<<..man, back in those days did they really just let people stand around
on the side of the track wherever they wanted to?>>
Ahhh...pretty much. Haybales and fencing had long been used, Armco was
just coming into vogue, but crowd control -- especially at places like
Spa -- was problematic.
<<And during the crash scenes at Monoco and Monza, track workers and
rescue personnel would run across the track right in front of and behind
cars going full speed. Unbelievable!!!>>
Still happens at LeMans!
<< A question I had was about Monza. Since this movie was about the '66
season, I was astonished at the banked sections there. Since those
banking sections are not in GPL, does that mean they ceased driving on
that section in real life for the '67 season? Also, I would like to see
a map of the layout used for that Monza race in '66. I have no clue
where they were going (I did see that the banked section eventually
crosses over the track at the long back-stretch area tho.)
I could send you a gif of the maps in private email if you wish
race was definitely NOT run on the combined Monza circuit with banked
curves and overpass: no GP had been run at that configuration since 1961.
John Frankenheimer just thought it looked cool (how else do you get your
dying hero driver halfawy up a tree?)
From the inception of the World Grand Prix Championship in 1950 (and pre-
war as well), the Monza GP had been run on the 6.3 km circuit that
included (from the start line) the right-hand Curva Grande, the gradual
left-hand Curva della Roggia, the two RH Lesmos, the LH Curva del
Serraglio, the LH Curva del Vialone, and finally the square-double RH
Curva di Vedano.
Prior to the 1955 Italian GP, massive construction added a high-speed
(well, it was supposed to be...) banked oval which was "offset-overlaid"
on the original course, providing some more named curves and straights:
The two highly-banked ends were called the Curva Nord alta velocita
(which is where the overpass crosses the short straight of the original
course between Serraglio and Vialone) and Curva Sud alta velocita; the
Curva Nord was connected to the Curva Sud by the new Rettilineo di
Levante, and the Curva Sud rejoined the original track just before the
Parabolica (the newly configured and re-named Curva di Vedano) along
theRettilineo Tribune. The "join" at the Parabolica was kinda goofy and
dangerous, in the Italian tradition. The new combined course was 10km in
length. Here's how Mike Lang (Grand Prix! Volumes 1&2 1950-1973)
describes the track for the 1955 race:
"The start was situated in the same place as before and from there the
cars ran round the original circuit but on returning kept to the inside
of the straight past the grandstands [the Rettilineo Tribune-BB] to join
the new banked section. On returning to the main striaght again teh cars
kept to the outside [which led them onto the original circuit--BB] to
complete the full lap."
If it sounds confusing (even allowing for Lang's aversion to punctuation)
it was that, and more: the banked concrete slabs were, from day one,
rough as a cob, and took a fearful toll on machinery (especially tires),
as did the centripetal forces generated by the steep banking -- basically
the cars had to be set up stiff as hell not to bottom out under the G-
load, but the poor surface of the banks combined with super-stiff set-ups
shook everything out of the cars, including the driver's teeth. Several
drivers reported having vision so blurred by the rough surface that they
were practically blind at times...and all this at 180 or so. What fun!
The new 10km combined track was used again in '56, but locally-beloved
Ferrari had nothing but problems with their unfortunate Englebert tires,
which just disintegrated on the rough banking, so in '57 the race
reverted to the more-or-less original track (the final right-hander Curva
di Vedano had metamorphosed into the now-familiar Curva Parabolica). The
Italian GP stayed at this configuration until 1960, when the race
organizers thought they'd have another go at the full combined 10km
course. Whereupon all the British teams boycotted the race, which left a
pretty thin field (5th and 6th places were taken by F2 cars!). In 1961,
the full combined course was used again, and this would be the very last
time for a GP race. Even the Brits came.
There is currently a move afoot (spearheaded by British pop star and
Ferrari fanatico Chris Rea) to "Save The Monza Banking", as the Italian
government is threatening to tear the old honkers down (Monza, of course,
is in the old Royal Park, which is essentially Italian Government
Property). If you want to learn more about the Save The Banking movement,
check out Autosport magazine at:
www.autosport.com
PS Let me know if you want those track map gifs
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