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Jaguar are off to the 2013 Mille Miglia with plenty of famous faces driving the XK120 and the C-Type, and they’re taking a new F-Type for good measure.

The Mille Miglia was an endurance race that only the very best cars and very best drivers could endure, and Jaguar has a real history with the original event.

But the original Mille Miglia ended in 1957 after a series of fatal crashes made the event untenable on public roads, but it returned in 1977 as the Mille Miglia Storica, a wonderful race/parade around Italy of classic cars – which must have taken part in the original 1927-1957 race – and now the 2013 Mille Miglia is ready to start on 16th May.

Now the Mille Miglia is more a parade than a real race, Jaguar has enlisted some well-known faces to take the wheel of their C-Type and XK120 entries, including David Gandy (the world’s only male supermodel and a man who grew up round the corner from Cars UK Towers), Sir Chris Hoy (the cycling knight), Andy Wallace (Le Mans winner), Jim Gianopulos (boss at 20th century Fox), Hannah Herzsprung (German actress), Salvatore Ferragamo Jr. (heir to a luxury brand fortune), Yasmin Le Bon (the supermodel with a picture in her attic) and Michael Quinn (grandson of Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons).

The ‘Celeb’ drivers will be joined by Jaguar Heritage Racing’s Alex Bluncombe and journo Chris Harris who will be driving a Jaguar C-Type once owned by Juan Manuel Fangio.

As a prelude to the event, Jaguar got their famous faces together with Norman Dewis – who drove the first C-Type with disc brakes in the 1952 Mille Miglia together with Sir Stirling Moss – at Goodwood this week for a bit of tuition (or a nice day out) and shot some video (below) to show their famous faces.

It’s a good bit of PR for Jaguar and the Mille Miglia, but it wouldn’t be Jaguar PR if they didn’t manage to get the new Jaguar F-Type front and centre too, so not only did Jaguar take the F-Type to Goodwood this week, they’re also shadowing the Mille Miglia with five F-Types.

Jaguar’s European Director, Bernard Kuhnt, said:

Jaguar’s 1952 entry into the Mille Miglia was hugely significant in the evolution of Jaguar products. Seductive design, intelligent performance and technological innovation were features of all Jaguar sports cars in the 1950s and 60s and they are prevalent in the incredible new F-TYPE. I am delighted that the Jaguar sports car ‘bloodline’ will be together in this great race and that such an exciting list of individuals will come together to celebrate the occasion and drive our cars.

The 2013 Mille Miglia – complete with Jaguar F-Type, C-Type, XK120 and famous faces – starts on 16th May from Brescia, off to Rome and back again.

If you’ve got a day or two to spare, the Mille Miglia is worth the journey.