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The origins of the Mille Miglia race are closely linked to those of the Brescia Automobile Club.
In 1927, the RACI (the Royal Automobile Club of Italy), the word 'Royal' had been added to its name that year, established a public Vehicle register office and handed down the levying of car taxes to the various provinces...
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1st Edition March 26-27 1927 ... 24th Edition May 11-12 1957
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1st Edition Mille Miglia Rally June 21 - 22 1958
2nd Edition Mille Miglia Rally May 30 - 31 1959
3rd Edition Mille Miglia Rally May 27 - 28 1961
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Which cars have taken part in the legendary Mille Miglia, which drivers and navigators and in which year? Does my car have the characteristics needed to participate? The Mille Miglia Database will be able to answer these questions and many more only by entering the information requested in the “search” field.
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1st Edition March 26-27 1927 ... Edition Mille Miglia Rally May 27-28 1961
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Ostracised by the inter-ministerial Government Commission and also by public opinion incited, after Guidizzolo, by the very press that up to the previous day had exaggeratedly praised the race, the Brescia organisers were forced to change it into a regularity rally with speed sections similar to those in the Stella Alpina in Italy and in the Automobile Tour de France across the Alps.
The three Mille Miglia’s of 1958, 1959 and 1961, still run under the same name and over approximately the same distance, although without a serial number and the tribute to Franco Mazzotti, included in the race title, were completely different from those that had taken place previously.
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1st Edition March 26 - 27 1927 ... Edition 1958 - 1959 - 1961
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In 1977, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the 1000 Miglia Cup, the Brescia Automobile Club decided to organise the 1000 Miglia Rally on local roads, as a regularity event with competitive speed trials - a format already adopted for the last three Mille Miglia races organised from 1958 - 1960, which were classified by the FIA as qualifying events for the European Rally Championship.
On the fiftieth anniversary, building on the growing interest in vintage car collecting in Italy and elsewhere, they also organised a revival of the race from Brescia to Rome and back. It was reserved for historic cars and final standings were based on the results obtained in the precision driving tests organised along the route.
Reviving the event over the longer, historic route required a permanent organisational structure backed by institutional support and adequate financing. Consequently some of the promoters of the revival became organisers, working with the Brescia Automobile Club, the owners of the name and the trademark. In alphabetical order they were: Gino Danieli, Costantino Franchi, Giuseppe Lucchini, Vittorio Palazzani, Manuel Vigliani and Enzo Ziletti: a group of friends who, as Lucchini recorded in the 1982 Mille Miglia yearbook, were modern versions of the original "Four Musketeers".
The new structure was in place by 1982 and organised the second historic revival - the first to start from the traditional platform in Viale Venezia. Similar revivals were organised in 1984 and 1986.
By 1987, the growing number of entries, which had increased from 220 in 1982 to 350 in 1984, persuaded the organisers to abandon the biennial format in favour of an annual event, a decision that was welcomed by enthusiasts, who responded by submitting no fewer than 580 entries that year.
At the same time, the organisers of the revival, under the direction of Costantino Franchi until 2007, requested and received permission from the authorities to increase the number of cars at the starting line-up and, from 2002, this was set at a limit of 375 cars: a 'mobile museum' over one kilometre long, made up of cars built between the 1920s and 1957.
Although the number of cars admitted now is almost four times the number that participated in the first revival in 1977, fewer than half of the applications received each year can be accepted. This has been a problem since 1955, when 521 teams were at the start in Viale Venezia, forcing the organisers to make a drastic and unpopular reduction in their number - mainly for reasons of safety, related to the drivers' experience and the ability of the registered cars to withstand the rigours of the race.
Today, limiting the number of participants allows the organisers not only to select cars that are the most significant in the context of race history, but also to offer spectators a cavalcade that is almost unique, portraying thirty years of the evolution of motor racing, from 1927 to 1957.
The historic revival not only inherited the symbols and part of the route from the historic Mille Miglia, but also its spirit - although the modern race offers competition in different forms, no longer limited to pure performance, as D'Annunzio would have liked, but sensibly combined with entertainment and tourism.
Times have changed in the eighty years since the first 1000 Miglia Cup was contested. In 1927 it was important to appeal to the collective imagination of future motorists with an unusual race that could demonstrate the reliability of the standard production models competing. The "Four Musketeers" also realised that, in an age when the channels of information were few and far between, it was important to display the cars, taking them to the front doors of potential purchasers.
Today's organisers have tried to retain as much of the original spirit as possible and, for example, in 1996, they introduced special ranking coefficients to encourage drivers of the older, less competitive cars, that were also more difficult to drive.
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| THURSDAY 15th MAY | |
|---|---|
| 8.30 a.m. 12.00 p.m. |
Public presentation by Simon Kidston and Savina Confaloni in the Piazza della Loggia of cars which took part in the original Mille Miglia Races, of official teams of Car Manufacturers and of famous drivers and that will be displayed on several squares through the city. |
| 12.00 p.m. | Holy Mass and blessing of a selected group of cars in the Piazza Duomo. |
| 7.00 p.m. | Departure of the first car from Viale Venezia for the Brescia - Ferrara stage and public presentation of all participating cars. |
| 11.30 p.m. | Arrival of the first car downtown in Ferrara. |
| FRIDAY 16th MAY | |
|---|---|
| 8.30 a.m. | Departure of the first car from the Piazza Ariostea for the Ferrara - Rome stage. |
| 9.00 p.m. | Arrival of the first car in the Piazza del Popolo in Rome. Parade of cars along the Fori Imperiali Boulevard and public presentation on stage on the gorgeous background of the Coliseum. The event will be broadcast live on a national television network. |
| SATURDAY 17th MAY | |
|---|---|
| 6.30 a.m. | Departure of the first car from the Piazza del Popolo for the Rome - Brescia stage. |
| 9.30 p.m 2.00 a.m. |
Arrival of the first car downtown in Brescia. Public presentation of cars at the finish-line in Viale Venezia. |
The Brescia-Rome itinerary and the return trip will follow the original Mille Miglia route in a clockwise direction and will go through many different parts of the country: Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Marche, Umbria and Lazio, on the outward journey with the addition of Tuscany on the return trip.
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