Well, this was supposed to be the day we’d come for – and we overslept! By the time we got to the track, ex-pat Kiwi Roger Wills was already on the podium having won race 1 with his Cooper.
Never mind. For me, it was more about seeing cars I hadn’t seen before than the actual racing, so it wasn’t too upsetting and the day ahead was a long one if we were to be around all day. With neither Paula nor I wanting to be out in the sun all day, the slightly overcast day was just perfect. We had expected a large crowd on the Sunday so assumed that we would have to sit in row ‘A’, but once again they keener ones of our group were at the track early and had commandeered a spot at the top again.
Muscling in between them, I was then able to take a load of start-line pics! Needless to say, the proceedings were slow again but the racing was good and the variety of cars tremendous.
Tour leader John lent me wife Judith’s pit pass, as he was going through to the media centre to arrange a track tour between races, for himself and his ex-wife, Jan McLaren, so I managed to watch the 1961-1966 F1 race from a spot between the F1 pits and the track, as they came around the swimming pool. That at least gave me a set of pics from a different angle.
There was only one race group I hadn’t seen on the track Friday or Saturday, the 1966-73 F1 cars, so once they were out for their warm up lap, I was happy. I even witnessed the start line accident that took out Nottingham BMW dealer, Frank Sytner, as the car on pole position partially jumped the start and a McLaren from behind Sytner, came through early and took rear wheels off both cars. The marshals with their trolley jacks, managed to clear them away without the need of a safety car.
We didn’t stay until the bitter end of course as the weather took a turn for the worse and we headed for the railway station before the rain set in. Many stayed until the bitter end and I believe there were a few incidents on track.
The group had decided, or rather, it had been decided for us, that we’d eat together at the “African Queen” restaurant as our last night at Monaco as people from the group started dissipating.
Nice enough location down at the sea front area, but not a meal that was moderately priced.
Well, that was one item ticked off my bucket list – a visit to Monaco for the racing. There is no doubt it is a spectacular setting and probably seeing older race cars and sports racing cars was ideal, as I have no wish whatever to see the current F1 cars there. I have no wish to go back though as the restricted access takes away part of the joy of being a spectator, the ability to roam around and to watch (and photograph) from different vantage points. Given the choice between the Historic Monaco meeting or the Goodwood Revival, Goodwood wins hands down.
Paris tomorrow (for the ladies...) now the boy part of our trip is over. The weather outlook doesn’t look too promising though.
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