FLYING WITH MANTUANS

Is anything more idyllic than three days of spirited driving in Italy in a pre-war Aston Martin? That might depend on the weather, says James Elliott

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And did you at any point think about just giving up?’ Even with rally headphones and mic, I feared my co-pilot might not hear my loaded question, because only the constant involuntary chattering of my teeth was stopping my jaw from locking up. He did. Not for a second, he said, as he gripped the wheel with added zeal and ploughed on through near zero visibility, falling trees and icy rain as a once-in-a generation storm battered Italy’s Apennine mountains.

My question was prompted by ex-airline pilot Robert Blakemore’s shivered comment that he had only once driven through such extreme adverse conditions, on the Mille Miglia. Yet this was in mid-September on the 32nd Gran Premio Nuvolari, though we were in the same Aston Martin 2 Litre Speed with aeroscreens and no weather gear or undertrays, so our drenching and hypothermia could be a fully immersive’ experience. At the lunch stop our sodden legs and bodies didn’t work anymore and we hobbled to the food like a pair of Albert Steptoes; after we'd eaten we left actual puddles rather than mere damp patches on our chairs.