The story of the Mille Miglia (Italian for Thousand Miles) was born in December 1926 amongst a group of friends affectionately known as the ‘Four Musketeers’. Journalist Giovanni Canestrini, Regio Automobil Club secretary Renzo Castagneto, and noblemen Aymo Maggi and Franco Mazzotti dreamed up an open-road endurance race stretching from Brescia to Rome and back. The route covered 1600 kilometres, a distance Mazzotti, who had recently visited the United States, realised was exactly 1000 miles.
The inaugural race took place in 1927 and was an immediate sensation that brought an estimated five million spectators to the roadside. The event saw models from homegrown brands like Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Lancia, as well as internationals like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche compete at a time when few Italians had seen the exotic metal in the flesh, much less flat-out on public roads.
Despite the variety on the grid, Italian automakers dominated during the event’s formative years. Alfa Romeo claimed 11 victories across the 24 original races, with drivers Nuvolari and Guidotti the first to exceed an average speed of 100 km/h during the 1930 race, aboard an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS. When the race resumed in 1947, after the war, Ferrari landed six consecutive victories, only to have its streak broken by Lancia.
However, the pursuit of speed, as cars became faster and racers more competitive, ultimately brought the Mille Miglia to an untimely close. In 1956, Stirling Moss set a staggering average speed record of 157.65 km/h behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz 300SLR, which the Italian Government criticised as dangerous. Two fatal crashes the following year led to them banning all motor racing on public roads.
Thankfully, the event was reborn in 1977 after a 20-year hiatus, this time as a regularity race for classic and vintage cars. In keeping with heritage, the race was limited to models produced no later than 1957, which had attended or been registered for the original competition. The race remains a global spectacle today, attracting motorsport fans and racers the world over.
