6eme Grand Prix Historique de Monaco
10-11 Mai 2008

"American Style"

Seven classes, 70 automobile makes, 210 drivers arrived from nineteen different countries to represent five continents, and these are the staggering figures summarizing an event, the only one in its kind that since 2000 has been organized every two years. The 2008 session of the Monaco Historic Grand Prix didn't fail to meet expectations, turning out the most interesting event from the competition point of view of the historic cars. Moreover, this year the organizers sweetened all with two excellent parades: in addition to the usual thirty minutes of Ferrari Formula One aficionados, on the most anachronistic and the exciting 3 km 370 m track, we have seen again some models of motorcycles that gave origin to the unique Monaco Motorcycle GP and the Auto Union C type replica, driven, on such occasion, by Ickx.

At the end, out of the scheduled seven races, four of them saw the American drivers' big success.

Front-engine Formula Junior cars

This year the Automobile Club de Monaco has devoted special attention to that series in order o celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of a class strong-willed by the International Committee under Count Lurani's idea to launch young talented drivers. In only six years of life, Formula Junior has been giving champions of the same calibre as Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, John Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini, moreover it went on following the technical evolutions made by Formula One: at the beginning designed with front engine, the FJ cars have been increasing their performance since 1960 for the chassis of Formula One Cooper adaptation to the rear engine. Just to remind Junior cars' debut, this series has been reserved to the single-seaters built within 1980 (therefore with front engine), with the opportunity of entering also the very first projects with the rear engine: Stefano Rosina took advantage of it by entering a FJ Moretti Branca that, after a very good fifth time in practice, made him satisfied with the tenth place in race.

From the qualifying tests two drivers have been competing for the win: Goodwin in the Gemini and Monson in the BMC, with the former capable of making pole in 2:06:414 with only 47 thousands' lead over the latter, while behind them there were two Stanguelllini cars driven by Gans and Simone Stanguellini respectively. On Sunday morning, at the start grid, Monson started better than the rival passing first on St. Devote bend, with Goodwin busy for defending himself against Stanguellini: the Gemini's driver, after first difficulties, dashed off in a despairing pursuit but very soon he gave up to the rival's competition. As for the third place, fight has been lasting for only two laps between the two Stanguellini cars owing to Gen's retirement: every attempt was useless in order to make Simone worried by Chisolm, at the wheel of the Gemini, who, after starting from the fourth row, set an excellent time in race which allowed him a gap of only two seconds from the Italian driver. Well, a win for Monson, who improved the second place gained in 2004, followed by Goodwin at 4"799 and Stanguellini at 9"307.

Pre 1953 Sports cars

This year a very interesting car pool has enriched that series of sports cars to fulfil the wish to celebrate the twelfth Monaco Grand Prix, raced by sports cars to compensate the few F2 single seaters that, in that year, were competing for the Formula 1 world championship. Many Ferrari cars were present in paddocks, among them a 166MM, three 328 BMWs, one of them has been entered by Dieter Quester and a Skoda 1101 sports, besides usual Aston Martin, Jaguar, Gordini and others.

For this year also a duel has been newly proposed between the Frazer Nash Mk2 with John Ure and the Jaguars C-type driven by Webb and Wenman, but the visitors' attention has been concentrated on Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel of the usual Frazer Nash Mk1 and it doesn't matter if Stirling gained only the 24th time in practice and was eighteenth in race: but amazingly was the determination that at the age of 78 this great pilot of the past has shown in running, at full speed, on the roads that saw him dominate three times between the end of the 50s and the early 60s.

Coming back to the leader of the class, during testing Ure made pole in the course of first session of practice, even if during the second one the duo made by the Jaguar cars gained a significant best time; behind them McGuire, in the Gardini 238, however, will drop out of the race.

On Sunday, when the red lights went out, Webb dashed better than the others and nipped first in the St. Devote bottleneck, followed by Ure and Wenman: a fight started immediately with no holds barred between the first two drivers, with Ure who, after teasing the rival practically on every bend, managed to nip in on the Nogues bend. Webb trying to defend himself ended a bit long and coming out he found at his side the rival who will try again to pass on the straight thanks to the major power of the Jaguar engine. On St. Devote bend the temporary leader ended long again, this time leaving the Frazer Nash the road clear but above all, causing a pileup behind him, which obliged the Allard of Verey to retire with many dents.

From now on Ure will have no more trouble to repeat the success of 2006, while for a good number of the remaining nine laps we will see a close duel between the two Jaguars, that at the end Wenman will prevail over Webb. It is also worth while pointing out Franklin's excellent performance in the BMW, who came fourth under the check flag.

Pre 1947 Grand Prix cars

When on Friday afternoon we arrived in Monaco and went for a walk along the paddocks to know the location of different classes, we couldn't deny that we spent much of our free time admiring the leading cars of that series; watching the Bugatti type 35B that in 1925 raced the Spanish GP or the Alfa Romeo P3 that with Chiron gained the second place in the 1934 GP of Monaco, we were inevitably obliged to feel a great respect for those who were the authors of that golden period.

From the qualifying practice on Saturday morning, the fastest drivers have been on track Grist in the P3Alfa Romeo, Bronson in the Era D type, Dowling and Ott in the Era B type and Balz in the Maserati 6CM. During the second session the time has been remarkably lowered, but the values have been mainly the same: Bronson, capable of a time of 2:06:105, assured the first position on the start line up, preceding Grist, Dowling (who didn't manage neither to start in race) Balz and Ott.

On Sunday, at the race start, the first two took the lead at a frantic rate, while behind them Ott passed on St. Devote bend ahead of Balz, who, in the first parts of the race, didn't succeed in reaching the rival to recover the lost position. During third lap Ott crashed against barriers making an attempt to overtake a low speed car and so the sports manager were obliged to let the Safety car intervene on track. When they started again, Bronson performed a series of very fast rounds trying to create a certain gap between him and Grist who has been threatening since the first lap. The action gave good results during the lap eight, when thanks to some lapping, the Era driver had three seconds' lead over his rival, enough to gain the second win in the Principality after the win dated 2002, in the 1935-1951 class of that time. Behind him Grist at 2 seconds: 891 and Balz at 28 sec.:864 who, after Ott's retirement, limited himself to keeping an eye on the Mg Parnell K3 type driven by Last. 2.

It's worth reporting that the best lap on race, obtained by Bronson, was two seconds less than the best time made during two practice sessions: 2'04"225.

Pre 1961 front-engine GP cars

The series under consideration, marked with the letter B, could be simply called again series…. Duncan Dayton: certainly, because, not only the American driver dominated for the third time in a row, but above all he did it with a disarming ease. In race he even seemed to have a car belonging to another category, going for "a walk" and capable of an average time of 2-3 seconds faster on lap over the rivals.

During the two sessions of tests, Dayton's only rival (1:55:788), in the usual Lotus 16, was usual Folch-Rusinol at the wheel of a twin car, who going crazy during the second session managed to reduce the gap from the American to 1 sec.: 229. Behind them a "gap" of almost 5 seconds before reaching Baxter in the Tec-Mec Maserati, Smith in his Ferrari 246, Nuthall in the Alfa F2 and Wigley in the Connaught B type.

On Sunday the first four drivers were starting well, keeping their positions on St.Devote bend, while behind them Wigley arrived outdistanced over Nuthall, but he found himself with the Ferrari 246 ahead of him that forced him to slow down and lose his position. The Connaught's driver didn't give in and attacked the rival on Mirabeau bend, passing inside and reaching the fifth position. Ahead, as said before, Dayton rushed to the victory with a disarming speed, followed by usual Folch and the duo Baxter-Smith on a closely matched fight. On lap five the Spaniard was, however, forced to stop his Lotus at the trackside, inflaming much more the fight behind him: during lap seven Smith took action overtaking the Tec-Mec and trying a spurt. Baxter didn't count in and dashing in pursuit of the rival, stopped chronometers at 1:58:637: it was a time good only for a film library that allowed him to find himself in the Ferrari's exhaust pipes, that later on he will overtake it on Sun-Casino hairpin bend, thanks to a double lapping.

Dayton will cross the finishing line with 31"338 lead over Baxter and 31"542 over Smith, both radiant with joy, aware of being the real protagonists of that race.

Pre 1965 GP rear-engine cars

As in the past, this class was the one that entered the greatest number of racing drivers ( a good 36), many of them at the wheel of the Cooper or Lotus; then some other prestigious cars or at least unique examples were not missing, among them two BRMsP261, a BRP-BRM64,a DeTomaso Alfa Romeo and an Emeryson F1. However at the end of the qualifying practice session in the morning with decision I-E the sport's governing body excluded a good 8 competitors from classification, being guilty of mounting electronic ignition systems, on their single-seaters, not compatible with those used by that time: in itself this change didn't give great advantages for power, but improved the ratio significantly, a decisive factor on a twisty circuit like Monaco.

From Saturday morning only 28 have been competing for the win: Hadfield, in the Lotus 21, Hanson in the Scirocco F1, Baillie in the Cooper 36 and Mussa in the Lotus BRM24: in addition to them Sytner who, with the best time in the morning, couldn't take part in the second session of practice by finishing relegated to the fourth place. At the end Hadfield dominated with 1:53:584, preceding with more than 3 seconds' lead over Hanson, Baillie, Sytner and Mussa. A fourth and fifth place sounded as a win for Monaco inhabitants, in spite of too many problems met by the drivers.

On Sunday, the race turned out the least interesting. With Hadfield, Hanson and Sytner that, during first laps, pulled out decisively over the rivals, the Monaco driver had to show the white flag during lap four, definitively cooling the fight for the first place. Behind them after a successful start Mussa recovered lost time from Baillie and passed him in a few laps from the finish.

At finishing line Hadfield dominated with 7"993 lead over Hanson (the best result as ever for the Scirocco) and 29"438 lead over Mussa: its worth reporting that best race chronometer time was the one made in the first parts of the race by Hanson who, pressed by Sytner, had run at 1'54"193.

1966-1974 Formula One

Thirty-one beautiful cars have given origin to that series, in which at once it has been proposed again the duel between Dayton in a Brabham BT33 and Folck in a McLaren M23, followed by other excellent leaders of the category, among them Rossi di Montelera in his Brabham BT 42/44, Sytner in a Hesketh 308 and Knapfield in a Brabham BT42. Behind them, as for performance, a gap!

For the remaining some other prestigious car were not missing: two Ferrari 312 (one of 1967 version, the other of 1969) three Matras 120 (A,B,C respectively), a Tyrrell 007, an Iso Mariboro FX3B (damaged in practice after making contact on the chicane) and a new Token.

In the first qualifying session, Folch seemed to be unreachable, setting a time of 2 seconds lower than the rivals time, with Sytner to lead the pursuit. In the afternoon, however, the rubbed track lowered time remarkably, and immediately driver Dayton came up to engage an exciting duel with the driver of a McLaren: after fast laps the American made pole with a time of 1'37"688, with only 0"040 lead over Folch and not much more than 1 second over Rossi and Sytner.

On Sunday when the traffic red light went on the first drivers arrived at St. Devote keeping the position gained in qualifying, while behind them Burani in McLaren found difficulty in defending himself against the contenders. During the lap two Knapfield stopped, on the start grid he had already met trouble with the ignition, leaving the fifth place to Smerville in his Brabham BT37. Five laps afterwards the Canadian tried to lap the Hesketh of Brahin at the Casino section but this latter closed the trajectory and the two cars touched each other: the 308 was practically overturned finishing against the barriers. Safety car was called on track and technical managers set to work to take out the driver and get the track clear of the petrol leakage.

At restart Dayton and Folch finally managed to outdistance Rossi and Sytner, playing the win in last laps. Two laps from the race end Sytner arrived at St. Devote with his wheels jammed: it wasn't a mistake but a problem forced the driver to surrender, definitively leaving for Rossi di Montelera the lowest step of podium.

The last two laps saw the duel for the victory, with Dayton closing all the ways to the contender, gaining a deserved win at only 243 thousandths lead and 17"276. To the Spaniard was left the satisfaction to set the fastest lap on track (1'35"658).

1975-1978 Formula One

The Queen series of the sporting event, as already happened in the last event, was doubtless the one that has given the most winning show. Edwards, in his Penske P3 arrived in Monaco with the best credentials for the final win, above all after his performance in 2006 and, in fact, during the two session of practice he has continuously lined up all rivals, first among all that Mauro Pane (Tyrrell P34) who has been without any doubt the protagonist of the latest event. Behind them the two Ensign cars with Martin and Richelmi were ahead of Stretton. who claimed many difficulties in handling his P34. In that series entered also other cars of remarkable interest, among them the Brabham BT45B, the Wolf WR1 and three Ferrari 312 respectively T,T2 and T3 type.

That Edwards was not a man to be trifled with was very clear from his time of 1:33:242 that made him gain pole position: a good 8 tenths lower than the one set in 2006 causing the first pursuer a gap of two seconds.

At the race start the Penske driver wasn't so quick and Pane took advantage of it to take him away the first position: also Richelmi, who was off like a shot, came up by the American's side on St. Devote bend, but being outside he had to give in. Martin, who lost a position to the Monaco driver's advantage, followed with Stretton (retired three laps later on), Dunn in the March 761 and Kubota in the Williams FW06.

During the four next laps the race was dominated by two duels: the first duel saw Pane defending himself on each bend by the attacks made by Edwards, who didn't agree to be newly defeated, the second one with Richelmi that has been defending the third place from Martin's return. During lap four, Pane made an error at the entrance of the "Tabaccaio" bend and damaged by scraping only the front wing of his car. The car was decidedly unstable and the Penske grew still more threatening. The American made an attempt at the swimming pools, on Rascasse and St. Devote bends but the Italian held out until his Tyrrell has been upset on the hump at the Casino exit, forcing him to minimize the gas. Edwards took advantage of it by placing at his side and overtaking him at Mirabeau, imposing a rate that in a few laps allowed him to gain about five seconds' lead. Behind them Martin overtook Richelmi at the same point, regaining the third place, but the attention was all for Kubota who, once passed Dunn and having run with the first two drivers' time, drew dangerously near the duo Ensign.

It was a joke to pass Richelmi for the Japanese, while for Martin he needed one lap and a half. He seemed suited for the third place but on the Rascasse bend he slipped on the oil of a car in difficulty, going to stop right before crashing against the barriers, thus losing also the fifth position to Dunn's advantage.

After 24'31"285 Edwards realized the dream of the win in Monaco preceding Pane by 2"105 and Martin by 18"847. His lap at 1'34"019 was also the fastest.

Marco Zanello
Photos by Fabio Carrera

Galleria immagini