Mille Miglia
Mille Miglia (abbreviation: MM ; Italian : Mille "thousand", Miglia "miles") referred to a car race on public roads on a triangular course in the north of Italy in the years from 1927 to 1957. The name Mille Miglia was reintroduced in 1977 for the New edition of the race.
history
After the Targa Florio which were one thousand miles (Mille Miglia) as a classic among long-distance road race (the Carrera Panamericana was added in the 1950s) and as a basis for the term "Gran Turismo" (GT), the fast travel sports car endurance race describes such as those developed by Ferrari especially for the MM . The MM was part of the sports car world championship introduced in 1953 .
The first edition of the Grand Prix of Italy had in 1921 still on the Circuito di Montichiari in Brescia taken place, but was then on the new Circuito di Monza changed.
In December 1925, four young men from Brescia named Count Franco Mazzotti, Count Aymo Maggi, Renzo Castagneto and Giovanni Canestrini vowed to make their hometown a center of motorsport by holding a race. It should be a road race - mostly on unpaved country roads - and start and end in Brescia. The sports car enthusiasts Aymo Maggi and Franco Mazzotti chose a course from Brescia through northern Italy to the capital Rome and back to Brescia. The length of the route turned out to be about 1,600 kilometers which corresponds to 1,000 English miles . As a reason for choosing this unit of length, reference was made to the " Ancient Romans ", who would have already measured in miles.
Two years after the start of the deliberations, on March 26, 1927, the go-ahead was given for 77 cars in Via Rebuffone . The premiere of the race was won by an OM 665 “Superba” from Brescia with the works drivers Ferdinando Minoia and Giuseppe Morandi in a time of 21 hours, 4 minutes and 48 seconds and with an average speed of 77 km / h. Even today, always carries with the historic edition of the race OM start number 1. Only three years later the average was at 100 km / h as Tazio Nuvolari from Mantua , the Italians affectionately called "il Mantovano Volante" the flying Mantuan called, , celebrated his first Mille Miglia victory against arch-rival Achille Varzi . In 1933 , the exceptional racing driver with passenger Decimo Compagnoni in an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 achieved the winning feat for the second time.
Since the premiere in 1927, almost exclusively Italians have won on domestic manufacturers such as Alfa Romeo , Lancia and Ferrari , but Mercedes also won twice, in 1931 with Rudolf Caracciola and in 1955 with Stirling Moss . He started on May 1, 1955 at 7:22 a.m. with starting number 722 in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR and, thanks to the prayer book of his co-driver, the journalist Denis Jenkinson , reached the finish line after 10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds. The average speed of almost 157.62 km / h was the fastest ever driven on this route.
Not only fast sports cars took part in the Mille Miglia, but also small touring cars like Renault 4CV or small cars like Fiat 500 . These vehicles were on the road for over 20 hours, starting before midnight and arriving in the dark. In 1955, vehicles with diesel engines also started: three private teams on Mercedes-Benz W120 (180 D) with 40 hp (29 kW) and works teams from Fiat with the 1400 D and Peugeot on 403 diesel. The Austrian Mercedes dealer Helmut Retter with his co-driver Walter Larcher won with a Mercedes 180 D with 16 hours, 52 minutes and 25 seconds (average speed 94.645 km / h). Mercedes used this success for its advertising and sold more than 20,000 Mercedes 180 Ds in 1955; the diesel became the best-selling type of this series.
As early as 1938 , the MM came under fire due to a serious accident with a tram and was banned in its old form (with city crossings). In 1940, only a 165 km short course in the Po Valley was traveled a total of nine times. As second of three foreigners in the history of MM , Huschke von Hanstein and co-driver Walter Bäumer won in an aerodynamically clad BMW 328 with which an average of 166 km / h was achieved on the straight roads between Brescia, Cremona and Mantua. The duo's total travel time for the 1500 km was 8 hours, 54 minutes and 46 seconds.
After the Second World War , MM was enthusiastically resumed on the great course, and the associated risks were judged to be of minor importance compared to the military conflicts that had just been experienced. Well-known drivers from the pre-war period such as Rudolf Caracciola and especially Tazio Nuvolari took up the challenge again. Later the course was also run through his hometown Mantua in his honor.
But young drivers also made a name for themselves, such as Hans Herrmann in 1954 , who drove his flat Porsche 550 under a closing barrier before an approaching train, whereby he and his co-driver Herbert Linge had to duck their heads.
The Mille Miglia took place for the last time in 1957 , as a serious accident involving the Spaniard Alfonso de Portago claimed several lives on May 12th . After a puncture at high speed near the village of Guidizzolo , between Mantua and the finish in Brescia, his Ferrari skidded, killing ten spectators, including five children. Portago and his co-driver Edmund were also killed. The church in particular demanded that the popular spectacle cease. The team and the tire manufacturer Englebert were investigated in a three-year process with the charge that they did not change tires shortly before the finish line for reasons of time. The accident was the main reason why the Mille Miglia was banned in this form.
The MM was still held from 1958 to 1961 as a kind of rally , with only short, closed-off sections being driven for a period of time.
The route from Bologna to the Passo della Raticosa was used for mountain races until 1969 . The section over the Futapass , further south in the direction of Florence, served as the western part of the 66 km long road course from Mugello , on which World Cup races were held until 1967.
Revival as a tourist event
Since 1977, the four-day “Mille Miglia Storica” has been held every year in May, an annual new edition with historic vehicles whose types had taken part at the time. It is no longer driven at top speed, but rather for uniformity and reliability. This event is considered to be the nucleus of many similar events with vintage cars such as the Ennstal Classic in Austria. The “Mille Miglia” is also about the travel experience and the evening exchange between the participants. It is more about tourism, culinary delights and “seeing and being seen” with magnificent, mostly lavishly restored old-timer vehicles , also on the part of the organizers and the communities they drive through .
Overall winner
year | team | Overall winner | vehicle | Travel time | championship |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1927 | Officine Meccaniche |
Ferdinando Minoia Giuseppe Morandi |
OM 665 Superba | 21: 04: 48,200 | was not part of any championship |
1928 |
Giuseppe Campari Giulio Ramponi |
Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Sport | 19: 14: 05,800 | was not part of any championship | |
1929 |
Giuseppe Campari Giulio Ramponi
|
Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS Spider Zagato | 18: 04: 23,000 | was not part of any championship | |
1930 |
Tazio Nuvolari Giovanni Battista Guidotti |
Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS | 16: 18: 59,400 | was not part of any championship | |
1931 |
Rudolf Caracciola Wilhelm Sebastian |
Mercedes-Benz SSKL | 16:10: 10,000 | was not part of any championship | |
1932 | Alfa Romeo |
Baconin Borzacchini Amedeo Bignami
|
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider Touring | 14: 55: 19.400 | was not part of any championship |
1933 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Tazio Nuvolari Decimo Compagnoni
|
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300MM Spider Zagato | 15: 11: 50,000 | was not part of any championship |
1934 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Achille Varzi Amedeo Bignami
|
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza Spider Brianza 2.6 | 14: 08: 05,000 | was not part of any championship |
1935 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Carlo Maria Pintacuda Alessandro Della Stufa
|
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B | 14: 04: 47,000 | was not part of any championship |
1936 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Antonio Brivio Carlo Ongaro
|
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A | 13: 07: 51,000 | was not part of any championship |
1937 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Carlo Maria Pintacuda Paride Mambelli
|
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A | 14: 17: 32,000 | Italian sports car championship |
1938 | Alfa Corse |
Clemente Biondetti Aldo Stefani
|
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Spider MM Touring | 11: 58: 29,000 | Italian sports car championship |
1940 | BMW works |
Fritz Huschke from Hanstein Walter Bäumer |
BMW 328 Berlinetta Touring | 8: 54: 46,600 | was not part of any championship |
1947 | Emilio Romano |
Clemente Biondetti Emilio Romano |
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Berlinetta Touring | 16: 16: 39,000 | was not part of any championship |
1948 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Clemente Biondetti Giuseppe Navone
|
Ferrari 166S Coupé Allemano | 15:05: 44,000 | was not part of any championship |
1949 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Clemente Biondetti Ettore Salani
|
Ferrari 166MM Barchetta Touring | 12: 07: 05,000 | was not part of any championship |
1950 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Gianni Marzotto Marco Crosara |
Ferrari 195 Sport Touring Berlinetta Le Mans | 13: 39: 20,000 | was not part of any championship |
1951 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Luigi Villoresi Piero Cassani
|
Ferrari 340 America Berlinetta Vignale | 12:50:18,000 | was not part of any championship |
1952 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Giovanni Bracco Alfonso Rolfo
|
Ferrari 250S Berlinetta Vignale | 12: 09: 45,000 | was not part of any championship |
1953 | Scuderia Ferrari |
Gianni Marzotto Marco Crosara
|
Ferrari 340MM Vignale | 10: 37: 19,000 | Sports car world championship |
1954 | Scuderia Lancia | Alberto Ascari | Lancia D24 | 11: 26: 10,000 | Sports car world championship |
1955 | Daimler-Benz AG |
Stirling Moss Denis Jenkinson |
Mercedes-Benz 300SLR | 10: 07: 48,000 | Sports car world championship |
1956 | Scuderia Ferrari | Eugenio Castellotti | Ferrari 290MM | 11: 37: 10,000 | Sports car world championship |
1957 | Scuderia Ferrari | Piero Taruffi | Ferrari 315 Sport | 10: 27: 47,000 | Sports car world championship |
literature
- Hans-Jörg Götzl, Hanss Dieter Seufert: Mille Miglia . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03318-4 (EA Stuttgart 2006).
- Rolf Häring (texts), Conrad Piepenburg (photos). Miile Miglia. The legendary thousand miles . Podszun Verlag, Brilon 1988, ISBN 3-923448-50-3 .
Web links
- Official website
- Results during the World Cup ( Memento from May 25, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- Mille Miglia - The Spirit of a Legend Official film site about 80 years of the Mille Miglia
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christof Vieweg: A victory for the diesel. Two car enthusiasts compete in the Mille Miglia with 40 hp. In: Welt am Sonntag May 2, 2010, page 55. ( Available online )