Jenks and the Mille Miglia

I did 525 races. I had five wheels come off, I’ve had seven or eight brake failures, and I have had the steering shear twice…where I have been driving along and suddenly my arms crossed…that’s when you know something is wrong! The things you remember are the things that are super and the things that are bloody awful. Looking back, then, I think the Mille Miglia was my best race, and most memorable.

People remember the Mille Miglia, and because they know more about racing today, they can understand what that race was. Of course, it’s not a race that could ever be run today, for several reasons. It’s a thousand miles around Italy on roads which were mostly closed. I say mostly closed because there seemed to be doctors and a lot of refrigerated trucks going places, but in principal it was mostly closed. The race started at nine o’clock at night with little cars at half-minute intervals. There were things like the Isetta…an egg on four wheels…those were the first cars to go, then the Fiat 500s and 1100s right up through every kind of car you can think of. The faster cars were going from midnight, at one-minute intervals, and I went in 1955 at 7:22 in the morning, which was why the Mercedes number was 722. I wasn’t the last cat…there were 10 or 15 after me. If you work that out, it’s something like 700 or 800 entries…a hell of a lot. I think anyone who was around with a number on a car seemed to get top start! There were all sorts of people…Italian hairdressers with go-faster tape, etc. Out of the whole lot, I suppose there were 60 to 80 competent drivers.