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ALONG FOR THE RIDEJesse AlexanderMille Miglia May 19-21 --- 2005  My first Mille Miglia was in 1955, the year that Sir Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson amazed everybody with an average speed of almost 100 mph for the 1000 miles of open road racing. Their car of course was the Mercedes 300SLR, an incredible sports racing device and my all time favorite in its class.How to cover such an event in those days was a huge challenge because I would at best have only two opportunities to shoot. I decided to drive to Ferrara for night shots at the first control. Exposing several rolls of film there, I then slept for a few hours and the next morning drove on across the center of Italy to the summit of the Passo Raticosa, the last mountain pass on the route. There I could photograph the action in good light and with plenty of local color. I chose a spot among the spectators who were sitting along the top of a wall at the summit. It was a gorgeous Spring day, Sunday, May 1, 1955 and fans from Florence and Bologna had driven up to enjoy the race as well as the great weather. With only one chance to get the picture, I had to listen carefully to the engine note of each approaching car for a clue as to who was about to come around the corner into my sights. Would it be a Ferrari, an Alfa or perhaps a Maserati? Where was Moss? Then I heard the unmistakable sound of the Mercedes, more high-pitched than the rest and clearly moving very fast as he worked the gears up through the “twisty bits” approaching the summit. Suddenly he was there and then he was gone. I had been able to snap only one frame. These pictures are a tribute to Italy, the only country in the world that could possibly host such an event. The photographs reflect not only the cars, but the enthusiasm and joy of the fans who lined the route. At every intersection, every traffic circle, in every city, waving and cheering -- pointing us in the right direction (we had been told before the event that if there were suddenly no people at the side of the road we were obviously lost). My participation in the 2005 Mille Miglia came about when my friend Hideki Yamawaki invited me to ride shotgun in his 1957 right hand drive Lancia B20 coupe. I am no Denis Jenkinson and I confessed to a normal amount of anxiety about the whole idea. First, I had only driven around the block with Hideki, let alone on a high speed rally lasting three days and 1000 miles. At the same time however, I could imagine what a great opportunity this would be to shoot from the passenger’s seat as the route unfolded before me. I had photographed three real Mille Miglias but never from the vantage point of a passenger. Thus, it did not take me long to sign up. We rendezvoused in Brescia several days before the start on Thursday, the Lancia having been shipped by boat in January with plenty of time to be prepared at Brescia Auto Racing, a shop that specializes in this sort of thing on the outskirts of the city. Scrutineering was on Thursday morning before the late night start. By then we had our route map and credentials. Early evening came to find the over 350 entries assembling at the beautiful Mille Miglia museum near the start. This first lap (Brescia-Ferrara) was probably the most arduous not just because of the darkness but because it was a baptism of sorts and neither of us knew what to expect. Our starting time was 10:30 pm and four hours later we were in Ferrara after an exhausting journey. Friday’s start was at 9:00 am for the 330 mile run to Rome where we arrived at 10:00 pm. Saturday morning we left Rome at nine and were back in Brescia at the finish line before midnight. It had been a relentless drive through the heart of Italy. The experience was somewhat like rediscovering the country and its people. Fortunately the weather was great and the Lancia ran perfectly. Hideki turned out to be a great driver. For a brief few minutes we touched the cities of Verona, Ferrara, Rome, Vatican City, Siena, Florence, Bologna, Cremona, as well as countless other villages and towns. Escorted through traffic jams by an elite squad of Italian highway police we travelled in the footsteps of Moss and Jenks, Piero Taruffi, Castellotti and Enzo Ferrari. This time Jochen Mass drove the legendary 722 Mercedes 300SLR, roaring by us at over 100mph, and his smiling passenger gave us a friendly wave. Published in AutoWeek, December 26, 2005 http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051226/FREE/51214009&SearchID=73259639661301 |
