RE: Time for Tea? 1956 Monza Grand Prix

[nicanary]

chevronb37 said:

I didn't see any timber in the structure, other than some of the armco posts. At some point I think they did a hit n miss jobs with the posts - removed half of the timber posts and cast steel ones in their place. What I saw of the stucture itself was all concrete. The timber may all have deteriorated now. However, where today we have minimum standards governing rebar cover in concrete, these evidently didn't apply in the 1950s. There are large sections where the rebar has been exposed and is now oxidising. The sad truth is that the banking will simply crumble at some point.

I have quite a few more shots of the banking I'd various points I'd be happy to share if anyone is interested anyway.

You have me worried now - where have I seen those photos, and what were they of? I've checked the nostalgia forum, and it's not there. Maybe it was the original construction, and they uprated it at a later date, or a different track altogether, in which case excuse my senility.

[chevronb37]

nicanary said:

chevronb37 said:

I didn't see any timber in the structure, other than some of the armco posts. At some point I think they did a hit n miss jobs with the posts - removed half of the timber posts and cast steel ones in their place. What I saw of the stucture itself was all concrete. The timber may all have deteriorated now. However, where today we have minimum standards governing rebar cover in concrete, these evidently didn't apply in the 1950s. There are large sections where the rebar has been exposed and is now oxidising. The sad truth is that the banking will simply crumble at some point.

I have quite a few more shots of the banking I'd various points I'd be happy to share if anyone is interested anyway.

You have me worried now - where have I seen those photos, and what were they of? I've checked the nostalgia forum, and it's not there. Maybe it was the original construction, and they uprated it at a later date, or a different track altogether, in which case excuse my senility.

I didn't mean to make you question your own sanity! Here are a few more of my shots anyway. I wonder whether Montlhery or perhaps Stiges were originally built on timber props. Sadly the same decay visible at Monza is also slowly eroding the historic buildings at Reims as well.

[FourWheelDrift]

Other nice shots of the construction here -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/speedracer/5725302525...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/speedracer/5725859060...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/speedracer/5725301909...

[mybrainhurts]

Pity we can't go back in some ways to those days. It's not so very long ago that F1 used to come to Oulton Park and the likes of Graham Hill and Jim Clark drove in the RAC Rally.

[chevronb37]

I think rather than go back to those days, I'd rather have had the opportunity to live through them. I say that because I actually love the spectacle and drama of modern motor racing, just in a different way to enjoying learning about the past.

While at Monza, I picked up a postcard of this photograph. I just think it's absolute magic. That 2F incongruously mixing with the GT40, P4s and TZ2.

[Tango13]

robinessex said:

So when are they going to bring the banking back into use ?

Try and get a DVD copy of 'Grand Prix' starring James Garner, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford and a fleeting appearance by Grahame Hill. The last race of the season is filmed at Monza using the old circuit with the banking, it's directed by John Frankenheimer of 'Ronin' fame so the driving sequences are stunning.

Another source of pictures of the Monza banking is a book called 'Autodrome, The lost Race Circuits of Europe'

[carinaman]

'19 hundread and 56'

[Caterhamfan]

rtz62 said:

Funny how 'progress' can have just the opposite effect.

and modern drivers were complaining that the tyres were "stopping them pushing"

[Felix7]

http://www.stirlingmoss.com/articles/feature/stirl... including colour footage of the race.

[Vocal Minority]

A bizarre race that one. I remember reading that Collins only had to finish to be world champion, but decided to hand his car over to Fangio, who took it. Speculation is he wouldn't have coped with the adulation of it all and the pressure of being 'Peter Collins, World Champion' when he was perfectly happy being 'Peter Collins'.

Also Moss got back to the pits having being shoved by another Maserati out of fuel (I cannot remember who) - he was disqualified for receiving outside assistance though was reinstated as he argued the Maserati was his team mate and entitled to help (though the other car was in fact a private entry).

I understand totally the modern safety aspect, but this is rather wonderful all the same isn't it? The crossover outside the pit is potentially alarming though! Like full scale salextric...

[garypotter]

What a find, Fantastic, Moss,fangio et al all hero's and what a list of cars racing on that track, brilliant,

Thank you PH

[nicanary]

Vocal Minority said:

A bizarre race that one. I remember reading that Collins only had to finish to be world champion, but decided to hand his car over to Fangio, who took it. Speculation is he wouldn't have coped with the adulation of it all and the pressure of being 'Peter Collins, World Champion' when he was perfectly happy being 'Peter Collins'.

Also Moss got back to the pits having being shoved by another Maserati out of fuel (I cannot remember who) - he was disqualified for receiving outside assistance though was reinstated as he argued the Maserati was his team mate and entitled to help (though the other car was in fact a private entry).

I understand totally the modern safety aspect, but this is rather wonderful all the same isn't it? The crossover outside the pit is potentially alarming though! Like full scale salextric...

The car that pushed Moss was driven by Luigi Piotti - it was a private entry (in those days you could actually buy a competitive F1 car from a factory!) but Maserati liked to help anyone who drove their cars, and often made their pits/mechanics available. Piotti may have been currying favour with the works, but things were so much more gentlemanly back then. Big money motor racing today means all the romance has gone.

The road width of the combined circuit meant there was less danger than there appeared to be. In practice for the 1958 Race of two worlds it rained and the American entries all sat it out - Stirling Moss took out the abysmally handling Maserati "Eldorado Special" and deliberately put it into lurid slides coming off the banking onto the finishing straight, just to put the wind up the Yanks. They thought the European drivers were mad.

[ButtonIt]

I love the mechanic hitting the wheelnut with a hammer!! haha

[nicanary]

ButtonIt said:

I love the mechanic hitting the wheelnut with a hammer!! haha

?? What else would he use? Wire wheels=spinner=copper headed hammer. I had one for my MGB.

[Ftumpch]

nicanary said:

ButtonIt said:

I love the mechanic hitting the wheelnut with a hammer!! haha

?? What else would he use? Wire wheels=spinner=copper headed hammer. I had one for my MGB.

Ah but you know, they even make spanners for spinners these days so that you don't cover them in whack marks. Another example of the steady march of longevity preservation.

Perhaps it was because they had just gone through the war and that death was just an everyday occurrence, that people used to be able to bring themselves to race around in those cars. absolute craziness... and totally enthralling!