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Mille Miglia

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It’s in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the car, the top of the steering wheel is so hot it’s burning the inside of my index fingers, you could make a decent cup of tea with our bottles of water, the bags of Harribo sugar sweets are molten and the back my shirt is stuck to the seat. But I’m smiling and having the most fun I’ve had driving a car, the crowd that line the roads are cheering and shouting ‘BB! BB! BB! as we change down for a sweeping left the over-run from the flat 12 sends them into louder cheers, welcome to the Mille Miglia……

22nd December 2010 and an email arrives from Vanessa at Foskers asking if I’d thought of participating in the 2011 Mille Miglia Ferrari Tribute. 24 Hours later I’d filled in the application and paid the entry fee. My 365 GT4 BB had been successful in 2010 concours following its pristine restoration by the team at Foskers, best of show at the Hurlingham Club Fête Champêtre and Concours d’Elégance and first in class at the FOC national concours. Whilst pleased, I was always aware of the ‘it’s just a show car’ talk and here was my chance to prove otherwise.

Next priority was to find a co-driver who was prepared to research what a regularity event involved, find the best navigation solution, read all the regulations, tolerate sitting beside me and do all the hard work whilst I had fun. Step forward friend and colleague, Duncan Reed, who’s pretty deft with a spanner too.

Fast forward to 9th May and I’m arguing with a member of the Channel Tunnel staff who is telling me I can’t board through the high vehicle gate as I don’t have the right pass….10 minutes later I boarded having assured him I wouldn’t do it again and yes I understood he was just doing his job, a marked contrast to the welcome to come in France and Italy.

I’d decided that in the true spirit of the Mille I was going to drive the car there and back, a journey of approximately 3000 miles. The team at Foskers had completed a thorough check of the car, briefed me on the art of hot weather starting and my pre and post driving checks. The journey to the start at Brescia was split over 2 days with an overnight stop in Beaune, arriving at my hotel beside Lake Garde on the Tuesday evening. Ferrari had made all the hotel reservations, the welcome I received set the high standards, which prevailed throughout the event.  Deciding I should wash the car, a member of the hotel staff carried buckets of warm water and clean towels out to me.

It’s the next morning and I’m following a very nice 275GTB driven by one of the British contingent I’d met upon my arrival, windows down listening to a carbureted V and flat 12 on song made the journey to Brescia sheer bliss. Duncan arrives at midday having flown into Milan that morning and having completed registration we apply the stickers to the car ready for scruitineering.  The Scruitineering team is made up of a rather officious gentleman and curiously, a very charming pretty young lady. When the need for a 3M industrial strength Velcro pad to be applied direct to the paintwork, for the GPS transducer arises, the presence of the said lady becomes apparent. Her, ’all the men watch me very closely when I do this’ will stay with me forever. Having had a cursory glance at a rather large blue tome, which Duncan tells me is the Road Book, I quickly pass it to him adding it all looks fairly simple. His retort is swift when he casually asks if I realized that day 1, we’d be starting early evening and driving until midnight. Whilst I enjoy driving at night, not being able to see with 70’s lighting is something I hadn’t considered.

Grinning from ear to ear we’re driving up the start-ramp, our names are announced along with a description of the car, a microphone appears after a few niceties we’re watching the large digital clock and listening to the countdown ,  watching the clock countdown to our start time, ‘tre, duo, uno….’, we’re off!

‘Straight ahead 800 meters, road sign for Verona, take 3rd exit and keep left’, peering into the night main beam and fog lights on, the glow of an approaching town, crowds of people lining the roads, the smell of food and wine, people cheering and waving as we pass by, steep climbs up cobbled streets lined with spectators, passing through narrow archways, entering floodlit Piazzas, presented with gifts by beauty queens, blessed by a priest, Imola and Fiorano race circuits, driving through the Ferrari and Maserati factories, sunshine, snow, stunning scenery, castles, mountains, sweeping roads made for driving, Police escort through the closed city streets of Rome, dawn departure with the sun rising over the Vatican, in the car 12-14 hours a day, 7 hours sleep over 3 days, always smiling and then it’s that ramp again, but this time it’s the finish, we’ve done it. Next day we’re at the prize giving lunch, Duncan’s had a quick look at the results and thinks we might be 2nd in class but can’t be sure. Well he’s right and you guessed it, we’re still grinning.

It’s Monday morning, I say farewell to Duncan who is flying back and begin my journey home. Having ridden the Route Napoleon a number of times back in the 90’s on a Ducati 888 sports bike, I was now going to drive it in a flat 12 Ferrari, my grin was getting bigger. It had been 16 years but it all came flooding back, Grasse to Grenoble via Gap, what a road, thanks Napoleon, good call. From Grasse it was the Peage to Calais, the tunnel, then home.  Standing by the car having arrived home, I realized how dirty it was, but it told a story and I wasn’t sure how I was going to bring myself to wash it.

So many memories crammed into those 9 days, 3 in particular stand out.

When we arrived at Rome we were waiting in a queue by the Vatican, when an occasional overheating problem manifested and the car boiled over. We quickly identified the cause of the problem as a hose that had worked lose and having completed the repair we needed to refill it.  Gathering all the empty water bottles from the car I approached a Police Woman and explained that I needed water, giving one of those Italian nonchalant expressions she beckoned me to follow her. By now the official Mille cars were passing, she stopped them, parted the crowd and helped me fill them from a holy water fountain. The car started to rapturous applause from the crowd that had gathered to watch us and needless to say, no more overheating problems.

Upon returning to the car after the prize giving we were approached by an old lady dressed in her Sunday finest. Looking at the car she asked, ‘tre, sei, cinque ?’, ‘si’ I replied. ‘Bellisimo’ she replied nodding her head approvingly, she then noticed the cup and read the inscription, ‘secondo Mille Miglia, bravo signor’ and shook my hand. Only in Italy.

As I approached the gate for the high vehicles at the Tunnel in Calais the barrier came down, oh no, not again I thought. I looked up to see a man looking out of his booth, ‘365?’ he asked, yes I replied’ ‘For-mi-dable, what a car, merci’, No thank you Monsieur.

On that note, thank you to Ferrari for making it possible, to the team at Foskers for making it happen and to Duncan for his skill, patience and support.

So what’s next, there’s a Ferrari Tribute Targa Florio in 2012………..

 BH

Our thanks to "The Hoff" for this wonderful account of the Ferrari Tribute.