Monday 18th May 2015

Mille Miglia 2015 - PH Liveblog

Caffeine, speed and the enthusiasm of the locals is keeping Matt going on the Mille

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Welcome to the PH Mille Miglia liveblog! Quite an opportunity that we're very keen to make the most of. Matt is following the route with Bentley in a Continental GT V8 (tough job, etc), including the opportunity to ride in the spectacular Blower Bentley you see above. On social media the accounts you need are @PistonHeads and @PHMattB on Twitter, plus @pistonheads_speedmatters and @mat_bird for when we're feeling arty with filters on Instagram. We'll hastag stuff #PHMM2015 as well. Which is all very technical.

Archived updates from the Mille Miglia liveblog can be found here. For the latest update see below!

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Saturday, 1400h
Given how little sleep everyone on the Mille Miglia is having, we are still very much awake. Oh yes sir. The coffee will have something to do with it - it's potent alright - but what you witness on the roads does an even better job of keeping eyes extremely wide open.

Regularity event? Balderdash. Drivers are racing, and racing hard. Have you even been undertaken and overtaken at the same time? In stationary traffic? Me neither. That's certainly an event, especially when the cars are worth millions.

Obviously many people have discussed the, shall we say, enthusiastic driving on the Mille previously but it must be experienced to be believed. Truly it's shocking. Sometimes in an exciting way, often in a terrifying way. The audacity of some overtakes beggars belief, the speed through urban areas is wild and country roads are stages to many a flat out race.

And yet it all somehow sort of works. A lot of the behaviour can't be condoned but as pretty much everyone embraces it there's some kind of chaotic rhythm. When you see regular drivers moving aside to make another lane it all starts to make sense. When police motorbikes escort you through towns, halting traffic and charging through red lights, the influence of the Mille Miglia on this part of Italy becomes clear.

Furthermore, as mentioned previously, the public enthusiasm around the driving is huge. And infectious too. There have been standing starts in villages, screeching across roundabouts and thunderous passes on main roads. All of it lapped up and encouraged with waves and cheers. You are never, ever going fast enough for the Italians either.

If this sounds like a recipe for disaster from the outside that wouldn't be surprising. But somehow the Mille Miglia makes the lunacy work and it's an absolutely magnificent occasion. Only in Italy!

Matt

[sjabrown]

Thoroughly enjoyed watching the field go up the hairpins near the castle today. So many beautiful cars, beautiful sounds and smells.

[gregelvis]

Looking forward to driving up the Cassia with them on Saturday morning - although the weather in Rome looks like it might be poor then - so roof up!

[MMracer2015]

Mille Miglia, so amazing, so much fun, first time for our team, classic mistake, start with freshly restored car, handbrake already failed at start, then down to just two gears (3rd and 4th) but adrenalin and crowds kept us going, then ignition cut out on major highway, fortunately support team caught up within 30 mins, ignition fixed, gears back, still no handbrake but going again...now against the clock. High speed all the way with car numbers 100 behind where we should be, now accelerator peddle broken...just keep going....pulled in for regularity trial, friendly rival tells us there's a huge puddle of water under the car, look under the bonnet, water pump throwing water and oil everywhere....call the support team, already tied up working on another car, arrive two and half hours later, checkpoints already closed, no spare parts available, it's over, we are out...car trailered away, we are left to find a hotel in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night....Mille Miglia over after only 140km, but so much fun and never to be forgotten...maybe better luck next time...

[gregelvis]

I had a fantastic drive amongst the Mille Miglia cars this morning (all at a steady 120kmh up the Cassia Bis out of Rome) . Roof down in a long tunnel with a few 356s, a D Type and assorted Alfas was amazing. After around 10 miles of this fun I turned around and headed home. I stopped off on a bridge to get a few shots of some of the last cars and got a cheery wave from Clive Beecham as he and Ian Callum came flying under me in the magnificent longnose D Type. Great way to start the weekend!

[iva cosworth]

gregelvis said:

I had a fantastic drive amongst the Mille Miglia cars this morning (all at a steady 120kmh up the Cassia Bis out of Rome) . Roof down in a long tunnel with a few 356s, a D Type and assorted Alfas was amazing. After around 10 miles of this fun I turned around and headed home. I stopped off on a bridge to get a few shots of some of the last cars and got a cheery wave from Clive Beecham as he and Ian Callum came flying under me in the magnificent longnose D Type. Great way to start the weekend!

Sounds great,care to share the pics please.

[unsprung]

Out. Standing.

Those nimble cars... navigating those storied streets... rivulets of history. I imagine the song of motors and the happy faces along the way.

Thanks for sharing all this.

[kmack]

Wonderful - what an experience... Your a lucky man.

[RichB]

MMracer2015 said:

Mille Miglia, so amazing, so much fun, first time for our team, classic mistake, start with freshly restored car <clip> but so much fun and never to be forgotten...maybe better luck next time...

I've often thought about entering the Mille Miglia but I am under the impression it's getting more and more like a celebrity show piece especially in the last few years with the new organisers. I have several friends who apply religiously each year only to be rejected and they've have become quite jaundiced about the whole set-up. What was your experience, you clearly were accepted but were you in a car that ran the MM in period or accompanied by a celeb' or friend of the organisers?

[riosyd]

My other half is doing the Mille Miglia this year - he's not a celebrity just a petrolhead with a car that's done the race before (he had 2 previous attempts at entering both of which were unsuccessful). The live online tracking is great for keeping an eye on him

[RichB]

That's reassuring to hear.

[riosyd]

I found this photo of them on Instagram

[RichB]

What is it? I'm usually pretty good at recognising cars but that's stumped me.

[riosyd]

It's a Giannini

[sjabrown]

riosyd said:

I found this photo of them on Instagram

They're top chaps. Staying at the same hotel in Brescia. Car looks and sounds wonderful. I've a few photos I'll send on when home (in a week or so)

steven

[gregelvis]

A couple of pics from Twitter

http://t.co/bukRjReisl

http://t.co/N2N4FPqLey

[MMracer2015]

We are not celebrities and had no celebrity help. We were first time applicant, got in first time, but chose a pretty rare Italian car to do it, it took all of our money to do it so it was a major blow to go out so early. Yes there is a certain amount of razzmatazz that goes with the MM but once you are going all that disappears and you really feel that you are there for a once in a lifetime experience. Also the people that do it are committed, strip out the celebrity cars and you still have hundreds who are there because they love it. Will we do it again.....need to save for another ten years, but wow yes, wouldn't miss the chance to have a go at completing, and next time hopefully the car will not be as fragile...

[riosyd]

sjabrown said:

They're top chaps. Staying at the same hotel in Brescia. Car looks and sounds wonderful. I've a few photos I'll send on when home (in a week or so)

steven

Photos would be great, I've been relying on Instagram for them so far

MMracer2015 - sorry to hear that you broke down

[RichB]

MMracer2015 said:

We are not celebrities and had no celebrity help. We were first time applicant, got in first time, but chose a pretty rare Italian car to do it, it took all of our money to do it so it was a major blow to go out so early. Yes there is a certain amount of razzmatazz that goes with the MM but once you are going all that disappears and you really feel that you are there for a once in a lifetime experience. Also the people that do it are committed, strip out the celebrity cars and you still have hundreds who are there because they love it. Will we do it again.....need to save for another ten years, but wow yes, wouldn't miss the chance to have a go at completing, and next time hopefully the car will not be as fragile...

Hats off to you then. Sounds like my friend is perhaps just a tad pee'd off because he's not been accepted so far
I fancy doing this with my son on my 60th in 18 months time.

[MMracer2015]

Just do it, even though we are out we went to the dinner in Parma last night, and the final lunch in Brescia today (also watched some of the cars come in, but that was too painful, had to drown sorrows with too many Proseccos)..... Met so many teams with so many stories, but I think our story beat all...also walking the streets of Brescia met many teams who also hadn't made it, drowning their sorrows in bars (thank goodness it wasn't just us who failed).... This is just so much fun and the people are so nice, and seriously don't believe the detractors, this event is really tough, everyone we met at the end was happy but totally exhausted. I think we made many mistakes in our preparation, but the experience will be with us forever, and one day we will finish.....

[RichB]

What car did you do it in?