2022 Mille Miglia Event

[neelyrc]

The 2022 Mille Miglia event took place over four days last week starting and ending in Brescia.  The third night stopover was in Parma near my home.  In all there were 451 participating cars, 440 private entries plus 11 cars from the Italian military.  Yes, the Italian military has a car collection including these Mille Miglia eligible cars!

The Saturday departure from Parma started at 6:30 am with the cars proceeding to Varano de’ Melegari race course about twenty miles away where they did a timed lap on the track.  They then proceeded on to Salsomaggiore Terme, Pavia, the Monza race course near Milano before ending the event in the evening in Brescia.

I drove to the Varano track early Saturday to see the cars and take some pictures. 

Our Pagodas came along to late to participate in the Mille Miglia when it was still a race but the 300SL, 190SL  and some other Mercedes models participated and are now eligible for the current event.  There were four 190SLs this year and a great number of 300 SLs.  For more details about the event you can go to the 1000Miglia.it web site.

A few pictures are attached.

[neelyrc]

And a few more pics:

[Bonnyboy]

The picture of silver 300sl #348 and white 300sl #357 is interesting -  the white car looks smaller than the silver car.  At that distance I would have thought that they would have looked the same size -  is the white car a special construction 300SL or is it just camera lens magic?

To be there to take these pics is absolutely awesome.  The sounds must have been intoxicating.

[MikeSimon]

I think the missing bumpers and the angle of view of the two cars make it deceiving.

[zak]

Great stuff, Ralph. Count your lucky stars. It must have been so exciting to experience .
Imagine running in it with an eligible classic ! What's the cut off year for car eligibility ? If a 190 SL is eligible then it's 1963 ?
I wonder what kind of speeds these cars are do in the race on public roads and on the track. ?
Fantastic.

jz

[Garry]

I think Tom participates in this event in a Lancia.

[Bonnyboy]

I understand the years are 1927 to 1957.    The 190SLs were 1955-56-57   The 300SLs were 1954-57 with a 1952 "Prototipo" thrown in for fun.

There is a spreadsheet available if you search "Mille Miglia Participants" on the web.

There are also videos out on You Tube and most of those cars are amazing.   

I love the 50s racers that are the stuff of dreams - names like   A.C., O.S.C.A., Ermini, S.I.A.T.A., Stanguellini, Tojeiro and of course the Talbiot-Lago.  OOOOH.   

[AdelaidePagoda]

Great update, I watched the event unfold online although would, like everyone else, loved to be in Italy to be involved in it. Or even better drive the race in one of the 300SL’s!

Perhaps someone in this group has and can share more information?

Assuming one has an eligible car, does anyone know who can enter, how to enter and what the fees are for entry?

Do the organisers arrange and book all the hotels? Do you need to take care of your own mechanicals, or are there support crew there?

One day! Dream event 🇮🇹

[neelyrc]

Ian,
I think I agree with Mike. I think the missing bumpers on car 357 and the angle of the shot leads to the illusion of a smaller car.  You may have noticed that the very first picture of my post is of car 357 on the track. Looks normal.  I did not get a separate picture of car 348.  Some cars did have open exhaust and I do enjoy the sound. Most were muffled as they are basically street cars.

December 31,1957 is the cut of date for manufacture.  Only some 190SLs are eligible.  A list of this years entries is attached.

[neelyrc]

Zak,
The cut off is end of 1957.  There is a register of acceptable cars . You can find the rules and a lot of detail at https://www.registro1000miglia.it as well as a form to register.  The cost is €500 plus tax which gets you a registration certificate with a grill badge thrown in.  This is the first step to getting to the event. 

The record speed was set in 1955 by Sterling Moss.  He did the 1597 km/992miles in just over 10 hours for an average speed of about 158kph/98mph. The max speeds must have been much higher.  If you have driven even on current Italian country roads this speed is almost unbelievable!  This record was not broken in the final two races.

A copy of the current register is attached.

[neelyrc]

Gary,
Here is a picture of Tom’s Lancia taken in Parma in the queue to start the fourth stage of the 2017 Mille Miglia.  Tom did not participate this year.

[Garry]

Thanks Ralph,


Always wondered what his car looked like.  When i saw him last in 2019 on my Pagoda drive, he said that he may do a few more before he passed the Lancia to someone else to enjoy. The cost of entry was steep to say the least.


Garry.