Mille Miglia 16th-19th May, 2018
The Mille Miglia is often informally known as ‘the most beautiful race in the world’, taking in 1000 miles of historic and beautiful Italy in a collection of rare and exquisite classic cars. JD Classics is a gold sponsor of the event, campaigning 11 in-house and customer cars – the largest number of entries from any single classic car specialist.
With 1000 miles of tough driving to be done – often with stints of around 12 hours or longer – the Mille Miglia requires serious preparation. In fact, around 20% of competitors don’t even make it to the finish line, such are the demands placed on both car and driver.
Before being carefully transported to the start point in Brescia, each of the JD Classics entries has spent months being carefully fettled by the expert engineers and craftsmen at JD Classics’ Maldon HQ. It’s the part of the reason that every single JD Classics entry over the last three years has made it to the finish line without serious fault.
Suspension and braking systems have been totally overhauled, gearboxes have been totally stripped and rebuilt, engines have been partially dismantled and thoroughly checked. Every possible thing that could go wrong has been checked and – if necessary – replaced. It’s all about delivering the faultless experience that JD Classics customers expect.
Lining up at the starting point this year in Brescia will be the JD Classics-prepared AC Ace, Lincoln Capri, Aston Martin DB2 Bertone Spyder and a number of Jaguars, including XK120s, XK140s and a MkVIII. As part of JD Classics complete Mille Miglia package, each of these cars is transported to, and picked up from, the event.
But the JD Classics support doesn’t end there. Each car will receive its very own team of technicians and a support van carrying spare parts and spares of spares. The team is prepared for anything, and will work through the long nights to ensure each car is running perfectly at the start of every day.
Run as a time trial continuity event, rather than a race, drivers and their navigators must carefully negotiate some of Italy’s most beautiful roads, taking in Siena, Rome, San Marino, and more. Tasked with keeping a set average speed between points, competitors require supreme concentration to be successful.