The Mille Miglia (Thousand Miles) is an Italian road race for classic cars, based on the route of a previous road race of the same name which took place 24 times between 1927 and 1957. The route starts at Brescia then follows the roads down the country to Rome and back, with a total length of about 1,000 miles – hence the name.
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The first Mille Miglia race took place on 26 March 1927, and 77 cars took to the winding roads of Italian countryside. The winners of the first race, Nando Minoja and Giuseppe Morandi, using an Officine Meccaniche 665 S, took just over 21 hours to complete the 1,000-mile route: an average speed of 48mph.
Realising the opportunity for propaganda following the race’s warm public reception, Italy’s fascist leader Benito Mussolini sent a note to the organisers of the race with just three words on it: “Do it again”.
The race continued to be held until 1957, with a break for world war II – and in the 1950s it became an all-out competition for various manufacturers and major motorsport names. Sir Stirling Moss famously won the race in 1955 in his Mercedes 300 SLR, but other legendary racing drivers that competed in the classic race include Alberto Ascari and Juan Manuel Fangio.
