THE I.C.E. SAINT MORITZ 2022

The International Concours of Elegance St. Moritz was created with a noble automotive ideal: to simply enjoy driving, revealing and also admiring among like minded individuals some of the world’s most exciting motor cars, all in the envocative environment of the frozen lake in the center of the famous Swiss winter resort. Polo matches and horse-racing were hosted here for decades, so a high-class motoring event seemed to be the natural choice to expande the winter activities on the lake. The ICE 2022 was a cocktail consisting of the frozen lake (a half-meter thick sheet of ice), temperatures well below zero (-15°) and the crystal clear blue sky: in short, one of the coolest automotive events of this year, and that was before even considering the cars on display!

The event was scheduled to take place in 2021. It didn’t - a victim of Covid restrictions - but the wait for this year’s edition has been fully rewarded. Expectations were far exceeded right from the start when we were greeted by a Maserati MC12 flanked by the brand new Maserati MC20, at the crack of dawn.

The acronym MC stands for Maserati Corse, MC12 is in fact a car born in 2004, marking Maserati's return to the racing world after 37 years of absence. MC12 was born on the basis of the Ferrari Enzo from which it inherits the chassis and the engine: a naturally aspirated 6-liter V12, detuned to 630 hp, mounted in the central rear position. On the other hand, MC20 is the new Maserati sports car with patented F1-derived technology, a 3.0L 630 HP central V6 engine and a carbon fiber chassis of only 100kg.

From that moment on the glacial cold was outclassed by emotions, adrenaline, smiles and an atmosphere that was both informal and exclusive…

45 cars started dancing on ice, ranging from automotive icons of the last century, including a black 250 GTO from 1963 to the most recent Pagani Zonda HP Barchetta driven by Mr. Horacio Pagani himself, to the true Icons including the absolute winner of the ICE 2022 event with the “Best in Show” award: Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3 Scuderia Ferrari from 1933, the single-seater driven by the legendary Tazio Nuvolari.

Four-wheeled movie stars also did not go unnoticed, including the Bond-esque Aston Martin DB5, including all the gadgets necessary to escape from the police hot on its heels, on this occasion the Ferrari 250 GTE 2+ 2 of Maresciallo Spatafora - the only “prancing horse” to have entered the service in Italy’s Polizia di Stato!

The orange Lamborghini Miura P400 was also present, firmly embedded to the collective imaginary thanks to the splendid opening sequence along the Gran San Bernardo road of the 1969 film The Italian Job.

Last but not least in the Hollywood famed cars category, we saw the black Ferrari Testarossa Spider used by Michael Jackson himself in the famous 1986 Pepsi commercial "The Chopper", whose transformation was carried out by the California based Straman Company - the Testarossa, of course, only came as a coupe.

The most unusual cars to see in the snow? A Fiat 500 Jolly Ghia (a "spiaggina" that would surely look at home on the Sardinian beaches of Poltu Quatu) and Steve McQueen's Meyers Manx, a dune buggy turned snow mobile.

Here are the categories with their respective winners:

• “Jet Set on Ice” Class - Ferrari 275 GTB Long Nose Alloy, 1965;

• “Stars on Wheels” Class - Lamborghini Miura, 1965, appeared in the opening scene of "The Italian Job";

• “Vintage Road Racing” Class - Morris Mini Cooper S ex Works, 1967;

• “Barchettas on the Lake” Class - Jaguar C Type, 1953, owned by the same family for 50 years;

• “Vintage Grand Prix” Class - Maserati 4CL, 1939.

Let's honour now the veterans participating in the event:

The “Best of Show” - Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3, a single-seater with 8-cylinder in-line engine designed by Vittorio Jano and produced by Alfa Romeo between 1932 and 1935 which, thanks to the numerous victories won, among others, by Tazio Nuvolari and Achille Varzi, is considered one of the best racing cars ever built. Its debut took place on June 5, 1932, at the 10th Italian Grand Prix in Monza, with Tazio Nuvolari at the wheel. The season went on with six other victories, including the two most important Grand Prix of the time: French and German. Thanks to these successes, Alfa Romeo won that year’s International Automobile Championship and Nuvolari became the best driver in the world.

The Ferrari 246 Dino F1, the Formula 1 single-seater that competed in the 1958 season. Driven by Mike Hawthorn, it won the drivers' World Championship and arrived second in the first edition of the constructors' World Championship. In the following season it would be replaced by the 256 F1, which represented its evolution, and then by the 156 F1, the first Ferrari single-seater with a rear engine.

The Maserati 250F “replica” which is not only one of the most successful F1 single-seaters of the 1950s, but it is also one of the most important Italian racing cars ever: between 1954 and 1957 it gave two World Championships to Juan Manuel Fangio and won eight GP .

The Maserati 4CL, introduced at the beginning of the 1939 season as a rival to the Alfa Romeo 158 and the ERA cars. It raced in the voiturette class of the international motoring Grand Prix. Although the competitions ceased during the Second World War, the 4CL was one of the models that prevailed when racing resumed in the late 1940s.