THE MILLE MIGLIA 1953

 

Like the older Targa Florio and later the Carrera Panamericana, the MM made grand tourers like Alfa Romeo, BMW, Ferrari, Maserati, Mercedes Benz and Porsche famous. The race brought out an estimated five million spectators. WINNER : Giannino Marzotto - Marco Crosara - Ferrari 340 MM Spyder Vignale The race was established by the young Counts Aymo Maggi and Franco Mazzotti, sports manager Renzo Castagneto and motoring journalist Giovanni Canestrini, apparently in response to the Italian Grand Prix being moved from their home town of Brescia to Monza. Together with a group of wealthy associates, they chose a race from Brescia to Rome and back, a figure-eight shaped course of roughly 1500 km — or a thousand Roman miles. Later races followed twelve other routes of varying total lengths. Durante 30 años -desde 1927 hasta 1957-, la Mille Miglia fue la prueba automovilística por excelencia y una de las competiciones más amadas por los italianos. Era la carrera que pasaba cerca de casa, o a muy pocos kilómetros, lo que permitía a la gente estar con sus ídolos del volante.