FOUR AMAZING DAYS IN THE DESERT

1K THRILLING MILES OF SAND, MOUNTAINS, MEGACITIES, AND CLASSIC CARS

- SCOTT EVANS

The Jaguar wouldn’t start again. Our fellow racer in the Austin Haley who’d graciously given us a jump hadn’t even finished packing up his booster box and cables before its engine died, and a second jump failed to coax it to life at all. Our 1000 Miglia experience at that moment became truly authentic, except we were standing in a gas station parking lot in the middle of the Emirati desert, not the hills of Tuscany. Welcome to the 1000 Miglia Experience UAE.

If you know anything about the 1000 Miglia, you’re understandably confused. The Mille, as it’s often shortened (based on the Italian pronunciation “mee-lay mee-leh-uh”), is a time-and-distance classic-car road rally based on the original road race that ran up and down the Italian peninsula from 1927 to 1957.

My plane had crossed over Brescia, Italy, the start/finish line of the 1000 Miglia, three days earlier, with five hours to go before it reached Dubai, the starting point for the 1000 Miglia Experience UAE. Circling the United Arab Emirates, this entirely new sister event offers wealthy classic car collectors and road rally enthusiasts something automotive to do during winter in the northern hemisphere. Could it possibly live up to the original, though?