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| D-Type next to a Fiat Zagato |
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In 2004 this format remains, but don't be fooled into thinking that the Mille Miglia is a gentle stroll through the rolling hills of Tuscany. Nothing could be further from the truth... This year 4Car was part of a British invasion, as Jaguar took five of their most well-known racers from the era to take part - an XK120 that famously won the Alpine Rally, a C-type, two Le Mans D-types and an XK SS.
4Car's hotseat was a long-nose D-type, a 1956 Le Mans veteran from the Jaguar and Daimler Heritage Trust collection that is conservatively valued at a cool £1.5 million. The second to last D-type ever built, it was a full Jaguar works car and remains virtually unchanged from the time it left the factory. Its legendary straight-six XK engine is still as potent as when it was first built - 296bhp when last checked - and weighing in at just 840kg it has the performance to match supercars 50 years its junior - as we were about to find out.
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| Cars get a warm welcome wherever they go |
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The start of the Mille Miglia is one of the most remarkable events on the motoring calendar. The streets of Brescia come to a standstill as 375 cars line up in age order to cross the start ramp. Tens of thousands of people pack the pavements to wave the cars on, frantically spinning their arms in typically Italian fashion, urging you to rev your engine and bounce a wall of sound off the buildings that tower above you. In the D-type, with its straight-through racing exhaust, the noise is like being buzzed by a low-flying Spitfire. They love it...
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