Trip Report - Monaco Classic GP (Pic Heavy)
Discussion
The call from the old man came through early in the New Year
"Some of the boys are organising a trip to Monaco for the Classic GP. Spend 3 days driving down through France, stopping off at some nice hotels for good food and wine, 3 days in Monaco for the GP then home. We can take the Bentley. Fancy it?"
Some decisions make themselves.
Fast forward a few months and we all met up at Magor Services on the M4 on Monday afternoon for a quick trip to Folkstone for the night ready for an early Eurotunnel crossing the following morning.
This was our steed for the week. A 2000 Bentley Mulliner Continental R (essentially a long wheelbase Continental T for those of you not geeky enough to know the models) with 420 Bhp and more torque than the QE2.
The other cars in our group were an Audi R8
Merc 300 SL-24
Ferrari F430 Spider
And the star of the show a perfect 1971 Ferrari Dino with less than 20K on the clock.
The first leg was a nice drive down to Epernay for lunch in a lovely restaurant called the Touraine Champenoise
The afternoon drive followed on through mile after mile of vineyards to the overnight stop at the Hotel Le Montrachet. Great hotel and restaraunt, especially if you like white burgundy wine.
The following morning was bright and sunny and with a drive across Burgundy promised to be a perfect day for a petrol head. As we were getting ready to leave I took a picture of the Dino and Robert, the owner (who also owned the 430) wandered over "Why dont you drive this morning?" and just tossed me the keys. Unbelievable. The Dino was brilliant and reminded me of a 40 year old S1 Elise. It sounded fantastic and that mornings drive was one I will never forget.
The afternoon drive took us over some awesome roads including part of the N85 Route Napoleon to our overnight stop in Moustier at the foot of the mountains
We had a fantastic meal and several gallons of wine in the library of the restaurant Le Bastide-Moustiers.
Day 4 saw us heading to Villefranch Sur Mer where we were staying for the weekend. The morning run was through the Gorge de Verdun which was fantastic for the views but the first part wasnt great as a drivers road due the the narrow, blind corners and when we were there, lots of cyclists.
Fortunately the road widens out and while on one re group stop Robert wandered over again "Want to take the 430 for a blast?" Does the Pope s
t in the woods?
Great roads and stunning views.
The afternoon saw us head up the Col De Turini which is a road I've always wanted to do since seeing it on the best driving road episode on Top Gear. The hairpins were never ending and for the first 2/3rds of it the Bentley was brilliant despite its size powering out of the bends with huge amounts of torque to stay in touch with the smaller nimbler cars.
Only on the last section did it seem to suffer a bout of asthma and start to seem very sluggish indeed. At the top it pi$$ed out about 2 litres of water from the cooling system overflow pipe but after it cooled down for 20 mins it was fine for the descent down the other side and into Villefranche.
Chasing the Dino down the hairpins on the way down.
Friday was spent in Monaco having a few cooling but typically expensive beers outside the Cafe De Paris in Casino Square watching the world go by
New 458
Veyron
Not everything worth looking at in Casino Square has 4 wheels
The rest of the afternoon was spent having a rather ageeable lunch on the terrace of the Hotel De Paris.
Saturday was practice and qualifying and we spent most of it in a restarant above the Tip Top Bar on the downhill straight after Casino Square.
Auto Union on a demo lap
In the night we went to the RM Auction in the Grimaldi Forum. The cars being actioned were out of this world.
Birdcage
Chris Evans' perfect white 250 SWB was my favourite. Just before it came up a short bloke in his 50's wandered in still wearing his race suit and still holding his crash helmet and gloves, sat down, successfully bid 2.35M Euros then casually walked out to go and finish qualifying
The word 'bargain' isnt something you normally associate with Monaco but thats what we got on Sunday for Race Day. Some friends had paid about £3K a head for a weekend in the Fairmont Hotel and secured us day passes for 70 Euros each for access to the roof terrace which had a nice pool, loads of sun loungers, lovely food and free alcohol all day (which one of our group took advantage of in a big way
)
The view was quite good as well
The same day pass for the F1 in 2 weeks time is 2,500 Euros per person
The Bentley drivers club were staying in the hotel and had about 20 cars all lined up outside which was impressive
As was this Swiss registered F1
Monday was a 600 mile long Autoroute blast up to out last stop back in Epernay at the Chateau d'Etoges. 3 large G&T's taste really good after a 600 mile drive.
.
The last day was a short hop back to Calais to the Tunnel and then the depressing drive home on the M25 and M4.
All in all it was an absolutely fantastic week. You can keep your Gumball Rally. Heading off across country with a few good mates in a few nice cars and having a laugh and a few beers is what its all about.
I got to drive both the Dino and 430 a few times each thanks to its extremely generous owner. The Bentley was briliant as well apart from at high altitude at the top of the Col de Turini but I can forgive it that. It did suffer a cracked windscreen from following the 430 to closely though.
Its the first time I've done the Monaco Classic but would certainly do it again. Fortunately its every 2 years so I can have a chance to save up for the next one!
"Some of the boys are organising a trip to Monaco for the Classic GP. Spend 3 days driving down through France, stopping off at some nice hotels for good food and wine, 3 days in Monaco for the GP then home. We can take the Bentley. Fancy it?"
Some decisions make themselves.
Fast forward a few months and we all met up at Magor Services on the M4 on Monday afternoon for a quick trip to Folkstone for the night ready for an early Eurotunnel crossing the following morning.
This was our steed for the week. A 2000 Bentley Mulliner Continental R (essentially a long wheelbase Continental T for those of you not geeky enough to know the models) with 420 Bhp and more torque than the QE2.
The other cars in our group were an Audi R8
Merc 300 SL-24
Ferrari F430 Spider
And the star of the show a perfect 1971 Ferrari Dino with less than 20K on the clock.
The first leg was a nice drive down to Epernay for lunch in a lovely restaurant called the Touraine Champenoise
The afternoon drive followed on through mile after mile of vineyards to the overnight stop at the Hotel Le Montrachet. Great hotel and restaraunt, especially if you like white burgundy wine.
The following morning was bright and sunny and with a drive across Burgundy promised to be a perfect day for a petrol head. As we were getting ready to leave I took a picture of the Dino and Robert, the owner (who also owned the 430) wandered over "Why dont you drive this morning?" and just tossed me the keys. Unbelievable. The Dino was brilliant and reminded me of a 40 year old S1 Elise. It sounded fantastic and that mornings drive was one I will never forget.
The afternoon drive took us over some awesome roads including part of the N85 Route Napoleon to our overnight stop in Moustier at the foot of the mountains
We had a fantastic meal and several gallons of wine in the library of the restaurant Le Bastide-Moustiers.
Day 4 saw us heading to Villefranch Sur Mer where we were staying for the weekend. The morning run was through the Gorge de Verdun which was fantastic for the views but the first part wasnt great as a drivers road due the the narrow, blind corners and when we were there, lots of cyclists.
Fortunately the road widens out and while on one re group stop Robert wandered over again "Want to take the 430 for a blast?" Does the Pope s
t in the woods?Great roads and stunning views.
The afternoon saw us head up the Col De Turini which is a road I've always wanted to do since seeing it on the best driving road episode on Top Gear. The hairpins were never ending and for the first 2/3rds of it the Bentley was brilliant despite its size powering out of the bends with huge amounts of torque to stay in touch with the smaller nimbler cars.
Only on the last section did it seem to suffer a bout of asthma and start to seem very sluggish indeed. At the top it pi$$ed out about 2 litres of water from the cooling system overflow pipe but after it cooled down for 20 mins it was fine for the descent down the other side and into Villefranche.
Chasing the Dino down the hairpins on the way down.
Friday was spent in Monaco having a few cooling but typically expensive beers outside the Cafe De Paris in Casino Square watching the world go by
New 458
Veyron
Not everything worth looking at in Casino Square has 4 wheels
The rest of the afternoon was spent having a rather ageeable lunch on the terrace of the Hotel De Paris.
Saturday was practice and qualifying and we spent most of it in a restarant above the Tip Top Bar on the downhill straight after Casino Square.
Auto Union on a demo lap
In the night we went to the RM Auction in the Grimaldi Forum. The cars being actioned were out of this world.
Birdcage
Chris Evans' perfect white 250 SWB was my favourite. Just before it came up a short bloke in his 50's wandered in still wearing his race suit and still holding his crash helmet and gloves, sat down, successfully bid 2.35M Euros then casually walked out to go and finish qualifying
The word 'bargain' isnt something you normally associate with Monaco but thats what we got on Sunday for Race Day. Some friends had paid about £3K a head for a weekend in the Fairmont Hotel and secured us day passes for 70 Euros each for access to the roof terrace which had a nice pool, loads of sun loungers, lovely food and free alcohol all day (which one of our group took advantage of in a big way
)The view was quite good as well
The same day pass for the F1 in 2 weeks time is 2,500 Euros per person
The Bentley drivers club were staying in the hotel and had about 20 cars all lined up outside which was impressive
As was this Swiss registered F1
Monday was a 600 mile long Autoroute blast up to out last stop back in Epernay at the Chateau d'Etoges. 3 large G&T's taste really good after a 600 mile drive.
.The last day was a short hop back to Calais to the Tunnel and then the depressing drive home on the M25 and M4.
All in all it was an absolutely fantastic week. You can keep your Gumball Rally. Heading off across country with a few good mates in a few nice cars and having a laugh and a few beers is what its all about.
I got to drive both the Dino and 430 a few times each thanks to its extremely generous owner. The Bentley was briliant as well apart from at high altitude at the top of the Col de Turini but I can forgive it that. It did suffer a cracked windscreen from following the 430 to closely though.
Its the first time I've done the Monaco Classic but would certainly do it again. Fortunately its every 2 years so I can have a chance to save up for the next one!
hornetrider said:
You. Legend.
Simply awesome! I went to Monaco a few years ago just prior to the classic - is Monaco very busy on Classic weekend? I imagine its an excellent alternative to the GP weekend.
Most of our group usually go to the F1 but decided to have a change this year and do the Classic instead. Simply awesome! I went to Monaco a few years ago just prior to the classic - is Monaco very busy on Classic weekend? I imagine its an excellent alternative to the GP weekend.
There were quite a few people there and its getting bigger ever time (like the LM Classic) but it wasnt what I would call busy. You could get around everywhere and we had no problem getting into bars and restaurants, even Stars and Bars by the port, which is where the padock was, was busy but you could still get in no problem.
It was a really nice laid back and relaxing atmosphere whereas the others said the F1 was just heaving.
Davey - Great report of a fantastic trip! thank you!
I am heading to Monaco on Wednesday for the GP, but i am struggling on the route at the moment. I really wanted to head over the Col de Turini, but I think it may be a little tight and twisty for a Gallardo and two M5's? What route did you guys take? I would love to find some fast open flowing streches.
I am heading to Monaco on Wednesday for the GP, but i am struggling on the route at the moment. I really wanted to head over the Col de Turini, but I think it may be a little tight and twisty for a Gallardo and two M5's? What route did you guys take? I would love to find some fast open flowing streches.
DoubleG said:
Davey - Great report of a fantastic trip! thank you!
I am heading to Monaco on Wednesday for the GP, but i am struggling on the route at the moment. I really wanted to head over the Col de Turini, but I think it may be a little tight and twisty for a Gallardo and two M5's? What route did you guys take? I would love to find some fast open flowing streches.
The Col de Turini will be fine in a Gallardo and 2 M5's. Its tight but great fun and should stil be quiet at the moment.I am heading to Monaco on Wednesday for the GP, but i am struggling on the route at the moment. I really wanted to head over the Col de Turini, but I think it may be a little tight and twisty for a Gallardo and two M5's? What route did you guys take? I would love to find some fast open flowing streches.
As for other roads but a michellin Road Atlas and look for the nice N roads. They are all over the place.
Gassing Station | Roads | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff