Mille Miglia Trip - "Route '31"

This page will provide details for the Mille Miglia trip planned for 2017 now named "Route '31"

The intent is to retrace the route driven by Charles Goodacre and Francesco Trevisan in 1931 when they drove the works Austin Seven in the famous 1000 mile Italian race.

UPDATE February 2017: I have unfortunately had to postpone the trip due to most participants dropping out. Its a shame but I am still very committed to making this trip happen and will plan to make the trip iin 2018 now.

Anyone who is interested can still contact me at any time and I'll add you to the list. I am still planning some form of trip in September this year but as yet nothing finalised...

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Previous news:  finalised the route and selected proposed hotels for each night stop. I've been in contact with them and am awaiting responses on room availability and costs. All hotels are pretty much on the route (so we don't have to deviate too much) and have on site parking.. As soon as I have received confirmation from the hotels that they have rooms etc. I will post the details on here.. At present, it doesn't look like many of the hotels will require any form of deposit which is good... Chris Simpson has sorted us secure parking in Brescia for the modern cars and trailers which is fantastic!

The dates for the trip are:

Arrive in Brescia Sunday 17th September

Day 1 Monday 18th Sept Start from the Mille Miglia Museum in Brescia, travelling to Modena

Day 2 Tuesday 19th Sept Modena - Poggibonsi

Day 3 Wednesday 20th Sept Poggibonsi - Viterbo

Day 4 Thursday 21st Sept Viterbo - Terni

Day 5 Friday 22nd Sept Terni - Gubbio

Day 6 Saturday 23rd Sept REST DAY

Day 7 Sunday 24th Sept Gubbio - Ancona

Day 8 Monday 25th Sept Ancona - Imola

Day 9 Tuesday 26th Sept Imola - Noale

Day 10 Wednesday 27th Sept Noale - Primolano

Day 11 Thursday 28th Sept Primolano - Brescia finishing at the Mille Miglia Museum

Head home from Brescia on Friday 29th Sept

Initial plans are:

Trip will most likely be in September 2017. Hopefully this will mean Italy is back "open" again after the summer holidays and the weather is still good but cooling a bit..

The plan is to trailer the cars down to Brescia where we will park up the moderns and trailers. Will try and locate a secure "compound" of sorts to store trailers etc. in.

At present, we are aiming to average something like 120miles per day, understanding that when in the mountains we may do less and when on the flats further south we may do more.. Plan to use the "A/B" roads rather than highways/motorways where possible so as to avoid heavy/fast traffic

The plan is to have at least one volunteer (we already have one, now looking for a second maybe) to drive a modern (with trailer) as a support vehicle. This would carry as many spares as possible and all the tools needed for roadside repairs..

Night stops would be at hotels or camp sites with chalets on the route and I plan on making preliminary bookings towards the Autumn this year. I'm starting to research venues and estimate possible night stop locations in order to put together an initial itinerary.. I'll be contacting hotels to check on their interest in accepting a bunch of Austin sevens in their car park overnight and a bunch of drivers in need of food and vino... Err water, nah, sod that, vino! 😀 

Trip duration would be approx 2 weeks. A good 2-3 days to get to Brescia and 2-3 to return leaving 9 or 10 for the route itself. No idea on cost as yet....

At present, we have the following participants:

myself (Austin seven Ulster rep/special)

my Father - Rob Watson (either a 1931 box saloon or a nippy)

my Uncle Andrew Watson (Ulster special)

Duncan Grimmond

Nick Turley

Alan Osborne

John Davies (1933 Box Saloon)

Simon Rooney

David Birnage

Stuart Ulph

Chris Simpson

Cliff Bradshaw

We also have one volunteer for the support vehicle already 

So, if anyone else is interested please let me know. If anyone has done anything similar and has any advice, experience etc. Please feel free to let me know. Use the contact form on the right.. Thanks already to Malcolm Parker and Julian Hunt, who cant make the trip but has already provided a ton of useful info!

There are some articles on the right (supplied by Julian) that tell the stories from previous Mille Miglia related Italian trips.

One amusing thing so far is that when I plug the 1931 route into a route planner it comes out as 1147 miles and not the 1000 it should be... UPDATE: I have since been informed that a Miglia is the measure of 1000 Roman paces... This means that the route was not necessarily 1000 miles... I have re-done the route though and it came out at 1027 which is far more like it...

The image below shows the route: