Mille Miglia 1948 ? Race Numbers

In the “Bari GP 1948” thread we realized that the race numbers of this event had been totally crazy, ranging from 1 to 726 with only 17 starters. First idea was that competitors raced with the numbers they had on their cars from previous events, but this did not fit to all of them. Then the idea came up that some numbers are identical with that of the Mille Miglia 4 weeks earlier, and Vitesse2 believes these numbers have something to do with the drivers resp. their racing licence numbers.
I converted the result list of the 1948 MM into an entry list by race number, which included also the non-finishers and even the non-starters. This list can be found here (doc file):
http://www.netcologn...iles/1948MM.doc
The result is astonishing.

The numbering from 1 to 798 has considerable gaps, whereas from 1001 to 1051 the numbers are nearly complete. Strange are 1060, 1070, 1090, and 1097.
All drivers who competed also at the Bari GP had the same numbers than at the MM, and all the other starters at Bari cannot be found at the MM entry list, neither by name nor by number. Exceptions are Righetti (but he entered the MM only as co-driver to Sterzi), Landi (# 38 at Bari which was Quadri’s number at the MM), and Nuvolari (Bari # 6, MM # 1049). For the Apertura GP at Vercelli on May 9 unfortunately I have only 2 numbers available, Sterzi # 178, and Righetti # 27, but also these numbers are identical with that of the MM.

I tend to follow the theory of Vitesse2, that the MM starting numbers in 1948 had been based on the licence numbers of the drivers, hence the large gaps which probably are drivers not participating. To all drivers entered the MM without existing licence the organizers obviously gave numbers from 1001 onwards, which would explain that this number block is nearly complete. Nuvolari at the MM had the r/n 1049, which could have 2 possible reasons:
1) I cannot find any 1948 entry for him earlier than the MM, so may be he had no licence yet (btw, did Tazio really need a licence?),
2) The car he raced at the MM was that of Prince Troubetskoy, so may be it was originally his starting number.
But why Nuvolari at Bari had the 6 then? This would support theory 2 above.
Landi at Bari had the # 38, which was used at the MM by Quadri, however, Landi was foreigner, most probably without Italian licence, so the organizers gave him any free number. Also at the MM there had been a few foreign entries, with numbers within the 1-726 block, either these drivers applied for Italian licence already earlier that year, or the organizers gave them “free” numbers.

The interesting thing is that the starting numbers of the 1947 Mille Miglia obviously are standard, ranging from 1 to 240, and that of the 1949 MM have the wellknown structure of starting time = race number.

A couple of questions arise out of this:
(1) Can anybody confirm that the 1948 MM numbers are based on driver’s licence number or any similar system?
(2) Besides the MM, Bari, and Vercelli, at which other events this system was used?
(3) Why was this system used, and why – most probably – only in 1948?
(4) What was the physical starting order at the 1948 MM? As per race number minute by minute, or by classes?

And last but not least, somewhat off-topic, but what was the real sense of the co-drivers at the MM in those years? We all know that Jenkison in 1955 used something like an early version of a rallye roadbook, but a.f.i.k. he was the first one assisting his driver in such a way. Was the co-driver a navigator? Or a mechanic? Or was it allowed to change driving during the race? Or all of that?

According to the Official Nuvolari website, Tazio only raced four times in 1948: Mille Miglia, Monaco, Bari and Mantua (Coppa Nuvolari) plus a stint in Villoresi's car in the French GP. There is a photograph in Gallery 5, showing him at Mantua in a car clearly numbered 2, so it would appear that that race does not conform, unless, as you say Michael, Nuvolari perhaps didn't need a licence!!

BTW Michael, thanks for your hard work on this: I came up with the theory at 11.30pm and had to be up at 4.30am the next morning, so couldn't follow it up as far as you have ...

I started on this already when Alessandro came up with the starting numbers list from Bari, and some of them had been as high as typical MM numbers. I checked my files, but besides the MM, Bari, and Vercelli I could not find any other event using the same system, however, my files are of course not complete. Interesting is that alle these 3 races took place within 4 weeks, so may be the MM organizers invented it, and Vercelli and Bari followed, and then the whole thing has been dropped again. May be Nuvalori complained at Bari that he will not race with such a stupid race number like 1049 in a field of 17, I don't know. However, principally the idea was not that bad, because the drivers didn't need to remove old number and paint a new one. Remember, this was the time before such nice things like PVC foil was invented.

Originally posted by Michael Müller
And last but not least, somewhat off-topic, but what was the real sense of the co-drivers at the MM in those years? We all know that Jenkison in 1955 used something like an early version of a rallye roadbook, but a.f.i.k. he was the first one assisting his driver in such a way. Was the co-driver a navigator? Or a mechanic? Or was it allowed to change driving during the race? Or all of that?

Michael

The answer is probably "all of the above".

I have read of a number of instances in the early days of the Mille Miglia of the two occupants sharing the driving. It was along, tiring drive in thos days and two good drivers surely would have an advantage.

The co-driver also often was a mechanic - for obvious reasons. Not all drivers knew how to work on cars and the cars of those days had their problems (especially when the driver hit something!).

On the third point. I once did a lot of research on pace notes - triggered by the oft-written theory that Denis Jenkinson invented them. I found evidence (even photographic) of the use of notes in the Carrera Panamericana Mexico races 1950-1954, in early Mille Miglias, even in Australian city-to-city record runs of the 1920s.

Though I haven't yet found proof, it would not surprise me to find there were some basic notes made for the very earliest Paris-Wherever races of the 1890s and 1900s

This race number system seems to be unique, so really no comments or more info here ...?

Michael, if your call for help regards me also as the one Italian on this Forum, the answer is that I haven't the faintest idea about.
There is an easy way though: Auto Italiana late 1947/early 1948. I do not have it and the problem is that I should drive 750 kms to go to Turin and give a look. Probably somebody around here has it; if a translation is needed, I'll volunteer for that.

If even Alessandro has no idea, we obviously have a problem ...

I cannot answer Michael's questions but I can add one more example. Scagliarini who had at MM48 number 15 had also number 15 at sports car race at Vercelli. Unfortunately, I have no other numbers from that race.

As for the starting order, I always thought they started in class-by-class order in 1948 but I am not quite sure.

Hello Martin, nice to have you here.
As said earlier in this thread, besides the MM only Bari and Vercelli seem to have adopted this numbering system. For Vercelli I have only Sterzi (# 178) and Righetti (# 27).

Hello Michael,
I really tried to help you but I haven't enough knowledge even as a sportscar specialist. Scagliarini raced in Sports 1100 race in Cisitalia (very likely the same car as at MM) but Sterzi or Righetti aren't listed among my 16 known (or all) starters. So I assume both ran in Formula 2 race same day. I am not sure if Gran Premio di Apertura was title of the whole meeting or just the F2 race.
I believe the more race numbers we would have the more confirmation we would get that they were unchange for these three meeting.
However, I don't know if in Italy there were only about 700 drivers with a valid licence. In my sportscar database I have in 1948 about 500 Italian driven plus some 130 with unknown nationality of which two thirds are perhaps also from Italy.

The starting order in the 1948 Mille Miglia was by car classes, broadly with the slowest first and fastest last in the usual manner. However, peculiarly, the numbering was all over the map. The first starter was 257, the second 710 and the third 1006 for example. The last was 364. Only in 1949 did the race adopt the system of numbers linked to the starting time, although a variant of this was used in 1940.

This is from the Canestrini book on the race, which shows the starters, times and finishers of all the Mille Miglias

I think Karl's post may take us a little closer to solving this one...

Alessandro: you mention Auto Italiana as a solution and explain your difficulty with checking it out, which I can quite understand. However, I wonder if there might be another, perhaps simpler, alternative.

So, a few questions: is the Italian national racing authority today the same organization as in 1948? If so, is it not possible that they might keep records of drivers racing licences?? Or, if the authority has changed, does the older one still exist along with its records?

If the answer to any of these questions is "yes" then a letter or e-mail to their archivist might provide an answer and as I think you are probably the only Italian around here it would probably look well if it came from you ....

Of course, you may already have asked these questions yourself and dismissed this line of enquiry as a non-starter, but sometimes the obvious is overlooked ...

Originally posted by karlcars
The starting order in the 1948 Mille Miglia was by car classes, broadly with the slowest first and fastest last in the usual manner. However, peculiarly, the numbering was all over the map. The first starter was 257, the second 710 and the third 1006 for example. The last was 364.

Hmm, seems not to be really "slowest-fastest". 257 and 710 had been FIAT 1100, with a whole bunch of FIAT 500 still to come, and 364 was a Lancia Aprilia with (for me) unknown driver, although the field included also Ferraris, Maseratis, and big Alfas, with "fast" drivers at the wheel.

Michael: perhaps the starting order was determined by drawing lots within classes? So all the (say) under 1100cc starters would go into the hat first, which would mix up Fiat 500s with Stanguellinis: it should be fairly easy to check from Karl's records, especially if he has class results as well.

Based on my info there had been 750, 1100, 2000, and 2000 + classes. So the first 2 starters had been from 1100 class, and the third from 750 class.

MM48:
I also agree with starting numbers that Karl has written.

I am not sure if cars started in following order but I believe it was like this:
1) Touring 1100
2) Sports 750
3) Touring over 1100
4) Sports 1100
5) Mix of Sports 2000 and Sports over 2000

Cars within one class didn't start in number order. (257, 710, 1006, 1007, 1002, 768, 1003, 435, 1005, 428, 697, 516, 448, 791, etc.)

Martin and Karl, I don't have the listing, but you obviously do: the numbers Martin has posted are all within the first class he quotes. So, can you draw a line through the list above which all the cars are in class 1? And below it in class 2? Are there breaks between other classes as well? Relative speeds would probably mean that starting even 750cc sports behind 1100cc touring cars would soon have the fastest sports cars mixing it with the midfield tourers: just what the MM was supposed to be about! On the other hand, this numbering system would give spectators no idea what was going on, unlike the 1949 system ...

Karl Ludvigsen was so nice and sent me the starting list of the 1948 Mille Miglia by Telefax, I scanned it and put it on my server, it can be viewed and downloaded here:
http://www.axos.nl/r...-MM-Start-1.jpg
http://www.axos.nl/r...-MM-Start-2.jpg
http://www.axos.nl/r...-MM-Start-3.jpg
http://www.axos.nl/r...-MM-Start-4.jpg

The classes and the corresponding starting times had been:
Touring up to 1100 cc - 0.01-0.27 h
Touring more than 1100 cc - 0.40-1.21 h
Sports up to 750 cc - 1.30-2.08 h
Sports up to 1100 cc - 2.20-3.35 h
Sports more than 1100 cc - 3.50-4.39 h

Therefore the first starters are FIAT 500 and 1100 mixed, because there was no 750 cc touring class. However, on which criteria they arranged the starting times within the classes is still a mystery.

Michael

While looking for the Targa Florio numbers, I came across Canestrini's book with the starters and numbers for the 1948 Mille Miglia. I looked up this thread to scan and send them, only to find Karl had beaten me by a few days.

I can now give an answer to the weird numbering system in 1948 Italian races. As somebody surmised, drivers were allocated fixed numbers for the season.

" The allocation of fixed numbers to drivers has created a lot of confusion among timekeepers, mainly in circuit racing. The numbers were often four digits ones, as already the Motorcycle Federation was doing for bikers that -though - were divided between first and second category - and did not race together - and the numbers were function of the placing in the previous year championship. For car drivers, numbers were given at random, a special committee appointed for this task notwithstanding..."

Very Italian. The system was dropped by mid-season.

Alessandro:

It's nice to have a theory proved half right ....