The 328 Berlin-Rome Touring Roadster sat alongside a BMW i3Autocar is tackling the 2015 Mille Miglia in a BMW 328 Berlin-Rome Touring Roadster. Follow our live story here
Wednesday 13 May
9am: If you like cars (and given your current choice of website, you probably should), the chances are you’ll be reading a lot about the Mille Miglia this week, as the reinvented event makes its way around 1000 miles of Italy with upwards of 100 Ferraris at the head of the field, followed by a selection of more than 450 vintage and historic cars.
The event was originally made famous between 1927 and 1957 as an open-road endurance race, and it was reputedly watched by upwards of five million people. Standing alongside the likes of the Targa Florio and the Carrera Panamericana as a headline-grabbing road race, it was seen as a perfect showcase for grand touring cars from the likes of Alfa Romeo, BMW, Ferrari, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
In Britain, of course, it became scorched forever into the national consciousness 60 years ago this month, when Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson took victory at the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, averaging 98.53mph over the course of 10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds of driving. Contemporary motorsport magazines described it as the greatest drive in history – and there are commentators who feel no need to update that assessment today.
Like every other road race, bar perhaps some of the Dakar Rally-style cross-country events, the Mille Miglia became too dangerous for modern sensibilities.
In 1977 it was reborn as a regularity event for classic and vintage machinery that took part in the original, and it found popularity among manufacturers keen to emphasise their heritage. As a result, many journalists join the ranks of wealthy collectors and keen enthusiasts as manufacturers seek to promote their involvement and reassert their place in history - something the younger, more upstart companies can never match (did anyone mention Audi?).
And that, of course, is how I find myself in Brescia, Italy, sharing driving and navigating duties of a BMW 328 Berlin-Rome Touring Roadster with the firm’s board member responsible for sales and marketing, Ian Robertson. While my pictures (above) from a recent test day in Germany are not first-rate, the beauty of the car still shines through, I hope.
Built on the instruction of the German national sporting authority in 1940 by coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring, it was one of three 328s streamlined to take part in the Berlin to Rome race of 1941, an event subsequently cancelled for obvious reasons. Powered by a 1971cc in-line six-cylinder engine linked to a four-speed gearbox, it has 118bhp at 5500rpm and weighs just 700kg. Top speed is rated at 120mph or so, while stopping power comes from a combination of drum brakes and ventilated anchor plates.
The car’s value is rated at “somewhere between €15 and €20 million”. When you are in the business of giving or taking five million, I’ve decided it’s best not to worry too much...
Today, the Mille Miglia is not as fast nor as tough as it once was - but it is still fast and tough. I’m told to expect flat-out driving, often under police escort but still on open, public roads, and at least three of the four days to involve 16 hours or more in the cockpit.
We will run east down to Rome and then back up west to Brescia again, taking in 16 time controls, 17 passage controls, and 76 regularity tests and eight regularity tests at an imposed average speed.
The complexity of these challenges is mind-boggling - and the ability of some of the crews to achieve them more so. As the week unfolds, I hope to go into much more detail on that.
So, too, I hope to share some of the excitement and trepidation of being in such an incredible car on such a historic event over such a long distance. Both Ian and I are tall at around 190cm, but we fit well in the cockpit.
Even so, the absence of seatbelts or a roll-hoop is an attack on my conservative senses, as are the near 40deg C cabin temperatures, which are enhanced by the heat soaked up by the lightweight bodywork. Ian’s done the event before with much success, so there’s a certain pressure not to let him down, either.
For now, that’s probably enough of a history lesson and overview of what lies ahead, but I’ll be posting as many updates as I can before and during the event, so do please ask questions as well as following this story over the next five days.
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