Mille Miglia Day 1 – Rich with Heritage

A lengthy ceremony was required each time the 212 was moved. After the 212 was moved from the scrutineering area, it was was brought to tech and sealing in the Plaza de Loggio – and while there, developed its first problem of the event: a non-start condition. True to form, everywhere 0086E goes, an impromptu entourage of press, enthusiasts, and other competitors gathers. When something goes wrong, concern breeds interest and suddenly the Ferrari 212 that won’t start has a healthy audience. Take the bonnet off the car to diagnose the problem and the swarm thickens.

The culprit seemed like a simple over-fueling condition. Something that many cars suffered from the first night of the event. During the course of 270 kilometers to Bologna, many cars ran uncharacteristically rich, the follow vehicle of Peter Markowski and I, had to increase our following distance off the 212. Peter joked that we’re weren’t using any fuel because our Opel Zafira 1.7 turbo diesel was likely just running off the 212’s fuel soaked exhaust. A 1930’s Mercedes passed us and the problem only worsened – we could barely breathe and dropped back.

With the rate of the fuel consumption out of the tailpipe 0086E ran out of fuel just 30k from Bologna, and when refueled, the rich running, and cantankerous running at part throttle seemed to evaporate. Bologna came into view and we left the 212 for the night at 3am. The pilot and navigator of the 212 retired for the night, and so did we.