Celebrating 50 years since the first - and only - ever international rally for cars up to 500cc, Liège-Brescia-Liège 2008 (www.classicrallypress.co.uk) is a unique rally that will be made even more special by the enthusiastic support of Fiat. Already 49 little cars are signed up, ranging from Bond Minicar to Zundapp Janus and including Messerschmitt Tigers, Fiat Abarths, BMW 700s, 600s and Isettas, Berkeleys from SE328 to B105, Vespa 400s, Subaru 360s, Heinkels, Citroen 2CVs, and even an Australian Goggomobil Dart, an NSU Sport Prinz, a Vignale-Fiat Gamine, an Austrian Steyr-Puch 650 TRII and a French UMAP 2CV.

On July 11, these little cars will set out from Liège in Belgium on a 2000-mile 10-day round trip that will take in the most stunning and challenging roads in Europe, crossing the Alps and Dolomites not once or twice, but three times, as the rally runs down through Germany and Austria into Italy, before heading east into Slovenia to Ljubljana, then back into the Dolomites and over the Stelvio and Gavia to Brescia, where a warm welcome awaits; thence the rally heads back over the Gavia and Stelvio once more, through Austria and Germany back to Liège.

As well as tackling these monster mountain passes, the cars will tackle handling and performance tests on 1km outdoor kart circuits at Spa Francorchamps, Belgium (www.francorchamps-karting.be) and Liedolsheim, Germany (www.kartbahn-liedolsheim.de). Visits are arranged to the stunning new BMW Museum in Munich, and the BMW factory (a factory-entered BMW Isetta 250 is contesting the rally), and to the charming Boxenstop Museum in Tubingen, Germany (www.boxenstop-tuebingen.de), the Microcar Museum at Engstingen, Germany (www.automuseum-engstingen.de), and the impressive Museo Gino Tonutti at Udine, Italy (www.tonutti.com).

Fiat will back the rally with receptions for participants and local Press at the night halts (including Karlsruhe, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Ljubljana, Bolzano and Brescia) and by following the rally with a transporter full of new Fiat 500s (with the colours of the Italian flag on the upper deck, and the Belgian flag on the lower deck). Rally officials will all drive Fiat vehicles and new Fiat Abarths, launched the same week as the rally starts, will act as chase/Press cars. A relay team of journalists will also contest the rally in a 1957 Fiat 500 - one of the very first - from the Fiat Museum in Turin. Fiat's archive there also provided the wonderful 1958 colour image seen here of the winning car from 1958, a Fiat 500 Sport driven by Brunetto and Frieder.

This promises to be an unforgettable event: if you're thinking of competing, sign up soon because remaining places are very limited.

Malcolm McKay, Motorbase News Editor