Mille Miglia 2011 : Ligne de départ
The Mille Miglia kicked off today at exactly 19:00 in Brescia’s central Piazza.
As tradition dictates, the first drivers to leave the starting grid were Italians, who opened proceedings by emitting patriotic green and red fumes from their Alfa Romeo’s exhaust pipe.
Waiting to set off…
With more than 300 cars participating in this year’s event, the drivers had time to become familiar with the road-book and answer thousands of questions from passers-by, who flocked to the “Via”-come-makeshift pit stop.
It was also the opportunity for last minute fine-tuning to take place, along with the appearance of several panic-stricken faces.
One of these belonged to the owner of a Mercedes-Benz SSK dating from 1929, who nearly had a heart attack when his competitor alerted him to a fuel leak – “Benzina!”… And then repaired it for him. Such is the ethos among these old machines.
Another special feature of vintage car drivers is of course their lucky charms, some discreet, some not so.
And so I set out on this first stage for Bologne, which should finish around 01:00 tomorrow morning… Followed by a 06:30 wake-up!
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C’est un peu la version distinguée du Gumball 3000 en fait.
à Maxime : Etant donné que j’ai probablement perdu mon permis pendant cette course, oui, le concept s’en rapproche