3 replies to this topic

[Lost Boys]

Good evening all

 

I have a question (or two)  about Monza, and in particular the circuit layout change from the Florio circuit around 1934 - 1936 to the full circuit of 1955.

I did have a question about the location of the chicane on the original south curve banking, but I may have located it using Google Earth, but looking at the following webpage http://www.gdecarli....p?var1=1&var2=2  the South Curve appears to move inwards from the 1936 circuit to the 1955 full circuit.

 

Did this actually happen? I can't see anywhere on Google Earth where the two South Curve's may have been, and any circuit maps after this only show the one South Curve banking.

[JB Miltonian]

I have a copy of the 1962 Monza yearbook, including a section which describes in somewhat minute detail (in Italian and in English) the transformation of the circuit in 1939.  This includes a circuit map showing the "layout alterations of 1939".  I might be persuaded to scan and send this to you if it would help with your questions.

[Rob Semmeling]

The original high-speed oval at Monza (1922-1938) was slightly longer than the later version (1955 onwards), at 4.5 versus 4.25 km - a result of the South Curve (or Curva Sud alta Velocità to use the rather prettier Italian name) being positioned slightly more to the north when the track was rebuilt in 1955. The lenght of the backstraight was consequently reduced from about 1070 to 874 metres.

The curves furthermore had slightly different radiuses - 320 metres each for the original oval, as opposed to 318.2 and 312.32 metres, respectively, for the 1955 version. The greatest difference, however, was the banking itself, at 30-36% versus 80%.

Technical details like these can be found in the amazingly detailed Monza year books, published from 1960-1966. One thing I never realized, for example, but is apparent from these books, is that the oval has almost 13 metres of elevation change.

Paolo Montagna's dual-language "Monza: una Grande Storia / a Glorious History" (2005) is also surprisingly detailed, and highly recommended. A lot of info in this book is in fact from the year books.

[Tim Murray]

It's all in this earlier thread:

 

The Monza banking

 

from this post onward. There's photographic evidence that the new south banking is further north than the old.

Edited by Tim Murray, 07 September 2013 - 06:15.