Mille Miglia Jay Leno Video

[Lin]

No Healeys, but a wonderful video about the modern day excursion (hardly seems a race). I think you will enjoy. View full screen with good sound.

https://www.autoblog.com/2014/06/02/leno-ian-callum-pilot-jaguar-xk120-2014-mille-miglia-video/


Lin

 

[BigGreen]

No Healeys, ...

Look at 16:28, a 100 followed by a 3000 ;-)
And a very short flash at 18:41

Loved it all the way, thanks for posting

 

[Keoke]

Good show Lin.

Look at 16:28, a 100 followed by a 3000 We always take care of the youngins

 

[HealeyRick]

Thanks for posting, Lin, that was great. Looks like Jay is enjoying his retirement!

This an absolutely wonderful documentary for Mille aficionados:

I spoke to this very nice gentleman at last years British Car Day in Brookline,MA, who got to live the dream of driving the Mille and highly recommended it:

Vice Provost for Research Larry McLaughlin with his restored 1954 Austin Healey M-100, which he and two friends entered in an Italian road rally, the Mille Miglia.

By Ed Hayward | Chronicle Staff

Published: May 23, 2013
In the lab, biochemist Larry McLaughlin is all about unraveling the mysteries of DNA, creating new anti-virals and probing he potential of nano-scale drug therapies.
In the garage, vintage car enthusiast McLaughlin is all about a 1954 Austin Healey M-100.
This past week, McLaughlin, a professor of Chemistry who is also vice provost for research, stepped away from the lab and into the driver’s seat of the lovingly restored coup to rumble over the ancient streets of Italy as a participant in the Mille Miglia, an historic road rally deemed “the most beautiful race in the world.”
McLaughlin and two friends, tech executive Michael Perlmutter and restoration specialist Maurizio Cerasoli, took turns behind the wheel as they traveled the course from the northern city of Brescia, south to Ferrara and then Rome, then north again back to Brescia.
The race, which used to be run for time but is now an untimed tour, is a celebrated event in Italy, drawing thousands of spectators from throughout the world along the 1,000-mile – or mille miglia – route.
“I look upon it as part spectacle, part race, part parade, part party,” said McLaughlin, who described the once-in-a-lifetime experience as a “bucket list” item he and his teammates are extremely fortunate to have stumbled upon.
Cerasoli found the classic car disabled and disheveled. Immediately, he proposed to his friends that they restore the car and try to land a place in the famous race.
Earning a coveted spot in the race required a detailed and historic restoration of the car in order to meet the stringent requirements of race organizers, who only accept vintage autos manufactured between 1927 and 1957.
“The hardest thing about this race is getting into it,” said McLaughlin. “There were over 1,500 applications for 375 slots. The first thing you have to do is get in. The selection process is something of a mystery, but known to be extremely difficult.”
Restoring the British sports car, designed by the legendary David Healey, to its former glory required rebuilding its 2660cc straight-four engine, locating replacement parts in England, rebuilding the front end suspension, new wiring – accurate to the original colors of the individual wires – stripping the finish to bare metal and applying six coats of carmine red and black paint.
The team received word this spring that they had met the exacting requirements of the race organizers. The focus shifted from restoration to participation, as they plotted out logistical issues ranging from where to stay to which spare parts they would need to pack in their luggage. The car was shipped to Milan just a week before the team departed with their spouses for their Mille Miglia adventure.
McLaughlin said his goal was simple: to successfully cover the 1,000-mile course, regardless of the time required.
And to soak up the experience of a lifetime.
[UPDATE: McLaughlin reports that the team's car was disabled by a broken axle, ending its race in Rome.]

 

[RDKeysor]

I was living in Rome in 1957, the last year the Mille Miglia passed through the city. Unfortunately, I didn't know about the event and missed it.
An earlier occupant of the apartment I shared with several other Army grunts near the main railway station had a bundle of black and white pictures of the cars coming through the city during the running of the Mille Miglia in an earlier year, but unfortunately I didn't bring them home with me. I was serving with an Army postal unit at the American Embassy, though I spent most of my working time at Ciampino airport, which served as the city's commercial airport at the time. I was already a Healey buff, as my older brother back in Ohio had purchased a white 100-4, and he sent me a picture of it. I was able to return to the states with a very nice MG TF, but didn't own a Healey until after graduating college and going to work near Cleveland in 1963. That was a lovely black BT7 with louvered hood, etc., owned by a law student from Cleveland Heights. That car didn't survive the birth of my first child, and I didn't own another Healey until I bought my white '60 BN7 in January 2013. This car, viewed from the side and ignoring the door handle, looks almost exactly like my brother's 100-4. Incidentally, I went to Brescia circa 1985 to do an article on Aldo Uberti, the maker of replicas of 19th century American firearms, Single-Action Colts, early Winchester lever actions, etc., for the American Rifleman magazine. During that visit I went down to Maranello with R.L. Wilson, the author of many firearms books, most particularly on Colts and Winchesters, and toured the Ferrari plant. To top it off, we had dinner with Luigi Chinneti and his namesake son along with some Ferrari execs at a restaurant outside of Modena, staying the night at the Fini hotel, known as THE Ferrari hotel. This came off because Wilson was a friend of Luigi senior, the twice winner of Lemans, etc. To top it off this unlikely experience for me, Luigi Jr., known to all as Coco, gave me a ride to the hotel from the original Ferrari works in Modena, where his Ferrari was having its brakes refreshed after his drive down from Paris. I was delegated to drive our rental Alfa sedan back to Brescia the next morning, with Wilson and Coco to follow in the Ferrari. I got a very early start, fearing that the pair would scare the crap out of me by blasting by the Alfa at about 150 mph on the autostrada. I was probably in Brescia before they even left the hotel. And yes, I kept a couple of pictures of that adventure.

 

[CLEAH]

I was living in Rome in 1957, the last year the Mille Miglia passed through the city. Unfortunately, I didn't know about the event and missed it.
An earlier occupant of the apartment I shared with several other Army grunts near the main railway station had a bundle of black and white pictures of the cars coming through the city during the running of the Mille Miglia in an earlier year, but unfortunately I didn't bring them home with me. I was serving with an Army postal unit at the American Embassy, though I spent most of my working time at Ciampino airport, which served as the city's commercial airport at the time. I was already a Healey buff, as my older brother back in Ohio had purchased a white 100-4, and he sent me a picture of it. I was able to return to the states with a very nice MG TF, but didn't own a Healey until after graduating college and going to work near Cleveland in 1963. That was a lovely black BT7 with louvered hood, etc., owned by a law student from Cleveland Heights. That car didn't survive the birth of my first child, and I didn't own another Healey until I bought my white '60 BN7 in January 2013. This car, viewed from the side and ignoring the door handle, looks almost exactly like my brother's 100-4. Incidentally, I went to Brescia circa 1985 to do an article on Aldo Uberti, the maker of replicas of 19th century American firearms, Single-Action Colts, early Winchester lever actions, etc., for the American Rifleman magazine. During that visit I went down to Maranello with R.L. Wilson, the author of many firearms books, most particularly on Colts and Winchesters, and toured the Ferrari plant. To top it off, we had dinner with Luigi Chinneti and his namesake son along with some Ferrari execs at a restaurant outside of Modena, staying the night at the Fini hotel, known as THE Ferrari hotel. This came off because Wilson was a friend of Luigi senior, the twice winner of Lemans, etc. To top it off this unlikely experience for me, Luigi Jr., known to all as Coco, gave me a ride to the hotel from the original Ferrari works in Modena, where his Ferrari was having its brakes refreshed after his drive down from Paris. I was delegated to drive our rental Alfa sedan back to Brescia the next morning, with Wilson and Coco to follow in the Ferrari. I got a very early start, fearing that the pair would scare the crap out of me by blasting by the Alfa at about 150 mph on the autostrada. I was probably in Brescia before they even left the hotel. And yes, I kept a couple of pictures of that adventure.

What a great story! I enjoyed reading it, and I also liked the Cleveland/Cleveland Heights connections, as I live in Cleveland Heights. By the way, there are at least 6 Healeys, big and small, here in Cleveland Heights presently. Thanks again for the story.

 

[RDKeysor]

I was a freshly graduated reporter at the Painesville Telegraph when I bought the BT7. As it happened
the owner was a law student at the University of Cincinnati, probably home in Cleveland Heights on spring vacation. My oldest friend, Ron Freeman--we were from Norwalk-- happened to also be a UC law student. Mind you this was 1963 and we were all in our 20s. It turned out that friend Ron had actually ridden in the Healey in Cincinnati before I bought it. The car was notable because the owner actively drag raced it, and had fitted a toggle switch for the OD on the shifter knob and had cut out valves in the pipes before the muffler. This car, then only a couple of years old, had been resprayed from red to black (red interior), the hood was nicely louvered, and it had cloisinne (sic) Union Jack badges above the "spears" on the front fenders. It also had several broken spokes on the rear wheels. And since I was soon scribbling for the Dayton Daily News, I took it to Dayton Wire Wheel, then in Xenia, as I recall. I arrived about noon and found only the proprietor at the shop. He removed the wheels, cut out the bad spokes, painted the new ones, and sent me on my way with the admonition that the original wheels were ill-designed and that Dayton Wire Wheel offered its own improved wheels. I think that firm, now on the outskirts of Dayton, is considerably larger these days. I have chrome 60-spoke wheels on my BN7--not sure if they are Daytons--and I recently had the pleasure of replacing three broken spokes on one wheel. Not fun. Oh yes, if you are old enough to remember it, I briefly attended Fenn College in the fair city of Cleveland, now Cleveland State University.

 

[CLEAH]

The BT7 sounds like a real bomb! And though I am not old enough to have attended Fenn, I am well aware of it since my alma mater is Cleveland State. You may find it interesting that Fenn Tower was recently completely restored, and it is quite beautiful. The CSU campus is very large and takes up many blocks downtown, with Fenn Tower being on the eastern edge of the campus.