A love letter to the Mille miglia

the 4 days filled with brilliant cars, awesome scenery, the best people, amazing food and perfect heritage deserves all the love it gets.

2y ago
39.8K

Dear Mille Miglia,

Back when I was a little boy, I learned about something called 'la corsa più bella del mondo', the greatest rally in the world. I marveled over the hand-beaten coachwork cars made especially for this race and the legendary men driving them. The grueling task of driving 1600 km, for the better part of a day with inconceivable average speeds... I didn't dream about becoming a Formula 1 driver, the Mille Miglia was what I wanted.

Back then there was no Internet, YouTube didn't exist yet and Napster still was in development. little did I know about the modern Mille Miglia other than it actually still existed. Yes, growing up with a dream one can actually fulfill is good.

Fast-forward to 2009, what I dreamt about, I got. Albeit in a modern car with official stickers affixed, chasing competitors for sheer enjoyment and an occasional shaky picture. That company called GoPro didn't exist yet and roaming costs were preposterous.

For some reason our first encounter will always remain the special one, it's something I learned to understand. For 2 days and one night I was fully submerged in what the modern Mille Miglia is, not bothered by the urge to show my pals on Facebook how awesome the experience is. Even if I did have that urge, It would mean I would be staring at a vast amount of people that are now instagramming, snapping or otherwise engaged in phone-related activities, cut-off from experiencing the now. It's exactly that what I always loved about you, Mille. Besides marveling over the most beautiful cars, having the best conversations with like-minded petrolheads and that extraordinary, second to none car-loving atmosphere.

You should know, dear Mille, because of that tragic accident you stopped as a race, but at the high-point of the automobile. Before it became a mundane, sensible and soulless machine for the masses. Reviving it as a rally, but with cars from-period was your best decision ever!!

How I love getting high from petrol-fumes, exiting out of the exhausts of a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, Bugatti Type 35 or Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, share stories and make friends from all over the world. How awesome your route is, no matter what the weather conditions are, but most of all, how the Italians love you and us too.

But I feel a little distance growing between us. The astounding traffic mayhem is far less than it used to be, there are pace-cars now and you introduced something called 'Ferrari Tribute'. Also all of the sudden those beautiful classics have awful looking humps of plastic called GoPro's attached to them, and the faces of cheering people are now hidden behind a Samsung or iPhone. One cannot stop the progression of time, let's not be to sentimental about it! You also decided 4 days would be better than 2-and-a-bit. It's not a double-espresso shot anymore, it's cafe americano now.

I don't mind that, because I still love you for the way you are. Probably always will. The love I have for you is really love, difficult to describe, you have to experience it.

Yours forever,

Tom

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Comments (3)

  • Tom! Lovely piece!

      2 years ago
  • I would love to experience it one day

      2 years ago
3