Extending the summer season a little into the fall, everything served with a nice portion of "Italianità", beautiful routes, pasta, vino, gelati e espressi? Yes, it's possible - not just a dream! It's called the "Gran Premio Tazio Nuvolari", in honor of the great Mantovan racer, leads from Mantua via Pisa, on the second day to Rimini and ends with the third stage Rimini-Mantua on Sunday afternoon. This year marks the 20th edition of the Raduno.
300 teams from 15 nations with 40 car brands
The ideal car for this extended summer in the second half of September is red, open and preferably of Italian provenance. But it doesn't necessarily have to be: The two and a half days at this rally, which is held over a distance of almost 1,000 km and is by no means a coffee run - 60 special stages make sure of that - took over 300 teams from 15 nations on 40 different makes of car under their wheels. In terms of quality, it comes close to the Mille Miglia, but the route and difficulty are deliberately more moderate than in the rally of all rallies. And after all, it's supposed to be the end of the season ...
The museums of Audi (as the main sponsor) and Alfa Romeo opened their doors and brought the silverware to Mantua for the start. Stefano Agazzi from the Museo storicho hoped to have a serious say in the battle for overall victory with the pairing Salvinelli / de Marco(Alfa Romeo 6C 1500).
Scrutineering procedure for man and machine
Traditional procedure in the run-up to the GP Nuvolari: On Friday morning, the "Verifiche Sportive" and "Verifiche Tecniche" are on the program. Pilots and co-pilots waited patiently in the hallowed halls of Palazzo Té in Mantua on Friday morning, without grumbling, without pushing, but no less expectantly: after a short wait, they were served with all the documents entitling them to take part in the Gran Premio Tazio Nuvolari. A doctor certified full sanity (which, however, is questionable if you voluntarily take part in such a rally), physical and mental integrity and took thirty-five euros (what about mental integrity ...?) from everyone for the issue of a temporary license, followed by the verifiche tecniche, which was limited to checking whether all four wheels were mounted on the object of desire (meaning the classic car) and whether the chassis number was correct. Afterwards, the teams had to put the stickers on the car (as the Austrians say).
Stage Mantua-Pisa
Then, shortly before midday, Piazza Sordello, the traditional starting point, became a hive of activity. The bistro chairs in the piazza were fully occupied, road books, maps and calculators were spread out on the small tables. Special stages were calculated, clocks synchronized (the conservative teams still stop by hand) or computers fed (sometimes with an onboard camera in the wheel arch so that the monitor in the car can determine to the hundredth of a second when the front wheel touches the timing tube! In short: everything was prepared so that the first car could roll over the start ramp on time at 1.30 pm .
However, there was still a lot of (steering) work to be done before Pisa, the finish of the first stage, was reached. The compensation for this was a visit to the Varano race track and, in contrast to previous years, a modified route. The organizer chose significantly more side roads than before, and the corrosive evening traffic on the main roads was avoided - all to the delight of the participants. As darkness fell over the Nuvolari entourage, the roads via Viareggio to Pisa remained. Depending on the start number, it could well be almost midnight before you could go to bed in your hotel and get your adrenaline levels down ...
Main stage Pisa-Rimini
The main stage from Pisa to Rimini was ridden on Saturday. Beautiful landscapes, varied (side) roads with bends and bends and bends, long straights and carabinieri at the side of the road, who often closed their eyes when there was no other option, were the reward for the effort. As on the previous day, the main stage was peppered with a large number of special stages on which the specified times had to be adhered to as precisely as possible (and depending on the technical aids). In total, the "Gran Premio Tazio Nuvolari" was peppered with over 60 special stages! There were several highlights on this Saturday stage, which lasted around eleven hours and was then crowned by the banquet in the "Grand Hotel Fellini" in Rimini , such as the passages through the historic districts of Pisa, Siena (with the crossing of the legendary Campo), Volterra and Arezzo were unique, the spectators stood guard and the admiring comments were unmistakable.
The weather cooperated, it was sunny and hot. The cars in particular often reached the limits of what was bearable, with countless forced breaks at the roadside with open hoods testifying to the stress of the old sheet metal. The tow trucks provided by the organizers were also very busy, with pre-war models being the main beneficiaries of this service.
Final stage Rimini-Mantua
Getting up early on Sunday morning was rewarded with a picture-perfect sunrise! At the crack of dawn, we were asked to start the last stage from Rimini to Mantua. The route first led along the sea and then through the Po Valley on beautiful side roads with little traffic (with the highlight on an otherwise forbidden embankment road - kilometer after kilometer along the Po, simply sensationally beautiful).
The "entry of the gladiators" was thwarted by St. Peter of all people: after the first cars had rolled over the finish ramp, he opened his floodgates to a veritable Italian downpour. The large number of spectators were driven away or retreated under the arcades of the old town. So there was no applauding and cheering crowds at the roadside - the engine sound echoing off the old town houses fizzled out without any spectator spectacle.
The Gran Premio Tazio Nuvolari remained firmly in Italian hands in 2011. For a change, multi-series winner Giuliano Cané once again won with a Lancia Aprilia. And one thing is clear: Next year same place, same procedure as every year!
The sacred egginess
Simply unimaginable here: a large number of carabinieri on motorcycles accompanied the Gran Premio Tazio Nuvolari entourage. But not at all as the unsuspecting Swiss or the inclined reader of these lines would imagine. The task of the Carabinieri was not to point out the customs of the road traffic law to the participants and ensure that these were scrupulously observed. Rather the opposite: they sat at the head of groups of six to ten and made sure that slower motorists (or those who obeyed the law ...) were ultimately chased off the road using blue lights and sirens. The Nuvolari participants passed through the villages at a speed of 100 km/h - something that in Switzerland would end in a psychiatric ward with subsequent detention. Or the other way around: happy Italy ...!
Grande Casino Italiano
Even though the route has been made more attractive again this year, the stage locations in Pisa, Rimini and Mantova are each home to the typical Italian "grande casino". Most teams are dozens of minutes ahead of the official schedule and then have to wait for the entry time. This causes unimaginable chaos on the access road to the large old town piazza in Rimini and, above all, a long wait.
If the entry time was released, the participants with the higher start numbers would still have the chance to take a shower before attending the banquet - but this would also mean that the hotels would have to drastically shorten the check-in procedure. Often heard: A (helpless) receptionist who suddenly finds himself confronted with fifty impatient rally participants checking in ...
Big absentee
Luciano Viaro from Trieste, likeable multiple winner of the GP Nuvolari and the Mille Miglia, was absent this year. As is well known, he put an end to his life last winter. It is incomprehensible that the organizers did not plan a minute's silence or anything else reflective in memory of Viaro. In the spirit of "the show must go on". Too bad, too bad!
Results
1st Cané / Confalonieri (I), Lancia Aprilia
2. Vesco / Guerini (I), Fiat 508 Balilla
3. Fortin / Pilé (I), Fiat 600
4. Salvinelli / De Marco (I), Alfa Romeo 6C 1500
5. Cibaldi / Costa (I), Gilco Fiat 1100 Sport
6. Passanante / Gambardella (I), Lancia Aprilia
7. Mozzi / Biacca (I), Aston Martin Le Mans
8. Fontana / Ceccardi (I), Lancia Aprilia
9, Cavagna / Ferrari (I), Fiat 514 Mille Miglia
10. Ferrari / Ferrari (I), Bugatti 37th -
Also:
19. Müller / Manetsch (CH), Jaguar SS 100
83. Foglia / Tozzi (CH), Mercedes Benz 300 SL
89. Suter Roger / Goebel (CH), Aston Martin Le Mans.
Further results and background information can be found at www.gpnuvolari.it
