1961 Mille Miglia

The 1961 Mille Miglia, held on 27–28 May, marked the final attempt to revive Italy’s most iconic road race in a competitive format. After a one-year hiatus, the event returned under the regularity/velocity hybrid formula already seen in the 1958 and 1959 editions. However, in this iteration, significantly more emphasis was placed on timed speed trials, which accounted for nearly 400 km—a record under the new format.

The total route spanned 1,576 km, comprising 388.75 km of timed stages and 1,187.25 km of regularity-controlled transit. Among the most notable changes was the inclusion of a circuit race at Monza, where competitors completed 25 laps of the 5.75 km road course, totaling 143.75 km—by far the longest single speed section of the rally. This marked a return to high-speed competition closer in spirit to the original Mille Miglia.

The remaining speed sections included famous Alpine and Apennine passes such as Passo della Cisa (38 km), Cerreto (18.5 km), Abetone (12 km), Futa–Raticosa (64 km), Passo Rolle (25.5 km), Passo della Mendola (13.6 km), Campo Carlo Magno (16 km), and two closing laps of the Barghe–Brescia loop (2 x 28.7 km).

Gunnar Andersson and Carl Lohmander, driving a Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta (2953 cm³), emerged victorious with a total time of 3 hours, 32 minutes, and 53.8 seconds over the competitive segments, at an average speed of 109.560 km/h.

Despite its ambitious structure, the 1961 Mille Miglia proved to be the final edition of the original race, marking the end of a legendary era in motorsport. Increasing safety concerns, logistical complexity, and the evolving nature of racing ultimately led to its discontinuation in favor of track-based competition.