117 replies to this topic

[Barry Boor]

The Historique is nearly here again and I am looking forward to returning to The Principality (no, not Wales) for the umpteenth time.

However, I still remember so clearly the first time I ever saw the place. It was during the school summer holidays in 1962, so a couple of months or more after the Grand Prix, but nevertheless, a very exciting place for a 14 year-old racing fan to be.

My Dad had his camera and what follows are photographs that Dad took the day we walked the circuit - for the first of many times.

(For newcomers to the thread - it has now been established that these pictures were taken in 1964, not 1962)

I don't intend to insult anyone by describing where each is taken. If you don't know, your on the wrong Forum.



















Remember, these pictures are 50 years old.......

Edited by Barry Boor, 02 May 2012 - 06:18.

[kayemod]

A surprising number of Austins and possibly other UK manufactured cars in those pics, so the French haven't always been determinedly chauvinistic.

[john winfield]

Wonderful atmospheric photos Barry. Race day or not, I'm not sure I'd feel safe at one of those tables outside the Tabac cafe! And I have never noticed how marked the left hand kink is between Mirabeau and Station Hairpin.

I haven't been in Monte Carlo for over thirty years and had forgotten the gradients. At the top of your Dad's photo of Tabac, the climb to Massenet and Casino Square looks fearsome.

[Michael Ferner]

Wonderful pictures!

Thnx for posting, Barry!

[ryan86]

Visiting Monaco for the Grand Prix weekend is something that I want to do at sometime before I die. I'm not much of a traveller however.

[Bill Becketts]

The Track looks much wider in those shots...smaller cars and less street furniture?

Lovely photos Barry, thanks for sharing them

[Tim Murray]

Nice to see a good shot of the old station. Odd bits of it have appeared sometimes in the background of race photos, but I think this is the first time I've seen it properly. Thanks Barry.

[LittleChris]

Very nice Barry, thanks for sharing.

[D-Type]

It's strange to see scenes I know so well - but with cars parked on them.

[Vicuna]

Wonderful

[scheivlak]

A surprising number of Austins and possibly other UK manufactured cars in those pics, so the French haven't always been determinedly chauvinistic.

I don't think they were less chauvinistic (or BTW significantly more, for that matter) back then - and, by the looks of it, I don't think the % of French cars was lower than it would be now. And indeed, the number of British cars might be a bit lower nowadays though RR & Bentley might do pretty well......

Marvellous pictures BTW!

[jj2728]

A great set of atmospheric photos Barry. Many many thanks for sharing them.

[David Lawson]

Lovely photos. What surprises me is that there is a Morris 1100 parked on the entry to Casino Square, I thought they weren't available until very late 1962 or 1963.

David

[Repco22]

Very nice pics thanks Barry. I see there was water in the harbour and not just acres of teak! A pity about progress in many ways, not least the changing architecture. I've been hooked on the place since '57 when 'our Jack' pushed his little Cooper around there but to actually visit in '74 and see so many changes was a bit disappointing. I'd love to meet up with you for the Historique though. Maybe next time.

[Barry Boor]

Thinking about David's comments about the 1100 has made me think.

When we went down for the Grand Prix in 1965 the circuit would have been in race trim so I'm pretty sure these pictures weren't taken then. We had one holiday along the Italian coast either in '63 or '64 so it's possible that we had a trip along the coast then. I'll have to check something.....

David, you are quite correct. I have just looked at the slides. Kodak used to print the month and year that these were developed and they all say AUG 64.

So apologies for misleading people but what's two years among friends?

[Sharman]

Thanks for those Barry, as I told you at lunch a couple of years ago, my first visit was 1960. Abortive because despite Bill having been 4th at the Ring, won at Cadours and been on pole at Boxing Day Brands, he couldn't get an entry. All loaded up sitting in Monaco with the Elva on a trailer and the ACM would not budge.
Incidentally, the Floride in the picture reminds me of JVB who said "If you can't get girls with a Floride, let's face it. You can't get girls!"

[Barry Boor]

Floride? Now, I am told, you need at least a Porsche.

[Gary Davies]

Wonderful, Barry... merveilleux! The one exception being the subtle swipe at the Land of My Fathers in your opening line. It's all right for you, boyo, topping up your tan every day.

You know, after all these years I can never retain... no I can never bother to retain... the seemingly ever changing name of the corner most of us have always known as the Station Hairpin.

[DogEarred]

Nice nostalgic pictures.
How true, as several have said, that it's changed so much. Although still 'clinically' smart, well maintained & 'exclusive', it has suffered, like the rest of that coast, to continued development. It seems every square metre is now used to build high rise appartments & offices. You would hardly know there was some spectacular landscape under there. Every year on TV you can see the creeping expansion & building cranes.
It's no longer a 'haven', more a collection of albeit, luxury boxes for nouveau rich footballers, second rate celebrities, Middle Eastern, Russian & other 'businessmen', thinking they're sophistcated tycoons. And dare I say it - not just the top ones but several moderate racing drivers, live there too. I'm sure it must upset the 'old guard'. All the famous old spots have gone & I'm sure the social life that used to be so enjoyable has changed somewhat. I wonder if it's still possible to meet some of the hundreds of young English nannies favoured by the rice inhabitants?
The old station does look evocative in photos. The new station though is a masterpiece, invisible thanks to being cut into the mountain. That's progress for the good though.
The vast majority of the streets are under CCTV surveillance & happily, crime is still illegal there. The smartly dressed, white gloved gendarmarie may look a little effete but I know a certain proportion have serious military style training & are not to be taken lightly.

For all that, it's a fantastic place to be at race time, if you can find anywhere to stay & watch and are prepared to be ripped off. It is surely one of the most spectacular, intriging & exciting races, even if prosessional most of the time.

Let's hope it continues that way & doesn't become the subject of a TNF thread 'When they used to race in Monte Carlo'...

[Barry Boor]

I have a real love/hate relationship with the place.

I am desperately sad to think of all the wonderful Edwardian? Victorian? buildings that have long ago been bulldozed away to make space for another high rise for F.1 drivers. There is still the one old hotel on the Beau Rivage, that fills my heart with pleasure every time I look at it. I think it's l'Hermitage, but I may well be wrong about that.

Of course, the two famous buildings opposite eachother at the top of the hill still remain - and perhaps they always will, but everywhere else, well, it's just not the same.

As for that hairpin, Gary, surely it's always been called the Station, hasn't it? Other names? Nah, never....

[Stephen W]

I am desperately sad to think of all the wonderful Edwardian? Victorian? buildings that have long ago been bulldozed away to make space for another high rise for F.1 drivers.

True vandalism!

As for that hairpin, Gary, surely it's always been called the Station, hasn't it? Other names? Nah, never....

It will always be the Station Hairpin to real enthusiasts. All these new names are as fleeting as the ownership of the hotel which now occupies the old plot.

[speedman13]

Fabulous pictures Barry, especially the ones of the old station, brought back a lot of memories.
Leaving on friday in my old motorhome, will be there for the ancient and the modern.

[Alan Cox]

As for that hairpin, Gary, surely it's always been called the Station, hasn't it? Other names? Nah, never....

In 2010 it was called the Fairmont Hairpin, and proudly boasted on a placard outside the hotel "The Fairmont Hairpin - The most famous hairpin in the world" - I think not.

[David Beard]

A really splendid contribution to TNF, Barry.
Cars in streets are generally an eye sore, but it's interesting how they so often help to put a date on old photos.

[Vicuna]

Lovely photos. What surprises me is that there is a Morris 1100 parked on the entry to Casino Square, I thought they weren't available until very late 1962 or 1963.

David

Another website suggests mid August 1962 was the launch date

[Vitesse2]

A surprising number of Austins and possibly other UK manufactured cars in those pics, so the French haven't always been determinedly chauvinistic.

There's certainly a Sunbeam Alpine and a BMC 1100 of some sort, but I think some of those "Austins" might be Peugeots.

[f1fan1998]

I think it depends on when you grew up! I started watching F1 in 93 and so to me, it has always been Lowes Hairpin.....

I love Monaco, and although I've been many times to the Principality, and have been to many Grand Prix, it is one race I have yet to visit! Maybe this year, who knows....

[kayemod]

There's certainly a Sunbeam Alpine and a BMC 1100 of some sort, but I think some of those "Austins" might be Peugeots.

There's also a Peugeot A40 and a Peugeot Cambridge to accompany that Peugeot 1100.

[john winfield]

There's certainly a Sunbeam Alpine and a BMC 1100 of some sort, but I think some of those "Austins" might be Peugeots.

I'm trying to remember my Corgi and Dinky cars. I see, obviously, the Austin Cambridge, very similar to contemporary Peugeots I agree. Isn't that an A40 on the run down to the chicane?
Plenty of Dauphines. Are the open 'sportscars' Renault Caravelles? And, in the Massenet shot, is that a Chevrolet Impala facing us, parked on the inside of the bend? Only a guess.

Rob..sorry..overlapping posts!

Edited by john winfield, 02 May 2012 - 09:59.

[Barry Boor]

Right, here are three more and these ARE from 1962. How do I know? Look at the numbers on the front row of the grid. #18 was Jim Clark, #10 was Graham Hill. So - 1962.

These three have been posted on this forum many years ago but they suit this thread very well.







The lady with the white handbag in the view of the station is my Mum, bless her.

Edited by Barry Boor, 02 May 2012 - 10:00.

[nicanary]

I seem to recall that BMC had a VERY active distributor in Paris in those days - perhaps he arranged for sundry models to be placed there when he heard that there would be photo opportunities. Lovely pics- brings back memories of walking the course back in the old days, just to say to myself that I'd been there. Hope it never leaves the "circus", but life may be different after Bernie.

[thiscocks]

Looks so sparse compared to now, with all the money and hype poured over it. Very nice.

[pete53]

Lovely evocative pictures.

I walked the circuit in the summer of 1971 when on a hitch-hiking holiday in the south of France. Sadly my Kodak 44B let me down badly and none of my snaps came out.

Nowadays it is the one race I really make a point of watching on TV. Unlike nearly every other track, with their expansive run-off areas, Monaco still gives you a real close-up feel for the speed of the cars and the precision and skill of the drivers and is gloriously incongruent in the current world of GP racing.

[D-Type]

Has anybody noticed how the three palm trees on the apex of the Station Hairpin change in size over the years? They appear to have died, or perhaps grown too big, and been replaced by half-grown trees two or three times.

[Repco22]

Has anybody noticed how the three palm trees on the apex of the Station Hairpin change in size over the years? They appear to have died, or perhaps grown too big, and been replaced by half-grown trees two or three times.

Yes Duncan. That's intrigued me over many years.

[kayemod]

Has anybody noticed how the three palm trees on the apex of the Station Hairpin change in size over the years? They appear to have died, or perhaps grown too big, and been replaced by half-grown trees two or three times.

They're inflatable, they only pump them up during the daytime, and sometimes they get the pressure slightly wrong.

[Odseybod]

They're inflatable, they only pump them up during the daytime, and sometimes they get the pressure slightly wrong.

People in the know can use their configuration to foretell the result of the Grand Prix. I believe it's called Palmystery.

[Barry Boor]

Tony, get yer coat, I'll start the car!

[alansart]

Sadly I've never been to Monaco so have no memories to share, but I love this film by Roydgp from 1973.

The kids turning the curved Armco into a Seesaw/Rocking Horse is a gem

http://www.youtube.c...mp;feature=plcp

Edited by alansart, 02 May 2012 - 18:37.

[ryan86]

True vandalism!



It will always be the Station Hairpin to real enthusiasts. All these new names are as fleeting as the ownership of the hotel which now occupies the old plot.

I wonder if it might be dependent on what it was when you first watched it. I've always and still call it Loews.

[Phil Rainford]

Quite mesmorizing images Barry

I love the water shimmering through the trees in the harbour and is it just me or have the boats got bigger over the passing of time?

PAR

[Frank S]

[...]

I don't intend to insult anyone by describing where each is taken. If you don't know, your __ on the wrong Forum.

Let me see... If I were a Greek and could avoid the lower half of the frame, I might guess it was a view of Toledo, eh? My __ must be on the wrong forum.

I see a couple of early-1950s General Motors cars amongst the Peugot Caravelle/Florides and Austin Beetles, don't I?

[MCS]

Lovely thread and great pictures, Barry

The Station Hairpin shot is wonderful and reminded me that I came across the Schlegelmilch Grand Prix de Monaco picture book in an Oxfam shop in Cambridge a few weeks back. Stunning photography as usual and I would have purchased it for the paltry £5-00 it was on sale for except for the ruffled appearance of some of the pages - but the images of the place...

[Barry Boor]

It is a great book. For £5, you should have grabbed it.

[Repco22]

They're inflatable, they only pump them up during the daytime, and sometimes they get the pressure slightly wrong.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
With apologies to kayemod and Peter Sellers.

[Barry Boor]

Priceless!

[E1pix]

Barry, spectacular, nostalgic images!

And another Waller illustration for the ages!

[Simon Arron]

Fantastic snaps, Barry.

With regard to circuit width etc, I remember how generously broad FIA F3000 drivers considered Monte Carlo to be when they first raced there in 1998. Their main frame of reference was Pau...

The Monaco GP will always be one of my favourite events - even now, with its increasingly charmless periphery. It might generate the slowest average lap speeds of the F1 season, but proximity amplifies the sensation and from trackside it appears the fastest circuit by miles.

[alansart]

Priceless!

....and one for "le cut-eh-wey" thread as well

[DogEarred]

Another thing that impresses me about the place is the way it is turned into a racetrack. For most of the year, apart from some kerbs, there is little to indicate that a Grand Prix is held there.
Around about the end of Feb., neat piles of grandstand framing, barriers etc. start to appear, neatly stacked in strategic positions. The town functions quite normally during preparations. Also impressive is the way the publics roads can be 'shut down' or 'opened up in 30 mins or less. You can be driving your Kia Picanto just like Kimi Raikkonen, flat out through shards of carbon fibre in the tunnel, just after he has himself!...

The main difference of the modern day track from that shown by Barry's photos is the 3 tier safety barriers. These days everything is seen & photgraphed through a tunnel of white Armco whereas in the 'old' days there was little else but straw bales & photos with 'background' could be taken. Good photographers such as Simon Arron do well to compose photos with a bit of character these days.

For drivers - well I know they should be concentrating on the driving anyway but it must be less of an experience driving & not being able to see much other than blue sky & kerbs.