Kiernan said:
Could be worse , as I've still got a drive down to Monza for the GP in a couple of weeks time in my M4, so I'll hardly be slumming it. Then I just need to sell the BMW when I get back to fund the new purchase.
Monza is brilliant. Chaos, but brilliant. A mate I drove my S1 elise there and back in 1999 (the Hakkinen crying in the bushes race) with the top off all the way. We came back via the Stelvio pass. This we did something like 11 countries on the round trip. Happy days!
GP was mad though. Probably better organised now but the signs for the grandstands were hand written in A4 paper in with marker pens. The seats weren't seats at all, they were benches with numbers painted on them. Our grandstand was full of people without tickets sitting on the stairs. The Italian army marched them off the left hand side of the grandstand on the warm up lap. They all came back up the right hand stairs less than a minute later!!
I recall trying to get through the tunnel under the main straight. It was a seething mass of bodies all pushing and pulling each other in different directions! We got half way through only to find cars and mopeds were in the middle of it all as well! Insane.
I also recall queueing up for nearly an hour for a coffee - only to get a single shot expresso.
Oh, and the local turns up with saws and axes and cut down the trees to make temporary platforms to watch from in the wooded sections. Or at least they did in '99!
Just lovely to pick up the warmth of sun there though with the UK beginning to turn to Autumn and by FAR the most atmospheric away GP I've been to ... and I've done most of them!
Walking the track afterwards was special. Very special.
Enjoy!
PS - We managed the entire route with the roof off only to be hit by a biblical downpour as we came off the euro tunnel in the UK. It was like someone was standing on the bonnet with a hose directed into the cabin. At that point we gave in and put the roof back on. And immediately misted up! Those early S1 Elises leaked like sieves and the fan had three speeds. Useless, Useless with noise, Useless with more noise!
Old Pits at Reims
Scrum under the main straight
Ascari 'Grandstand'
Viewing platform!
Anything that wasn't bolted down went...
Stelvio
Stelvio
A bearded Elise! Should have kept that plate, but sold it with my S2...