The 4th Grand Prix Historique de Monaco, held May 15–16, was again over-subscribed and Jean Sage, former team manager for Renault F1 and now in charge of entries, said he had made “at least 200 new enemies,” as so many people want to run in this star event. Except for one short period of rain on Saturday, the weekend was sparkling. Prince Rainier and Prince Albert opened the new pit lane, and most of the drivers were happy with the new changes to the track.
Some of the many celebrities in attendance included Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya (being, as usual, difficult to talk to) as well as Gerhard Berger, Johnny Herbert, Jochen Neerspach, Dave Richards from BAR Honda, the FIA’s Max Mosley, Danny Sullivan, Jason Plato from the British Touring Car Championship and many others, all enjoying the friendly atmosphere of this event.
The racing was serious from the beginning. 1961 World Champion Phil Hill protested that he was just there to have a good time with the Alfa Romeo 6C 3000CM, which wasn’t allowed to race two years ago. Hill was an amazing second fastest in the first practice session for pre-1953 sports cars. He was flinging the heavy car around the twisting circuit in great style. He was 4th in the qualifying period and put some marks on the side of the car as he used every inch of road and a bit of barrier as well. Remarkably, he achieved this with unbalanced wheels and fading brakes!
Photo: Peter Collins
The sports car practice and the race was dominated by Flavien Marcais in the 1952 C-Type Jaguar. Marcais was much faster than everyone else, but he was also driving in three races, so he was getting a lot of practice. The sports car race had all the well known racers from the past: Hill, Sir Stirling Moss in his own C-Type Jaguar, and Argentinean Roberto Mieres, who is now 79 years old. Mieres raced in a works 250F Maserati in the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix, where he ran as high as 2nd until he retired. He remembered seeing “steam” coming from the harbor and later realized it was Ascari going for a swim! Mieres was driving an Allard J2, which unfortunately had a tire explode in the first session.
In the sports car race, Marcais disappeared into the lead, while Richard Pilkington drove his 1950 Talbot Lago T26GS (the car driven in the 1952 sports car event by Trintignant and Rosier) into 2nd with Phil Hill close behind in 3rd place. However, John Ure managed to get his Frazer Nash Le Mans past Hill and then the Talbot, while on lap 7, Hill’s brakes failed on the Alfa and he hit the barrier at St. Devote. Hill’s crash moved John Webb’s C-Type up into 4th, a Maserati A6GCS 5th, and the remarkable Gordini of Eddie MacGuire into 6th. MacGuire has only done 15 races and this was the first for the ex-Behra/Manzon Gordini since restoration. Elsewhere down the field, Stirling Moss had a brake drum come off, forcing his retirement, while the 79-year-old Mires drove from the back of the grid to 17th, improving his qualifying time by three seconds.
Only six seconds covered the first seven cars in the race for front-engine Formula Juniors, and pole position man Robin Longdon, who has always gone well at Monaco, was looking good until he spun early in the race, leaving the door open for Joe Colasacco’s 1959 Stanguellini. This car is owned by Larry Auriana who also owns the Phil Hill Alfa Romeo.
Photo: Peter Collins
Colasacco just held off the under-powered BMC of John Monson followed by the Stanguellini of Simone, which was the 1960 French championship winner.
British driver John Ure was another competitor entered in more than one race, and he made good use of the extra track time by winning pole for the Pre–1947 Voiturettes and Grand Prix Car race by two seconds in his 1936 ERA from the 1937 Maserati 6CM of Irvine Laidlaw, a car which appeared in the Indianapolis 500 in 1938 driven by Mauri Rose. The best performance in practice and qualifying came from Matt Grist, racing his ‘new’ Alfa Romeo P3 for only the second time. He was hurling the car around with flair, though he was not cutting the corners like some drivers were. In the race, the Maseratis of Bill Binnie and Wegner-Bscher collided and were out on the first lap. Grist had stalled at the start, and set off after everyone had passed him. His driving was sensational as he finally got into 6th place at the end. John Ure won from the Maserati 6CM of Stefan Schollewoeck, also in a 6CM.
The race for pre–1960 front-engine Grand Prix cars was a battle of Lotus 16s. American Duncan Dayton, in an ex-Graham Hill car, moved up from 6th in the first practice to 2nd in qualifying, and then managed to get past Joaquin Folch in his Lotus 16 to win from the Maserati 250F of Thomas Bscher. Martin Stretton had the Ferrari Squalo drifting at dramatic angles as he managed 4th.
Pre-1966 rear-engine Grand Prix cars provided one of the best races, as it was a straight fight between Flavien Marcais in the 1962 Lotus 21 which Jo Siffert drove at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1962, and Duncan Dayton’s 1964 Brabham BT11. The Brabham had been at Monaco in 1964 with driver Bob Anderson. Marcais had a five second lead, and then started to lock his brakes. He had a spin at the chicane and Dayton snatched the lead, to become the only driver to win two races during the weekend. American Danny Baker pushed his ex-Masten Gregory/Innes Ireland Lotus 24 into a fine 3rd place.
The final race was for pre-1977 Grand Prix cars, and was won by Martin Stretton in the six-wheel Tyrrell, which had been raced by Ronnie Peterson. He was by far the quickest, and Flavien Marcais, in the ex-Jack Brabham/Jochen Rindt Brabham BT26 might have finished 2nd except for the aggressive driving of Frank Sytner. The father and son team of John and Ryan Delane in Tyrrells 001 and 006 performed well all weekend, and finished a very good 4th and 5th place, respectively.
