Inspired by tales of derring-do from the 1920s when the famous Bentley Boys raced the Blue Train between London and the French Riviera, sipping champagne en route, the 96 Motoring Club organised a 1,000 mile (1,609km) race against the Orient Express from London to Milan.
So it was that 45 classic cars – among them a D-Type Jaguar, a Mercedes gullwing, a Daimler SP250 sports car, and a 1922 Vauxhall – lined up at London’s Victoria Station one Thursday alongside the Orient Express. As the train pulled away from the station, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu waved off the cars on their journey across five countries, which included a crossing of the Swiss Alps. The rules of the race were simple: any car taking a short cut or exceeding that country’s speed limit would be disqualified. Michael Scott of the 96 Motoring Club emphasised: ‘Any car that arrives in Milan before 5p.m. on Friday evening (the tenth) will obviously have speeded and will be disqualified.’
After racing around Brands Hatch and the Monthléry circuit outside Paris, the cars completed their first day with a lap of the Nürburgring, near Frankfurt. The second day, racing against the train resumed with a dawn start from Frankfurt. Although the drivers stopped off for the obligatory sip of champagne, the result was never in doubt, most of the cars arriving in Italy hours before the Orient Express. The first to reach Milan – eight hours in advance of the train – was Mark Chauveau in a 1973 Maserati, but he admitted that he had cheated by missing out Germany in order to fulfil an important lunch date in the Italian city. ‘It was such a complicated route,’ he said, ‘that I decided to go via Geneva in search of some entertainment. I don’t think I can be classified as a winner, but I had great fun. In Italy I was mobbed at every traffic light as the Italians went crazy over the car.’
Ultimately Pentti Airikkala was declared the winner in a Mitsubishi 3000 GT. His scariest moment was arriving in Milan and not being able to find the railway station. He resorted to flagging down a young moped rider who led him to the station. As the organisers summed up: ‘The train was thrashed.’