and thank god for my NY based support crew, they made sure it all worked and got us back on the road in no time, heroes! Best MM moment: We get into Siena, The streets are narrow and crowded, its 12 pm the 3rd day. I shut the engine off not to get it boiling, when i look to restart, no juice. We then get pushed, enter the piazza rolling downhill, at the bottom on the piazza, we pull to the right, I look at my co-driver he nods, we proceed to grab a quality espresso while we wait for the crew to bring a fresh battery. 30 min later we are back on the road, last car out (starting number anyhow was a high 288!). We then proceeded to drive our A** off on the stage and get to the next point 2 hours after, just as our OSCA group was pulling in. Felt good. See you guys next year Elad
The Mille Miglia takes you through half a dozen beautiful Italian cities everyday. Siena, Florence, Bolgna, Desenzano, Reggio Emilia, Viterbo, and many others are typically the object of a "controllo al timbro", which consists in a simple stamp on your card, without timing, which shows that you have gone through that city. The stamping takes place in the city's main square, where all the local authorities and the public concentrate. Roads that lead to the square are partly closed, and masses of public press onto metal barriers lining the roads to look at the cars driving through. Italians of all ages and conditions admire and cheer, with a special enthusiasm, of course, for Ferraris. The historical setting in which all this takes place is out of this world. Saturday evening we entered Reggio Emilia for a "controllo al timbro", following a red Aston Martin. Proceeding along two city blocks of an old palace, the Aston suddenly stopped, and we stopped behind it. Our two cars were the only ones present at that time, and the crowd was keenly observing the scene, hoping for some exceitement. They were not dissapointed. The copilot of the Aston angrily exited the car, which had evidently stalled and was clearly unable to start again by its own means. He started pushing, and pushing... I guess there must have been a slight uphill tilt to the cobblestones, because the pushing was having no effect. So he turns to the crowd and asks for help, fully expecting an army of volunteers to jump over the barrier. Sure enough, we see movement behind the barriers : A young man of significant height and girth just steps over, somehow gets his pants stuck on the barrier itself, trips, and lands on the other side with his pants around his ankles, displaying to all a pair of impressively sized boxer shorts which cover less than half of his even more impressively sized arse. The roar of laughter of the hundreds of spectators thundered though the street, while my brother and I went into crying convulions of laughter. The young man looked around with a smile, pulled up his underwear and pants with great dignity, took one long step towards the Aston, nonchalantly layed a hand on it, and started it with an easy push before taking an elegant bow to the public: The laughter turned into applause, and the race continued.
My Ferrari Tribute pictures: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=it&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&langpair=it|en&u=http://www.virtualcar.it/primo-ferrari-tribute-to-mille-miglia/&prev=/language_tools&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhjidKlEPQTtnhrnKc5nT-akzjvc5w Here: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_UpmRl2G4QxY/S-e_k5EZHtI/AAAAAAAAB14/S_ivka0FgzQ/d/pano_Ferrari_web.jpg my 10.000 pixel panoramic photo of Ferrari entrance with wind tunnel. This is a 6-photos stiched image. Alan
5. Our new best friend Massimo, and the shameless queue jumping on arrival at Brescia. Julio, did you do this or are you referring to a 212 Export? The latter may I make my deepest apologies, but our starter was gone and thus pushing it all the way up hill was my co-driver a little too much..... I really regret that after the finish we had to go to the hotel and the next morning early to the airport just to fins out that we have to drive back anyway. The farewell lunch was skipped. Did you guys join this? Ciao Oscar
Oh yes... Great picture... Isn't the V the most beautiful and inspiring letter in the English language?
Here's yours at the starting ramp in Brescia. I just love those Vignales! Image Unavailable, Please Login
I see that quite a lot people joined the MM this year. Unfortunately I wasn't there this year to watch but I know from experience that it is great, more than great.. Only a pity that the night finish in Ferrara wasn't there, great memories. I'm looking for pictures (high resolution) ot the participating 340 America's (0030MT, 0082A and 0150A). If someone could help me, please mail me at [email protected] Thanks, Bert de Boer
Pictures from Julio and Oscar in Sirmione. Bigger/better versions (1600) are here : http://www.gummen.org/tmp/julio.jpg http://www.gummen.org/tmp/oscar.jpg Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi guys, I was there too & still in Milan now as I type. I've created a little thread for this great event as well, I might have just rubbed shoulders with some of you guys http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=283294
Hi Oscar, I too am sorry we did not have more time to talk during the event, but it was always reassuring to see your 212 in the distance. I was certainly not reffering to you when I mentioned queue jumping. Here's the story. We were always racing close to a green DB2 driven by two wonderful Italians, one of whom was Massimo. Massimo's driving suit was covered with slogans (sample: "Meglio una Mille Miglia che Mille Moglie", which tranlates as "Better one Mille Miglia than one thousand wives". His attitude was wonderfully relaxed and Italian, and man he could drive... Anyway, on the last day we pass the last official time control, and proceed to Brescia for the final "victory" parade and presentation on the arrival ramp. This is a very slow process that can take many hours, as about 200 cars have to pass ahead of us. The first year we were stuck in the queue for more than two hours. This coming after three very strenuous days is not exactly pleasant... Massimo in his green DB2 was ahead of us. Entering Brescia, he misses a right turn onto a main road that was clearly indicated in the road book, and proceeds straight ahead on a secondary road without a moment of hesitation. We follow him, flashing our lights desperately to warn him that he has made a mistake: Massimo pays no attention and accelerates; at this point it was too late to return to the original indications, and we were somehere in the Brescia suburbia, so the only thing we could do was to keep following him, regularly flashing our lights. Finally Massimo slams the brakes, opens his window, shouts " So dove vado!" (I know where I am going!), and accelerates again. On we went trough twisty secondary roads, into the city crossing wide avenues, and finally stopped on a side road, with a large crowd ahead of us: The crowd separates, a metal barrier appears, Massimo gets out of the DB2 and removes the barrier, we both move forward, make a left turn... and we see the finishing ramp just 100 feet away, one BMW on the ramp, another BMW behind it, Massimo, and then us! Behind us shone the lights of more then a hundred tired and waiting cars... At midnight we were drinking and celebrating in the hotel, at 3 am I went to bed, and as I was falling asleep Mille Miglia cars were still arriving. I apologize to those who were behind us; I believe our queue jumping was "unintentional" (how were we to know what Masimo was planning?), and it was so much fun... Massimo told us later that Google Earth can be the rallyist's best friend. Oscar, you might have jumped ahead of others, but I know for a fact that I jumped ahead of you. I am the one who should apologize! P.S. Rightly or wrongly, latins do not view queue jumping in the same unfavorable moral light as our northern neighbours do. When in Rome...
