Monaco Historique 2018

Good things happen to those who wait. In the petrolhead’s calendar, the year is divided into must-go events, which normally happen yearly. Some, however take 2 years to happen but when they do, it’s always memorable. The Montecarlo Historic Grand Prix is living history: it is a time capsule that will make you re-live the thrills of true legends battling on one of the oldest tracks in the world. With the first edition held in 1997, it was a rampant success and quickly became one of the best events for classic Formula and Grand Prix racing in the world. Organized by the Automobile Club of Monaco, the 11th Gp Historique this year counted 7 different classes of racing cars, spanning from 1929 to 1980. Also special parade laps to commemorate the 70th birthday of Porsche and of the motorcycle GP of 1948 plus the Lamborghini Marzal, which was driven on a special classic car parade by Prince Albert I on race day.

Race cars do not belong to museums and we’re all glad there are still many enthusiasts who do not worry to fire up a Cosworth DFV and racing it against Matra and Ferrari V12’s.

Where else in the world you get to see Jim Clark’s Lotus 49 racing against Clay Regazzoni’s Ferrari 312 B and Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T79?

Alongside these great single-seaters, there was also a class dedicated to the 2 and 2* litre sportscars that competed in the 1952 GP de Monaco, which was the only year in which it was reserved to sportscars only.

Forget the film Rush and videogames like Assetto Corsa: for an entire weekend the echo of vintage motors animated a whole Country with the sounds of bygone eras, which instead of being remembered are lived once again.