PAST IMPREFECT: Monza, the Italian racing circuit, has an extraordinary atmosphere and sense of history
TO AN Italian motor racing fan - the tifosi - motor racing is not just a sport, it is a religion. And if such be the case, then the Autodroma Nazionale Monza is surely their cathedral. No other circuit conjures up such emotion, as many memories or quite the same atmosphere.
Reputedly built in just 110 days in the grounds of the Monza Royal Palace, northeast of Milan, Vincenzo Lancia and Felice Nazzaro laid the first stone in February 1922. Just two days later construction work was stopped by conservationists, beginning again in May and finishing in time for the track to be opened on August 28th 1922. The original circuit was some 6.25 miles in length with two banked corners, as well as a linked road circuit.
Monza has an extraordinary atmosphere, partly as a result of its setting in the Royal Park where it appears to be gently decaying. The banking, unused since 1961, still stands and adds to this feeling of decay as well as imparting a sense of wonder that Grand Prix cars raced within its narrow confines at speeds which made Monza the fastest racetrack in Europe. But among the trees and the banking there is something else, for Monza, more than any other motor racing circuit, has ghosts. Here, during the long history of this track, many of the great and famous died in their pursuit of speed.
In one black day in 1933, Giuseppe Campari - who had starred in the Irish International Grand Prix just three years earlier - perished together with Count Stanislas Czaykowski and Baconin Borzacchini. The great Alberto Ascari died here while testing a Ferrari sports car in May 1955, and in 1961 German driver Wolfgang von Trips and ten spectators died.
In more recent times, the Austrian driver, Jochen Rindt, died before he knew that he had achieved his great ambition, becoming the sports first, and thankfully only, posthumous World Champion. The list of those claimed by the track is long and so too is the list of dramas that have been played out on this track and have since passed into the history of the sport.
The original configuration of the track - the speed bowl - was not used again after 1933. A tank parade at the end of the second World War destroyed what remained of the pre-war circuit but reconstruction began in 1948. By 1960 the drivers were expressing their misgivings about the safety of the banking and the events of 1961 caused it to fall from use. The track that remained could claim to have held the fastest ever Grand Prix which was also the closest finish when Peter Gethin won by just 0.01 second ahead of Ronnie Peterson (also to lose his life at the circuit in 1978) at an average speed of 150.75 mph in the 1971 race. After this last of the great Monza slipstreaming races chicanes were introduced in an effort to slow the cars down.
Today, there are three chicanes on the modern track and although still very fast, the track has lost some of its raw speed. However, a walk amongst the trees and old banking of the Monza Royal Park will soon confirm that this remarkable track has lost none of its atmosphere or sense of history which is quite unlike any other motor racing venue in the world.