To mark BMW’s 75th anniversary of Mille Miglia competition, BMW Classic—the company's vintage-car division—is sending twelve examples of the iconic 328 to this year's Mille Miglia vintage-car rally. Among the 328 entries are seven standard 328s, the 328 Berlin-Rome Touring Roadster, coupe and roadster Mille Miglia specials, and the rare 328 Kamm Coupe that was recently rediscovered and will be entered "out of competition." In addition to the twelve factory-entered 328s in the field, there will be four private teams that each will enter a 328 of their own; a fifth private team is entering a 507. The 1000-mile rally begins in Brescia, Italy, on May 12th, after which teams will make their way through Bologna, Rome, Florence, and Siena before returning to Brescia.
BMW first fielded its 328 in the 1936 Mille—this back when the event was a hotly contested (and deadly) endurance race for contemporary machines rather than today’s celebration of vintage motoring—but didn't nab a victory until 1938, when the model won its class and also placed eighth overall. The 328's first overall Mille victory came in 1940, courtesy of an ultralight 328 coupe whose construction was outsourced to Touring of Milan. BMW celebrated the 70th anniversary of this first win at last year's Mille, in which it also entered twelve 328s, including the Kamm. Touring's small, aerodynamic coupe beat the second-place finisher, an Alfa, by 15 minutes in the 1940 race. We’ve assembled below a few selected 328 images from BMW’s archive; click to make ‘em bigger.
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Source: http://blog.caranddriver.com/bmw-celebrates-75th-anniversary-of-mille-miglia-participation-enters-12-classic-328s-in-2011-mille/
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