1000 Miglia 1932

About the Event

The 1932 Mille Miglia marked Alfa Romeo’s return to dominance following the defeat of the previous year by Mercedes-Benz. The Milanese marque fielded a strengthened works team featuring updated Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider Touring models for Rudolf Caracciola Pietro Bonini, Mario Umberto Baconin Borzacchini Amedeo Bignami, Tazio Nuvolari Giovanni Battista Guidotti, and Giuseppe Campari Carlo Sozzi. To contend among closed-body entries, Alfa also entered two 6C 1750 GTC Berlinetta cars bodied in Weymann style by Touring for Minoia Balestrieri and Cortese Marinoni.

Scuderia Ferrari, in its third Mille Miglia, entered multiple 8C 2300 Spider Zagato cars for drivers including Trossi Brivio, Tadini Bucci, Siena Taruffi, and Carraroli Ghersi. The team also entered 6C 1750 and 1500 GS Spider Zagato models for Scarfiotti, the Caniato brothers, Avanzo Severi, and others.

A wide variety of international entries included Bugatti (Varzi, Castelbarco), Talbot (Lewis Bernard), Mercedes-Benz (Broschek Sebastian), and Lancia specials. The under-1100 cc class saw Maserati, MG, and Fiat participation. Regulations for utility vehicles were tightened, requiring models to match a homologated list, resulting in numerous Fiat 514 MM and Bianchi S5 entries.

The race began under clear conditions at 8:00 a.m. From the outset, the pace was intense. Nuvolari led early, but incidents and mechanical failures soon removed Varzi, Nuvolari, and others. At Rome, Caracciola held the lead, but mechanical problems during the return leg forced his retirement. Campari also withdrew following a crash caused by co-driver error.

Borzacchini took the lead and secured victory in 14h 55m 19s, at a new record average speed of 109.884 km/h, driving an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider Touring. He was followed by Trossi Brivio in another 8C and Scarfiotti d’Ippolito in a 6C 1750 GS. The best closed car was Minoia Balestrieri’s 6C 1750 GTC (4th overall). The 1100 cc class was won by Tuffanelli Bertocchi in a Maserati 4CTR, while the fastest utility car was a Fiat 514 MM driven by Gilera Sartori.

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