Feature: First R8 Rally
February 1, 2008
Participation in the California Mille entails a few basic restrictions. Rule one: Drive a car built before
1957. Rule two: Obey all traffic laws. With a little help from Audi, I managed
to violate the first regulation before the rally even began—my 2008 Audi R8
missed the mark by more than five decades. But I left serious infringement of
the second to my codriver Rinaldo ‘Dindo’ Capello, Audi’s official Le Mans and
factory driver, who seemed to regard posted speed limits as an opening
bid.
"See that yellow warning sign?" said
Capello as we approached a sweeping right bend, during a dash from Little River
to Sonoma. "It says 30 mph. Right now I am going more than double." I tightened
my hold on the R8’s carbon fiber grip handle as he accelerated toward
the curve, watching as the speedometer spun upward, 77…78…79…80, climbing,
climbing, climbing as Capello tested the car’s limits. The 19-inch Pirelli
P-Zero tires on this all-wheel-drive, mid-engine marvel adhered to the asphalt
with unwavering poise. As I attempted to maintain similar composure on this
g-heavy ride, I imagined that Capello—a true endurance racer from Asti,
Italy—was likely envisioning a similar stretch of road from his home
country.
"With all of these vineyards and olive trees, you think that
you are right in Tuscany," says Martin Swig, founder and organizer of the
California Mille. "When I coordinated the first rally in 1991, I really wanted
to incorporate a few concepts from the Mille Miglia. I knew that northern
California would be the perfect place, because the topography and culture are so
similar to many Italian regions." The first American to participate in the Mille
Miglia Storica—back in 1982—Swig indulged his passion for that historic Italian
race with an annual Stateside homage. This year, almost 70 classic cars gathered
at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel for the 1,000-mile rally Swig breezily calls a
"brisk tour of venerable classics."
Some owners began prepping their cars before the sun came up,
as Bay Area residents already crowd streets near the starting line. The vintage
automobiles grunted and growled to life on the Fairmont’s red carpet, many
spewing black clouds of exhaust from weathered pipes. A parade of Alfa Romeo
Giuliettas, Ferrari GTs, and Mercedes-Benz 300SLs made their first right-hand
turn onto California Street with honks, waves, and smiles. But cars such as the
1936 Auburn 852, 1954 Talbot-Lago T-26GS, and 1925 Lancia Lambda garnered the
most praise—that is, until the appearance of our black Audi R8 beneath the white
banner, with its sinister LED headlamps aglow. Small children pointed and
reached out toward the car; women gave a double-glance; men ogled with wide eyes
and gaping mouths. We quickly left this exuberant scene and the Fairmont behind,
racing out of the city, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and into the less congested
countryside of northern California.
The caravan of classic cars stopped only for lunch on the first
day’s 193-mile route to Yountville, which several vehicles were unable to
complete. Such setbacks should be expected when cars are often older than their
drivers, and many participants garaged an extra car nearby as a hedge against
electrical gremlins and mechanical ailments. For Swig, these hindrances do
nothing to thwart the spirit of the rally. "It seems like the worse it gets, the
better it is," he says. "When we get together at the end of the day, at some
charming place with a drink in our hands, there is a wonderful sense of triumph
and shared adversity that just makes the problems of the day fade away."
A relaxing dinner with multiple wine pairings from Étoile at
Domaine Chandon served as a convivial venue for stories of the day’s victories
and defeats, and to discuss the 283-mile journey to Eureka slated for day two.
Among the highlights of the drive along the Mendocino coastline and into the
northern knolls: a multitude of picturesque views and panoramic hilltop
imagery.
Only the route for day three remains a constant in the
ever-changing rally. "The roads have never been the same two years in a row, but
there is one bit of back street that we have never left out," says Swig. "It is
called the Lost Coast." Steep, craggy mountains and other unruly terrain
interrupt the Pacific Coast Highway for 100 miles between Rockport and Ferndale.
Although the area is not amenable to typical beach cruising, it is prime real
estate for the spirited participants of the California Mille. The 70-mile leg
loops out to the ocean at Ferndale, snakes into the verdant countryside, and
ends with a humbling jaunt through a massive redwood reserve on a road aptly
named Avenue of the Giants.
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