What do crews like Andrea Vesco / Andrea Guerini, Giovanni Moceri / Daniele Bonetti and Juan Tonconogy / Barbara Ruffini have in common? At first glance, there is not much, but if you remember the history of their performance at the Mille Miglia, the answer will be obvious: victories in the «most beautiful road race in the world» and a car of the same manufacturer — Alfa Romeo.
In May 2018, residents and tourists of the eponymous city of the Brescia province witnessed a magnificent sight. The Alfa Romeo 6c 1500 Gs «Testa Fissa» (1933), the Alfa Romeo 6c 1500 SS (1928) and the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS Zagato (1929) stood side by side after the finish of the legendary race, glorifying the Turin automaker.
A lot has changed since that day: the winners of that retro-rally Juan Tonconogy / Barbara Ruffini have not been at the start from 2020, Andrea Vesco will start in four days not with Andrea Guerini and not even with his father Roberto, with whom he became the best last October, but with Fabio Salvinelli. Yet, one thing remains unchanged: Alfa Romeo is once again claiming victory in the Red Arrow. Whether it will be the Alfa Romeo 6c 1500 SS driven by Giovanni Moceri or Andrea Vesco will lead the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS Zagato to the first step of the podium for the fourth time, will become known in a week.
Now you might think that we will try to predict the race after such an introduction, but you are going to be wrong then. We continue to talk about cars from the first person, and today three-time winner of the «Mille Miglia» Andrea Vesco will tell us about the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS Zagato.
«Alfa Romeo that we’ll use is really a great car, very powerful and good for the Mille Miglia due to the top coefficient. It is not so easy to drive through time control sections because of its peculiarity that makes it great when engine works on high throttle. But if a duo wants to win the Mille Miglia it must use a top coefficiented car, and they are not a lot available. So that’s the reason why top drivers chose OM, Lancia Lambda and Alfa Romeo: they are the only ones with max coefficient».
We should also remind that the car mentioned above belongs to the Hulsbergen family (the one founded Villa Trasqua and who is the main Mille Miglia vine distributor).