TAKING CORNERS

Monaco Railway Station look out for red signs directing you to the various grandstands

e Monaco Historic Grand Prix takes place every two years and gives the opportunity to experience the unique atmosphere of a race meeting at this famous principality without the expense and crowding of the Grand Prix proper.

WORDS & PHOTOGR APHY Peter Olley of Tripos Media

have been lucky enough to visit the Historic I Grand Prix on several occasions and I thought that it might be an idea to share my experience with you.

Trying to park a car in Monaco is just about impossible, therefore most people arrive for the Monaco Historic Grand Prix by train, whether you are traveling from Nice direction or Italy direction the train ride is spectacular as it runs along the coast, popping in and out of tunnels punctuated with superb coastal views.

You will arrive at Monaco station which is underground and the ceiling above you is a mass of sparkling lights, as you step from the train, look for large red signs hanging above the platforms, these will direct you to the shortest route to your chosen grandstand (signifi ed by a le er)

Currently, on the Friday, access to grandstands is free, this is the ideal day to try out the diff erent viewing spots, red signs, similar to the ones in the station are in abundance throughout the town so its fairly easy to

St Devote, fi rst corner a er the start, the cars then climb the hill to the casino

navigate from one grandstand to another. Let’s take a trip around the circuit, picking out the grandstands as we go. ere are one or two VIP grandstands that I have not visited or included in this description.

G NDSTANDS A AND A1 “ST. DEVOTE” Either side of the circuit at the fi rst corner a er the start, these are quite small grandstands and viewing although very close to the circuit is quite limited to a very short stretch of road, however it can be a very exciting corner as overtaking manoeuvres are being a empted and a le hand bend to negotiate, there is also a frequently used escape road area directly in front of St. Devote chapel. From here, the cars will go up the remarkably steep hill toward the Casino. Photography with a standard 50mm lens at St Devote would be quite adequate and I would not recommend a lens much bigger than 150mm simply because you are so close.

G NDSTAND B “CASINO SQUARE” With a backdrop of splendid buildings, the cars travel from right to le , I personally was surprised how slow the cars went through this section making photography easier and I think you could easily go up to a 250mm lens in this section. Casino Square is situated very close to the Railway Station, making access easy. is grandstand also benefi ts from provision of a large TV screen to allow you to follow the racing.

G NDSTAND C “PORTIER” W here the cars disappear, turning right into the tunnel, it’s a rather slow section and only a very small grandstand, again due to your proximity to the circuit a standard 50mm lens would be adequate. G NDSTAND K 1 TO K8 “TABAC” is is my preferred grandstand, K1 is the nearest to the tunnel and K8 is closer to the swimming pool section. From K1 you can see the cars exit the chicane a er the tunnel and run down alongside the harbour to take the le hand bend in front of you know as Tabac (formerly the site of a tobacconist shop). It’s probably one of only two spots on the circuit where you could use a large lens of up to 400mm. is viewing point also has the provision of an excellent large TV screen set high in the air allowing you to follow the racing around the circuit.

You, as the viewing public are facing straight into the harbour where all the large yachts are moored up with their sterns facing you, so when there is an interval between races you have a great opportunity to “people watch” and spot a celebrity or two so perhaps take some binoculars with you.

Casino Square, much slower than I expected

G NDSTANDS L, N, O & P “SWIMMING POOL AREA” ese 3 grandstands are next to each other and are surprisingly steep to climb in my experience., You sit with your back to the sea in these grandstands and look out over the swimming pool area, it can get a li le chilly on your back and legs if the wind gets up coming off the sea. is grandstand also has a TV screen in front of you situated near the swimming pool. A large camera lens of up to 400mm would be suitable for these grandstands. Access to these grandstands is via a foot bridge

Grandstand L is on the inside of the circuit which gives you a view of the cars coming toward you from “Tabac” and coming around the swimming pool. A smaller lens for this area would be be er I suggest up to 250mm.

G NDSTAND T “ SCASSE” is allows you to see the exit from the swimming pool and also gives you a good view of the pits, it should be noted that this is the only covered grandstand on the circuit. For pictures taken of pit action a lens of up to 300mm would suffi ce but a shorter lens would be required to get the cars exiting the swimming pool. To access this grandstand you have to cross the circuit via a small footbridge.

e main Pits which are a permanent structure

A Pre war Auto Union along the harbour section

Monaco is no place to get it wrong

G NDSTAND V “ANTHONY NOGHES” From this viewpoint you will see cars peeling off from the circuit and into the pits, if they are still on their lap they will be heading for the start / fi nish straight, cars are very slow in this area and photography is pre y diffi cult due to the compactness and small size of the grandstand. at comprises a lap of Monaco, it should be noted that ONLY grandstand T is covered and its not unusual to have a rain shower come inland from the sea or possibly off the top of the mountains that form a backdrop to the principality, so I would suggest you pack some weather protection, these rain showers can be very heavy if sometimes short lived.

I found that food and drink is available all over the town and prices are not too bad and comparable to other large sporting events, from my normal viewing area in K1, food and drink vendors are literally at the back of the grandstand and also the provision of ample toilet facilities. e Monaco Historic Grand Prix a racts an awful lot of English, people, I would estimate that at least 60 percent are from the UK which helps to make it a very friendly racing circuit to visit. Commentary is done in 4 diff erent languages, French. Italian, German, and English with commentators swapping ever 4 or 5 minutes.

You can visit the paddock by showing your

grandstand ticket, but not the pits themselves without a special pass, the pits will normally house the fastest category of the weekends racing cars, but this really doesn’t detract from the magnifi cent display of the rest of the events entry within the paddock.

It is quite a walk to get into the paddock situated just off of Rascasse corner but access involves walking past the rear of a lot of buildings, it also involves quite lot of steps, I’m sure there must be provision for people with mobility diffi culties and it would be well worth contacting the ACM (Automobile Club De Monaco) who, are extremely helpful and are happy to converse in English.

Its well worth taking a camera with you on a tour of the paddock where again a standard 50mm lens would be most suffi cient e price of a weekend ticket is cheaper that the Silverstone Classic and at the time of writing it’s totally free on the Friday. Of course, you have to take into account travel to France and Accommodation, I would suggest arrive a day or two early and leave a day or two a er the event and make a short holiday out of it. If you fl y into and out of Nice, try and book a daytime fl ight as the views from the plane are magnifi cent as you fl y along the coast before landing and similarly during take -off .

Perhaps, when the next Historic Grand Prix takes place in 2024, we might bump into each other.

Within the paddock one get up very close to the cars and the crews all seem happy to chat