South Africa is hoping to stage its own Mille Miglia in 2010 in tribute to one of the world's best known vintage-car events.
Based on the 1600km Mille Miglia (1000 Miles) run between Brescia and Rome in Italy each year, it's planned as a regularity run from Johannesburg to Cape Town via Port Elizabeth in December 2010.
Details will be finalised in the coming months but it's anticipated that 100 teams from around the world will contest the run, about one-third of them South African. The plan is to host the event here every two years.
The original Mille Miglia was a 1600km race over Italian public roads and was run 24 times from 1927-1957 with such driving greats as Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio.
Like the older Targa Florio and later the Carrera Panamericana, the Mille Miglia made Gran Turismo (Grand Touring) sports cars such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Porsche famous.
In 1977 the Mille Miglia was revived as a regularity rally for cars produced between 1927 and 1957 and has been run every year since as the self-styled "World's Most Beautiful Race".
Nowadays timing rather than speed is of the essence for the enthusiasts from around the world who enter their vintage cars, and the 2009 Mille Miglia in May was watched by 4-million spectators.
Mille Miglia roadshows have also been held in the US, Japan, Argentina, and Moscow and there are plans for South Africa, Abu Dhabi and Brazil to follow.
Mille Miglia organising committee chairman Alessandro Casali said at the announcement in Sandton: "The Mille Miglia has an 80-year history of classic cars and passionate drivers. It's not merely a series of regularity tests - it immerses drivers and public alike in the culture of Italy.
"But events with a similar format can be created elsewhere to recreate and relive the tradition and atmosphere of the Mille Miglia".