Prestigious 1000 Millas Sport

With a tight organization and the best scenes on the roads close to Bariloche, the 1000 Millas Sport competition showed off its fantastic cars that seem not to have experienced the passing of time and let their drivers enjoy an exceptional race.

Starting at the magnificent Llao Llao Hotel, with Mount López watching over the first meters of the circuit, we accompanied the competitors along some of the roads in the area. What is singular about this activity is that it takes place following road rules, without interrupting the normal circulation of vehicles.

All along three stages, we observed how these small machines performed with great power sorting out present day cars with great cubic capacity. Stunned, many unready travelers watch a 1926 Bugatti, an Alfa Romeo GT or a Maserati -all sport vehicles- overcome them.

Having found our position by the road with our cameras, we were focusing on the very moment in which our sight would compete with our ear in order to see and hear the passing vehicles and the roaring engines. Both cars and drivers boasted that extra dash of elegance that completed the perfect performance at the wheel.

And so they drove along the roads amidst mountains, undulations, plentiful rivers and small dreamed-of spots in the southern lands, where nature, flowers and the yellow gorges and blue lupines impressed us all.

“Where do they get spare parts for these engines? They were made either in 1921 or in 1935?”, was one of the most common questions made by fans of four-wheel sports when they managed to approach the drivers at the technical stops.

The most common answer was that cars are completely dismantled between one race and the next and some spare parts come from the USA and Europe. The rest is lathing and milling based on the original pieces. This is a competition among friends and during lunch or dinner, the general topic is the mechanics of their "toys" -as they call them- and their previous presentations.

La corsa piu bella del mondo

We learned that sports cars are ratified by FIVA (Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens). They are grouped in teams and some related gentleman drivers use the same organization (mechanics, shopping, maintenance, shuttles, etc.). Comradeship prevails over sports results.

Finishing first does not mean winning the race, as there is a handicap and drivers' abilities and expertise in short technical stretches are awarded. During the laps, drivers must cover a short stretch between two marks fixed on the ground in the time previously stated and the hundredth of seconds during which good or bad moves are done are highly valuable.

Most cars were convertible and the weather conditions were not precisely favorable. The drivers resorted to caps or ski hats according to their car model, made of leather and tightly covering their head, in the best style of great pilots like Juan Manuel Fangio.

During the race, some drivers showed their gentlemen manners by providing assistance to other competitors stranded on the side or the road due to some mechanic inconvenience either with their expert hands or those of their assistants.

The female presence was felt in some pairings in which the copilot was a woman and also in a car that crossed the finish line in a very good position, driven by a woman without any companion.

A funny anecdote to stand out is the age of the cars as compared to some modern elements they carry on board, such as Go Pro cameras, GPS, cell phones or iPhones.

"Coming back to Bariloche has been very special. It was nice to enjoy the scenes, the trials, everything...” “It seems easy but it is not, especially having great drivers like Giordano Mozzi, champion of the Mille Miglia 2011, Daniel Erejomovich and the Acevedos, well-deserved Argentinian champions.” Deep words by a three times champion: Juan Tonconogy together with his copilot Guillermo Berisso.

Beholding these machines that seem to have remained in time is unique and it happens in the vast geography of Patagonia late in November.

Club de Automóviles Sport
Address: 820, Simon de Iriondo Street – Victoria – Province of Buenos Aires
Email: info@1000millas.com