Wailing sirens and roaring crowds welcomed our remaining Mille Miglia racers to Brescia as they cut through a blizzard of confetti to cross the finish line. (Well… thats the way it happened in at least one imagination.) In true racing period form, the original field of six cars was thinned by the rigors of the last two segments of the race, with only four drivers ultimately making the 1000 lap mark.
Gentleman Jim Johnson easily secured the win after a commanding performance in five of the six races. His Ferrari 166 MM proved to have that magic (and enviable) combination of solid performance, stalwart reliability, and outright speed. These traits combined with his skill as a driver produced a solid win that will have the competitors running back to their respective garages to try to improve on their next classic builds. Congratulations Jim on a great performance!
Second place on the podium was hotly contested as the racers began the last leg of the series. Separated by only 2.8 seconds after 800 laps, Roy and Ary seemed destined for a donnybrook of a race. But it was not to be. Early in the first heat Ary’s gearing gave up in his Lancia, allowing Roy to speed off into the distance, gaining a 130.5 second lead over Ary that secured him second place. Congratulations Roy!
Even the mechanical issues in the Lancia weren’t enough to allow Brian’s Aston Martin to gain on field. Reminiscent of the legendary Lucas Electrics reliability problems from the period, the Aston was one again plagued by electrical issues. This final race saw a main wire lead separate from the guide, forcing the car back to the pits for green-flag repairs as the clock ticked on.
Finally, Russell’s Abarth-bodied Ferrari and Marty’s Ferrari 250 were both sidelined with severe handling issues, leaving them in the garage for the final race of the series.
Overall, it was still a great series, with the classic cars challenging everyone’s building, tuning, and driving abilities. All of the club members and several visitors enjoyed watching the fine lines of the period designs compete on the track. Perhaps we will revisit the hills of Italy next year…
Thanks for all the work in putting on the series and for all the great write ups. It was almost like being there.
Congratulations to Jim for the great job in building and driving one of the fastest period cars I have seen on the track.
Good job to Roy to hold off Ary for a strong second place.
Ary nice drive, sorry to see a mechanical take you out of the running for second place.
Brian, are you sure you won’t try some other make of car? Maybe a French make would be better. I can’t believe I just wrote that.
Great series with a great format. I would like to use that format for some other races – 1000K race for example.