Le Mans Series - Postcard from Monza

It seems entirely ridiculous for a European race fan to be making his first ever visit to the historic Monza circuit at the age of 42, but thanks to a combination of an otherwise busy life, suicide bombers and noise campaigners that’s exactly the position I found myself in for the 2007 1000km of Monza.

First though there was the first visit to Milan’s Malpensa airport after a quick hop from Gatwick on a brand spanking new Easyjet Airbus – nice plane but there was some bewilderment and much shuffling of bottoms when the cabin crew asked us to return our seats to the upright position: not difficult as the seats on the bright orange A319 don’t recline!

Malpensa itself features another in the lengthening series of Goodwin airport pet peeves – lots of signs pointing the way to the car hire desks, all of which point in entirely the wrong direction. Having mastered the Latin art of misdirection, the dsc crew was soon aboard its chariot of choice – a mighty Fiat Stilo Estate. Great engine (turbo diesel) loads of room, Saab-like lines and one of the worst selection of gear ratios this side of top fuel drag racing.

A quick hop to the accreditation centre, a hissy fit from yours truly (no pass and lost) and it was time for my first sight of the circuit. First impressions are wonderful: approaching the circuit proper through the Parca di Monza with the sound of screaming racing engines and rumbling V8s drowning out Mr Sparrow and Mrs Bullfinch – and in the background the high pitched whirring sound of the anti-noise campaigners spinning in their graves under a newly installed motorway flyover. Hey it’s Italy!

Day’s work complete its time for us (and our trusty Tom Tom) to find the hotel – easy when you have several billion dollars worth of satellite in geo-stationary orbit to help.

Pausing briefly to (engage sarcasm mode) chat with the affable staff at the autostrada toll booth (sarcasm mode off), there was the extraordinary sight of hundreds of roadside trees appearing from a distance to be gently smouldering. As we drew closer though it was clear that the wisps of ‘smoke’ were actually columns formed of hundreds of thousands of gnats, stretching around a hundred feet above every tree for mile after mile – extraordinary!

Arriving late and very tired the angel behind the hotel’s reception counter handed us a card for a local restaurant – Strippoli! Hang on, had she got the wrong idea about this bedraggled all male party? And more importantly if she had would the missus find out?

Thankfully though (what am I saying!!??) the only exotic offerings at the pre-mentioned eaterie were of the edible variety and several beers, pizzas, bruschetta and cheese later the dsc boys waddled their way back to climb the wooden hill, pausing only to have a bemused giggle at some rather extraordinary graffiti by the roadside! This was 15 kms from the circuit – Lawrence Tomlinson and the boys have an extraordinary marketing operation!

Saturday was dominated for all who witnessed it by the pitlane fire which injured several of the Luc Alphand Aventures crew. Enough has been written on this issue already but the only points worth adding were – a. medical help took far too long to arrive. b. the ACO’s directive that all media must wear fire suits for the Le Mans 24 Hours (ironically issued just days before the Monza meeting) should surely be extended to LMS races too and c. once again the extraordinary camaraderie of the paddock shone through in the aftermath of the incident. Mechanics from other teams successfully fought the fire and others helped to tend to the injured. Nobody present needed any further reminder of the very familiar phrase - Motorsport IS dangerous.

On a much happier note, the support programme for the 1000kms featured a very eclectic mix of racing from the high profile World Series by Renault. Great looking, nice sounding single seaters (F1 take note!) driven by a mix of the talented and the – well, let’s say aspiring to be talented. The Superstars Series featured a small grid of big, grunty, touring cars, BMW M5s, Audi RS6s and Jaguar S Type Rs: great sounds and a couple of well known names too (Messrs Merzario and Morbidelli), then came the Peugeot 207 Spider Cup, a truly 21st century one-make series, evidence that Peugeot has hitched its trailer firmly to the Le Mans Series Wagon and home to quite the ugliest car ever seen out in daylight. This writer came across one of the cars seemingly towed back to the paddock after having suffered major accident damage front and rear - only to find out later that they all look like that!

Finally there was the much maligned (and often deservedly so) Classic Endurance race. All too often the grid for this series has been unimpressive and the racing rather tedious. Not here it wasn’t, helped by the presence of no less than five of one of the most evocative shapes of the modern era – proof positive that a tidy but bland roadgoing sportcar can, with suitable attention, be transformed into a thoroughbred racer. Step forward the Project Four built BMW M1. Add to the mix 30 plus other cars including a gorgeous Porsche 908-4, a pair of rumbling Porsche 935s and, amidst the usual historic racing fodder of Chevrons and Lolas, a magnificently out of place looking ex-Le Mans Dodge Charger and there was a race and a very watchable parade going on at the very same time.

Better still, after drooling over the cars for much of the afternoon, the dsc Stilo left the circuit behind an open transporter towing the ex-Bruno Giacomelli BMW Procar, looking for all the world like a race car reversing up an autostrada at 100 (albeit 100 Km/h).

Finally there was the opportunity on Saturday evening for a walk in the woods with Neil Cunningham – now there’s a scary thought ladies!

Before anyone conjures up images of Goodwin and Cunningham skipping hand in hand through the bluebells though (he did ask but I politely declined!), the trip was to see one of the most astounding relics of motorsport past anywhere on the planet of the Embassy Racing drivers’ impressions (Warren Hughes was along too), but my guess is that anyone’s first sight of this extraordinary place lives with him forever. I’m sure it will do so with me. Utterly different to the modern scene and on a scale which I simply didn’t expect. An amazing sight, an amazing place – roll on 2008.
GG