I Fell In Love With The Temple Of Speed
Until the week of May 11, I really, genuinely, did not like Monza. The reason? It just didn’t seem fun to me in the racing games I play. Yes, I fully recognize that, in many ways, that’s a shallow judgement of a racetrack that has been around for more than a century and has the history to go with it. But in my defense, what matters more about a racetrack than how it feels to drive on it? Its purpose is to provide a thrilling drive, right? And the only experience I had driving it was in racing games such as Gran Turismo. Those experiences often felt frustrating. The extremely tight and slow chicane at the end of the front straight tends to be a bottleneck, and it slows down what otherwise feels like a fast track. Some of the other corners feel difficult to nail, and the long straights aren’t exciting.
Still, when the opportunity came up to experience Monza in real life to cover news about Pirelli, I wasn’t going to say no. Track time is track time, and even with my relatively limited knowledge of the track’s history, I could appreciate how special it would be to drive it. I sure am glad I did, because after just a couple of laps, I fell hard for Monza.
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza, also known simply as Monza, is a racetrack near the city of Monza, Italy. It was built in 1922 and is the oldest purpose-built motor racing circuit in mainland Europe.
Just Walking In Is Enough
My knowledge of Monza mostly consisted of what I experienced virtually, and that was solely the track. As such, I was surprised by a couple of things about Monza. First, I hadn’t realized that it’s set in a thoroughly urban environment – it’s only around 15 miles from the center of Milan. This isn’t completely unheard of. After all, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is in relatively dense suburbs outside of Indianapolis proper (in the town of Speedway to be precise). But in the modern world in which new tracks, like Circuit of the Americas, is out in the boonies, and older tracks like Laguna Seca face grumpy neighbors complaining about noise, it’s wild to think that such a major course like Monza could be right in the middle of a city, let alone a dense European one.
I was even more amazed upon arriving at the track. Unlike Indy, you don’t come upon a massive steel and concrete complex pushed right up to the edge of the property. Instead, you drive into a lush city park. As our van arrived, I saw loads of people out riding bikes, walking dogs, and generally having a lovely day among the trees and other natural landscaping. The Pirelli representative that was guiding us around said that Monza is sort of like a track in the middle of New York’s Central Park, and that’s totally the feeling I got… Except Monza Park is even bigger.
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It measures more than 1,700 acres to Central Park’s 843 – that’s a bit more than double its size. Monza Park also predates both the track and Central Park, as the park’s site says the earliest evidence of the area being used as such goes back to 1805. It would be entirely possible to visit Milan, find your way to this park, and never realize that one of the world’s most famous racetracks was there, too. Sadly, we didn’t have time to explore the park ourselves because we had a day of driving both at the track, as well as an excursion to Lake Como (yes, us car journalists have it hard sometimes, don’t we?).
Actually Reaching The Track
A quick dip under the racetrack and back up brought us to the track facilities proper. Here, things started looking more like what you’d expect. Large paved surfaces leading up to a huge concrete and steel building with the garages leading to pit lane. We walked through what would normally be a garage space that had been converted into a lounge area with a Pagani Utopia Roadster in the center, and a Lancia Delta S4 in the corner. This opened up to the pit lane where even more great machines sat, some of which we would be driving, including the Audi RS3, BMW M5, Porsche 911 GTS, and 911 GT3 RS. Two more Utopias stood by to take people for flying lap rides, and one more car appeared to really kick off the event: a Huayra Evo R. A Pagani driver took it around the track for demonstration laps, and even without riding in it, it left a shrieking siren call reminiscent of F1 days gone by. The background for the banshee was the empty stands spelling out “MONZA.” It was going to be a good day.
From Sick To Smitten In An Afternoon
With an exciting start to the day, and perhaps too full of a stomach after lunch, I may have become slightly overconfident. I figured the best way to start getting familiar with Monza was to go for a ride. Plus, I figured there might be a long line for a ride in one of the Paganis, and I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity. So I zipped over to grab a helmet and waited for one to loop back to the pits. I excitedly hopped inside, hooked up the five-point harness, and sat back ready for the laps. The first one went all right, but a few factors rapidly shifted my mood. Fun as it was to have a professional whip the supercar around, I was getting tossed like a salad. Not helping things was the fact my helmeted head atop my tall and fat frame was banging around on the roof. Adding in the full stomach and a hot cabin, I could tell the second lap was going to be rough.
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After the second chicane, I signaled to the driver that I needed him to slow down because otherwise I was going to be sick all over the beautifully crafted seven-figure car. He caught on fast and got the air conditioning on me, averting disaster. I’m eternally grateful to the driver.
Concentrating on not causing further embarrassment abroad for America, and trying to keep my head from flying around, meant the ride didn’t give me a great feel for the track, although it did give me a great appreciation for the Pagani’s capability. So my plan was to work my way up through the driveable cars. I thought I might start with the Audi, as it was the smallest and least powerful vehicle available, but a BMW came up first, and I figured that would be just as well. It turned out to be a good place to start. The M5 might not be the most engaging, but it’s easy to drive and capable, and it was a great way to learn the course.
My first surprise while driving was discovering how much smaller the track felt in real life. The actual paved sections felt so much more narrow, and every corner came up so much faster. What I had imagined as a massive course with achingingly long straights felt short and even a little twisty. For me, both of those were a welcome surprise, making the laps feel quicker and more engaging. And those chicanes that drove me crazy in games? They’re a blast. With the right car, it’s super rewarding to chuck around on the first one, and point and rocket through the second.
Then, there’s the banking and elevation change. The difference between seeing it on screen and feeling it in real life is massive – and the way the track looks, with its undulating hills on the back straight, is bewitchng, adding lots of fun in the corners after the first and second chicane. The long right-hander after the first chicane is especially fun – it’s got so much camber that you can just keep pushing the speed, and the g forces keep increasing. After the second chicane, the following right-hand corners are like short chunks of the long one. And it’s fun in cars as fast as the GT3 as well as less fast cars like the RS 3, since you can carry a bit of momentum. The one thing that did carry over from games was the lovely greenery. Monza is easily one of the most lush racetracks you’ve seen with shrubs and trees right up to the barriers.
I don’t know exactly how many laps I did, but it wasn’t enough… I wish I had many more. It turns out that Monza is a speedy, tight, and engaging track, despite how it appears in games. I would’ve been happy doing another 50 laps. The fact that it’s a pretty course in a prettier park is just icing on the cake. Over the course of an afternoon, one of my least favorite tracks became one of my favorites. I’ve hardly been happier to be wrong, and if you ever get the chance – even just to visit the park and spectate – you absolutely should. It’s enchanting.
