World Class Motoring Celebrates a Time-Honored Italian Endurance Race

The World Class Motoring lot on Chesebro Rd. was filled with BMWs, Porsches and Fiats on Wednesday evening as part of a celebration for the first-ever North American Mille Miglia, open-road endurance race, “considered the Superbowl of Motor Sports in Italy,” according to Ned Sands, the Vice President of Advertising Sales and Sponsorships at Stratus Media Group, which is organizing the rally.

For many years, the 81-year-old event was an actual race, but several decades ago, it was changed to a rally for safety reasons, said Sands. It starts in Brescia, Italy and goes all the way down the coastline for 1,000 miles. It has only taken place in Italy—until now, he said.

“The California coastline is beautiful,” said Sands. “People in California love their cars, so it’s a great marriage of the two.”

Sands said that the car organizations wanted to branch out to other countries, bringing the Mille Miglia tradition around the world. There will be an Australian Mille, a Chinese Mille and a Japanese Mille in the coming years, he said.

North America's Mille Miglia begins in Monterey on August 14. The route travels down the coastline to Santa Barbara and then back up to Monterey on August 17.

“It’s a fantastic event, because just like in Italy, you get treated like royalty as you go through these different towns on the road,” said Fred LoBianco, President of World Class Motoring. “If I ever get the chance to either be a passenger or have a car that can participate in it, I’d jump at the chance.”

LoBianco said the event is special because the cars allowed are year-specific–must date from 1927 to 1957. They usually have to be European as well, but the Mille Miglia committee is making an exception to allow American cars at the first North American event.

“It’s captains of the industry, multi-millionaires and billionaires driving these vintage, multi-million dollar cars,” said Sands. “And it’s thousands and thousands of people lining the streets on the 38 different stops that they do with the red Mille flag, which is the symbol of the Mille. 

It has a great heritage and a rich history, and that’s what we’re trying to do out here, said Sands

That tradition started in 1927 when two guys decided to race down the Italian coastline to decide once and for all whose car was better. In their Ferraris and Fiats, they “pretty much knocked down everything in their way—people, trucks, whatever, everything,” said Sands. 

It has since become a world-class event.

“In the old days, when they raced, you had the top Grand Prix drivers and road race drivers in the world competing in the most iconic vehicles, from Gullwing SLR Mercedes to … early Ferraris,” LoBianco said. “It was the event.” 

LoBianco was happy with the turnout at his store. World Class Motoring has a “Big Wednesday” event the last Wednesday of each month during Daylight Savings time. Mille Miglia was just one of a series of themes for this year.

“We like to pay attention to the romance of driving,” said LoBianco. “It isn’t so much the car or the mark, but we’re in a fantastic place. This is a holy land for sports car driving.”