RE: Harris on the Mille Miglia: PH Liveblog

RE: Harris on the Mille Miglia: PH Liveblog

Monday 20th May 2013

Harris on the Mille Miglia: PH Liveblog

Police escorts, chasing priceless Ferraris and a sneaky visit to a place Chris really shouldn't be




Chris Harris is out in Italy driving an ex-Fangio Jaguar C-Type. Envy is never a good thing so if that sentence has you green-tinged take some heart in the fact he's also getting a soaking in the process.

For the full route and timings click the map to the right to enlarge and to gaze in wonder at the entry list click here - take your time and be prepared for your jaw to drop.

For blow by blow updates we'll retweet Chris's updates on @PistonHeads and he'll be checking in regularly with more in-depth updates below. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a collection of Chris's pics snapped along the way.



Bologna, Maranello and more
We drove into Bologna on the wrong side of the road - oncoming traffic had to move to accommodate us. This dispatched a two-mile queue of traffic

Once in the town we spotted a police motorcyclist - he didn't acknowledge us, he just bolted from the lights and we followed. The feeling of having the path cleared for you is so foreign and so liberating I think it's worth doing the Mille Miglia just to experience it.

35km later he deposited us at Maranello. I won't forget that convoy.

I hadn't realised we would be heading through Ferrari-town. We drove through the factory and then did a time-trial at Fiorano. I'm supposedly not welcome at either of these places, so this felt especially naughty.

Earlier in the day spirits dipped a little. The whole timing element of the Mille Miglia is frankly a complete pain. It gets in the way of all the fun stuff. We were hopeless at the regularity stages, so we decided to take penalties and enjoy the driving. Oh, and have a hearty lunch.

The final hour into Brescia is a drive I will always remember. Peering through the darkness at the rounded bottom of a very well driven Ferrari 250MM as we both drove as fast as we dared in the conditions. It was as much fun as I've had on the road in years.

We drove for 15 hours on open pipes and with an aero screen and no ear defenders. We looked like zombies but we'd done things in an extraordinary car that we will probably never do again.

When it's good - which it isn't always - the Mille Miglia is everything you could hope for.



As a slight Mille Miglia sceptic I am pleased to announce that leaving Rome at 8am in convoy with another C-Type and an XK120, following a police car as it cleared a path at some speed, that I now fully understand this event.

Nowhere else is this possible. In fact I'm beginning to wonder why Italy doesn't base its entire national marketing strategy around the Mille Miglia. The place is beautiful, the people relaxed and tolerant and the food is cracking - the event demonstrates this perfectly.

The police bikers are also right up for it. We followed one for a while this morning and I just couldn't stop grinning from the absurdity of doing such things in the presence of the law.

The car hasn't missed a beat, but yesterday was a long day and my backside is now aching like it did when I was rude to the teacher.

I was too ruined to blog last night. Apols. We got to bed at 1am after an 8.30am start. Alarm call was 5am today. It may not be a proper race, but there's no time for fraternising - it's drive-sleep-drive-sleep. The first third of the day was wet, too treacherous for me really, but we kept a good pace.

We followed David Coulthard for a while in the SLR, before Al naturally blatted it past him!



Somewhere in northern Italy, Friday
Driving someone else's £5m Jaguar in the lashing rain on treacherous Italian roads concentrates the mind.

Look of fear masked by all essential goggles
Look of fear masked by all essential goggles
My goggles would steam up, so the best method of avoiding the pin-prick rain jabbing your forehead is to sink down into the seat and peer through the steering wheel and the aero-screen. It's quite cosy, but the car wants to spin its back wheels most of the time in first three gears, so you need to be ready.

The rules of the road are fairly baffling. Basically there aren't any. You make third lanes in town and generally do what you want. I find following someone extremely pushy is the best way of making ground.

Despite the rain, the crowds are out and when it did stop howling it down, we had a great drive to San Marino. If every C-Type drives like this, is I'd be staggered. The only thing that dates it badly are the brakes. Otherwise it's a weapon and on completely open pipes.



Ferrara, Friday morning
We finished Leg one at 0140h this morning. It was a mixture of the expected and unexpected.

The route out of Brescia was just what I'd hoped the Mille Miglia would be: thousands of merry souls cheering old cars as they initially screamed, then trundled through town. I have never seen a group of people so obviously in love with motor cars. It made me smile.

Al with the C-Type - Chris takes over today
Al with the C-Type - Chris takes over today
The sanity continues just long enough to confuse you into thinking that all this talk of people really pushing it is just talk. And then a C-Type effectively makes a third lane for itself and roars off into the distance. At this point you either tut and watch him go. Or you give chase. Being a racing driver, Al gave chase. This C-Type is absurdly fast and loud. And it doesn't have much grip. Al drove it beautifully.

At intervals there are regularity trials, those things where you time yourself over a short distance. Neither of us could really see the point in going deliberately slowly against a stopwatch, and it's hellish fiddly on the Branz trip meter, so the first one was a shambles. I wanted to sack the rest off and just enjoy the route, but we persevered and now an annoying sense of pride means we are actually trying to do them well. Competition is, after all, competition.

Dicing with a German mentalist in a Porsche 550 Spyder is not something I will forget for a while. Nor was ticking off we had from officials afterwards.

A load of the route was closed because of the terrible weather, but over five hours in the passenger seat felt enough for me.

We have more than double that to complete today. I'm starting with a steering wheel in my paws.

I'm standing next to a row of cars in Ferrara that beggars belief. This is a very special event.



Brescia, Thursday
Driving into Brescia in a stunning convoy. Weather all over the place.

Al's starting, I will attempt to navigate.


PH towers, Thursday
To get you in the mood here's a little vid.



Brescia, Thursday
I have never seen such a collection of cars under one roof as there were yesterday evening at the paddock in Brescia. Countless millions of pounds of significant road and competition cars primed for what remains one of the most famous motoring events.
But what is the Mille Miglia?

Al Buncombe gens up on the route book
Al Buncombe gens up on the route book
It's the race immortalised by Moss and Jenks in 1955 and stopped just two years later after a terrible crash. It was then resurrected in the 80s as a regularity adventure event for the right sorts of cars and has run yearly until the present day, where it has reached a position of great importance on the classic car calendar.

But it isn't a race. It's a regularity event: one of those things where you have to arrive at check points on the exact second and average 37.12km/h over five hours. And to be frank, that doesn't appeal to me.

This is not too much of a worry though because it would appear that through the international code of nudge and wink, there is another way of competing in this event. Driving rather quicker than is suggested and then quaffing espressos while you wait for the next check point. I will leave it for you decide the method that myself and co-driver Al Buncombe (serious GT race driver) have decided to take.

For me it's a chance to gel with a beautiful car and have a great adventure. None of us do enough of either.

Coulthard behind Jag in another ex-Fangio car
Coulthard behind Jag in another ex-Fangio car
It has rained all day today. The ceremonial line-up in Brescia was a complete wash-out, but even so thousands of people lined the streets. I shouldn't really need reminding that Italy is the crucible of car-adoration in the developed world. The way people responded to our C-Type make us grin like kiddies.

Ah, the C-Type. First registered owner one H.M Fangio (but only for a matter of days, allegedly) and now a well-known historic race car. I have covered 6km in it and can confirm that even for my tiny frame it's a tight fit. It's a beautiful machine and a joy just to lounge around in when stationary. We now have 1,550km in which to better understand it.

Three days of rain and drum brakes could be interesting. Oh, it has around 280hp. And a 140-litre fuel tank.


   






   




   
   
   
   
   
   
   


Author
Discussion

Gorbyrev

Original Poster:

1,160 posts

153 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Am jealous and have a loan of a good waterproof! Have fun and looking forward to the updates. What a car to do the Mille Miglia in!

f1ten

2,161 posts

152 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
lucky git Monkey. well done oh and dont bend it!
another bucket list item for me... one day i will get there. The hard part is getting a nice old classic that is eligible.

lauda

3,446 posts

206 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
If Mr Buncombe drives on this event anything like he does at the Revival, I hope Monkey has packed some spare pants.

Itsallicanafford

2,759 posts

158 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
..Bloody hellfire, that sounds like fun...

JaguarsportXJR

235 posts

142 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Raining or not I'm still immensely jealous. Sadly I doubt I'll ever get a go in one as I fear my 6'3" brick outhouse of a body won't fit!cry

Fair play to you Mr. Harris and I hope you both enjoy it. Looking forward to the updates.

SprintSpeciale

432 posts

144 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Jealousy is a terrible thing, but it is hard to avoid it in this instance! I do hope you make the most of it, Chris! Most of us will never get the chance, because these days it is so hard to get in without a very special car!

stephen300o

15,464 posts

227 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
No, no. Envy is of no use to anybody. Have fun, good luck with mechanical gremlins.

GreatGranny

9,097 posts

225 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Lucky, lucky barsteward!!!

That Jag is beautiful. Never seen it in that colour.

smilo996

2,755 posts

169 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Looks like a barrel of very expensive laughs. Especially as Jaaaag are returning and cranking up the connection between past and present.

Does Mr Harris even and in anyway ever support the UK car industry?

Looking forard to pictures and the rest of it.

Ex Boy Racer

1,151 posts

191 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Hate Jaguar. Hate Italy. Hate the Mille Miglia. Hate Monkey. Hate driving fast...

Jealous, moi?

stephen300o

15,464 posts

227 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
smilo996 said:
Looks like a barrel of very expensive laughs. Especially as Jaaaag are returning and cranking up the connection between past and present.

Does Mr Harris even and in anyway ever support the UK car industry?

Looking forard to pictures and the rest of it.
As far as I can tell, he supports good cars, I would think that when they start making good cars he will support them.

juansolo

3,012 posts

277 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
You lucky bd!

bnracing

90 posts

173 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Wow driving with Alex Buncombe don't expect a nice slow drive through Italy lol.
I don't think I will ever meet a driver again with as much natural talent behind the wheel as Alex's has.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi2YRj6gqBA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn0_jbgF96o

irocfan

40,153 posts

189 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
a mate of mine is actually working on this - I'm quite jealous in one regard but truth be told I'm well chuffed for him it really is one of these 'opportunities of a lifetime'

rob.e

2,861 posts

277 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
I'd definitely put up with being soaking wet to drive that car.

smile

0000

13,812 posts

190 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
bnracing said:
Wow driving with Alex Buncombe don't expect a nice slow drive through Italy lol.
I don't think I will ever meet a driver again with as much natural talent behind the wheel as Alex's has.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi2YRj6gqBA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn0_jbgF96o
Some very impressive driving there.

He tweeted this...


williamp

19,213 posts

272 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Just so you know: its raining here in the uk to. And I did the Catthorpe intchange in 3rd in my diesel. biggrin

StuB

6,695 posts

238 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Will be following this with great interest.

Dave L

223 posts

251 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
By chance I find myself in Florence this week, so looking forward (even more now reading this) to the cars coming through on Saturday. Does anyone know exactly which route the cars will come through the city? I can't find anything, and the hotel only knows about the gelato festival that's also on too. (Nice but I would rather see the cars)


toppstuff

13,698 posts

246 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Well done Chris.

All I have to say is this ; About bloody time !

IMO Chris is well overdue in getting into classic cars.

Some of the finest driving moments these days can come from driving old stuff, not new.

And watching Chris and his constant attempts to buy the latest interesting new cars, trying to avoid depreciation, paying for finance, keeping his fingers crossed that depreciation doesn't smoke tens of thousands of pounds, has been entertaining.

Over the past few years some lovely classic cars, from Ferrari to Jaguar for example, have almost doubled in value. While new cars are money pits, some classics have made money. It wasn't long ago that you could get a Ferrari Boxer or Lamborghini Countach for £50-60k. Now they are £100k plus. Chris could have had a piece of that action.

It makes you think...

smile