Mille Miglia

The open-road endurance race that made grand tourers famous.

The Mille Miglia (Thousand Miles) was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, along with sports manager Renzo Castagneto and motoring journalist Giovanni Canestrini. It took place in Italy 24 times from 1927 to 1957 (13 times before World War II, and 11 times from 1947). From 1953 until 1957, the Mille Miglia was also a round of the World Sports Car Championship. In 1977, the race was reborn as a regularity race for classic and vintage cars, limited to cars produced no later than 1957 that had attended or were registered to the original race. The route (Brescia–Rome round trip) is similar to that of the original race, maintaining the point of departure/arrival in Viale Venezia in Brescia.

Quick Facts

Venue: Italy (Brescia–Rome–Brescia)
First race: 26–27 March 1927
Last race: 11–12 May 1957
Distance: 1,000 miles (approximately)
Laps: One
Most wins driver: Italy Clemente Biondetti
Most wins manufacturer: Italy Alfa Romeo

Lore & Background

The Mille Miglia was established by the young Counts Aymo Maggi and Franco Mazzotti, sports manager Renzo Castagneto, and motoring journalist Giovanni Canestrini, apparently in response to the Italian Grand Prix being moved from their home town of Brescia to Monza. The first race started on 26 March 1927, with 77 starters—all Italian—of which 51 reached the finishing post. The first Mille Miglia covered 1,618 km. The race was briefly stopped by Italian leader Benito Mussolini after an accident in 1938 killed a number of spectators. The race was not run in 1939; instead, 'Litoranea Libica 1939' from Tobruk to Tripoli took place in Libya. When the Mille Miglia resumed in April 1940, it was dubbed the 'Grand Prix of Brescia' and held on a short triangular course. After the war, three of the organizers (minus Franco Mazzotti, who had been killed in the war) revived the race in 1947.

Reader's Guide

Unlike modern day rallying, where cars are released with larger professional-class cars going before slower cars, in the Mille Miglia the smaller, slower, lower displacement cars started first. From 1949, cars were assigned numbers according to their start time. For example, the 1955 Moss/Jenkinson car, #722, left Brescia at 07:22, while the first cars had started at 21:00 the previous day. In the early days of the race, even winners needed 16 hours or more, so most competitors had to start before midnight and arrive after dusk.

Did You Know?

The first Mille Miglia in 1927 covered 1,618 km, corresponding to just over 1,005 American or British miles.
The 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR driven by Stirling Moss and navigator Denis Jenkinson used pace notes on an 18-foot scroll of paper, read via 15 hand signals.
Tazio Nuvolari won the 1930 Mille Miglia in an Alfa Romeo 6C by tailing his rival Achille Varzi with headlights off, then overtaking and flicking them on.
The 1940 Mille Miglia saw the debut of the first Enzo Ferrari-owned marque AAC (Auto Avio Costruzioni) with the Tipo 815.