The second round of the Mille Miglia series, run on April 21, 2012, welcomed two new participants to the field; Marty’s bright yellow Ferrari 250 GT and Russell’s very unique resin body Ferrari 166 MM/53 Abarth Spyder.
Just like the first round, there were plenty of thrills and spills as the racers adjusted to the unique handling characteristics of these cars. Much like their 1:1 counterparts, the cars were a handful. The back stretch proved to be the most difficult section of the track as almost all of the cars would misbehave under overly aggressive acceleration, and challenge the racer’s timing on braking before turn 7. Marshalling that corner was a treat, as the marshal was able to watch the cars kick their tails out on acceleration and then fishtail into the turn under heavy braking. Once the racers were settled in I believe we saw some of the best car control we have ever seen in a series between the exit of turn 4 and the entrance to the main straight.
Weight and gearing are emerging as the key performance characteristics of the cars. More weight (properly placed) is providing much needed stability, but the gearing (and in some cases motor) must be adjusted accordingly to be competitive in the field. Jim has found the sweet spot for his Ferrari 166 MM, and dominated the field in Saturday’s race. Jim finished with a commanding 39.6-second lead over the second place finisher, Brian and his Aston Martin DB3. Third place finisher, Ary and his Lancia D24, and second place finisher Brian were separated by just 1.6 seconds.
Overall, Ary still enjoys a 84 second lead over Brian and a 113 second lead over Jim. However, if Jim continues to run at the blistering pace he turned in during this round Ary’s (and Brian’s) lead will quickly evaporate.
In spite of their current lead, the first three racers need to keep an eye on the their rearview mirror. Roy’s Jaguar XK 120 was much more reliable during this race, (if still a bit loose), and he didn’t grind up a single crown gear. Both Marty’s Ferrari 250 GT and Russell’s Ferrari 166 MM/53 Abarth Spyder suffered from the same weight distribution and gearing issues as a couple of racers in first round, but both are accomplished tuners and drivers and can be expected to return to the next round with new setups that will narrow the timing gaps across the leader board, and one can’t discount the possibility of additional repairs under green for all of the racers.
A note about the current leader board: This should be the last race where we have projected Total Time values. Because of the projection, the scoring looks a little off between third and fourth place, but position preference is being given to the driver with actual laps over the driver with projected laps.