Anyone Going To Monza

thegoth

Hi Guys,

Anyone here going to Monza this year or been there before.

I have a three day pass for 21e at Curve Parabolica http://www.formula1.com/races/in_detail/italy_818/circuit_diagram.html

Anyone know what the view is like ? Any comments in General ?

paddy cork

yes this will be my fourth time .last year i sat in the free small stand on the inside of the end of the parabolica opposite the big sceen and near the gate onto the cicuit (race to the podium).flying out sat morning and back sun night paid 90 euro for flights back in june price now 450 euro!

fischella now driving for ferrari

LEIN

Wish i was. Prob one of my favorite races.

G-Money

Yep going also. Flying out on Friday, back on Monday. Our seats are down at the first corner on the left as if you were going down the track in the same direction as the cars. Should be good hopefully. It's my first time to Monza and to Italy in general and it's my 2nd F1 race. The first was Melbourne 2003.

Just re-priced the flights. They come to 600 euro now on the same dates. When we booked them it was 105 euro.

Charlie-Bravo

hey, bring a tri-colour and wave it around for the TV cameras...or at least for Damian Falkner...

or else, the Tv camera man might mistake it for an indian flag...sorry...thats a different thread topic!:rolleyes:

Iron Hide

Went there in '04 seats in the start-finish straight grandstand, Dont know how much me grandad paid for them, tbh i dont wanna know either! good race all the tifosi went spare as twas a Ferrari 1-2.

Interestingly, this years is the 13th race and tis on the 13th of september, unlucky for some?????? (Hopefully not Fisi, 'Mon the win)

smooch71

Was planning on going but switched to Belgium instead. Wasn't a bit sorry when Kimi won but raging I didn't book both of them now!

thegoth

Was wondering. I have tickets for stands. I hope to make the afternoon session on Friday and the morning ones Saturday. Can I also go to general admission areas with my tickets ? Would love to spend some time in a huge braking zone

smooch71

thegoth wrote: »

Was wondering. I have tickets for stands. I hope to make the afternoon session on Friday and the morning ones Saturday. Can I also go to general admission areas with my tickets ? Would love to spend some time in a huge braking zone

I reckon on Friday you can go where ever you like. Saturday might not be so easy though.

lord lucan

I'm heading over friday morning. Will most likely give practice on friday a miss,just head to qualifying on saturday and race on sunday. I've tickets for the main grandstand near the start/finish line,should be a pretty good view.I'm staying in Bergamo,short enough train ride to Monza and looks a nice place too!

adamstown1

Departing on the 7am flight Friday..Its my first Grand Prix..Grandstand tickets for Piscina,hope they will be good.

Running Bing

Ive booked tickets for the stand at the Parabolica, first GP and I cant wait.:D

No seat number though....when I collect the tickets on the day do I get the seat number then or is it just first come first served?

G-Money

Are you sure there's no numbers printed on it? We have seated grandstand tickets down at the first corner and there's numbers on the ticket. Took a while to figure it out though

tottenham_1882

Hello, I have 2 tickets for me and my wife for Parabolica, 21E! I am from Romania, it's my first live experience in Formula 1, even I watched all the races sience 1994. I can met anyone from that area.

lord lucan

grandmaster wrote: »

Are you sure there's no numbers printed on it? We have seated grandstand tickets down at the first corner and there's numbers on the ticket. Took a while to figure it out though

Feckin' italians printing everything in italian,stupid:p

I'm in 26a,row J,can't wait now!:cool:

Charlie-Bravo

tottenham_1882 wrote: »

Hello, I have 2 tickets for me and my wife for Parabolica, 21E! I am from Romania, it's my first live experience in Formula 1, even I watched all the races sience 1994. I can met anyone from that area.

Your first post on Boards! Your world will change immensely this week!

Welcome to Boards.ie...always plenty of stuff going on here

tottenham_1882

I didn't want to receive the tickets at home, I'll pick up the tickets there and I don't know exactly my places for sunday..

tottenham_1882

Hello astro, glad to be here.

I've read that the weather will be fine in Milano this weekend, which means no rain for Monza.

lord lucan

Yep,weather forecast looks pretty good,looks like it'll be a dry race this year.

G-Money

Everyone going to bed early tonight in order to make the early flights tomorrow?

Any good bars in Milan to grab a pint? Preferably laid back and not pretentious.

tottenham_1882

I hope we'll find out some great pizza and coffee to the bears around Duomo. Also I have something to say... Cmon Vettel!

G-Money

Got back at lunchtime from Milan. Race was good. Monza is flipping huge. We came in through the Lesmo stop and went down through the tunnel which took us inside the circuit and it completely disorientated us. Our seats were down at the first corner and we ended up walking for an eternity trying to get to them.

It was quite badly signposted and we only seen signs to our section as we got closer to it. I'd have thought they'd have signs for all the sections at different areas of the track.

paddy cork

got back to cork at 2 in the morning after the race very warm in milan for the two days we were there.as usual we took the free train to the lesmo curves where we bought our ga tickets walked on to the centre of the cicuit to see the various stands selling merchandise and food drink and tobac.down to the start of the parabolica to watch thegp2 race then watched the porsche super cup at the small seating stand at the start of the main straight in front of a big screen stayed here to watch the main event .there was a mad scramble to get on the track as the cars crossed the finishing line the stewarts did not open the locked gate so we had to climb under the security fence which was not tied at the bottom big race to the podium got there as the trophies were being presented .then made our way down to the lesmo curves for returning free train to milan passing people on bicycles triks scooters medium and big bikes great atmosphere great gp venue:)

lord lucan

Myself and the wife had a brilliant time at Monza. We arrived in Bergamo on friday morning. Plane hit the tarmac at 10.30 and by 11.10 we were outside our hotel in the towns centre. Spent friday sightseeing around the town and chilling out.

Saturday morning we headed out for practice and qualifying. Got a train from Bergamo at 08.50 and was at Monza station 09.35. Got the free bus to Monza park and then walked through the park from the drop off point,took about 30 minutes. We had tickets for the main grandstand(26) so our entrance took us through the F1 village. Great atmosphere around the place,it wasn't too hectic either. Our seats were pretty good,we were right opposite the Brawn garage and had a pretty good view down the main straight,right towards the Parabolica and left towards the first variant,although our view of it was slightly obscured. We left after qualifying at 15.00 and were back in Bergamo by 5,no ques for bus or train.

Sunday we headed off at the same time,again no ques or crush though it was noticably busier than saturday. Hung around the fence at track level for the drivers parade and then hit our seats for the teams forming up on the grid. Got some great pics of Richard Branson,Martin Brundle,David Coulthard,Michael Schumacher(LEGEND) on the grid.

And then it was race time. Tbh it wasn't the greatest race you'll ever see,it was clear once the Brawns were one stopping that Hamilton,Sutil and Raikkonen would be fighting the remaining places between themselves. Highlight of the day was the crowd going bananas when Hamilton lost it on the last lap. Quite what he was doing i don't know! He hadn't the pace to catch the Brawns and Raikkonen was never going to catch him. It certainly made many Italians day around us,with the added bonus of promoting Raikkonen to 3rd.

I'm definitely going to do this race again next year. Probably go over wednesday,do the pit tour on the thursday and have a look at the old banking while security is more lax.

Here's a link to my photo's from the weekend,it's a facebook album but i'll leave it open to everybody to view for a week or so.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110995&id=699038213&l=3040af0bf8

Fabio

Class pics there!

G-Money

Nice pics.

We arrived into Milan on Friday morning and checked into our hotel and about 1pm we decided to head to the track to see the practise session in the afternoon. We didn't realise how far of a walk it was going to be from where the bus dropped us off. It took about half an hour and we made it to the track with about 10 minutes of free practise remaining.

We decided to skip qualifying on Saturday as we were wrecked from doing all the walking around on Friday and took it handy. Sunday we took the free train to the Lesmo stop and got disorientated after going through the tunnel which took us underneath the circuit and to the inside of the track.

We eventually walked around and found ourselves across the circuit from our seats so we had to keep walking and ended up behind/beneath the old banking. Kept walking and walking and asked a steward who didn't know where our seats were or how to get to them. Then found another steward who seemed to know what he was saying and we ended up back at the main grandstand on the side of the track we needed to be at. Our seats were at the first chicane - Tribuna Esterna Variante.

By the time we got there it was just before 1pm local time with the race starting at 2pm. However the slightly annoying thing is that we got off the train at 11.30am so we were walking for 1hr and 30 mins to get to our seats!

Race was good, a big cheer went up when Hamilton's right foot got a bit too heavy coming out of the first Lesmo. After the race was over we went onto the track having first crawled through/underneath the stand although I'm not really sure why as we could have just exited the stand as normal and walked to the end and went onto the track that way.

Walked along the circuit back towards the Lesmo corners, got some pics, seen where Hamilton crashed and looked for some debris (as did a load of other people) and unfortunately there was none. A much shorter walk this time back to the train station by virtue of the fact we could go straight towards where we wanted to go this time. Had to wait about 10 mins for the train which wasn't too bad. Hopped onto it and it stopped at the Monza station for what seemed like an eternity. We were all hot, sweating and tired and just wanted to get home

Got back into Milan about 5pm and got showered and went out and had a few drinks.

Flew back yesterday morning (Monday) and shortly before we boarded our plane we seen Paris Hilton going through the gate onto a flight to Heathrow. All in all, an interesting trip

G-Money

lord lucan wrote: »

I'm definitely going to do this race again next year. Probably go over wednesday,do the pit tour on the thursday and have a look at the old banking while security is more lax.

Interesting. I had a 3 day ticket and I seen something somewhere about a pit tour/autograph session on the Thursday. Just wondering how you get into the circuit on the Thursday if your 3 day ticket only starts on the Friday? I'd also liked to have got a proper look at the old banking rather than the underside of it that I actually stumbled across

lord lucan

grandmaster wrote: »

Interesting. I had a 3 day ticket and I seen something somewhere about a pit tour/autograph session on the Thursday. Just wondering how you get into the circuit on the Thursday if your 3 day ticket only starts on the Friday? I'd also liked to have got a proper look at the old banking rather than the underside of it that I actually stumbled across

To the best of my knowledge the 3 day ticket covers the pit walk on thursday. I'd imagine you just have to have your 3 day ticket(s) in your possession to gain entry to the circuit.

thegoth

I went over Friday morning. Landed in Milan at 10:30 ish and was checked into Hotel just after 12 which was right beside the central train station.

Headed to central train station at about 12:45 to get to the circuit for 2 on Friday. No signs for trains to Monza at all, so asked at a tourist info office. They told me to go and see customer service at the train station but the que there was massive so I kept at her and she eventually told me, but what she told me was wrong. She said the next train was at 14:15 to Monza when it was actually 13:15.... could keep going on, got talking to some Finish and Swedish lads who had the same expierence and I got a taxi with them to the circuit.

Much the same experience coming back. Sat was better getting to the circuit as I knew the way now, but signage at circuit was very poor.

Sunday the trains ran every 30 mins direct to the circuit. This was a MASSIVE improvement. Still took 90 mins to get from train station to seats.

I was sitting 300m before the parabolica. Bad seats. All you saw was cars zooming past. No overtaking action.

Now, I am a MASSIVE formula 1 fan, but I will not be rushing back to a GP, and if I do, I might just go on the Friday as you can go anywhere on the circuit. Nearly the entire day was taken up travelling to and from the circuit on Sat and Sunday. You dont really know whats going on with tyres and fuel loads etc. I watched the race on sky + yesterday and enjoyed it alot more than in real life.

I was talking to two other couples from Ireland who seemed to love F1 as much as me, and they felt the same

lord lucan

Here's a video i just uploaded from my phone to youtube of the start of the race. Gives a good idea of the noise and speed off the grid of an F1 car.

G-Money

Our seats were pretty good I thought. We were sitting at the first corner, 2nd row from the back so it was high up and had a great view of the first corner and chicane and we had a big TV straight in front of us which we could see perfectly. We had no issues with our seats and the fans around us all were in a good mood etc. The stand was uncovered so we had no shelter from the sun so it was essential to bring suncream. Although towards the end of the race, the guys behind us were standing which was handy as they provided a shade

We went to the track on Friday and probably weren't very well prepared as to which train to get. However we noticed there was a sign in English up at the information box saying to take the train going to X and Y to get to Monza. I can't remember the destination. Getting tickets for the train was a bit of a churn but the machines operated in English which was ok. It might be easier to just go into one of the shops and get a ticket there as that way you can ask in English and avoid the queues at Central station. There's probably better train tickets to get, like some sort of 24 hour pass or something but we didn't bother with them.

We took the train out in Fri afternoon and had no trouble getting a seat. On Sunday we got to Central station just before 10.30am and we had to wait for the 11am train as the 10.30am train was full. However we got onto the 11am train no problems, and got a seat easily. Got to the circuit about 11.30am and walked for ages as we didn't really know where we were going. Could do with better/more signposts at the circuit.

Coming back we had to wait about 15 mins for a train and had to stand the whole way back. This got a bit annoying as the train stopped in Monza and took on more people, even though it was non-stop on the way out from Milan so I expected it to be the same on the way back. This became a bit frustrating as it was sweltering hot and everything but everyone kind of just bit their tongues in frustration and went on. We got back into Milan Central station at 5pm which was good timing, especially seeing we had spent some time walking the track and taking pictures on it.

As others have said, its about a 30 min walk from where the Black line bus dropped you off (it went from Monza station to the track on the Fri and Sat, and possibly the Sunday). It's good to factor this into your journey.

G-Money

So how do you actually get onto the old banking? I'm not that familiar with the walkways and pathways around Monza so I'm not really sure how to get into the banking. I'd liked to have got a photo standing on it but didn't get around to it this year. It almost seems like you need to be on the current race circuit to be able to get onto the old banking...?

Fabio

I'd love to go to Monza to see that old banking...a bit of google mpaaing could help out with getting in I'd say.

lord lucan

grandmaster wrote: »

So how do you actually get onto the old banking? I'm not that familiar with the walkways and pathways around Monza so I'm not really sure how to get into the banking. I'd liked to have got a photo standing on it but didn't get around to it this year. It almost seems like you need to be on the current race circuit to be able to get onto the old banking...?

From what i've read about it,it appears security is a lot more lax prior to the Fri/sat/sun sessions and that you can roam around the circuit pretty freely. If you come in through an entrance up at lesmo you can walk through to the centre of the circuit(ie. towards the pits/hospitality etc.) and as you do you walk under the old banking. From here apparently it's pretty handy to get up to it. Fri/sat/sun there's too much security,they're known for running people from it.

Other option is to go over for a weekend outside of F1/Moto gp when there's nothing on,apparently the track is often open and you could bring your own car and have a spin around the track and then go for a wander around the old banking.

lord lucan

Here's a load of lads driving their cars around Monza on an open day,everything from mercs to punto's!:D

Running Bing

Got back on Thursday and had an absolute ball.

I was staying up in Lake Garda but the trains were pretty handy on the Saturday and we had a rental car so we drove on the Sunday. Booked the tickets off F1.com and when we arrived on Saturday we had to que for over an hour in the boiling sun to get the tickets. Only one window at the booth serving people which was a joke and we just made it in as the session started (found our seats easy enough though).

Thought the food around the track was awesome...that Salciccia stuff is like crack cocaine.:D Great atmosphere too with some very glamorous folks and plenty of nice women to look at.;)

We we're sitting at the Parabolica and I thought the seats were great. Not really an all action corner racing wise but we were right in front of the screen and it was great seeing the cars at full tonk break right down to take the corner.

Its a very different experience to watching on tv and I can see why some would not be huge fans of it. I just thought the atmosphere was immense and the sound and sense of speed from the cars was amazing.

As a Brawn fan who also happens to love Kimi (not to mention my slight dislike of Hamilton) its fair to say I was pretty happy with the result:D Had a great time and hopefully I will head back to Monza next year as I really loved it...also planning to go to Monaco and Spa so Ive truly been bitten by the bug.


PS. One thing I will mention is that the seating at the Parabolica was a bit of a joke. People just sat anywhere they wanted and so 5 minutes before the race it was like musical chairs with people moving around....some were even refusing to move from seats that were'nt theirs.:rolleyes: I think it would be better to just give tickets to the sections and do the seats on a first come first served basis.

smooch71

Running Bing wrote: »

I was staying up in Lake Garda .

Looking at Monza for next year and would love to do Lake Garda.

Where did you stay?

Running Bing

smooch71 wrote: »

Looking at Monza for next year and would love to do Lake Garda.

Where did you stay?

Stayed in Sirmione...agreat place to stay if your over 90 years of age.:D

Seriously I would not recommend it to any young person or even older people who like a bit of crack. Its essentially a holiday resort for elderly Italians. Very quite, barely any shops (Im talking shops where you can buy a drink/chocolate bar), Bars close during the week.....just a very quite place.

We went to Dezensano on a Saturday night as well and while that was buzzing and packed with young sexy stylish Italians I understand that any other night its pretty quite too, it just gets busy on a Saturday (interestingly they dont do taxi's there either so we were stranded:rolleyes:).

So lovely place scenery wise, very relxaing but not much to do at all. Nice place to visit but I wouldnt be going back tbh.

PS We had a car which saved our lives tbh....we saw lots of North Italy and places like Verona and Venice so Garda was a good base for that. If we didnt have the car I think I would've gone mental.

lord lucan

Ficus wrote: »

Excellent video dude. Really shows the level of excitment and antisipation as the cars form up. And as far as i am concerned, there aint no better sound than an f1 grid about to start a race.

Yep and the camera on the phone doesn't catch the true noise of the occasion,V8's revving like fcuk,airhorns sounding off from crazy italians etc. MAGIC!:D

G-Money

I actually emailed the Monza circuit to find out what the story is/was with the 3 day pass that I had. I think there was some sort of autograph session on the Thursday so I asked them would my pass have got me access on the Thursday and would it have allowed me to get better access to the old banking. We'll see what they say if they reply.

G-Money

Here's my video from the first corner at Monza

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViXXF3vPmu8

G-Money

Slightly shortened version. I forgot to press stop on the recording of the first video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1i6_n2xPEw

Terry Cotta

Hey Grandmaster was thinking of getting tickets for the grandstand you were in. Are the trees on the right blocking the view of the main straight?

G-Money

Terry Cotta wrote: »

Hey Grandmaster was thinking of getting tickets for the grandstand you were in. Are the trees on the right blocking the view of the main straight?

It kind of does. The video shows you pretty much the scope that you can see with your own eyes. I think it made us look further back than we were (2nd row from the back). The trees did block the view of the main straight.

If I'm going this year, I want grandstand tickets on the start/finish straight. The view we had last year was good, but I'd like to see them all before the race lining up etc. Plus the stand we were on was not covered so there was no protection from the scorching sun. Apart from suncream

G-Money

I know it might be a bit early to ask, but is anyone going to Monza this year?

I'm seriously, seriously tempted to go. I probably won't decide for sure for another 4-6 weeks or so but I really liked it there. There's something about the place.

G-Money

I know it's probably a bit early to ask, but does anyone know how to get to the Monza circuit on the Thursday of the race weekend? As far as I know, the free shuttle bus only runs Fri, Sat and Sun. I think I read somewhere that walking from Monza train station to the track takes about 1hr and 30 minutes.

I guess there's some public bus that might be available but I've no idea where it goes from, or goes to.

I was thinking a taxi is an option but it could only go so far and you'd still have a huge walk.

Anyone been on the Thursday and how did you get to the track?

lord lucan

grandmaster wrote: »

I know it's probably a bit early to ask, but does anyone know how to get to the Monza circuit on the Thursday of the race weekend? As far as I know, the free shuttle bus only runs Fri, Sat and Sun. I think I read somewhere that walking from Monza train station to the track takes about 1hr and 30 minutes.

I guess there's some public bus that might be available but I've no idea where it goes from, or goes to.

I was thinking a taxi is an option but it could only go so far and you'd still have a huge walk.

Anyone been on the Thursday and how did you get to the track?

See if you could hire a moped. There were loads over the race weekend last year and they were able to drive right up to the entrance to the track,would save a lot of messing.

G-Money

Got the info from someone. There's two buses you can take from Monza station:

CONNECTION MONZA - SEE (input Autodromo)

Bus 204 from Corso Milano (Monza near the station) for Vedano (Input Port Autodromo Vedano)
Hours

CONNECTION MONZA - BIASSONO
Bus 221 (sixth line - Carate) from Corso Milano (near the station Monza) for Biassono (Input Autodromo Porta S. Maria delle Selve)

goat2

thegoth wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Anyone here going to Monza this year or been there before.

I have a three day pass for 21e at Curve Parabolica http://www.formula1.com/races/in_detail/italy_818/circuit_diagram.html

Anyone know what the view is like ? Any comments in General ?

i have been there, loved the track, had a great time

G-Money

Did anyone fly back on the Sunday night last year? I've the option of taking a flight home at 10.10pm on the Sunday night after the race and saving about 120 euro between the flight being cheaper and spending 1 less night in the hotel. Just wondering if it's worth the hassle or if I should just take the flight back on Monday evening.

tommiejoie

grandmaster wrote: »

Did anyone fly back on the Sunday night last year? I've the option of taking a flight home at 10.10pm on the Sunday night after the race and saving about 120 euro between the flight being cheaper and spending 1 less night in the hotel. Just wondering if it's worth the hassle or if I should just take the flight back on Monday evening.

I'm in the same quandry but think I'll settle for the Monday flight. It's cutting it tight to get to Bergamo (Ryanair:)) even for a 10:10 flight! Still havnt settled on where to stay. Have stayed with CampingF1 a couple of times and they're great.