A Letter From Europe: The Sun Never Sets on the British Sports Car

To: Howard Goldman
From: Harry Newton
Subject: British Cars in the Mille Miglia… and a bit more!

Dear Howard: Before we left in May for Europe, you asked us for a report on some of the more interesting Mille Miglia entrants. We got that and a lot more. For example, in the Inter-Europa Cup historic races at Monza there was a Triumph TR4 so well prepared and so well driven that It passed a Zagato bodied Aston Martin DB4 GT midway through the nine lap race. Even so, an even quicker Austin Healey 3000 finished ahead of the Triumph, in fifth place behind a pair Ferraris and a pair of Jaguar E Types.

Among the drivers competing at Monza was a fellow named S. Moss, who once was an XK120 racer, but, at Monza he drove a Shelby Mustang. During May, Stirling also participated in the Mille Miglia and in the vintage races at Zandvoort. Then there was a trio of MGBs from Germany, plus another Austin-Healey, this from Austria. In the Mille Miglia, there was an MG A, #154, similar to those that competed in the race during its two final years, 195G and 1957. Fresh from its run in the Mille Miglia was an absolute beauty powered by an MG TF 1500 engine. How many readers recall the Kieft Sport CS? We do have a chronological problem here, as this car was listed as a 1953 model, which predates by a couple years the introduction of its powerplant. Minis monopolized the top five positions in the 1300cc class. One Morris Mini driver in particular, Renato Bulgarini, had a certain style, cranking his silver painted Mini into a drift as he downshifted for the Parabollca, and holding that angle throughout the 180° final turn that carries the racers back onto Monza’s long start/finish straight.

I regret reporting that there were no T series MGs competing in this event, nor were there any pre-WW II cars of any nameplate. We did see a quite nice TD with wire wheels outside the Monza paddock, and at Bellaglo on Lago dl Como, we saw a TF looking very much at home. There were TR2s aplenty, mostly in first class kit, and the same can be said as well for Jaguar XKs. An exception was a Swiss entered D Type we came across at scrutineering, sorry in the coachwork department, and looking as if it had gotten its flat black paint straight from a spray can. But. it was still in the hunt two days later as it traversed the tortuous Raticossa Pass south of Bologna.

Another Jaguar, this a RHD XK 140MC F”HC (don’t you love the alphabet soup), was driven in the Mille Miglia by the brothers Zanolini from Ferrara. major sponsors of this year’s Mille Miglia. In an interview they told us that there are several clubs in Italy comprised of British automobile buffs as avid as you can find anywhere. As we later learned from Silvestro Specchia, co-driver of TR 2, #176, many are-members of the English Car Club of Brescia, which is the historic home of the Mille Miglia. This year’s program recounted the TR2’s early racing history at LcMans, in the Alpine Rally, even in SCCA competition, as well as Ken Richardson and Maurice Gastonldes’ 20th place finish in the 1954 running of the Mille Miglia itself.

Another beautiful and historic Jaguar that ran in this year’s retrospective was a special bodied XK 120, #191. That car, originally raced by Clemente Blondetti in the 1950s, this year was co-driven by owners of Mille Miglia sponsor. Estral, a Brescia based high tech metal extruding company. There were several other Jaguar specials, including a splendid Lister and Peter Valentine’s HWM Godiva Jaguar, originally conceived to take the still born Coventry Climax V8 engine. Car #317 was a beautifully restored and prepared Jaguar C Type, represented as having been an Ecurle Ecosse team car in the 1950s.

At the scrutineering at Brescia’s Piazza Vittorla. we talked with Kurt Wilms, a German Jaguar collector who was participating for the fourth time in his 193CSS 100. Asked whether the rainy weather had dampened his spirits, Wilms commented that it often rains on the Mille Miglia retrospective, just as was the case between 1927 and 1957 when this was one of the most important events on the international championship racing calendar.

In the kissing cousin department, both events drew some pretty tasty entries, invictas, pre-war Rileys and Aston Martins. Lagondas and thunderous Bentleys made up a much appreciated part of the Mille Miglia’s 314 car field. Of the 69 British built entries, there were 2 Austin Healeys, 15 Jaguars. Triumphs and I MG. Augmenting this statistic is an unofficial -grouping known as “wannabes”. Over much of the 1,000 mile route from Brescia to Rome and back, several hundred sports cars and, motorcycles trail along, experiencing much the same nostalgic thrill as those who paid serious entry fees to participate with their pre-1958 thoroughbreds. Of course, no such age limitations apply to the “wannabes”, so their ranks
include many later model cars, like MGBs, Jaguar E Types and the like.

Finally, Howard, there was another competitor sporting the MG octagon at the Monza historic race meeting. This was an MG Liquid Suspension Special that Kjell Qvale entered at Indy in 1965. An enthusiast named Holer of Salzburg, Austria, purchased this piece of history four years ago and has raced the car several times since having its restoration carried out by Joe Huffaker. the car’s original builder. I hope your readers enjoy the enclosed David Gooley photographs that tell the story of our odyssey better than words ever could.

by Harry Newton