Motor
Racing
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Man's passion
with racing seems to be as old as his quest for speed and power.
Pushing himself to the limits of this quest, he seeks glory. The
greatest marques of today have at one time or other been a part of
it. Its a fight where man is pitted against man and machine against
machine or sometimes man and machine are pitted against nature.
The circuits around the world have proven to be a happy breeding
ground for these exotic racing machines from Alfa Romeo to Porsche
917, each car holds a saga of passion , obsession and triumph. A
story of these exotic machines and men behind them. Its a battle
field , the stakes are high and every racing machine sitting
there is seen as Morpheus - The God of dreams. |
Mille
Migilia
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The
Route
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Bugatti
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The
atmosphere is highly festive. Thousands of people line up along the
road to catch a glimpse of the finest breed of automobilia. Then far
down the corner, a blood red Ferrari 250 TR is seen carefully
negotiating a curve while its Good Year's work overtime to hold the
car on the tarmac.
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The driver, so cautions not to hurt the beautiful animal
corners with precise steering feed. You can see him occasionally
wiping his goggles with his near frozen leather gloves. Children
clap and adults cheer as the prancing horse rolls down the road with
an intoxicating rasp that only a Ferrari can produce . The
atrocious weather further adds excitement to an already
charged atmosphere and hardly you have overcome the Ferrari
intoxication, a 1936 Lagonda rumbles across and now you have
already started to feel the Mille heat.
'Mille
Miglia' or a thousand miles is a race that starts from Brescia. It
is an event that simply mesmerizes you. It is the place where
the largest number of most sought after and exotic cars can be seen
at one place, at one time. The cars are classics and these
people Italian. There cannot be a more better love affair. Its
pouring, your road book is now a lump of wet paper , you can
hardly see the road, for the goggles have become foggy and you
have to slow down occasionally, to wipe them. These events, not a
hindrance but add spice to an already exciting race.
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1936 Lagonda
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Porsche RSK
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On a nasty
curve, a glaring silver Mercedes seems to be in a horrible
hurry while pitching behind a 250 TR but TR is in no mood to
give way. It was a Mercedes that won the last Mille
Miglia race in 1957 before Mussolini decided to draw curtains
on the race, because it was simply killing too many spectators and
drivers.
If you thought driving a vintage while braving the circumstances is
an already great effort, then getting an entry into the race is even
more difficult. The rules laid down by the organizers double check
that nothing goes wrong to dampen the excitement and nostalgia, the
very purpose of the race.
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Mercedes Benz 300
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Though the
revival hardly pretend to be a race, yet, watching these million
dollars classics rumbling across the old cities of Italy brings back
nostalgic moments of the days when the automobile was built with
great pain, patience and love. The days when technology was at its
least minimum and racing was a war. Ever try driving one of those
old Lancia Aurelia B20 or Bugatti 35B down the curve at high speed
cornering with the precise skill with your feet dancing between the
pedals and unaided by any of these modern day computer controlled
systems, you are bound to feel great satisfaction as you watch the
road disappearing in the mirrors leaving behind dusty trail and two
parallel tracks. Its pure ecstasy.
The organizers restrict the number of entries to around 300. You
need to have a car with FIVA passport, Federation International of
Vintage Automobiles. The preference always goes to exotic cars from
exotic countries.
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