The 6th edition of the Modena Cento Ore Classic, held from 7th to 10th May, has been won by the British team Bellm/Lanzante in their Ford GT 40.
In fact British teams won the first three places in the overall classification. Although it was hardly a surprise that foreigners would have the upper hand (seeing as they accounted for 70% of the entrants), no-one certainly expected them to completely take over the podium.
Fuelled by high hopes for victory, the Italians Silva/Rasenti in their Ford GT 40 and Raimondi/Ferrara and Bompani/Bompani in a Jaguar E type were mainly ahead in the races held on the first two days, often taking the overall lead.
Yet as everyone knows, what counts at the end is the overall result, minus any penalties (Raimondi/Ferrara) - unless you throw everything away because you were trying too hard (Silva/Rasenti) or because fate played a hand in slowing you down (Bompani/Bompani).
Trailing their rivals behind them, Bellm/Lanzante in their powerful Ford GT 40 handled their overall lead, racing the circuit stages at the Fiorano, Mugello, Magione and Misano tracks and the eleven special stages on closed roads in 1 hour 27 minutes, with a 5.35 minute lead over Franklin/Franklin in a Ford Mustang Shelby and a 6.21 minute lead over Tyzack/Jefferies in a TVR Griffith 200.
The Modena race is not just about winners of stages (periods D, E, F), but also awards the best overall performance (periods G and H), which this year saw Tonetti/Borghese in their Chevron B8 battling it out with Chiles/Montford, competing in the same car, and winning by a whisker (17 seconds).
In the fiercest and most spectacular category (period H), the numerous Porsche RSs and RSRs fared better than the Ferrari Daytonas (Eissner/Reiter ahead of Knapfield/Hadfield) racing to repeat epic moments of glory.
Four days of events over 1,000 km is a considerable feat and when the drivers are so enthusiastic, the number of cars withdrawing from the race is quite high; more often than not because the entrants are too confident in handling their cars (35%) rather than because their vehicles have broken down.
Of the 90 teams taking part, 30 chose the regularity race. With their superb vehicles, they animated an event based on self-control, pacing and calculations.
The drivers rather than their vehicles are the true winners in this section and the team Giansante/Hoffman racing in a Porsche RS proved its worth, winning for the second year running, with Stringhini/Priori in a Porsche Cabriolet and Linwood/Linwood in a Porsche RS coming in second and third place.
After celebrating the race arrival in the grounds of the nineteenth-century Palazzina Vigarani, with a glass of Italian Prosecco, the participants enjoyed a splendid formal dinner at Villa Cesi, followed by the award ceremony with prizes in silver, crystal and Sheffield handed out to the winners.
Sponsors of the race - Credit Suisse, Porsche, Jet and the Chamber of Commerce – were also present and complimented the Chairman Mr. Bompani on such a successful event.

The nice weather has contributed remarkably to the development of the manifestation. After the departure from the beautiful Piaza Grande in Modena...unfortunately some cars had to be towed away due to mecanical problems...the world of splendid cars drove away towards the Modenese Appenines for the house trials; some excursion from the pilot Masselli but everything went well.
Carrying on towards Mugello where the first battery has developped the race regularly with the first classification of BELLM - LANZANTE (please see classifications).
At the second battery, n°40 (Maier-Maier) hit n°33 (Pantaleoni-Pennati Belluschi) then because of the way the car was positionned he was hit again by n°44 (Zambelli-Cherchi) and then inevitably towed away...
Now we are going towards the hills of Casentino and at last towards the end of the leg for the well deserved rest that the teams and the cars deserve in Arezzo-Piazza Grande which will be packed of tourists and lovers for historical cars.
The cars will depart tomorrow may 9^th 2005 at 8:01 first car.

The famous International Event of the Historical Cars retraces the various laps of the "Tour of Italy" of the Seventies - Eighties and of the "Italy Cup" of the Nineties.
Beautiful cars will be driving through one thousand kilometers of breathtaking Italian scenery along beautiful piazzas, small towns and cities as well as four main race tracks such as Fiorano, Mugello, Magione and Misano and on their way between Emilia, Tuscany, Umbria, the Marches and Romagna they will be "zigzagging" through nine special trials. This is the rough program of this richer and captivating edition of which 100 fortunate participants will be part.
As usual a careful selection of the cars will be done by the Organizers' Commitee, with the purpose of keeping a high quality level of the racing cars, meanwhile for other categories it is a must to have a car with a sporting history.
Being one of the top events of this old continent, good traditional cooking and comfortable accommodation will be guaranteed in order to make this exhibition complete and unique.
The choice between the speed and regularity section leaves an open chance to participate also to those who are not prone to adrenaline release and allows them to ride their gems.
The cars admitted to the speed section (until 1965), TURISMO, GRANTURISMO, SPORT until period F will compete to the final result. Meanwhile the cars of periods G and H will compete in a separate classification.
In the regularity section all cars until 1976 having one of the following documents will be admitted: CSAI, FIA or FIVA file, ASI approval or identity certification and ASI participation licence.
In both sections even the cars which might have some difficulty during the race will be given an equal opportunity to conclude the competition in order to enjoy it until the very end.