Monaco Historique 2016

The Roar of the past is sometimes a loud blanket of noise which covers the world’s most glamorous location. Loud exhaust notes coming from old and glorious motors mix with the smell of burnt race gasoline, while gleaming flashes of bright paint thunder all across the legendary circuit of Montecarlo. History is alive and well and the mere remembrance of old times is something that is better to be left to others. The name itself, Monaco Historic Grand Prix, suggest that is no revocation: it’s a real GP that is raced by drivers and enjoyed by fans. Aside from the pre war cars which were the only class scheduled to parade across the circuit, all other precious cars raced hard and well for the podium.
The first thing is the sound: you’ll never ever forget the sound of an old F1 car. Cosworths DFV’s battling with Matra’s and Ferrari V12s, the downshifts heard at the Sainte Devote corner followed by the hard acceleration of the cars going through the gears through Beau Rivage gives you the goosebumps of a lifetime. I think that now I know why drivers back then sacrificed everything to get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car: for a moment you feel you’d do anything just to be a works team driver.
If in the 1970ies rockers sold their soul for rock n’ roll, I cannot imagine what drivers sold to get the chance to drive these machines. In a certain way, old F1’s are the embodiment of motorsport: only those who dare can drive them at the limit.
Sure that racing is not all about daring and courage: skill, a rational mind, devotion and single mindedness are the keys of the spectacle that has always laid beneath the gleaming bodyworks and fire breathing engines machines that lid up crowds all over the Globe.
Events like the Historic Grand Prix are still the breath of the good old times (smelling like racing fuel by the way) that still amazes visitors and journalists alike. When was the last time you heard the fury of Jim Clark’s Lotus 49 Ford Cosworth unleashed on the Monaco track? Or when you saw Clay Regazzoni’s 1970 Monza GP winning 312 B passing roaring through the Rascasse corner? I wasn’t alive back at the time when these cars were on top of the world but I can now claim that I have lived a piece of that history. My ears have been deafened by the sound that once rocked the world: it’s louder than 1959 Les Paul plugged into a Marshall Plexi cranked to 11.
Ex Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 001, March 701, Ronnie Peterson’s Lotus 72, were all toghether in the pits contributing to a melting pot of sounds, sights and epic jaw dropping moments. Nothing else can match the beautiful gathering of such important machines. It always feels dreamlike. You come to a point where you pretend that the old times are the present: finally, those old black and white pictures finally come to life bursting with life. The stories your dad told you about the times when he followed F1 have now a new, tangible meaning: these legendary machines are alive and racing before your eyes!
For 3 days 7 classes of vehicles, starting from the pre war GP cars to the 1973-’76 F1’s shared the same track, reviving the various “ages” of the legendary Monaco track with full power. The roars of the engines from the classic Bugatti T 35’s to the potent Mercedes SSK’s to Jaguar C types to the distinct Ferrari V12’s of the sportscar era was fighting to the louder and more aggressive soundtrack of the late 1.5 and 3 liter F1’s. Monaco was resonating with the melody of a zillion horses from kilometers away.
Attending at such events always leads to the question “why do they do it?”. Why these cars are not kept in a safe place and not exposed to the rigors of the track? The answer is remarkably simple: because this is what motoring enthusiasts like. It is not a show, built to gain viewers on the television but is something that is wanted by the drivers first: there is a starvation to witness some real racing, where we can still enjoy the skills of people, conducting their machines. So just when Alain de Cadenet asked journalists during the conference in the Credit Suisse panel on Friday “What do you prefer, vintage or contemporary racing?” and the response was a strong “vintage” you can imagine why events like these have such a positive response among the motoring crowd.
The “old is gold” motto could never be truer at events like the Monaco Historic GP. There is an intriguing pleasure in watching old machines sliding though corners, enjoying the ability of the drivers in changing gears and messing with the steering of these ever-not-easy-to-drive machines. For 3 days in spring, the Monaco Historic Grand Prix is proper men’s country.