Italy 
A SPECTACULAR EDITION HAS CONCLUDED
Modena’s Piazza Grande, the Cento Ore finish line, is largely seen as the most extraordinary place visited these days. Along the architectural context, and the excitement of the finish line, there’s elation of being in the birthplace of Italian auto racing. You can just close your eyes and imagine Enzo Ferrari, Stanguellini, or the Maserati brothers walk these very same cobblestones which today are hosting the cars and the crowd of people they drew.
They have been four intense days where all gave 110% and the marks on the cars’ bodies are a testament to it. The sheer smiles and finally relaxed expressions on the competitors’ faces as they sip on a long desired and well deserved beer, is worth a thousand words. Many friends are still missing: 47 cars in the competition section made to the end; 35 in the regularity. Regretfully, 22 never made it and had to withdraw before ever making it to Modena.
But this is the deal. The Modena Cento Ore is a challenging and amazing race. Many of the teams who withdrew still came here to salute friends, arrange future meetings, say goodbye and, of course, challenge each other for 2020.
100 hours may be few in the span of a lifetime but surely everyone here feels that the last 100 hours on the Italian roads and tracks have left indelible memories. It’s been exciting, at times heart-stopping out there on the road and such moments were alternated by blissful dining and dancing experiences. The race with time by the stopwatch in the special stages was breathtaking and nerve-racking. Often disputed on narrow roads, they were at times so technically difficult that often it’s up to one’s instinct, experience, and confidence with the car, as well as a good dose of courage to make a difference and the final time lap.
The Modena Cento Ore 2019 ends with the cars on the podium in Modena. The awards evening takes place within the enchanting atmosphere of the Cortile d’Onore of the Modena Military Academy. Decked in the Italian flag tricolor, the Palazzo Ducale opened its doors to the delighted competitors exclusively for this special occasion.
The awards celebration was itself a spectacle watching as competitors celebrated each other. After all, if there’s a drawback in the Modena Cento Ore, it must be the fact that there can be only one winner.
The cars’ level of elegance could make for a world class pageant except that the Modena Cento Ore allows for these magnificent cars to be shown in motion and, for their owners, to take the ride of a lifetime through the most beautiful Italian landscapes - it’s the most perfect automotive museum imaginable.
It’s difficult to communicate certain experiences, yet the applause that erupted at the screening of the film shot during the event sums it up perfectly.
The winners of the 2019 Modena Cento Ore:
In the Competition Section for cars registered before 1965, the first prize goes to crew number 5, the Britons Richard and Claire Cook and their 1963 AC Shelby Cobra 289.
In the Competition Section G/H/I the award is for the Belgian crew number 31 with Glenn Janssens and Tom De Geetere on the 1981 Porsche 911 SC.
The “Index of Performance” ranks as winner crew number 30, the Germans Albert and Julius Otten on 1939 BMW 328 Roadster.
In the Special Class “50’s Sports Car” the prize goes to number 28, the American and English Marc Mezey and Jack Chatham on 1955 Austin Healey 100/4 M.
Crew 108 with Earnst Schroeder and Philipp Rüppell on 1961 Porsche 356 B, made it to the middle step of the podium for the Regularity Section.
Among the Teams, team M66 wins the Competition Section while the Regularity Section goes to Bulles & Rires.
Within the ladies, the Competition Section’s top stand on the podium belongs to crew 59, the English Sharlie Goddard and Suzy Harvey on 1969 Morgan Plus 8, while the Regularity is for the German team 107, Ute Otten and Brigit Saget on 1960 Porsche 356 B Roadster.
Special Awards:
Winner of Race Tracks: number 58, Paolo Marzatico and Federico Ferrari on 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.8 RSR.
Winner of the Special Stages: number 55 Kevin and Lee Jones on 1972 Ford Escort RS 1600.
Winner of the Ayrton Senna prize: number 31 with Glenn Janssens and Tom De Geetere on 1981 Porsche SC.
Winner of the Super Special Stage at the Modena Autodrome is number 47 with Philip Kadoorie and Daniel Wells on 1974 Lancia Stratos HF GR.4, while the Regularity Stage there goes to number 92 with Axel and Andrea Urban on 1972 Porsche 911 T.
Also awarded were the mechanics, without whom many more cars wouldn’t have made it to Modena.
The trophy for “Mechanical Miracle 2019”, was awarded to Colin Bastead and Damian Le Breully, supporting team for the Lancia Stratos number 47.
Crew 55, Kevin Jones and Lee Jones on 1972 Ford Escort RS 1600, took home the Special Prize: “Spirit of Competition”.
The Special Prize Brandoli goes to car number 48, a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Competition.
The final ranking proves that no model has been favour over any other. Some of the tracks were more favourable to the most powerful engines, others to the nippiest, while the Special Stages uphill gave other models the opportunity to lead.
We take pride knowing the public who watched this race will remember seeing these cars boom through the roads, their engines thundering, for a long time in the future.
The numbers:
- 104 cars registered, selected among more than 250 applications, of which 67 in the Competition Section and 40 in the Regularity.
- 14 Nations represented by 214 participants from all over the world: Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland and other European countries as well as United States, Canada, New Zealand…
- 23 builders present, with a balanced representation among Italians (Ferrari and Alfa Romeo), English (Jaguar, Lotus, Ford), German (Porsche, Mercedes Benz, and BMW), and American (AC Shelby Cobra, Ford, and Chevrolet).
- 11 Special Stages on closed road, 3 GP and 1 Super Special Stage for the Competition section.
- 11 Average Stages and 12 Stopwatch Stages for the Regularity Section
- 4 cities for Stage finish
- 1000 Km of race in 4 days of driving
- Foreign participants were 96%
- Women 20%
- 0 CO2 residual emissions
- 600 people involved among organization, staff, sports personnel, timekeepers, photographers, cameramen, police officers, etc.
Special Thanks to:
Special thanks to all who made the event possible: first and foremost the competitors, which with their enthusiasm have made this edition of the Modena Cento Ore truly unique.
Thank you to all the Municipalities’, Provinces’, and Regions’ Administrations crossed through.
The Italian Automobile Club, the many race officials, the men and women of the Polizia Stradale, all collaborators and volunteers without whose support none of this would have been possible.
The Modena Cento Ore’s success is made possible also by the participation of partners of excellence such as world leading auction house, RM-Sothesby’s; Blackfin, which created exclusive models of sunglasses for the teams; Brose, excellence in mechatronic industry; Cristophe Claret; Greppi; Brandoli; Straight Eight Logostics.
This year we continue our collaboration with the Modena Panathlon Club: the Scuderia Tricolore has once again donated to the projects dedicated to adaptive sports for disabled youth.
Canossa Events reconfirms its commitment to the environment by applying the CarbonZero protocol to all its events, and will completely compensate all residual CO2 emissions of the Modena Cento Ore 2019 through planting of new trees in the Tuscan-Emilian Appennine. The Modena Cento Ore is the only zero emissions event in the industry.
As usual the 2020 edition of the Modena Cento Ore will be announced in September, and the appointment will be in June as always.
