As part of the prize for winning the 2014 Guild Of Motoring Writers Sir William Lyons Award, Stephen Kilbey was handed the opportunity to experience and write about one of the most prestigious events in all of motorsport: the Mille Miglia. He’ll be spending the remainder of the week driving round Italy as part of Jaguar’s XE drive team, and documenting his experiences each day on DSC:
Well, we are back to where we started, in Brescia. In what was a far more relaxing day, I got the opportunity to jump into a Jaguar F-Type R for the final stint of the trip – the short autostrada route to the finish line. The competitors drove up to Milan via Monza before finishing, but to get ahead we had to take a shortcut.
It wasn’t the most interesting route, nor was it challenging, but it was a chance for me to experience the sheer power of the V8 engine in the F-Type, and get Brescia with enough time to see the first cars roll across the finish line. The F-Type is honestly one of the most incredible supercars in recent years, the looks you get when the exhaust pops and bangs under braking and acceleration, and the smoothness of the ride are unlike anything I’d experienced before.
The streets were closed off like a Tour de France sprint, with everyone waving flags, watching the and cheering on the cars that made the journey (we suspect just over 100 failed to make it) through the main strip in the city.
Some of the more standout entries (for me at least) were thankfully present for the end. The prototype Mercedes 300 SL, most of the pre-1940 Bentleys and the majority of the Jaguar Heritage team endured and conquered the Mille Miglia once again. How many times these cars must have been put to the test like this is mind-boggling, and hard to take in.
Classic motorsport meetings will most definitely never be the same again after this week and I’d even go as far as saying that just driving on the road won’t be either. As someone who has been captivated by feats of motoring endurance for years, this trip has shown me one of the most impressive examples of an endurance sportscar race possible. I loved seeing the cars filthy at the end, some seemingly on their last legs as they crept across the line. I felt heartache seeing some of the retired machines on the back of flatbeds and ecstatic by the cars which persisted; their drivers refusing to go anything other than flat out.
I had plenty of images of what this would be like in my head before making the trip to Italy, and I think just about every one of them was wrong. The feeling that you are part of a travelling circus, touring a country as fast as possible in just a few days is magnified on a road rally like this. Seeing a country come together to see the cars was also a surprise after seeing many-a-racetrack with empty grandstands in the past.
The Mille Miglia is everything that motorsport should be: glamorous, accessible to fans, visually stunning, well supported and with a variety of sounds, cars and drivers. Do I want to do this again? Of course I do! Will I ever get the chance? Possibly not. But maybe why it’s had such an effect on me?
I’ve had to soak it up, get up early, go to bed late, appreciate every car and landmark. Every chance to see it all in action had to be taken, because I may never see anything like this with my own eyes again. From the man playing an electric harmonica on full volume outside a café in Brescia at the finish, all the way back to seeing the hanger full of priceless cars during Scrutineering on Wednesday, this has been unforgettable.
Before finally sitting down properly after returning to the hotel, I was privileged enough to be driven in one of Jaguar’s D-Types driven at Le Mans by Mike Hawthorn (James Martin at this event) as it was taken back to its truck for the journey home. It was one last thrill in a week of thrills, one that will take a while to sink in.
I’m exhausted, I’ve barely stopped and feel like I’ve done the entire Le Mans week in four days. I wasn’t even in a historic and yet returning to normality will be difficult in the coming days.
Now, please excuse me while I enjoy my final evening in the Italian sun.
Stephen Kilbey
