Vintage cars and dream supercars are the protagonists of the eleventh edition of the WinteRace among the passes and hairpin bends of the Dolomites, starting and finishing from Cortina d’Ampezzo. The star of the event is the rare Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Le Mans driven by Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin and Earl Howe, and later owned by Marshal Italo Balbo
It is theAlfa Romeo 8C 2300 Le Mans of 1932, directly from the Dutch collection of the Metropole Museum Druten, the queen of this eleventh edition of the WinteRace. A car that clearly displays on its red livery and Touring bodywork the legendary names of some of the drivers who drove it in its first decades of life: Sir Henry Tim Birkin, Earl Howe, Italo Balbo and Johnny Wakefield. It will be his powerful one eight cylinders in line designed by Vittorio Jano to thunder through the hairpin bends of the Dolomites on March 8 and 9 in the two stages of 200 kilometers each: the famous regularity race registered in the Asi calendar is made even more evocative this year by the heavy snowfalls of recent days. Seventy crews at the start, coming from all over the world, with Belgians, Dutch and Mexicans in the lead, divided into two categories: the “classic” one reserved for cars built before 1999, and the more comfortable one of the special “Icon” section, reserved for cars considered to be points of reference in global automotive production.
the story is told
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A page of automotive history and culture that is relived among the hairpin bends of the Dolomites: emotions that take us back to an unforgettable 24 hours of Le Mans, that of 1932, with three Alfa Romeo 8C 2300s officially lined up by the Alfa Romeo brand, and a fourth, of a private team, with the “Bentley Boy” Sir Tim Birkin at the wheel, determined to challenge the most feared endurance race in the world no longer with an English car, but with the most powerful and promising Italian model of the time. The same Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spyder Lungo that leaves the Dutch collection of the Metropole Museum in Druten today returns to Italy with the crew of Frans van Haren and Mirjam van Ooijen on board. Parade together with some of the most iconic pre-war cars of those years, such as the 1926 Fiat 509 S, first starting from the Corso Italia platform, followed by the 1927 Bugatti Type 37 of Alessio De Angelis and Massimiliano Paglione, and the Fiat 514 Sport from 1930 by Gianmario Fontanella and Annamaria Covelli. The heavy snowfalls of the last few days have created the best setting for this perfect mix of automotive culture and glamour, which makes the event conceived and organized by Rossella Labate – registered in the Asi calendar on behalf of the Circolo Veneto Auto Moto d’Epoca Giannino Marzotto – one of the most appreciated on the international scene.
route and times
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The 70 crews registered for the WinteRace set off on Friday 8 March at 9.00 from Cortina d’Ampezzo: fifty are driving historic cars built before 1999, while around twenty have chosen the comfort of the special Icon section, reserved for cars considered iconic points of reference of global automotive production, from the latest Aston Martin DB12 and Aston Martin Dbx 707 brought by Aston Martin Verona, to the Lamborghini Aventador, Maserati Cielo, Porsche 992 Turbo S and an imposing Volkswagen Amarok freshly launched on the Italian market. The first stage is approximately 200 kilometers and includes the crossing of the Falzarego, Gardena, Pinei, Nigra, Costalunga and San Pellegrino passes, with stops in Val Gardena, Vigo di Fassa, Moena, to return to Cortina at 5.30 pm for the parade and presentation at public of cars. We start again at 9.00, again from Corso Italia, on Saturday 9 March, for another stage of around 200 kilometers which leads from Forcella Staulanza to Pieve di Cadore, to continue towards Auronzo, Passo di Sant’Antonio, Passo Monte Croce Comelico, San Candido, Dobbiaco, and go up towards Lake Misurina, with a subsequent passage through Passo Tre Croci, and arrival from 4.00 pm in Cortina d’Ampezzo for the final walkway.
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