1000 Miglia 1949

About the Event

The first of the 303 cars taking part in the 16th edition of the Mille Miglia got under way from Brescia at one-minute after midnight on 24 April 1949, with just 182 crews making it to the finish after covering 996 miles.The route did not include the familiar passes of Futa, Raticosa and Furio and, for the first time in its history, was run in an anti-clockwise direction. To compensate, a new high-speed section was added, following the coast between Pescara and Ravenna.FIAT dominated the entry list (96 cars) followed by Lancia (44 cars) while, just two years after making their debut, Ferrari were now favourites to win with nine cars, driven by the likes of Piero Taruffi, Clemente Biondetti, Felice Bonetto, Franco Cortese and Giovanni Bracco. The opposition was provided by a single Alfa Romeo, three Maseratis, and three Frazer-Nashes, one being the Le Mans winner. Geoffrey Healey and Donald Healey drove cars of their own manufacture, with a third shared by Cohen and Hignett, however, this car unfortunately crashed soon after the start, killing both occupants.

Bonetto took an early lead with teammate Cortese, chasing hard until mechanical problems forced his retirement. By Rome (half-way) Ferrari were 1-2-3 with Bonetti still enjoying a four-minute lead. Perhaps through overdriving his car, Bonetto then began to slow and was overtaken by Taruffi, followed by Biondetti, but Taruffi retired almost within sight of the finish leaving Biondetti the winner in a time of 12h 07m 05s. Bonetto was runner-up, albeit 28 minutes in arrears. The winning average speed was 82.2mph. The British team of Geoffrey Healey and Tommy Wisdom took a well-deserved 10th place overall and won their class.

Most liked pictures of the event