mph (90.2km/h). Forty-two of the 72 starters were still going at the finish.Count Aymo Maggi had dreamed of making his home town of Brescia the focus of the world’s greatest motor race. Together with fellow Brescia residents, Count Franco Mazzotti, Renzo Castegneto and Giovanni Canestrini, Maggi conceived the idea of a 1,000 mile (1,609km) race through Italy, starting and finishing in Brescia, and taking place on public roads which would not officially be closed for the duration. The ambitious proposal appealed to Italian leader Benito Mussolini, who saw motor racing as the way forward, and in 1927 the first Mille Miglia was held. It quickly lived up to its billing as the finest road race in the world.
The first two Mille Miglias had been a resounding success, happily free from the accidents which had plagued the inter-city races at the turn of the century and which some had predicted would blight this charge through the towns and villages of northern and central Italy. Not only did the races attract sizeable entries but they made the sport accessible to the Italian people, who turned up in their thousands along the route to cheer on their favourites. The 1929 race attracted a more modest 72 entries, mainly because it clashed with the Monaco Grand Prix, which was considered the major event by the motoring world. With eight Bugattis at Monte Carlo, there were none left for the Mille Miglia. Indeed there were no foreign works entries, making the strong Alfa Romeo team hot favourites, their challenge spearheaded by the victorious 1928 pairing of Giuseppe Campari and Giulio Ramponi. Campari was a larger than life character. A frustrated opera singer, he loved to sing at the top of his voice while roaring along the road. Alfa’s chief rivals were the Brescia-based OM team, whose drivers included Antonio Brivio and the up-and-coming Tazio Nuvolari. The smaller classes were expected to be dominated by the Fiat 509s who made up more than a quarter of the total entry. The most colourful competitor was actress Mimi Aylmer, who arrived at the start wearing a smart red dress and fur jacket, with her chauffeur at the wheel of a Lancia Lamba. Everyone assumed that the chauffeur would do the driving but at the last minute she took the wheel, relegating him to the passenger seat where he was to stay for the entire race. Ahead of them all lay 1,018 miles (1,638km) spread over two days, the route descending as far south as Rome. At least one third of the race would be run on dirt roads, additional hazards including 67 level crossings, many of which were unmanned.
Surprisingly it was the lone Maserati of ‘Baconin’ Borzacchini and Ernesto Maserati which led to Bologna, by which time the OM driven by two of the race founders, Maggi and Mazzotti, had been forced to retire with transmission trouble. Another early casualty was Nuvolari, who crashed out in what would subsequently prove to be typically spectacular style. Four minutes behind the Maserati was Campari, pursued by Achille Varzi, Count Brilli-Peri and Carlo Pintacuda, all in Alfas. On the run down to Rome Varzi was delayed for half an hour by having to stop and put out a fire, and Brilli-Peri dropped out with engine trouble. Borzacchini and Maserati were still ahead at Rome but on the notoriously tricky drive up to the Adriatic, they dropped out with transmission trouble. This seemed to leave the way clear for Alfa and by the time they reached the Adriatic coast Campari and Ramponi held a lead of over 20 minutes. Back at Bologna, with just a fifth of the race to go, Campari still had a commanding advantage over the OM of Giuseppe Morandi and Archimede Rosa, which had moved up into second ahead of Varzi. Although Campari’s car suffered two punctures on the final section, he reached Brescia to win by ten minutes from Morandi and Rosa with Varzi and Colombo two minutes behind in third. The Alfa’s winning time was 18hr 4min 25sec, an average speed of 56 mph (90.2km/h). Forty-two of the 72 starters were still going at the finish.
Among them was Mimi Aylmer, but not until she had made one last gesture to her adoring fans. Way down the field in twenty-ninth place and some seven hours behind the winner, she pulled over on the outskirts of Brescia and stopped for five minutes to attend to her hair and make-up. After putting on fresh lipstick, she felt able to face her public once more and drove on to the finish where she received a rapturous welcome. She then stepped out of the car with a radiant smile, immaculately groomed, and showing no sign whatsoever of fatigue. The expression on her chauffeur’s face told a different story. Looking a nervous wreck, the poor man was later given a special award at the prize-giving for being the most courageous man of the race. Without doubt he had earned it.