A snippet describing the Triumph TR 3 from Malta.

Football has its World Cup. Tennis has its Grand Slam. Modern cars have their Grand Prix – and old cars have the Mille Miglia. The icon of classic car competitions, this annual Italian event started in 1927 as a race on the normal roads from Brescia to Rome and back.

After 1957 the organisers turned the race into a rally for safety reasons. Only vehicles of the same type of cars that raced in the first 30 years of the event are eligible to participate.

Competition for places is cutthroat, as hundreds of applicants from all over the world vie for the limited number of available places.

Throughout the years, many Maltese aficionados dreamt of taking part in the Mille Miglia, but the logistics, physical and mental demands of the rally, as well as financial considerations, always kept them back.

However, in 1990, a Maltese team made up of Gaston Mifsud and Joseph Xuereb, accompanied by Albert Mamo, successfully applied to participate with a 1955 TR3 belonging to Gaston.

They became the first Maltese to be officially registered as Mille Miglia competitors.

The three men agreed on a division of the multiple tasks. Mifsud, the driver, primed the TR3 to the best of its abilities, and looked for and restored a trailer for it.

The TR3 that never quite made it to the Mille Miglia.

Xuereb, the co-driver, undertook the provision of a reliable tow car for the trailer and TR3 as well as to accompany the racing car. Mamo, the prospective tow car driver, focused on his forte – local and overseas insurance for all their vehicles. Come the second week of May 1990, the Maltese team, the TR3 – Mille Miglia registration number 243 – trailer and tow car boarded the ferry to Catania.

On the first day, as they proceeded to Messina, they noticed that the tow car – a Land Rover that had seen better days – was overheating. Next day, as they were continuing their way, the tow car broke a rear shaft.

Luckily they found a mechanic in the area and, after a while, they could move on.

They had not gone very far when the temperature of the tow car soared again, and to complicate matters, it was then the turn of the rear shaft on the other side to break.

The three men held a crisis conference, and having already lost too much time, they reluctantly decided to leave the TR3, trailer and tow car in a hotel in Messina, and drive to Brescia in a rented car.

The race organisers empathised heartily with the unlucky Maltese team, and consequently as compensation, invited them to enter the rally officially with their rented vehicle in the group of supporting cars that follow the participating old motors.

Mifsud, Xuereb and Mamo drove the leased vehicle along the official rally route as if they were driving the TR3.

Over the next three days, they journeyed from Brescia to Vicenza, to San Marino, then on to Rome, from where they returned to the starting destination.

On arrival in Brescia, they were involved in all the official functions, including dinner and presentation. After the closing ceremony, they made their way back to Messina, recovered the repaired tow car, and with the TR3 and trailer, travelled to Catania where they boarded the ship back to Malta without a hitch.

Malta remained without an official participant completing the Mille Miglia in a classic car – until recently. The man who changed all that is Joe Said – the owner of a Jaguar classic car collection – who many years ago had been mesmerised by the event as a spectator, and consequently applied, with Joseph Zammit Tabona as co-driver, to take part in the 2007 edition – with no success.

Traditional racing gear.

Determined, he put in his name again in January this year, and this time he was accepted. Preparing his black 1949 Jaguar XK 120 – Mille Miglia registration number 196 – his choice as co-driver fell on Claude Panesai, a close friend from Florence, who knew the Italian rally roads well.

Arriving in Brescia in mid-May, the Maltese team was in good time to take in the pre-rally social events, including a meeting for the 31 Jaguar teams. The lengthy scrutineering process followed, after which the rally drivers passed through the old centre of Brescia on their way to the first stage in Padova.

The next journey was a lengthy one to Rome, with a brief stop at San Marino. Bologna beckoned next, where Said, who did all the driving, and Panesai arrived on the third day. The fourth and final lap saw the participants leaving Bologna for Brescia.

The red carpet treatment was literally spread out on the roads in their honour

Averaging a speed of 60 mph, the Maltese team placed 220 out of 441 vehicles, a mid-race position in the event, which has now been significantly extended beyond its original distance.

Naturally, Said is thrilled to have fulfilled a long-cherished dream by taking part in this iconic event, as well as for being the first Maltese to have done so in an old vehicle.

Moreover, it gives him great satisfaction to have had his XJ 120 among the crème de la crème of the old motoring brigade, as well as having Malta included in the very small group of countries participating with one car only.

Both Said and Panesai – recalling their recent experience, as well as Mifsud, Xuereb and Mamo – rolling back the years and reminiscing with nostalgia nearly 20 five years after their attempt – are unanimous in describing the Mille Miglia as a unique experience.

They all picked up the reaction of the massive crowds of spectators everywhere, along the streets, in the centres, and in the countryside, as one of the highlights of the rally. Projecting the passion of Italian people for old cars, schools along the route were closed, enabling teachers and students to come out in force.

Italian hospitality reigned supreme, especially at the lavish social events both pre and post rally. One could hobnob at ease with VIPs from both the enter­tainment and the racing car worlds. Additionally during the rally, when the cars slowed down, the locals came forward presenting the participants with food and drinks, typical delicacies of their region.

The red carpet treatment was literally spread out on the roads in their honour. Even the police stopped traffic to help the participants, who could also go through red lights in order to proceed unhindered!

The Maltese teams also mentioned the element of danger, as the rally is run on normal roads, and accidents, sometimes fatal, do occur. But they say this does nothing to mar the myth of the Mille Miglia as a magical and indelible event, both for participants as well as spectators.