Fresh from an unrivalled one-two victory at Monaco’s prestigious Historique Grand Prix, JD Classics returned to Italy once again for the 2018 Mille Miglia. Now in their fourth year of gold sponsorship, JD Classics campaigned 11 customer cars as they tackled the gruelling 1000-mile rally throughout the Italian countryside.
Arriving on the Monday, all 11 cars and drivers alike had to pass through driver signing on and scrutineering before being allowed to take part and with all completed smoothly, competing crews, some of which who had travelled as far afield as America, were then able to spend some quality time familiarising themselves with the car and the Italian roads before the event began on Wednesday afternoon. Also hosting their own hospitality lounge within the Fiera di Brescia where administrative checks took place, JD Classics offered hospitality to all competitors during the two days of signing on /scrutineering beforehand.
Before being able to take part in the rally, all cars and drivers must complete the administrative checks before being given their road books and car stickers.
Wednesday morning and the JD Classics cars convoyed down into the centre of Brescia for the official sealing ceremony, another rite of passage that all 450 participating cars must complete before the start of the event in which a metal ring is sealed around the steering column of each car, a tradition of which stems back to the event’s early years.
The eleven JD Classics entries included three Jaguar XK120s, two Jaguar XK140s, a Porsche 356, Lincoln Capri, AC Ace and a one-of-two Aston Martin DB2 Bertone Spyder all of which had spent the many months before the event being carefully prepped by JD Classics’ 65 in house specialists to ensure each car was meticulously prepared for the challenging 1000 miles that lay before them.
Come Wednesday afternoon and the extensive field of unique and rare classic cars lined up along Brescia’s Viale Venezia to head over the start ramp as the 2018 Mille Miglia got underway. With JD Classics’ dedicated support crews following each competing car throughout the event, the cars left Brescia and headed towards the Italian coastline and to the rally’s first overnight stop in Milano Marritima.
Cars departed from Brescia on Wednesday afternoon as the field headed down towards the first overnight stop of Milan Marittima.
With all cars continuing to run well, the rally continued down towards Rome on Thursday. One of the longer days of driving, competitors spent a gruelling 15 hours travelling to the half way point. Friday’s leg started to return the field back up towards Brescia but not before stopping in Parma on the rally’s penultimate day. As per previous years, each JD Classics car is provided with dedicated crews who worked on each car at every overnight stop into the early hours to ensure the car was at its finest for the rally’s next stage.
Saturday’s final shorter leg was another day of typically fine Italian weather as the field began to make their final approach back into Brescia and towards the rally’s finish line.
Crowds regularly line the streets throughout the 100 mile rally to welcome the extensive array of unique and rare classic cars.
With a 20 percent retirement rate, the Mille Miglia puts these classic cars through their paces tackling gruelling terrain and several hours of relentless driving, however in spite of this, JD Classics were pleased to welcome all 11 cars over the finish line to complete another fantastic Mille Miglia for JD Classics in 2018.