... the Mille Miglia has always inspired such enthusiasm, attracting and
appealing to millions of people around the world because it has
preserved the romantic yet adventurous spirit of the very first motor
races; ... because people take part, or rather most of the competitors
take part, for the sheer satisfaction of crossing the finishing line. So
they can say: «I finished the Mille Miglia»…
Giovanni Canestrini, one of the "four musketeers" who founded the Mille
Miglia, wrote these words in 1956 but they still have resonance today
because they capture the passion that enthrals anyone who enters the
world of the Red Arrow, whatever their role.
... MediaCenter Gallery Mille Miglia 2014 >>>
It therefore follows that the Mille Miglia will always enjoy its own special
"strength", irrespective of the protagonists and organisers. Testimony of the
interest generated by the Red Arrow, almost eighty-eight years after its first
edition, was evident on the morning of Friday 21 November: just a couple of
minutes after online registration opened on the www.1000miglia.it website,
the server went down as so many people were trying to access the site at
the same time, forcing the technicians to upgrade it so the aspiring
competitors could complete the registration process or simply read about
the terms and conditions and the programme.
Today is the official presentation of the thirty-third revival of the Mille Miglia,
the reenactment of the original speed race held between 1927 and 1957: yet
another stage in a long journey which still appeals to so many and which
every year undergoes changes, although remaining faithful to tradition.
In 2015, following the positive experience of the previous year, the Mille
Miglia will be raced over four legs in four days.
This decision has significant repercussions on the whole programme and
route, meeting with the enthusiastic approval of the public in 2014. The extra
leg, giving more time for the public to watch the race, allowed more people
to witness the 435 competing cars as they passed: in particular, the people
of Brescia showed their appreciation as the arrival had been moved from
Saturday evening to Sunday lunchtime, allowing entire families and children
to cheer the cars over the finish line.
In the 2014 edition, changes had been made to the route so the Mille Miglia
could once again pass through towns which had not seen it for years. This
year, in keeping with the same philosophy, a number of changes have been
introduced.
The departure of the first leg has been brought forward to the early afternoon
of Thursday 14 May and will end in Rimini. The following day, the second
leg will see the competitors drive to Rome to arrive, as is tradition, on Friday
evening.
On Saturday 16 May, the route from the capital will remain more or less the
same as far as Tuscany. After Pisa and Lucca, following the route taken by
the Mille Miglia in 1949, the cars will cross the Cisa Pass, reliving the
legendary climb of Clemente Biondetti and Ettore Salani in their Ferrari 166
MM, who later arrived victorious in Brescia.
The third leg will end in Parma: the competitors will then leave from here on
Sunday morning for Brescia, where they will arrive around lunchtime, a
decision which met with unanimous approval last year. The route of this last
leg has yet to be defined: the Organising Committee and the 2015 Mille
Miglia Team are currently considering the possibility of taking the race
through Milan. This decision is subject to the route respecting technical and
sporting criteria, times and compatibility with the Red Arrow convoy, as well
as meeting the safety and transit requirements of Expo Milano 2015, the
extraordinary event scheduled for the same period. Mille Miglia is currently
in talks with the towns in question and the Exposition organisers to assess
the impact the cars - including the competitors, organisers, support and
media vehicles and various other members of the convoy - would have on
local visitor traffic at the exhibition site in Rho, presumably heavy on the
Sunday morning.
Whatever the outcome, a "twinning" between Brescia-City of the Mille Miglia
and Milan-Capital of Expo 2015 is already in the pipeline, as 1000 Miglia
S.r.l., in agreement with Sistema Brescia per Expo and the Lombardy
Region, is arranging for the Red Arrow to make an "appearance" at the
Italian Pavilion on 7 May 2015, one week before the event.
The Red Arrow will contribute to the "branding" of the Pavilion as that
evening the auditorium will be the venue of the premiere of the film "Rosso
Mille Miglia", which will convey the emotions and magic experienced by the
protagonists of "the most beautiful race in the world" to cinemagoers in Italy
and around the world.
As far as the technical aspects are concerned, there are a couple of
changes: the number of time trials, which determine the final ranking, goes
up to 84, of which 76 are traditional trials and 8 average speed trials. There
is no change to the coefficients allocated to the cars but the extra "bonus"
will no longer be assigned to cars that took part in a race between 1927 and
1957. However, if these cars submit the relevant documentation certifying
participation in one of the original races, they will be given priority over the
other registrations.
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