Upcoming Events
Menu
Surprise in the A2 Series “Juan Manuel Fangio”: Alex Birkenstock was expected at the wheel of the Ferrari 246, but Claudia Hürtgen replaced him at short notice and set the best time (1:52.421) of these qualifications to ensure a pole start on Sunday. In this series, a Ferrari – Maserati battle was an option, but Tony Wood drove his 1959 Tec-Mec F415 into second place, two tenths behind Mrs Hürtgen, ahead of Joaquin Folch-Rusinol‘s Lotus 16.
This great qualifying day, with 8 series on the menu, was launched by the B Series, called “Graham Hill” and divided into 3 classes. Mark Shaw, driving a Lotus 21, and Joseph Colasacco, who drives Lorenzo Bandini‘s Ferrari 1512, went head to head, flying above their class and the prancing horse single-seater was eventually the fastest car on track in 1:47.631 .
In the A1 Series “Louis Chiron”, we had to wait until the very end of the qualifying session to see Mark Gillies take pole position! The American pushed his 1934 ERA R3A to the limit and managed to edge out his little sister, the 1935 ERA R4A driven by Nicholas Topliss. We were expecting these two single-seaters at the top of the classification; it’s done ! See you on Sunday for the final duel.
The anecdote was told on Friday in the paddock of the GP de Monaco Historique to Jean-Denis Delétraz, who is driving this year in the Principality a superb black Shadow DN3 carrying an American flag. And it was told to him by Jean-Pierre Jarier, who was driving it in 1974 at Monaco, finished 3rd that year, but should have won: “He was in the lead by 15 seconds when the sleeve of his overall caught the circuit breaker in the cockpit and caused the car to stall” , smiles the Swiss driver, already seen in the Principality in an ATS and especially in a Hesketh ex-James Hunt.
He is very fond of this Ford-Cosworth-powered Shadow which he discovered on Friday and he hopes to enter the Top 5 of the E Series on Sunday. To be continued.
It was the last session of the day and German Marco Werner, in a 40-year-old Lotus 87, finished at the top of the timesheets in the free practice session of the G Series, dubbed “Ayrton Senna” and reserved to F1s produced between 1981 and 1985, at the beginning of the era of turbo engines. Triple winner of Le Mans 24 Hours, Werner was almost two seconds faster than gentleman driver Christophe d’Ansembourg, at the wheel of a 1981 Williams FW07C, driven that year by reigning World Champion Alan Jones (2nd in Monaco). Werner’s great rival, Britain’s Michael Lyons, had to settle for 6th position, in his 1983 Lotus 92. Qualifying will start Saturday morning at 8:15 a.m. with the B Series opening another beautiful day on the Monaco Circuit.
Free practice for the F Series, at the end of the afternoon, allowed the British drivers to shine with a thousand lights: seven drivers of his Gracious Majesty in the Top 7, followed by Monaco’s Fred Lajoux, at the wheel of his black and gold Arrows, the one and only non-Brit in the Top 10.
Michael Lyons, in a blue Hesketh 308 carrying the colors of Penthouse magazine, was the fastest, in 1:31.265, while completing only 11 laps, ahead of the Tyrrell (ex-Alboreto) of Michael Cantillon, followed by Miles Griffiths, in a yellow 1977 Fittipaldi, and David Shaw in a 1979 Williams FW06, the year before Alan Jones won the world title. As for Nicolas Matile, the Monegasque florist, he took a very honorable 13th place on Friday the 13th of this 13th edition…
Very elegant in an immaculate white overall, Esteban Gutierrez, former F1 driver with Sauber and Haas between 2013 and 2016 (60 GPs contested, 6 points scored), returned with great pleasure to the streets of the Principality in a BRM belonging to the legend of Mexican motorsport: a 1970 BRM P153 that won the same year at the Belgian GP with Pedro Rodriguez at the wheel.
“This car is part of history so I’m very proud to drive it. But it’s not easy, the engine is very powerful and it slides a lot, especially in the S of the Piscine“, says Esteban. “The trickiest part is the exit from the tunnel, because you arrive very quickly and you have to brake hard while dropping the gear ratios. It’s very + mechanical +“, adds the Mexican driver, now converted to endurance, in WEC, after having considered for a time getting into Formula E. “I like driving these old cars, I had already done it at Goodwood“, Esteban adds. And it shows.
Emmanuele Pirro, Marco Werner, multiple winners of Le Mans 24 Hours with Audi, Roberto Moreno, a former Benetton F1 driver, but also Mrs Claudia Hurtgen, Jean-Denis Delétraz and Toni Seiler, Roald Goethe and Michael Lyons, three times victorious the year last, in beautiful single-seaters: Embassy-Hills, Shadows, McLarens, a Ferrari and above all a whole lot of Lotus F1 cars.
The E Series of the 13th GP de Monaco Historique was eagerly awaited and it did not disappoint, with incredible lap times for cars produced in the 70s, around a minute and a half per lap. Also note the presence of a 1975 Ensign driven by Guillaume Roman for the great debut of the Ayari Classic team in historic races. It has just been founded in Montélimar by former driver Soheil Ayari who will be back on track in June, at the French Historic GP, at the wheel of a Ligier JS21.
HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco launched the 13th edition of Grand Prix de Monaco Historique on Friday morning by spending a long time in the paddock where more than 180 exceptional cars and their experienced drivers were waiting to finally be able to enter the mythical track which will be reserved for them all weekend.
Welcomed by Michel Ferry, Vice-President of the Automobile Club of Monaco (ACM) in charge of Sport, and by Gery Mestre, President of the Classic Cars Commission, Prince Albert had a long talk with Monegasque driver Frédéric Lajoux entered as in 2018, in the F Series, driving a superb black and gold Arrows, dating from 1978. Also with the aim of paying tribute to young Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert, tragically deceased at Spa-Francorchamps in August 2019 .
While His Serene Highness wandered around the paddock, the first three series, A1, A2 and B, allowed the ACM stewards, already well trained by the Monaco E-Prix 15 days ago, to get on the job. They were very efficient, as always, in Sainte-Dévote and La Rascasse following small shocks against the safety barriers or minor incidents with limited damage, and there was no need to wave red flags.
The first quality lap times fell to A1 series drivers, notably the venerable ERAs of Nicholas Topliss (Class 1) and Mark Gillies (Class 2), pre-war cars (voiturettes) managing to beat a pack of Bugattis, Maseratis and other Alfa Romeos.
In the B series, under the expert eyes of Clive Chapman, son of Colin Chapman and boss of the Lotus Classic Cars team, a car from the English brand that was the fastest: the Lotus 21 of 1961, with a Climax engine, entered for Mark Shaw, a regular customer of the event, who beat Joseph Colasacco’s Ferrari and Christopher Drake’s Cooper-Ford.
All eight series were on the menu of this opening day of the 13th GP de Monaco Historique, including a huge number of Lotus cars to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the passing of Colin Chapman . Most of them in English green livery, the famous “Racing Green” often seen in the 60s, or in black and gold livery, as was the case in the 70s. To the delight of nostalgics!!!
An artist whose work we were able to admire last year at the Collection de Voitures de S.A.S. le Prince of Monaco, of which paintings, driver statues, figurines, art cars and also a magnificent sculpture interpretation of Ayrton Senna’s Lotus 97T.
Together with his colleague from Geneva, Fernando Grande, Yvon Amiel has designed and produced 8 Trophy’s, each an effigy of the 8 drivers who’s names headline a series of races. From Louis Chiron and Aytron Senna to Juan Manuel Fangio, Vittorio Marzotto, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and Gilles Villeneuve.
A very nice reward for the winning drivers of each race, who will all go home with a unique and original work of art.
In addition to winning the H.S.H. the Prince of Monaco’s Cup, the winners of each race will each leave with a unique and original work of art… just like the Historic Monaco Grand Prix!
*Antoine le pilote, hero for kids aged 5 till 105. 15 albums to date, published by Gilletta.
With almost a month to go before the start of the “circuit events”, the entire Corps of Marshals is mobilising this weekend for the traditional Training Camp. Between learning the right gestures for the newcomers and general revisions for the more experienced, the 650 volunteers present are preparing with rigour and professionalism for the three upcoming events (Monaco E-Prix – 30 April / Grand Prix de Monaco Historique – 13-15 May / Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco – 26-29 May).
Founded 50 years ago by the will of the President of the Automobile Club de Monaco, Me Michel Boéri, the Marshals Training Course, offers to all the teams about 10 workshops (First Aid / Pre-video / Intervention / Post-video / Rail + Cric workshop / Electrical Risks / “Gazelle” timed course / Flags and signaling circuit / Fire).
A warm and studious atmosphere reigned under the mild spring sunshine offered for the occasion by the Principality of Monaco. Familiarising oneself with the new procedures and reworking what has been learned were the watchwords of the weekend. Founded 50 years ago by the President of the Automobile Club de Monaco, Me Michel Boéri, the Marshals Training Camp offers all the teams a couple of several workshops (First Aid / Pre-video / Intervention / Post-video / Rail + Jack Workshop / Electrical Risks / “Gazelle” timed course / Flags and signaling circuit / Fire).
The objective is to test the reflexes, physical and reasoning skills of each candidate. Accustomed each year to the famous fire intervention and extraction of the driver, the Commissaires were able to rework the right gestures to gain in efficiency and control, with the precious and efficient advice of the Monaco Fire Brigade.
This spectacular workshop, which has been part of the course programme for the past 15 years, underlines the importance of working on fire control and driver evacuation procedures in a very short time. In May, our Commissaires will in particular be subjected to the control of fire resulting from methanol, a fuel present in the petrol of certain Historic Grand Prix cars and invisible to the naked eye. The use of specific extinguishers is therefore required.
What’s new in 2022?
The Marshals have been given theoretical and practical training on the electrical risks involved with single-seaters in Formula 1 and Formula E. In order to get as close as possible to the conditions they will be confronted with during the race, LED lights have been installed on one of the test cars. The aim here is to reproduce the colour system (green/red/blue) used on the single-seaters, which informs the intervention personnel about the danger or otherwise of the electrical risk in the event of a problem.
Another novelty this year: the installation of a new plate, with the aim of simulating as well as possible an extraction of the car on track by the flat bottom.
Finally, it should be noted that the entire course is now computerised by a team of developers from the Corps of Marshals, in order to have a complete overview of each workshop (accounting and assessment of the volunteers on each post).
Handling the flags
On Sunday, the last highlight of the weekend was the flag handling under the Chapiteau de Fontvieille. In this workshop, different race scenarios are studied in order to work specifically on the application of the rules of signalling on the track. rules on the track.
In figures
In 2022, the Automobile Club de Monaco’s Corps of Marshals will mobilise nearly 650 people on each of the three circuit events. Among them, there will be 72 new candidates, 52 technical stewards and nearly a hundred people in charge of the management.
See you on April 12 for the General Meeting organised at the Espace Léo Ferré, then on the weekend of April 23 & 24 for the handover of equipment, one week before the 5th Monaco E-Prix (April 30).
How to become Marshal?
All the conditions for applying are specified in the following document:
https://acm.mc/corps-des-commissaires-2/devenir-commissaire-de-lacm/
Registration for the 2023 track events will begin on Monday 05 September 2022.
For further information, please contact the Secretariat of the Corps of Marshals by phone at (+377) 93 15 26 16
In the context of the 5th Monaco E-Prix (30 April 2022), 13th Monaco Historic Grand Prix (13 to 15 May 2022) and 79th Monaco Grand Prix (26 to 29 May 2022), the Automobile Club de Monaco would like to inform you of the Opening of the “Resident Access” Office, located in Square Gastaud, from Monday 7 March 2022.
The office will be open to residents, companies and VTCs from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm, for the issue of passes only.
Registrations must be made in advance on the dedicated website: https://riverains.acm.mc/
Contact : +377 97 77 95 70 – [email protected]
For specific “Boat Access” requests, documents will be issued directly at the SEPM (Société d’Exploitation des Ports de Monaco), located at 30, Quai l’Hirondelle, from 25 April to 29 May, from 9am to 1pm and from 2pm to 5pm.
Contact : +377 97 77 30 14 – [email protected]
