Thursday, September 10, 2009

LCP DÉJA VUE?

As I watched this video I couldn't help but see a resemblance with La Carrera Panamericana. As a matter of fact it you didn't know the difference you might just think it was La Carerra Panamericana. With the old cars, police escorts, hundreds of thousands of spectators, breathtaking scenery, beautiful architecture, the only thing missing was SPEED but it's quite an amazing event none the less.

Not to be confused with Rally 1000 Miglia, the Mille Miglia (Thousand Miles) was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before the war, eleven from 1947). Like the older Targa Florio and later the Carrera Panamericana, the MM made Gran Turismo (Grand Touring) sports cars like Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Porsche famous.

The race was banned after the fatal crash of a 4.2-lire Ferrari in 1957 that took the lives of the Spanish driver Alfonso, Marquis of Portago, his co-driver/navigator Edmund Nelson, and thirteen spectators. The crash was probably caused by a blown tire. The manufacturer was blamed and sued for this, as was the Ferrari team, which, in order to save time, had not changed tires. From 1958 to 1961, the event resumed as a Rallying-like round trip at legal speeds with a few special stages driven at full speed, but this was discontinued also. Since 1977, the name was revived as the Mille Miglia Storica, a parade for pre-1957 cars that takes several days, which also spawned the 2007 documentary film Mille Miglia - The Spirit of a Legend.

As you can see LCP and MM have a lot in common but to a true racer we all know LCP has found it's true place in history as the TRUE spirit of a legend. If someone told me they saw Edwardo Leon on a plane headed to Italy I would begin to get very excited.




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