All the competitors showed up at the starting line at Corso Italia, in the centre of Cortina. With them, also a great number of enthusiast tourists came to greet the drivers and to admire their vehicles, creating a remarkable crowd. The Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti started this morning, but not quietly even though all has began in the early hours. The many fantastic cars that have marked time and history, marched generating a great sensation, maybe even more than their champion drivers. The Alfa Romeo 6 C of the 1929 is certainly the most recognizable, the Fiat Balilla Spider is one of the most admired for its uniqueness, the Volvo PV 44 surprised the crowd. Unique cars such as the Cisitalia 202S MM entitled to Nuvolari, deployed by MAUTO of Turin in partnership with ACI Storico, or the incredible Mercedes Benz 300SL of the 1955 “gullwing”, driven by Maria Bussolati to open the game for the 16 crews of the UBI Banca Team. Much interest also for the Osca MT 4 Frua, beautiful in its lines from 1954, as much as for the unprecedented Asian crew Kimura Hidemoto and Kurosawa Testu at the wheel. One hour after the departure of Gamberini and Cavalli, it is the time of the yellow Fiat Campagnola from the 1965, deployed by ACI Global, testament to the service given over the years of this Automobile Club Italia rescuing and assisting company, half off-road vehicle, with all its technical functions restored and driven by Marco Morao and Simone Rossetti.
Alessandro Gamberini starts with number one and he is the first to discover the news race track, which doesn’t present great renewals, but small novelties that could make the difference: “It is challenging, it will be hard, in this race there are people that have set the standard in the most important races over the last years, we will try to do our best with a fabulous car chosen from the heart: the Alfa Romeo 6C of the ’29, that made the history of cars.”
Tiberio Cavalleri competes with a Fiat 508 Balilla Spider, a rare model to see in this kind of competitions “That’s true, you can’t see many Balilla Spider from the 1932, a model that has nothing to do with the Coppa d’Oro in terms of power and performance, but this open itself and allows you to feel the landscape, not only the pressure switches, this is a vehicle in race for the first time, it has never raced before.”
Giovanni Moceri is waiting on the starting line of the Coppa d’Oro with the Fiat 508 C 1939 and he’s looking around studying the competitors: “All the enthusiasts, including us, answered to ACI Sport and ACI Storico invitation to participate in this race. A restyling was well deserved and we noticed a more fluid roadmap, a mix of mean trials that don’t predominate.” The Coppa d’Oro 2019 starts with all the players of the Italian Grandi Eventi Championship sure to play a new “game”, challenging, but able to attract also Japanese drivers, Al Rifai Hajjo from the United Arab Emirates, Lopez Guerra Francisco from Mexico and, of course, from the Old Country.
The competition becomes real since the first moments. The chronometers of the Federation working with the Official Timekeeper Allemano, produce reams of data underlying the performances on Dolomite passes offered by Sala, as well as Gamberini, the Sala, then is Moceri to set the line, while Vesco il quietly waiting his turn. Partial results, to be confirmed, but already a good indicator of the value of the drivers. Sometimes they enter in the spotlight with only a single penalty point in leaving the pressure switches, also Giacoppo, the canoe champion; or the young Alessandro, the heir of the Marzotto dynasty, strongly intertwined with the classic speed race of the past.
This first day is coming to its ending, the arrival of the first driver at Corso Italia, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, is scheduled at 18:00. After the night, tomorrow at 8:30 the second stage will start, with a less challenging route, “only” 190 km, 45 time trials and 2 mean trials before the final arrival, scheduled at 16:30 at Stadio del Ghiaccio of Cortina and the subsequent award ceremony at the “Shell” in Corso Italia.
