The 1954 Mille Miglia (officially XXI Mille Miglia [1]), was a motor race open to Sports Cars, GT cars and Touring Cars. It was the 21st Mille Miglia and the third race of the 1954 World Sportscar Championship. The race was held on the public roads of Italy on 2 May 1954 using a route based on a round trip between Brescia and Rome, with the start and finish in Brescia.[2] It was won by Alberto Ascari driving a Lancia D24.
As in previous year, the event is not strictly a race against each other, as is a race against the clock. The cars are released at one-minute intervals with the larger professional class cars going before the slower cars, in the Mille Miglia, however the smaller displacement slower cars started first. Each car number related to their allocated start time. For example, Giuseppe Farina’s car had the number 606, he left Brescia at 6:06 am, while the first cars had started late in the evening on the previous day.[2]
The previous August, Italian racing legend Tazio Nuvolari died. As a mark of respect, the route of this race was changed to divert through Mantua, where he was a resident.[3]
- ^ "Programma Ufficiale, XXI Mille Miglia (1954), www.collectorstudio.com". Retrieved on 5 April 2015
- ^ a b "Mille Miglia 1954 - Racing Sports Cars".
- ^ "1954 Mille Miglia". 2 September 2010.