The fourteenth running of this classic charity event in Brescia.
By Charles Schoendorf
Photos by Dino Brunori
Give them umbrellas and it won’t rain. That was the strategy this year at Trofeo Aido. And it worked. Which is nice when most of the cars are open, not to mention the grueling mountain driving!
After competing in several wet events in Italy, our correspondent finally had a sunny day in his Arnolt-Bristol.
The northern Italian city of Brescia is the locale of two challenging vintage car rallys. The better known is the Mille Miglia where 375 pre-1957 cars grind out over 900 miles in two long days and an evening each May. But the better event for me is the Trofeo Aido where ninety or so pre-1960 cars cover 140 miles on a Sunday in September.
Salvinelli in the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante in the mountain passes.
As for the cars, name a popular marque and it was there: Ferrari, Lancia, Fiat, Alfa, Triumph, MG, Jaguar, Bentley, Porsche, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Lotus. Name an oddball marque and it was probably there: Amilcar, Arnolt, Stanguellini, Colli, OSCA. But my favorite wildcard of an entry was a beautifully presented Renault 4CV. Talk about a car that time has forgotten.
Colli 1100 entered by Brichetti, one of many etceterinis to enter the AIDO.
In honor of the 150th anniversary year of the unification of Italy, the advertised theme this year was that only cars in the Italian national colors of red, white & green need apply. This placed the two-toned red and white Arnolt Bristol entry of myself and co-pilot Marty Mercorelli at the height of acceptability. One team was so caught up in the spirit of the day they actually repainted a TR3 in the tri-colors.
So wait a minute…what’s up with all these blue cars, a grey one here, a maroon one there, and that silver one ? Event chief Dino Brunori (author of “Nardi, A fast life“) whispered aside, they are the sponsors, and this event has loads of them. That’s because the entire event is run on sponsorship as a 100% benefit for Aido, the Italian organ donation association. All food and beverage (lots of it and good) giveaways (also good ones, not just a spray bottle of detailer) and prizes for all teams (including half cases of high-end spumante brut and entire prosciutto legs, and even a couple of bicycles! ). And car entry is FREE ! No entry fee required, merely a request for voluntary charitable donations to Aido, which are happily made.
Gnutti's 340AM Ferrari cruises along the avenue. No lack of horsepower here.
The format was identical to last year: Saturday afternoon cars check-in and Sunday we drive, eat and drink all day into the night. Action starts and ends in Gardone Val Trompia, a suburb just north of Brescia. The big day starts at 8 am with a breakfast table and espressos. At 10 sharp the field of ninety-five cars roll out at twenty second intervals in upbeat Italian fashion, amid throngs of smiling and waving fans, cameras rolling and flashing, and entries announced by name over loudspeakers to rousing applause.
Party over, time to buckle down, follow the route book and rack up as few penalty points as possible in the twenty-five timed sectors. Morning leg was pretty, amid hills, mountains and vineyards in full sun. Lunch stop was at the Sparviere winery. Scenery, buffet, wine, all superb. Do we have to leave ? Only if we want to drive several miles along scenic Lake Iseo and then climb and descend two mountain passes to make the awards dinner that evening.
Mazzoldi's Stanguellini on the pass. Note the narrow path.
Italians are extraordinary road builders. They go over mountains that America would drive around or else fly over. The first pass, Croce Domini, was accomplished with a couple dozen switchbacks to climb over a mile of elevation change ! The second, Maniva, was less elevation change but included several miles of two way roads that were less than two cars wide. If the roads were flat and visibility good that would be okay, but they were neither. Fortunately Italian drivers know that when two cars meet they must cooperate and the more logical of the two vehicles will have to back up to a pull out. It works.
A more challenging and scenic way to spend a day driving 140 miles, sharing the road with other great cars, eating and drinking well, I can’t imagine.
At the closing dinner I caught up with Dino to compliment his top notch organizing and route book and to tell him how challenging we found the route, and to ask about attrition on such a difficult route. Dino, ever the joker, vowed “We will find all the cars in a day or two at the most.”
More Photos below.
The entrant's name is Ferrari; the car, of course is a Bugatti.
CIsitalia convertible entered by Leonesio.
Ermini with Gaburri at the wheel.
Gobbi with the Giannini 750 gets a round of applause.
Gilco was Ferrari's chassis supplier but also made a few cars. Here is Cibaldi with the Gilco.
Clemente Biondetti won the Mille Miglia four times. This is a Jag special owned by Biondetti, today driven by Perbellini.
Boglioli in the Maserati A6GCS looking for a parking spot?
The car is a Nardi Danese BMW but also originally called a 'Blatta' by the owner and driver Ugo Mauthe. Today owned by Mr. Bugatti.
Entered by Bocelli, this Rally was a sports car built in Colombes, France between 1927 and 1933. They were very advanced; some models had an 8 cylinder DOHC supercharged engine.
This 1957 Stanga 750 Sport was driven by Camillo Stanga in the Mille Miglia in this livery. Entered by Aime.