The Mille Miglia
'Thousand Miles'
Italy
The Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 - thirteen before the war and eleven from 1947.
The race was banned after two fatal crashes: The first was the crash of a Ferrari 335S in 1957 that took the lives of nine spectators - including five children and both drivers Edmund Nelson and Alfonso de Portago. The car reportedly landed on top of the duo, cutting them in half and then careering into the crowd.
A second car crash in the same small town took the life of Joseph Göttgens. He was driving a Triumph TR3.
LAST WINNER
Piero Taruffi (1957)
track characteristics
An Open-road endurance race that winds through the Italian countryside and numerous villages.
RACE TYPE
Endurance
Death toll
56
THE DANGER FILES
With an estimated 5 million Italians out watching the race, crowd control was another cause for concern. The race was briefly stopped by Italian leader Benito Mussolini after an accident in 1938 that killed a number of spectators.
Track length
1,000 miles
established
1927
circuit
