Ferrari Hosts Epic 1,000-Mile Road Race Across Italy

Jun. 25, 2021 6:41 AM ET by Martin Bigg Supercars / 3 Comments

The event is a homage to the historic Mille Miglia.

The historic Mille Miglia deservedly earned the title of "the most beautiful race in the world." Running between 1927 and 1957, the endurance race took place on public roads in Italy, pushing drivers and cars to the limit for 1,000 grueling miles.

Ferrari has a rich racing history at the Mille Miglia: just one year after its first car was built, the Italian automaker won the race in 1948. It then won every consecutive Mille Miglia race between 1949 and 1953, and also won the race in '56 and '57 before it was canceled, being deemed too dangerous. Since 2010, Ferrari has hosted the Ferrari Tribute 1000 Miglia as a special homage to the endurance road race, allowing Ferrari owners to drive on some of the most spectacular roads in the world.

From the photos released by Ferrari, it looks like driving nirvana. This year's Ferrari Tribute 1000 Miglia started at Piazza Cappelletti in Desenzano on the edge of Lake Garda before continuing through Parma, over the Cisa Pass, and into Pisa. On the second day, the tour visited Rome, while the third day took the convoy of Ferraris to Modena. For the final day, the Ferraris travel through fair Verona, past the starting point in Desenzano, and on to the final stop in Brescia.

While the official annual Mille Miglia re-enactment only allows classic cars, there are no restrictions in the Ferrari Tribute 1000 Miglia as long as it has a Ferrari badge.

This year's event saw a glorious gathering of Ferraris throughout the Italian automaker's history, including a 1963 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso, a 1967 330 GTC, and a 1971 Dino 246 GT. Halo models like the F40, F50, and LaFerrari were also represented along with the V12-powered 575 Superamerica, 599 GTO, and F12tdf, and newer models like the F8, Roma and SF90 Stradale. The most fitting, perhaps, since its styling is heavily influenced by racers of the period, was the Monza SP2 you see below.

The tribute event is run as a regularity race, where the objective is to complete each segment of the course in a specified timeframe at a specified average speed. To shake things up this year, the direction of the event was reversed, recreating the anti-clockwise direction of some of the original Mille Miglia races.

Ferrari Hosts Epic 1,000-Mile Road Race Across Italy

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Ferrari Hosts Epic 1,000-Mile Road Race Across Italy

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