30-second board

In the tracks of Nuvolari — 123mph to Brescia

Fifty years on from Stirling Moss’s record-breaking Mille Miglia victory, this is a very appropriate subject. After winning that legendary 1000 mile marathon, Moss and Denis Jenkinson collected several trophies, but the proudest item in DSJ’s little house in the woods was this, the Gran Premio Tazio Nuvolari. About 15 inches high, this fancy cup was awarded annually for the fastest time on the final leg of the Mille Miglia course, the 83 miles from Mantua to Brescia. In 1955 Moss and Jenks covered that stretch in 39min 54sec — that’s an average of just over 123mph. While Jenks made it clear that it was Moss who had won the cup, he was proud to be able to display it, not in his study, but in his workshop where he spent so much of his time.

Housework was not exactly at the top of DSJ’s priorities, but he wrote of this cup, “I have been known to give it a clean, not for the benefit of my friends, but for my own pleasure and satisfaction.” As a memento of one of the great motor racing feats, it’s hard to beat.