Great story Julio!! :-)
A whirlwind trip and no sleep but wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Very difficult to actually take pictures while driving the entire time so I took a few. Made some amazing new Friends and Contacts, spent most of the day Sunday at Lugazzo in Brescia looking at cars and seeing their incredible set up. Wish had something like that back in the states. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hey Julio, guess what I had 3 shot of your car in Piazza Vittorio! Such an honour to be with you guys on this trip Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
If anyone else is a participant, please give me your car no & I'll see if I have some shots of it for you. Julio, if u like, please give me your email so that I can send you the high res. pics of your car too. It has been my lifelong dream to join such a prestigious event so getting a press pass & driving with you guys was simply overwhelming It helped that my friend entered his Aston Martin DB2 #117 for this year so I dropped everything & went along May I know how can I join this event as a driver, what are the requirements for the car to qualify other than the period? I was told that the car must be an ex-MM entry which is proving very difficult for me to find for a while now. Well, at least a "sensible" priced car Thanks in advance!
Hi! I was car 53. All you have to do is have a model of a car that took part in the original MM. It could be a 6.000 euros Fiat! After summer the organizers open, trough their web (www.1000miglia.eu) the admission proccess, where you have to fill up a lot of info, send the money, and by feb 1st the list is out. If by chance you can prove that your car itself took part on the original MM, then you are in for sure. If not, and always under the condition that the model is acceptable, you will have to compete with another 1200 entrants. A question of luck, I guess. But is worth trying, I´ve done it six times and it´s tremendous. On the web you can find the list of acceptable cars, the list is huge. Good luck and hope to see you as a driver next year!
Julio, great story! As we had a broken starter we had to queu jump quite some times, but never received any complaints, everybody thank you for that. When we were in Rome there was a situation in the tunnel where we were moved between the "ordinary" romans. There was a massive horning from those cars (but I only saw smiling faces). Was this a massive attack to the unscrupulous and feudal behaviour of the MM competitors or an ovation to these brave pilots making their way through tight traffic up to Brescia? Ciao Oscar
Hi Oscar, Most definetely the Romans' horning was celebratory and admirative. If it had been negative, you would have heard less horning, but you would have discovered the incredible richness of a Roman's abuse vocabulary. In 2008 and 2009 our batteries went flat immedately and gave us endless grief. So in 2010, a large alternator was installed (originality be damned) and the new battery carefully revised. End of problem, right? Well, not exactly. We stopped for gas while driving to the dinner before the departure. Sure enough, the car wouldn't start again, pushing the starter button just provoked a weak clanking noise which we were very familiar with from years past. A frantic call to our mechanic followed, and five minutes later Fabian (Saint Fabian) was holding up a broken battery clamp which had shorted and discharged the battery. Time was short. We decided to push start the 212 and drive to the dinner parking area, while the mechanic purchased a new battery (he had a spare clamp), and brought it to us at the parking for replacement. We parked the car as planned among all the others, and shortly afterwards received a frantic call from Fabian: He had found a new battery, but the carabinieri would not let him enter the parking: The minister was coming! Maximum security! Bodyguards and carabinieri everywhere! Nobody can pass without an authorization! - All this less than an hour before departure. I ran to where the battery-carrying Fabian was desperately arguing (in Spanish) with a carabiniere in his majestic plumed uniform. The carabiniere just repeated that nobody could pass while the minister had not finished his visit. I rapidly explained that without the battery, there would be no Mille Miglia, I begged, I whimpered, I cried, and I finally said "La Mille Miglia e piu importante del ministro!". Italy and Italians are priceless. The carabiniere smiled, and whispered: "Lei ha ragione"... Fabian was allowed to pass through, and ten minutes later we had a fully charged battery connected, and were ready to go.
This year I saw a Citroen 2CV and a VW beatle. Last year there was a BMW microcar. Naturally chances are much lower if you apply with one of those, but it's possible. A Ferrari usually has very high chances of being accepted, IMO.
It was indeed an awesome event. Next year again for sure! I have some pictures taken at Fiorano of the MM. May i post pictures also from the tribute here? Hope you like them! . Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some more from Fiorano... . Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Great news! It has been very difficult plus expensive to find an actual car that entered MM before. Thank you very for this news & would love to be an entrant for sure Yes, yes! I was rather surprised to see the Citroen & took some shots of it, the grey beetle & a Fiat 600 plus a whole lot of other "tame" looking Fiats & British stuff. This is good news, I'll most likely look for a period Jaguar or Maserati & maybe a pre-war car Hahaha, my friend wasn't too impressed when he had to Q up for his car no 117 to restart even though he was quite ahead. It's even worse for us as Press & Support cars, we weren't allowed into several places along the route & the marshals were never helpful, often directing us the wrong directions or even shrugging it off! I had to ask the locals for help or use instincts to follow which well, sometimes goes into rather dead ends Wow, very good read! Anymore please
Hi, I was in car n° 179 and had some contacts during the 1000 with Oscar (quite often, since our cars were close) and Julio, in San Marino. Very pleasant and friendly chat. My 212 finally made it to the finish (after 3 tries), although with some clutch problems. For Oscar: last year I had generator problems myself and tried to solve them installing a modern alternator. No luck: we tested it before the start and every time (actually we tried to fix it four times before giving up) it broke down after 20/25 miles. It seems that it cannot get enough fresh air to cool it down (I wonder if this is a common problem with alternators on 50s Ferrari). Anyway we checked carefully all the components of the original generator and with some care, trying to save energy as much as possible - but in as sensible way - we had no problems. The 1000 itself was fantastic, without major mishaps. Considering the way many, many competitors (myself included) drove during the event, it looks like a miracle to me. Thank you to all who contributed to this excellent thread and for the pictures which make us all revive a wonderful adventure. Paolo
Hello Paolo, We really enjoyed the chats with you. Quite some 212 Exports this year, one down though as it burned! Sorry that we had to rush away at the farewell diner but we were under dressed anyway (where did everybody put their suits? I hardly had space for fresh clothes let alone a shaver and suit....). We had to hurry to get to the airport just to learn that we had to drive back anyway (Not in the Ferrari though). We had some problems with the modern alternator but miraculously it seems to get back from Rome to Brescia. We were sparse with fan, lights and stationary anyway. The exhaust gets so hot with all the stationary moments, the fan will keep the engine cool, but the exhaust will kill every auxiliary like the starter and the alternator. Good to know you and I will check the recommended hill climb! Ciao
The Mille Miglia experience is also made of situations and details that bear no relation with Ferraris or racing. A few hours before arrival my brother was driving and expressed a sudden and violent feeling of hunger. I looked around to see what we had picked up in way of food at the last checkpoint, and discovered that we had one sealed bag of parma ham, one piece of parmesan in a blister pack, and half a chocolate bar. We had no knife of course, no tissues (many oil checks), no bread, nothing else. When informed of what was on the menu, my brother, his sense of taste and irony undoubtedly perverted by three days of breathing oil fumes, asked me to break the chocolate and the cheese into small pieces, and serve them to him directly mixed and rolled up in the slices of the parma ham. "You want me to prepare that with no knife, and with hands that are beyond filthy?"-"Yes please". Soon I was popping into his mouth and mine a dozen foul and obscure little stuffed ham rolls, and we both agreed that rarely had we tasted anything so delicious. You must try it. My hands were now coated with a thick coat of ham grease, cheese particles, and melted chocolate, all covering the black grime of three days of racing. And there was nothing or nowhere to clean them. And a village with a checkpoint was approaching. And at the checkpoint stood a smiling and rotund Italian village mayor with a red, white, and green scarf around his upper body, who naturally proceeded to thrust his hand enthusiastically inside the car as soon as we stopped. Expressing hearty congratulations, the mayor shook my hand vigorously before I even had time to think. My apologies to the mayor, and to all those after us who might have suffered the olfactory consequences of our little Mille Miglia snack.
Julio, Marianne and I are under the table of laughing.....I remember this mayor very well and for now I understand the fumes from him that kept us awake for the next 8 hours. Did you do the same with the beautiful hardly dressed back girl some villages before? ciao Oscar
Bert, I can't find car #188 yet but this is 189. 1950 Ferrari 250/340 from Williams. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thank you! Two more of your beauty at the Fiorano track... Also preparing some more pictures of the classics at the Ferrari tribute. So , more to come! Maarten Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Bert, A few pictures for you. The one at Fiorano is not the best shot but i hope you still like it. Maarten . Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
