Gizmo Ave

To call Italy’s famed Mille Miglia an historic car rally would be accurate, but understated to the point of absurdity (a bit like calling Rome an old city). In fact, the Mille Miglia (a legendary, no holds barred annual race that ran from 1927 to 1957 and morphed into a mellower version in 1977) is part 1,000 mile road rally, part sheet metal fashion show. Millions of Italians take to the streets to watch the mechanical parade travel through countless Tuscan towns, but if the event’s new organizers have their way, the Mille Miglia will soon tour the world, giving millions more a glimpse of the white-lettered, red-arrow logo.

“We want to make the Mille Miglia a truly global event,” says Alessandro Casali, newly minted president of the Mille Miglia Storica’s organizing committee. “To that end, we are hoping to create four tribute races around the world that will bring the spirit of the Mille Miglia to many more people than currently possible.”

This month (October, 2008), a Mille Miglia-branded tribute party will unfold in Japan, followed in 2009 by a dash through Dubai, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi. A trek starting and finishing in Moscow could be on the docket for 2010. Then there is a big push to bring the event to the United States, “maybe around 2009 or 2010, and quite possibly located in California, using that amazing Highway 1 that runs along the Pacific,” says Casali, who also tosses out the possibility of a “mini-Mille Miglia through the streets of Manhattan”.

Enthusiasts of stateside historic rallies may be familiar with the California Mille, which loops north from San Francisco into the area’s fabled wine country. Casali calls this “a surrogate even that we are not connected to in any way. Our mission is to bring all the glamor and excitement of the real Mille Miglia into other corners of the world.

Actually, the real mission, Casali concedes, it to use the well known race as yet another weapon in Brand Italia’s marketing campaign to further promote itself as a land of handcrafted luxury goods. If these regional Mille Miglia clones take cues from the original event, they are likely to lure some of the biggest success stories from those respective countries or even others, judging from the fleet of private jets and personal 747s that arrive in Italy each year at the start of the festivities. The Mille Miglia is known as a gathering of the finest cars from the original race’s operating years, mated not only to titans of global industry, but also to the occasional celebrity or two.

Entry requires a special car, and includes a vetting process that can sometimes see even the most stunning Ferrari or Maserati scorned for a version with real Mille Miglia pedigree. About 1,400 drivers apply for the race every year but only 375 of them drivers get the nod. Once accepted, a fee of $8,700 is required for the accommodation for 2 days over a 3 day race.