Page 14 - Paddock Life Issue 13 ADRENALINE

We continue up the road chasing the racers by the time we are in Ronciglione our top is down and we are back to hot sun.
It‘s fantastic to see the national pride in this event, people have put chairs outside their houses to watch the cars come past, roundabouts are lined with cheering fans, police hold traffic at junctions as we fly through, but when we enter the small villages it goes to an entirely different level. The narrow streets are lined with flag waving Italians cheering the cars through, we even got cheers and a high five in our little Fiat. As we exit the “closed“ village back into Saturday traffic we are following a white 1955 Maserati A6G Berlinetta Zagato and he is pushing hard, he makes a middle lane against oncoming traffic to pass a Mercedes 300SL Coupe
Gullwing, the Merc immediately pulls out to follow the Maserati past a slower Porsche Speedster and a Fiat 8V, we follow through staying with the faster paced cars. What followed was a quite spectacular road race as local traffic made room for these cars, sometimes running three abreast as we follow a 5 million pound race out of town and onto the open roads. Behind me is a media badged Audi RS6 respectfully giving me room as I sweep from curb to curb, with Jenny hanging out of the side snapping away.
This goes on for maybe 40 minutes before we peel off past a marshalled check point for a time check. A quick chat with the driver of the Maserati and we are off to tag on behind another group. It‘s time for lunch so as we drive through the stone archway
entering San Quirico d’Orici and follow a silver Mercedes through the narrow fan lined streets I see a cafe on our left and a small stone forecourt ahead on the right so I swing in and park. We walk back to the cafe, obviously full, but a party of ten German Mille Miglia fans allow us to join their table as they cheer the cars through, a little louder for the BMW, Mercedes and Porsche‘s naturally...
The café owner brings us cold drinks and a delicious bowl of pasta, we eat and take a 30 minute break outside Osteria Del Cardinale as we watch the cars pass, a little Fiat Topolino getting one of the loudest cheers.
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